RSS 1.0Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Psychology. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
Items in MOspace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Recent Submissions
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Measuring smokers' inhibitory control to smoking cues by a novel mouse trajectory tracking method
(2019)Deprivation from nicotine has been shown to affect executive cognitive functioning in smokers causing an inability to maintain cognitive control over their behavior, which may be directly linked to smoking relapse. Past ... -
The Effect of Stress on Prosocial Sharing Behavior in Young Adults
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)Prosocial behavior benefits both an individual and society. Sharing behavior is considered the most altruistic, due to individuals sacrificing time and resources without the expectation of reciprocation. A cost-benefit ... -
The Role of Experiential Avoidance in the Relationship Between Emotional Pain and Yearning in Sudden and Unexpected Bereavement
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)Individuals who have experienced a sudden or unexpected loss of a close family member or friend are at heightened risk for developing psychiatric morbidity, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD; i.e., pathological ... -
"Can I get a second opinion?" How user characteristics impact trust in automation in a medical screening task
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)As technology advances, processes traditionally carried out by humans are being automated in a variety of industries, such as automotive, security, and food service. In the medical field, advances in automation allow ... -
Latent Class Analysis of Health Risk Behaviors Among Survivors of Childhood Adversities
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)This study examined the clustering of health risk behaviors among young adults who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Data were collected from young adults attending a four-year university in the ... -
A Double-Blind Randomized Intervention to Reduce Distress from Perceived Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)OBJECTIVE: Up to 65% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience cognitive impairment. However, patients frequently overestimate the extent of their cognitive dysfunction, reducing their overall quality of life. ... -
Preferences for Shared Decision-Making Between Physicians and Patients: Is Age a Factor?
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)Shared decision-making (SDM) is a tool suggested for improving patient-doctor relationships, health decision satisfaction, and health outcomes in all patient populations. The assumption that older patients desire purely ... -
The Effect of Peer Presence on Risk Taking Behavior Among Late Adolescents
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2019)The present study used an experimental method to examine risk-taking in a simulated environment involving risky driving behaviors. The study examined the effects of peer presence on risk-taking behavior among late ... -
Fatalism, Religious Attendance, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Engagement in Health Behaviors Among Hispanic Americans low in Acculturation and Income: Testing the Reserve Capacity Model
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)Although health disparities are widespread between ethnic and racial minority groups and Whites in the United States, Hispanics seemingly have a relative advantage in one particular health outcome: all-cause mortality. ... -
Assessing Social Motivations During Vaccination Decisions
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)This dissertation utilized two separate studies to investigate the effects of social motivation during vaccine decision-making. Some parents cite social motivations, like contributing to herd immunity, as an influence ... -
The Cardiac Self-Blame Attributions Scale as a Predictor of Physical and Mental Health Outcomes in Underrepresented Patients with Cardiovascular Disease
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)Following a cardiovascular event, most patients engage in a causal search to understand why it occurred. One way of distinguishing attributions is through the construct of self-blame. There is a difference between ... -
Predictors of Receipt of Counseling Services from Religious Leaders in African American Church Populations
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)African Americans (AAs) are disproportionality affected by mental health issues. They are more likely to experience chronic depression, greater impairment from depression, and serious psychological distress than the ... -
Can We Be Trained to Eat Healthy? The Effects of an Attentional Bias Modification Program on Eating Behavior
(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)The prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) has significantly increased over the past four decades. OW and OB are complex in nature and arise from a multitude of factors and their interactive effects. Based on ... -
Improving Medication Adherence in Underrepresented Patients with Heart Disease: Piloting a Motivational Intervention
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Essential to reducing the risk of recurrence in individuals with cardiovascular disease (CVD), adherence to cardioprotective medications has been shown to decrease risk of cardiac-related hospitalization and mortality. ... -
The Attentional Demands of Positive Reappraisal in a Dual Task Paradigm
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Emotion regulation refers to the ability to modulate experienced and expressed emotions. A specific emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, has received extensive attention in the literature, as the strategy ... -
Graph Format Effects in Processing Health Outcome Information
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Decision support tools that incorporate predictive risk estimates can be used to assist patients and their families in making better-informed choices about treatment options. The format utilized to present predictive ... -
Examination of Non-Facial Emotion Recognition in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)The purpose of this study was to examine social cognitive skills of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Per the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), the specific focus of this study was the ability to understand non-facial c ... -
Beliefs about the Impact of Excess Body Weight on Biopsychosocial Functioning in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Background: Recent research indicates that obesity may exacerbate certain symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Nevertheless, little research has examined patients’ perceptions of how obesity may impact their MS symptoms. ... -
On ‘Clear and Present Danger’: The Influence of Firearm Legislation on College Student Perceptions of Mental Illness and Treatment-Seeking Intentions
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Mental illness (MI) stigma is considered a primary barrier to seeking and remaining in treatment. Mental health experts argue that directly targeting persons with MI in an effort to reduce gun violence may increase ... -
Examination of the Relationship between Startle Eyeblink Modulation and Perceived Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016)Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder from which fatigue is one of the most commonly reported symptoms. Recently, research into the underlying neural mechanisms of fatigue has focused largely on the ...