Turtles are little studied with respect to learning, cognition and social behavior in spite of being phylogenetically a central group. Populations of many species of these long-lived animals are declining due to commercial activities (pet trade and food), pollution, and habitat destruction. This integrative study of freshwater turtle (Emydidae) behavior investigated their sociality, individual learning and memory capabilities, and the ability of turtles to learn from others. First, I studied turtle underwater social behavior which involved naturalistic observations and ethogram development of the underwater social behavior of (Family Emydidae) at the Chattanooga Aquarium. Turtle social behavioral repertoire and interaction sequencing while underwater were much more complex and varied than those recorded for turtle basking interactions. Turtles also formed stable dominance hierarchies. Second, I trained and tested 9 Florida Red-bellied Cooters (Pseudemys nelsoni) in a discrimination choice task that I developed. Turtles were first trained to an instrumental response task (dislodging clear plastic bottles to obtain food pellets). These turtles not only showed rapid learning, but required minimal to no retraining after a period of 2 years. This study marks the first time that turtles have been shown to exhibit extensive long-term memory measured in years in a controlled experimental task. Olfactory and other controls were run to confirm that the turtles were responding only to visual cues. Finally, I investigated whether turtles could learn about a visual object cue to obtain food reinforcement by observing other experienced turtles that had learned the task. All five P. nelsoni turtles tested showed evidence of social facilitation and stimulus enhancement learning i.e. they learned not only to follow another turtle to a stimulus indicating food but also to approach the correct bottle that contained food reinforcement. This is the first experimental study of social learning in turtles. This integrative study of social behavior, learning, and cognition of turtles will hopefully spark interest in turtle behavior and cognition, help advance the field of comparative animal cognition, and aid in the development of their management in the wild.

The benefits of exercise are extensive; however, the majority of people do not participate in regular exercise. The problems with adherence may be due to personality factors and/or the of enjoyment of exercise. A pilot study was performed with the purpose of examining the relationship between exercise enjoyment and activity and to provide data for the validation of an enjoyment scale. The purpose of the main study was to examine the relationships between exercise enjoyment, exercise activity, personality, mood, and salivary cortisol as well as the differences between the variables mentioned. Fifty-three students participated (22 male, 31 female; 11 sedentary, 20 moderately active, 22 highly active) by filling out surveys, rendering saliva samples, and riding a bicycle for 30 minutes. All participants kept their heart rates at a moderate level and perceived the exercise portion as moderate. Results indicated that exercise enjoyment was positively related to physical activity and that females exercised less often than males. The broad personality traits of Extroversion and Conscientiousness were positively related to enjoyment with Neuroticism only showing a negative trend. Extroversion was positively related and Neuroticism was negatively related to physical activity level. Extroversion predicted enjoyment and activity levels. The specific personality trait of Work Drive was not related to enjoyment and only approached significance with physical activity. Some factors of mood improved with exercise (Revitalization increased and Physical Exhaustion decreased) while other factors of mood showed no relationship to exercise (Tranquility and Positive Engagement). Activity level did not moderate cortisol levels. For all participants, cortisol levels increased from baseline to after the bike ride and continued to increase 20 minutes later. Cortisol was not related to any broad personality traits. Work Drive predicted cortisol levels after the bike ride, but other results did not support the overall relationship between Work Drive and cortisol levels. Overall, the study supports the connections between enjoyment and activity, personality and activity, personality and enjoyment, exercise and cortisol, and mood and activity. The methods are reviewed and the implications of the findings are discussed.

The concept of ego defense mechanisms has been a central component of psychoanalytic theory since Freud and the repeated subject of psychoanalytic research. Attachment theory, originally formulated by John Bowlby as a radical revision of psychoanalytic views regarding the fundamental forces that drive our behavior, includes the concept of defensive processes, but so far these attachment-related defenses have not yet been the subject of research. The current study utilized attachment-related defense ratings adapted from the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) and more traditionally defined ego defense mechanisms as measured by the Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM) in a sample of 90 college students to address whether a functional relationship exists between these conceptually different views of defense. Age and gender were also examined as potential covariates. Bivariate correlations between attachment related defense variables and ego defense variables indicated there was a medium-sized relationship between overall attachment-defense and overall ego-defense use. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine which individual attachment defense variables and ego defense variables most contributed to this relationship, while controlling for age. The attachment defenses of Cognitive Disconnection and Segregated Systems and the ego defense mechanisms of Denial and Identification were found to account for most of the variance. Moderation analysis indicated there were no significant interactions between pairings of individual defense variables. No gender differences were found for any of the variables. Implications of these findings for future research regarding attachment-related defenses are discussed.

Academic optimism is the general tendency to expect positive outcomes in terms of personal, current and future academic experiences. Academic optimism is similar to general optimism with the exception of academic optimism’s focus on the academic life domain. The study investigated the psychometric properties of the newly constructed Academic Optimism Scale (AOS), as well as the relationships among academic optimism, general optimism, self-esteem and depressive symptoms in relation to academic achievement. The within-subject design included 292 college students at Time with 160 of those students returning for Time 2. At each time, participants completed a general optimism, academic optimism, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms measure; in addition, participants allowed the researchers access to their college academic performance. Results indicated the AOS was a sound scale with sufficient internal consistency, external validity, and unique predictive strength. Academic optimism was a stronger predictor of academic achievement than general optimism. Academic optimism was a unique predictor of academic achievement such that the greater the academic optimism the greater the academic achievement. The findings from this study highlight the strength of utilizing a domain-specific construct (in this case, academic optimism) in place of a general construct (e.g., general optimism) in understanding specific behavior. Potential implications of utilizing a domain-specific in academic and clinical arenas are discussed.

INTRODUCTION The research about to be reported is part of a larger research program with duodenal ulcer patients carried out at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, under the direction of Drs. Gerald R. Pascal. and William O. Jenkins of the University of Tennessee Psychology Department. This research program has attempted to bring a systematic, behaviorally-oriented approach to the problem ot duodenal ulcer. The early work of Bergmann (3) has been followed by sufficient expermental research, notably that of Wolf and Wolff (28), Mittelmann and Wolff (16), Gantt (8) and Sawrey (24, 25), to make tentative the hypothesis that there is what may be called a psychogenic factor in the pathogenesis of duodenal ulcer. This hypothesis seems to have been commonly accepted into both medical and psychological thinking. Twenty-six years ago, in fact, Cushing observed that most medical men of that day recognized that "high-strung" individuals were more susceptible to nervous indigestion and peptic ulcer, that the ulcer symptoms became quiescent or even tended to heal when the patients were put mentally and physically at rest, and that these symptoms tended to recur as soon as the patient resumed his former tasks and responsibilities (6). Despite its widespread acceptance, however, the precise relationship of this psychogenic factor to the physiology of duodenal ulcer has not been clearly understood, nor has this psychogenic factor itself been acceptably defined.

Subjects were given bogus test results that indicated they would be either "relatively calm" or "highly anxious" in a speaking situation. They were also given either an anxiety-okay belief or an anxiety-not-okay belief. The expectations and beliefs given subjects by the experimenter were called manipualted expectations and beliefs. Subjects also filled out forms indicating whether they expected to be calm or anxious and whether they believed anxiety was or was not okay. The expectations and beliefs of the subject were called prior expectation and beliefs. Each subject was given an expectation and a belief and then requested to make a three minute speech before the experimenter and his two assistants. During the speech, four measures of anxiety were taken: a self-rating scale, two behavioral measures, and a physiological measure. The following results were found: Subjects with a prior expectation of being calm exhibited significantly less anxiety on self-rating and two behavioral scales of anxiety than those given anxious expectations. Although in the expected direction, there was no significant differences on finger sweat print anxiety. Those subjects given a calm expectation by the experimenter were significantly less anxious on self-rated ..anxiety than those given an anxious expectation. There were no significant differences on the other anxiety measures. There were no significant differences between the belief message given, either prior or manipulated, and any of the anxiety outcome measures. However, all relationships were in the expected direction. Belief was a significant factor in self-rated anxiety when its interaction with expectation was analyzed. In combination with the calm expectation, subjects given an anxiety-okay message were significantly less anxious than subjects given an anxiety-not-okay message. However, in combination with the anxiety expectation, there was no significant difference between subjects given an anxiety-okay or an anxiety not-okay message. An analysis of the results indicated that expectation manipulations may be important first steps which increase the likelihood of persons putting themselves in feared situations. Once in such situations, the effects of habituation. reinforcement, and repetition of expectations might then influence behavioral and physiological measures of anxiety initially unresponsive to expectation and belief manipulations.

The field of creative or expressive arts therapies seeks to harness the power for'creative expression to the process of psychotherapy. Although expressive arts therapies are increasingly being used with a variety of populations, including the elderly, the disabled, intergenerational, and cross-cultural groups, a comprehensive theory of expressive arts therapies has yet to emerge. In addition, there is a paucity of research of what works in such therapies. A comprehensive theory of expressive arts therapies, however, can only emerge from the expressive arts themselves, reflecting the uniqueness of the creative process that is at their foundation. Qualitative research focusing on the experience of creativity in expressive therapy settings may be an essential step toward the development of a theory of expressive therapies. Using phenomenological research methods, this study explores the experience of creativity in relation to training programs conducted at the Person Centered Expressive Therapy Institute (PCETI). Coparticipants were eighteen adults, ages 27 through 65, involved in the institute from a variety of national and international locations. A dialogical research interview was chosen to study the experience of creativity in the context of PCETI. Written transcripts were made from the audiotapes of interviews and used to develop themes that described coparticipants' experiences of feeling creative. A structure of the experience of creativity in relation to PCETI emerged consisting of seven themes: experiencing the creative connection, universality, sharing, trusting, allowing, freeing, and empowering. Methodological checks were incorporated into the data analysis to ensure rigor. The use of a scoring manual and fidelity checks of the themes to coparticipants' experience and the researcher's colleagues' understanding of the phenomenon are described in the context of a qualitative research paradigm. Results are discussed in relation to PCETI, the person centered approach, expressive therapies, and transpersonal paradigms. The results of this study have implications for the development of a theory of expressive arts therapies and for expanding applications of the person-centered approach. Results also suggest phenomenology provides a rigorous, yet compatible, methodology to research expanding applications of the person-centered approach as well as other realms of humanistic psychology.

A robust finding is that psychopaths exhibit electrodermal hyporeactivity in the presence of stimuli that elicit anxiety in non-psychopathic samples. This finding has been associated with decreased anxiety, although recent research suggests the relationship between psychopathic traits and electrodermal hyporeactivity may be related to other correlates of psychopathy (i.e. decreased inhibitory control, risk-taking, and executive functioning deficits). The present study was a preliminary examination to assess electrodermal reactivity, disinhibition, risk-taking, and executive functioning in a sample of undergraduate students with varying degrees of psychopathic characteristics. Results generally did not support hypothesized relationships between psychopathic traits, physiological responsivity, and executive functioning deficits. Specifically, higher self reported psychopathy scores were not predictive of depressed skin conductance responses to unpleasant images nor was psychopathy related to executive functioning deficits. However, consistent with hypotheses, Self-Report Psychopathy -II factor 2 scores (antisocial behaviors) were significantly related to both self-reported impulsivity and a behavioral measure of risk-taking. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the existence of different character styles among intellectually gifted people. Two groups of students at the University of Tennessee, Honors students in Physics and Chemistry and students in the College Scholars program, were studied in order to demonstrate that the difference in personality dynamics among intellectually gifted individuals goes beyond 1Q level. Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test of ego development was used as a measure of overall character style. The Rorschach was administered to glean further information about the personalities of the participants, and to investigate the nature of its relationship to the Sentence Completion Test (WUSC). Significant differences between group means on ego development level were found, with the College Scholars scoring higher. One source of these differences appeared to be the presence of extreme cases, low for the Honors and high for the Scholars. These were examined in more detail. What appears to be of primary distinction between the two groups has to do with minimal level of ego development necessary for success in the two groups. The minimal level for College Scholars is the national modal level, 1-3/4, Self-Aware, while the minimum level for the Honors may be lower. The single Rorschach variable which significantly correlated with ego development level, but accounted for only a minimal amount of the variance, was Imaginal Aspect usage, suggesting that persons at the lower levels of ego development may have their internal reactions more easily stimulated by external stimuli. The lack of other significant correlations between the scoring variables studied suggests that the two instruments measure different aspects of the person despite overlap in their operational definitions.

Although depression is prevalent among university students, limited and dated research has examined the efficacy of behavioral interventions in treating this population. Based on a modified version of the Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD; Hopko & Lejuez, 2007; Lejuez, Hopko, & Hopko, 2001) that involved a structured single-session intervention and 2- week treatment period, we conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing individualized BATD and a no-treatment control for university students with mild to moderate depression symptoms (N = 30). Outcome measures assessed depression severity, environmental reward, social support, and somatic anxiety. Repeated measures analyses of variance and reliable change indices indicated that individuals in the BATD group had significantly greater reductions in depression and increased environmental reward at post-treatment relative to the control group. A statistical trend also suggested BATD may show promise toward increasing social support. Given current conditions in many academic institutions that include high demand for mental health services, limited personnel, and time restrictions, brief and parsimonious interventions such as BATD may represent a viable treatment option. Study limitations and future directions are discussed.