<p> Previous literature indicates that slower electroencephalography (EEG) waves and hemispheric EEG asymmetry in frontal lobe regions (which are indicators of deficits in frontal lobe functioning) have been associated with violence and crime in habitually aggressive offenders. The current project is the first to investigate the relationship between frontal lobe functioning (EEG slow wave activity and asymmetry), trait displaced aggression (TDA), and crime. Results showed that TDA moderated the effect of frontal lobe asymmetry on violent crime. Specifically, there is a significant positive relationship between delta asymmetry and violent crime for those with high or mean levels of TDA but delta asymmetry did not impact crime for individuals low in TDA. Implications of this research for reducing violent crime will be discussed.</p>

<p> This qualitative study addresses the lived experience of participants in a specific somatic psychotherapy practice, relational somatic psychotherapy (RSP). The RSP approach is a biologically based, interpersonal exploration of consciousness and self-awareness through authentic relationship (Hilton, 2007). Following an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology, this study analyzes interviews focused on how participants experienced the somatically based psychodynamic healing modality of RSP through group relational dynamics. This study is grounded in depth psychology in that participants in RSP work with the unknown, repressed energy of the body in order to make behavioral and emotional energetic patterns conscious. It is grounded in somatic psychology in that the focus of exploration is in present moment experiences of the body. Thus, the assumption of this study is that the integration of both traditions creates an embodied approach to psyche. Themes that emerged from this study suggest that awareness is transformed through embodied relational experiences. These themes helped articulate that embodied relational experiences in psychodynamic group process supported individuals in integrating the dissociated parts of themselves into consciousness, suggesting that embodiment practices experienced in the context of authentic relationship help to integrate psyche and soma. Such experiences seem to integrate previous unconscious, implicit memory systems into healing and empowering embodied self-awareness. </p><p>

<p> A fundamental aspect of successful social interactions is the ability to accurately infer others&rsquo; verbal communication, often including information related to the speaker&rsquo;s feelings. Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by language and social-affective impairments, and also aberrant functional neural responses to socially-relevant stimuli. The main objective of the current research was to examine the behavioral and neural effects of making affective inferences from language lacking overt prosody or explicit emotional words in individuals with and without autism. In neurotypical individuals, the current data are consistent with previous studies showing that verbal emotional stimuli enhances activation of brain regions generally responsive to discourse, and also &ldquo;social-affective&rdquo; brain regions, specifically medial/orbital frontal regions, bilateral middle temporal areas, temporal parietal junction/superior temporal gyri and pCC/PC. Moreover, these regions respond differentially to positive and negative valence, most clearly in the medial frontal area. Further, results suggest that mentalizing alone does not account for the differences between emotional and neutral stories, as all of our stories required similar inferencing of the feelings of the protagonist. In autism, there is general agreement that the neurodevelopmental disorder is marked by impairments in pragmatic language understandings, emotional processes, and the ability to &ldquo;mentalize,&rdquo; others&rsquo; thoughts, intentions and beliefs. However, findings are mixed regarding the precise nature of emotional language understandings. Results of the present study suggest that autistic individuals are able to make language-based emotional inferences, and that like neurotypical controls, social-affective brain regions show task-related facilitation effects for emotional compared to neutral valence. However, the neural activations in the autism group were generally greater than controls, especially in response to emotion. Additionally, results showed greater difficulty with incongruent judgments in participants with autism. Together, these findings represent a first step toward revealing social-affective abilities in the language context in autism, despite irregular brain response. Such understandings are critical to generating effective intervention strategies and therapeutic practices for autistic individuals and their families. For remediation to be most beneficial, one must understand and utilize areas of skill, and leverage those to positively impact deficits.</p>

<p> The thesis investigated debated intelligence theories: Cattell&rsquo;s (1943) &ldquo;Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence&rdquo; and Gardner&rsquo;s (1983) &ldquo;Theory of M.I.&rdquo; The research asks: Which existing theory-based and hypothetically based measurement models of intelligence fit the measurement data better? How does a traditional vs. modified M.I. Theory measurement model fit? How does a combined measurement model of the theories fit? Participants (n=287) were students (age 18-25) from a top-tier East-Coast university. Approximate statistical power is .90 with effect size of .5 (<i>p</i>&le;.05). Participants were administered the <i>Reynolds Adaptable Intelligence Test and Multiple Intelligence Developmental Assessment Scales</i>. Structural equation modeling revealed better fit for the &ldquo;Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence&rdquo; data (&chi;²(4) =8.08, <i>p</i>=.09; CMIN/d.f.=2.02; RMSEA= .06; TLI= .98; CFI= .99; IFI=.99; SRMR=.0221). The traditional Theory of M.I.&rdquo; model fit was insupportable (&chi;²(300) =1441.448, <i>p</i>&lt;.000; CMIN/d.f.=4.80; RMSEA= .12; TLI= .61; CFI= .64; IFI=.65; SRMR=.2239), but alternative M.I. models were supported. A correlated M.I. model (&chi;²(264) =569.09, p&lt;.001; CMIN/d.f.=2.16; RMSEA= .06; TLI= .88; CFI= .90; IFI= .91; SRMR=.06) and 4-factor model M.I. with distinct bodily-kinesthetic and musical talent (&chi;²(267) =526.32, p&lt;.001; CMIN/d.f.=2.12; RMSEA= .06; GFI=.91; TLI= .92; CFI= .94; IFI= .94; SRMR=.06) show acceptable to good fit. A M.I. Indicator &amp; R.A.I.T. TII to <i>g</i> SCU Model shows good fit (&chi;²(120) =247.56, p&lt;.001; CMIN/d.f.=2.06; RMSEA= .06; TLI= .89; GFI=.94; CFI= .96; IFI= .96; SRMR=.10). Current findings are further discussed in relation to analogous studies.</p>