Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can affect an individual’s communication, social interactions, adaptive functioning, and academic achievement (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Prevalence rates of those diagnosed with ASD have been increasing, with rates rising to one in 68 children diagnosed with ASD by the eight years of age (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Although the presence of ASD symptomology varies between individuals, parents of children with ASD may experience a myriad of challenges in raising their child. Considering the pervasive nature of ASD, this subset of parents may be at an additional risk to experience chronic stress over time, which can lead to caregiver burnout or maladjustment to their parenting situation (Benson, 2014; Paynter et al., 2013; Pedersen, Crnic, & Baker, 2015). Although this experience is undoubtedly challenging, recent trends in the literature have suggested that this subset of parents may also be apt to experience stress-related growth or benefits in light of their parenting experience (DePape & Lindsay, 2015); however, less is known about this experience with fathers in general. Considering the lack of research on the experience of fathers with children with ASD, the current phenomenological study sought to better understand the parenting experience with fathers, including how their experience has changed over time. The current study also investigated the notion of stress-related growth with a small sample of fathers. Five fathers were successfully recruited for participation in the current study to answer the following research questions: Research Question 1: How do fathers initially describe the experience of raising a child with ASD and how has this experience changed over time? Research Question 2: What meaning or stress-related growth do fathers attribute to raising a child with ASD? To answer these questions, the participants first provided demographic information through an online survey and then completed a semi-structured interview with the researcher to learn more about their respective experiences. The data from this study resulted in the identification of four superordinate themes (e.g., initial impact, early stressors, coping strategies, and change over time), with 14 subordinate themes related to understanding the first research question (e.g., experience of fatherhood). Two superordinate themes (e.g., lessons learned, personal growth), with six subordinate themes, were associated with answering the second research question (e.g., meaning attributed to the parenting experience). / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2018. / July 5, 2018. / Includes bibliographical references. / Angela I. Canto, Professor Directing Dissertation; Juliann Woods, University Representative; Beth Phillips, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member.

Research on women's competition, indirect aggression, and gossip has uncovered a perplexing pattern: women deny their own competitiveness and gossip, but openly acknowledge that of other women. The current investigation proposed one solution to this paradox: women's unawareness of their competitive and malicious motivations grants a competitive advantage in female intrasexual reputation competition. Gossipers who express concern for their targets can preserve their own social desirability while simultaneously transmitting information that harms their target's reputation. Two online studies tested this theory by examining the prevalence and efficacy of concern motivations within gossip. Study 1 tested the prediction that women would assert greater concern relative to malicious motivations for gossiping by comparing male and female participants' perceptions of their own and others' social conversation motivations. Indeed, compared to men, women endorsed stronger concern motivations and lower reputation-harming motivations when gossiping. Moreover, women were especially likely to assert benevolent intentions when discussing same-sex peers compared to men, suggesting these motivations characterize women's gossip about same-sex rivals. Study 2 tested the competitive efficacy of ostensible concern motivations. Male and female participants evaluated female gossipers and their targets across three hypothetical gossip scenarios. The framing of the gossiper's statement was experimentally manipulated such that she delivered her information with concern, with malice, or neutrally. Consistent with predictions, gossip delivered with concern enhanced perceptions of the gossiper's trustworthiness, interpersonal desirability, and romantic desirability compared to gossip delivered neutrally or maliciously. Taken together, these findings suggest women's belief in their prosocial motivations for gossiping is a socially advantageous strategy for female intrasexual reputation competition. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / February 12, 2018. / Female competition, Gossip, Intrasexual competition, Morality, Prosociality, Self-deception / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy F. Baumeister, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Jon K. Maner, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Laura Arpan, University Representative; Andrea Meltzer, Committee Member; Paul Conway, Committee Member; Jesse Cougle, Committee Member.

Recent scholarship has challenged the long-held assumption in the social sciences that Conservatives were more biased than Liberals, contending that the predominance of Liberals in the social sciences might have caused social scientists to ignore liberal bias. Here, we argue that victims’ groups are one potent source of liberal bias. We contend that many Liberals are cosmic egalitarians, that is, they believe that demographic groups do not differ (genetically) on socially valued traits (e.g., math ability, IQ). This, coupled with a sacred narrative about protecting victims’ groups (e.g., Blacks, Muslims, women), leads to bias against any challenge to cosmic egalitarianism that portrays a perceived privileged group more favorably than a perceived victims’ group (Equalitarianism bias). Eight studies support this theory. Liberalism was associated with perceiving certain groups as victims (Studies 1a-1b). In Studies 2-7, Liberals evaluated the same study as less credible when the results concluded that a privileged group (men and Whites) had a superior quality relative to a victims’ group (women and Blacks) than vice versa. To rule out alternative explanations of Bayesian (or some other normative) reasoning, we used within-subjects designs in Studies 6 and 7. Significant order effects for Liberals suggest that Liberals think that they should not evaluate identical information differently depending on which group is said to have a superior quality, yet do so. In all studies, higher equalitarianism mediated the relationship between more liberal ideology and lower credibility ratings when privileged groups were said to score higher on a socially valuable trait. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2018. / June 18, 2018. / egalitarianism, liberal bias, motivated cognition, political psychology / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy F. Baumeister, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kevin Beaver, University Representative; James K. McNulty, Committee Member; Jesse Cougle, Committee Member; Ashby Plant, Committee Member.

Across three studies, we demonstrate that attitudes toward gay men and lesbians are best conceptualized as two components – moral judgments and prejudiced attitudes. Whereas moral judgments concern the rightness or wrongness of gay/lesbian sexuality, prejudiced attitudes concern feelings of negativity toward gay/lesbian groups or individuals. In all three studies, we show that religiosity relates to increased moral condemnation of gay/lesbian sexuality, but not increased prejudice toward gay men/lesbians. In Study 2, moral judgments were more strongly related to desires to protect religious rights, whereas prejudiced attitudes were more strongly related to desires to restrict gay/lesbian rights. In Study 3, various factors other than religiosity related to moral judgments and prejudiced attitudes, including disgust, openness to experience, concerns about being misidentified as gay/lesbian, and adherence to traditional gender norms. Additionally, moral judgments related to negativity toward sexually active single individuals (regardless of sexual orientation), whereas prejudiced attitudes related to negativity toward gay men and lesbians (regardless of sexual activity). Taken together, these findings suggest that attitudes toward gay men and lesbians should not be treated unidimensionally, and that considering moral judgments and prejudiced attitudes separately clarifies important relationships. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the Master of Science. / Summer Semester 2017. / July 14, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / E. Ashby Plant, Professor Directing Thesis; James McNulty, Committee Member; Colleen Ganley, Committee Member.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 31-11, Section: A, page: 6167. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1970.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 30-02, Section: A, page: 0813. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1968.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 31-10, Section: A, page: 5520. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1970.

This study explored the phenomenon of occupationally related stress exposures and stress reactions in the emergency medical services. While the emergency services are nearly ubiquitous in the United States, very little exploration has been done into the prevalence and sequelae of occupationally related stresses to which emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are exposed as part of their work. This study, based on the Stress Process Model (Pearlin, 1989) explored the impact of both chronic and critical incident stress. Chronic stressors are defined as persistent difficulties (e.g., insufficient salary, conflict with colleagues or supervisors). Critical incident stress relates primarily to the provision of patient care in emergencies and the emotional reactions caused by the exposure to gruesome or tragic circumstances. Posttraumatic stress symptomatology and alcohol use are identified as potential sequelae of exposure to occupational stress. Six hypotheses are presented to elucidate the relationship between the variables and to guide the research process. The overall aim of this study was to improve upon previous research efforts by exploring how different types of occupational stress may relate to different possible stress reactions. By gaining a detailed view into how different types of stress exposures may influence stress reactions in EMTs, more insight was gained into what factors may influence pathological outcomes. In order to assess the relationship between occupationally related stress exposures and stress reactions, this study used a combination of previously validated measures (PTSD, alcohol use) and stress measures adapted for this research effort. Following the tailored design method (Dillman, 2009), data were collected from a probability sample (N=1633) of nationally registered EMTs and paramedics utilizing an internet-based survey methodology. Data were examined using both bivariate and multivariate analytic approaches. The findings revealed that in this population, a lower rate of posttraumatic stress symptomatology in this sample than in previous research or in population-based samples. Rates of risky and hazardous alcohol use in this sample were comparable with previous research for the general population. Multivariate findings indicated that chronic stress, critical incident stress, and alcohol use contribute to posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Interactions between chronic stress and alcohol use as well as chronic stress and critical incident stress further improved the explanatory power of the model. Regression of alcohol use on the predictor variables illustrated a relationship between alcohol use and chronic stress as well as alcohol use and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Critical incident stress did not retain a significant relationship with alcohol use when controlling for posttraumatic stress symptomatology. The findings advanced knowledge regarding the relationship between occupational stress exposure and stress reactions in EMTs in several ways. This study placed the phenomenon of occupational stress within a widely utilized theoretical framework, allowing for better understanding of this particular process within the context of a wider body of stress literature. The methodology used in this study (specifically the use of probability sampling) represents a modest improvement from previous studies that have almost exclusively used convenience sampling. Further, this study revealed the differential relationship of chronic and critical incident stress with posttraumatic stress symptomatology and alcohol use in the population, illustrating that both types of stress are influential in stress reactions in EMTs. This research has important implications for both EMS and social work. This research benefits the emergency medical services at both at the individual and organizational levels. With greater empirical evidence of the impact of occupationally related stress, individuals may be better able to take steps to reduce the impact of occupationally related stress exposures. At an organizational level, these findings may provide data to educators, supervisors, and administrators who may need to address occupationally related stress in the workplace. This research enhances the social work practice and research. Social work practice benefits by expanding the knowledge base from which evidence-based practices may be developed. This is especially important, as social workers are often called to work with this population. Understanding the relationship between stress exposures and stress reactions may make it possible to develop an evidenced-based intervention that social workers may utilize for individuals who are struggling to manage the stresses of the job. Additionally, in pursuing this work, social work researchers will gain a greater knowledge of how occupational stressors affect EMTs. Any understanding may inform future investigations into occupational stress exposures and stress reactions within the social work profession. While different in many ways, both EMS and social work share risk for exposure to traumatic stressors, and this research may inform parallel efforts to understand the impact of occupationally related stressors on social workers / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: May 18, 2010. / Emergency Medical Services, Occupational Stress, Occupational Health, Paramedic, Social Work, Posttraumatic Stress / Includes bibliographical references. / Jim Hinterlong, Professor Directing Dissertation; R. Jay Turner, University Representative; Nick Mazza, Committee Member.

A field experiment was conducted to assess the relationship between description accuracy and identification accuracy. Forty-seven female bank and savings and loan association tellers interacted with an experimental confederate who attempted to cash an altered United States Post Office money order. Several hours later the tellers were asked to describe him, estimate the duration of their interaction with him, and identify him from a photograph lineup which did or did not include his picture. In addition, tellers were given accurate, neutral, or inaccurate postevent information concerning the target person's appearance. The effect of the postevent information on tellers' descriptions and identifications was not significant; tellers in each of the three conditions performed equally well. In contrast to a guideline set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court for the evaluation of eyewitness evidence, there was no relationship between description accuracy and identification accuracy. These results were interpreted in terms of encoding specificity theory and generalized to crime situations involving eyewitnesses. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-09, Section: B, page: 3118. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 5190. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.