<p> The social self preservation model posits that threats to the social self result in a unique and coordinated psychobiological response that evolved due to its adaptive benefits. Stressors that threaten the social self elicit feelings of shame and other negative self-conscious emotions, as well as increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. The current study sought to test this model by exposing individuals to an acute stressor, and determining if they exhibit the emotional, physiological, and behavioral components proposed by the self preservation model. In addition, the physiological and emotional reactions of an observing participant were assessed to determine if they too exhibited a physiological and emotional reaction to observing an individual under social stress. Results supported the social self preservation model in that participants undergoing the acute stressor task exhibited significantly greater cortisol response and self-reported personal distress, as compared to observing participants. The social self preservation model was also extended by the current findings in that participant submissive nonverbal behavior, particularly gaze aversion, was related to their physiological response. Observing participants exhibited a significant salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) response, demonstrating the physiological effects of observing an individual experiencing social stress. In addition, observing participants with greater trait empathy levels exhibited significantly greater physiological reactivity as well as self-reported personal distress. These findings suggest that nonverbal behavior may be a mechanism of physiological resonance of stress.</p>

<p>This project provides a broad exploration of factors that can enhance or inhibit creative performance in professional artists, including writers, visual artists, and musicians. Potential causes of the difficulties creative clients contend with are surveyed, as well as a range of interventions to address them. The first section reviews six major factors that can impact artistic creativity (also called <i>Big C</i> or eminent creativity) both positively and negatively, including the relatively stable and enduring factors of artists&rsquo; personality traits, cognitive makeup, and psychopathology. This section also reviews more malleable elements of creativity that the therapist may be able to affect directly, namely, motivational orientation, mood, and environmental influences. The second section is an investigation of creative block: its antecedents, phenomenology, and proposed classifications of different types of block. The final section focuses on interventions to facilitate creative performance in artists, both those who are suffering from artist block and those who are seeking to boost their creative achievement more generally. Interventions reviewed include cognitive-behavioral, Gestalt, psychodynamic, meditative, and compassion-focused approaches. In addition, field interviews conducted with psychologists with expertise in the clinical treatment of professional artists are summarized. The project concludes with a discussion of possible reasons for the scarcity of empirical literature on the subject of creative block and potential avenues of exploration for future research. </p><p> Keywords: Arts, artists, musicians, writers, creativity, psychotherapy, self-compassion, perfectionism, self criticism. </p>

<p> Newly commissioned officers in the U.S. Army are taught to lead their soldiers from the front and to voluntarily make personal sacrifices in the service of the nation. Although this facet of military culture is seen as critical to the integrity of the force, there are few research studies describing the impact of leader self-sacrifice in the U.S. Army. Research evolving from the transformational leadership literature indicates that civilian leaders who engage in self-sacrificial behavior are viewed as more charismatic than their counterparts and that this perception is particularly pronounced in crisis situations. The current study extended this research to a military population utilizing a quantitative experimental research design. Respondents were randomly assigned to written vignettes that manipulated leader self-sacrifice and the combat environment and then provided assessments of the company grade officer's attributed charisma. Currently serving enlisted and commissioned officers in the California Army National Guard (<i>n</i> = 218) took part in the research, and ANOVA test results indicated that both self-sacrifice and the experience of combat significantly increase perceptions of a company grade officer's attributed charisma. No significant interaction was found between leader self-sacrifice and combat. This study indicated that the self-sacrificial leadership model may have broad applicability across organizations and provides strong support for the Army's emphasis on selfless service. This research can spur positive social change by fostering a more aspirational form of leadership within the Army that builds the psychological resilience of soldiers and results in stronger teams. </p>

<p> Chronic stress and other emotional factors may have relevant impacts on pregnancy outcomes because they are related to neuroendocrine changes that lead to alterations in immunomodulation during pregnancy. In this quantitative prospective cross-sectional study, the relationship of emotional lability, depression, and stress during pregnancy and the development of preterm labor, preeclampsia, placental abruption, and low birth weight for gestational age babies was examined. Additionally, social support scores were compared to levels of stress/anxiety, depression, and emotional lability in pregnant women. Two hundred and forty two pregnant women who received prenatal services at the National Institute of Perinatology in Mexico City were evaluated during the 2^nd or 3^rd trimester of pregnancy and followed until pregnancy termination. Logistic regression analyses showed that being single significantly predicted preeclampsia and preterm birth, and the presence of social support significantly decreased the likelihood of preterm birth development. In the logistic regression model, family income significantly predicted the development of abruptio placentae. MANCOVA results revealed a significant difference among the social support categories on the combined dependent variables (stress/anxiety, depression, and emotional lability). The ANCOVA reported significant differences between social support scores, and stress/anxiety and depression scores. ANCOVA also showed significant differences between the number of pregnancies and stress scores. A 2X2 factorial analysis of variance showed a significant main effect of stress and depression on newborn weight. By promoting awareness of the importance of emotional factors during pregnancy among healthcare workers and pregnant women, this study contributed to positive social change.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to identify meaningful personality differences (and/or personality disorders) between convicted sexual offenders and convicted Internet sex offenders. For the purpose of this study, convicted sexual offenders will include only rapists and child molesters, referred to as Hands-On Adult Victims (HOAV) and Hands-On Child Victims (HOCV), respectively. </p><p> Nine of the 24 MCMI-III clinical scales were used to examine potential meaningful differences: schizoid, avoidant, depressive, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, antisocial, compulsive, and negativistic scales. Archival data consisting of MCMI-III scores of 75 convicted sex offenders from the three groups were analyzed. Significant differences were found in two of the nine MCMI-III scales: schizoid and narcissistic. Internet offenders displayed higher elevations on the schizoid scale when compared to the HOAV and HOCV offenders; no differences were found between the HOAV and HOCV offenders in this scale. On the narcissistic scale, HOCV and HOAV offenders scored similarly to each other but both had elevated scores compared to the Internet offenders. The general lack of differences in personality profiles among the three offender groups suggests that treatment interventions could usefully focus on dynamic risk factors rather than on personality factors.</p>

<p> The predictive validity of the Displaced Aggression Questionnaire (DAQ) was studied by allowing participants to engage in both displaced and direct aggression. Participants were given the DAQ and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), assessments of trait displaced and direct aggression, respectively. Participants were then provoked and given the opportunity to engage in both direct and displaced aggression. Results indicated that both the DAQ and the AQ were positively correlated with both displaced and direct aggression. Furthermore, the type of aggression dependent measure (viz., physical versus verbal) did not moderate these effects. Finally, there was a significant negative correlation between the DAQ and the Differentiation of Self Questionnaire, which measures the process of separating from ones multigenerational family, indicating that higher levels of trait displaced aggression are associated with negative differentiation from one's family of origin. Implications for both predicting and reducing aggressive behavior are discussed. </p>

<p> Ninety-five percent of college students procrastinate (O'Brien, 2002), often leading to poor grades (van Eerde, 2003) and anxiety (Rothblum, Solomon, &amp; Murakami, 1986). People seek to avoid aversive stimuli, therefore the more aversive a situation, the more one will avoid (Steel, 2007). This includes avoidance of a task or situation, and experiences associated with that task. Rather than changing ineffective behavior, many suppress or avoid negative experiences, often resulting in ineffective functioning (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, &amp; Lillis, 2006). This process, experiential avoidance, is at the core of the psychological flexibility model and is linked to psychopathology (Hayes &amp; Gifford, 1997). Given that procrastination is an avoidant behavior, applying this model can be a useful treatment method. The current study examines the impact of a flexibility-based intervention on procrastination with college students using both EMA and questionnaire assessments. As predicted, results indicated a significant relationship between procrastination and psychological inflexibility. Following an ACT intervention, procrastination decreased, while committed action significantly increased. Moderation analyses did not indicate psychological flexibility as affecting the strength of procrastination over time. Implications for future procrastination studies using EMA are discussed. </p>

<p> Confirmation bias occurs when a person believes in or searches for evidence to support his or her favored theory while ignoring or excusing disconfirmatory evidence and is disinclined to change his or her belief once he or she arrives at a conclusion. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether emotionally charged evidence and evidence presentation order could influence an investigator's belief in a suspect's guilt. The study included 166 sworn police officers (basic training recruits, patrol officers, and criminal investigators) who completed online surveys in response to criminal vignettes across different scenarios to record their measure of guilt belief. Analysis of variance was used to assess the relationship between the 3 independent variables: duty assignment (recruit, patrol, investigator), scenario condition (child and adult sexual assault), and evidence presentation order (sequential, simultaneous, reverse sequential). The dependent variable was confirmation bias (Likert-scaled 0&ndash;10 guilt judgment). According to the study results, confirmation bias was least evident in criminal investigators with more experience and training, and both emotion and evidence presentation order can influence guilt judgment. The findings generalize to criminal investigators and attest to the importance of working to include and exclude suspects and to withhold judgment until all available evidence is analyzed. Investigators benefit from this study and through their improved decision making, society benefits as well. This study will contribute to the need for professional dialogue concerning objective fact finding by criminal investigators and avoiding incidents of wrongful conviction.</p>

<p> This thesis employs heuristic and hermeneutic methodologies to explore the lives of military wives from a depth psychological perspective. The author investigates the obstacles inherent within the military lifestyle that may hinder military wives&rsquo; journeys through the complex process of individuation. The hindrances explored include dependence, marginalization, and myriad psychological challenges such as depression, anxiety, stress, and grief that result from frequent separations from loved ones, transiency, deployments, lack of control, and loss of identity. This thesis posits that individuation is critical to achieving wholeness and a healthy psyche; however, for military wives, their lifestyles place them at a distinct disadvantage in the individuation process as compared to civilian women. Informing psychotherapists of this unique population&rsquo;s struggles enables therapists to work more effectively with military wives. This work suggests possible clinical applications of the findings and discusses the clinical implications of the research.</p>

<p> The primary purpose of this study was to determine if effective university police officers differ from less effective university officers based on their perceptions/dispositions according to perceptual psychology theory. By establishing that effective university police officers possess specific dispositions, strategies can be developed to identify these dispositions in police officer candidates during the hiring process and to continue supporting their dispositional growth afterwards. This could potentially lead to the hiring of effective university police officers who are more likely to become engaged in the university community and ultimately improve organizational effectiveness. Effective university police officers typically approach their duties with the same philosophy as effective educators, social workers, or coaches would approach their work. Four dimensions associated with officer effectiveness were studied: perceptions of self as identified, perceptions of others as able, perceptions of purpose as larger, and a frame of reference as people-oriented.</p>