This study measured affective tone, conflict responses and outcomes, trust, cognitive interdependence, satisfaction, and personal and constraint commitment in dating, engaged, and married couples, as well as in a group of individuals who had recently broken up from a dating relationship. At the research laboratory, participants completed a brief graphing procedure of how their commitment to their relationship developed and changed over time, a self-report measure of conflict responses and outcomes, satisfaction, trust, and personal and constraint commitment, as well as participating in an Oral History Interview. Consistent with expectations, the three groups of intact couples differed significantly from the group of broken up individuals on all but one of the variables of interest. Comparison of the three groups of intact couples revealed that they were quite similar, however, there were differences in both personal and constraint commitment, with increases associated with more advanced relationship stages. As hypothesized, results of this study indicated that positive affective tone, positive conflict responses and outcomes, trust, cognitive interdependence, and satisfaction were positively associated with personal commitment, and that trust and interesting sex difference emerged from the findings, in that while trust was significantly predictive of both types of commitment for females, it was not predictive of either type of commitment for males. Additionally, post hoc analyses revealed that personal commitment mediated the relationship between satisfaction and constraint commitment.

Based on principles related to the self-concept, social comparison theory, self-discrepancy theory, and cultivation theory, this study predicted that increases in exposure to mediated ideal bodies would be associated with a greater likelihood to hold beauty-related beliefs and values consistent with those presented in mainstream media. The study further predicted that, by altering the fidelity of the relationship between the ought self and the ideal self, individual difference variables (i.e., body mass index, self-monitoring, intrasexual competitiveness, and self-efficacy) would interact with media exposure to affect body satisfaction. Body satisfaction, in turn, would interact with importance of the physical self to the self-concept to affect self-esteem, which would predict patterns of disordered eating. To test these predictions, 202 undergraduate females completed a survey during class time. Results revealed that fashion magazine consumption (but not television consumption) was positively correlated with beauty-related beliefs. While media exposure did not directly predict body satisfaction, body mass and self-efficacy were direct predictors of body satisfaction. Self-monitoring interacted with body weight and fashion magazine consumption to influence body satisfaction, as did intrasexual competitiveness. Body satisfaction and self-esteem were positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with characteristics of eating disorders. The implications of these results, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine psychological effects, including internalizing and externalizing behaviors, among Latino adolescents. Secondary data were utilized from the California Health Survey administered in 2011&ndash;2012. Internalizing behaviors include feelings of depression, hopelessness, nervousness, restlessness, worthlessness, and feeling that everything is an effort. Externalizing behaviors include drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. Findings in the study suggested a significant relationship between U.S. citizenship and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Findings of this study also suggested significant relationships between external and internal behaviors. Additionally, the results showed significance in receiving psychological-emotional counseling.</p>

Since its inception in the early 1970s, the minimal group paradigm (MGP) has proved a popular method of testing intergroup phenomena. In addition, the paradigm supplied early evidence that led to the formation of Tajfel and Turner's (1979, 1986) Social Identity Theory. The original studies utilizing the MGP were developed to find a baseline intergroup situation that produced ingroup favoritism. Later minimal group studies confirmed a mere categorization effect--that is, simply categorizing subjects into one of two groups, even on a trivial basis, was enough to bring on discriminatory behavior. The present study seeks to clarify the mere categorization phenomenon. A minimal group scenario in some ways represents an intergroup environment in which discrimination is fostered. It is suggested that subjects who believe they will have to justify their allocation decisions to others will be less likely to exhibit ingroup-favoring behavior. In addition to typical minimal group findings of discrimination under non-accountable conditions, results also show that the presence of accountability eliminates discrimination under conditions of high ingroup status and majority ingroup standing. Discriminatory behavior is revived when the ingroup is in a numerical minority.

<p>Current research has empirically supported that the public school system has an issue with poor social climates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students (LGBT). This has had detrimental effects to the well-being and educational outcomes for LGBT youth (Kosciw, Greytak, Bartkiewicz, Boesen, &amp; Palmer, 2012). Research has not only uncovered the problems (bullying, poor school policies, lack of education) that promote these issues, but they have also found solutions, which include supportive administration, the inclusions of programs like Gay Student Alliances (GSA) and LGBT curriculum. This research study attempted to uncover the effect to students&rsquo; levels of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia when exposed to a LGBT psychology and history lesson. The study found that a simple 45-minute lesson did in fact reduce levels of the sexual minority phobias in students but also provided evidence that more exposure (and a larger sample size) may provide a clearer picture of the actual potential of understanding concepts in LGBT psychology and history. It also validated that the inclusion of a GSA program and supportive educator can also establish a better social climate because all students exhibited low levels of phobia prior to the lesson. </p>

<p> This research explored the topic of team building for a multicultural team and investigated the impact on group cohesion. The participants were members of a work group, each of a different nationality. Review of existing literature revealed a list of team building elements most suited for the multicultural context. A team building program incorporating those elements and customized for the participant group was designed and implemented. Pre and post survey data showed no significant difference in group cohesion, although there was a slight increase in the score for task cohesion. Qualitative interview data, however, suggested a positive impact on group cohesion, with the impact perceived to be greater on task cohesion than social cohesion. Elements of the team building program that were found to be the most impactful were: it provided an opportunity to generate a deeper awareness of others, it provided an opportunity to generate deeper self-awareness, it provided a platform for team collaboration, and it contained fun and interesting activities.</p>

The present study examined both self and cross-partner associations between personal, moral, and structural commitment, maintenance behaviors, and relationship maintenance schema. Participants were both partners from 180 heterosexual couples in dating, engaged, and marital relationships who were between the ages of 18 and 35 years old with no children. Partners independently completed self-report questionnaires, which included measures of relationship commitment (Stanley & Markman, 1992), relationship maintenance behaviors (Canary & Stafford, 1992), and relationship maintenance schema (Sternberg, 1998). Results suggest that individuals' personal, moral, and structural commitment are associated with their own maintenance behaviors and that some maintenance behaviors, especially assurances, are also associated with their partner's personal, moral, and structural commitment. In addition, having a relationship maintenance schema which states that relationships require effort to be successful is positively related to maintenance behaviors. These results provide some support for Johnson's contention that the different types of commitment have different implications for relationship maintenance.

A good deal of research suggests that high self-esteem individuals cope with failure by engaging in self-serving biases that allow them to deny the negative implications of failure. If high self-esteem individuals cope successfully with failure through a process of denial, then making it easier for low self-esteem individuals to deny negative feedback might allow them to cope successfully with failure too. To test this notion, high and low self-esteem participants took a test of creativity and were given feedback that they were either creative or non-creative. Following this procedure, the ease of denial of the feedback was manipulated by telling the participants that the creativity test was either highly valid or invalid. Participants' evaluations of the test, positive and negative mood, and self-ratings on creativity were then assessed. It was expected that high self-esteem participants would generally make more self-serving evaluations of the test than low self-esteem individuals, and as a result, experience more pleasant affect and view themselves more positively on creativity than low self-esteem individuals following negative feedback. However, it was also expected that if the negative feedback was easy to deny, low self-esteem individuals would be just as self-serving as high self-esteem individuals in their evaluations of the test and experience a similar increase in positive mood, and rate themselves higher on creativity. The results did not support these predictions. Both high and low self-esteem individuals made self-serving evaluations of the test regardless of the ease of denial manipulation. Limitations of the current research and directions for future research are discussed.

This dissertation examines literacy practices in settings that have been transformed by changes in capitalism of the last forty years. These settings are characterized by increased technologization, accrediting processes, team-building, and a requirement for independent critical thinking on the part of workers. The two school-to-work programs included in the dissertation are biotechnology and nursing. Both were sited in a two-year urban community college and both had the characteristics mentioned above. However they also provided a contrast it two ways. First, nursing is a traditional practice that has recently been transformed by changes in capitalism while biotechnology is a completely new field that didn't exist forty years ago. Second, students in these school-to-work programs were pointed towards different class positions within their work settings; biotechnology students toward elite positions, and nurses toward a more traditional and less elite position. The dissertation examines how apprentice workers in these settings learn new practices of a changed capitalism through literacy and other discursive processes as they move back and forth between school and work settings. It also examines students as they learn other aspects of capitalism through the grammars of their respective fields. These include gendered work identities, highly prescriptive critical thinking processes that bear the footprints of a sociohistorical past, and new processes of thinking and acting that are characteristic of a new moment in capitalism.

This study used qualitative methods to investigate successful individuals who had a learning disability. Six participants, three men and three women, along with their family members and significant others were interviewed. A participant observation was also conducted during each participant's typical day at work. Four common characteristics were found among the participants. These characteristics were organizational skills, drive, a match between strengths and career, and interpersonal competence. The characteristics identified by the study were similar to those found by Gerber and Ginsberg (1990); however, it was noted that over-reliance on one characteristic and an inability to adjust to success often created difficulties. Further, job satisfaction and eminence in one's field did not always mean self-fulfillment, happiness, and psychological maturity. A definition of success which suggests a balance between career, family, and social activities was given. The study noted that a key element in coping with a learning disability was that the individuals understood both their strengths and weakness. Family members indicated that the transition from school to adult life was critical and that the role of parent and family members' perceptions about the participants usually needed to be adjusted. Older participants indicated that having a son or a daughter who had a learning disability helped them to come to terms with their disability. They also noted the importance of having a diagnosis, so they could reframe their self-perception in terms of a condition rather than a sense of mental incompetence or laziness. Recommendations for future research in this field were presented.