<p> This thesis explores a gendered conflict in nerd culture. I sent an online survey to self-identified women nerds with a series of questions asking their opinion of the representation of women in nerd media and about their experiences within the nerd community. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported that a sexy or sexualized appearance was the most prominent aspect of women's representation in nerd media. Eighty-two percent of participants had experienced a gender-based insult when participating in nerd media. Findings suggest that harassment and representation in media is worse for women comic book and video game media and communities than in other sub-genres within the culture. More research is needed on racial representation and participation and on nerd men's experiences with gate-keeping.</p>

<p> Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) refers to positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with grievous life circumstances that often coexist with significant psychological distress (Tedeschi &amp; Calhoun, 1996). PTG makes clear that persons experiencing this phenomenon have grown beyond their previous level of psychological functioning. PTG is recognized in four domains of change, including perception of self, relationships with others, philosophy of life, and spiritual transformations (Tedeschi &amp; Calhoun, 1996). The present study explored the concept of PTG and transformation among twelve Cambodian community leaders who are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. Based on a phenomenological qualitative paradigm, this study utilized the PTG model to explore coping, meaning making, and positive growth as both a process and outcome. Four core themes emerged for the process of posttraumatic growth: (a) separation, loss, enslavement and other dehumanizing experiences; (b) distress and psychological responses to trauma; (c) methods of coping used to manage debilitating distress; and (d) process of healing and meaning making. Five core themes emerged for the outcome of posttraumatic growth: (a) gratitude and greater appreciation of life; (b) new priorities and goals; (c) importance of family and interpersonal relationships; (d) increased personal strength; and (e) effective leadership. Overall, principal findings in this study highlighted the importance of self-disclosure, hard work, hope, optimism, and education as a foundation to recovery and growth, as well as community activism and the continued pursuit to fulfill their survivor's mission (Herman, 1992). These factors greatly supported participants in their process of PTG and gave them profound life purpose and meaning. Theoretical, societal, and clinical implications of findings as well as future directions are discussed. </p>

<p> This study examined the application of experiential avoidance to understanding anger, a universal emotion that is not presently well-understood despite its pervasiveness in both clinical symptomatology and general experience. Theories including the anger avoidance model (Gardner &amp; Moore, 2008) and the cognitive-neoassociationistic perspective (Berkowitz, 1983) proposed that anger is related to avoidant behaviors and lack of control. Experiential avoidance (EA), a concept introduced in Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, 2004b), describes the avoidance of unpleasant thoughts and negative emotional experiences. Historically, EA has primarily been used to examine anxiety, but may also present a valuable theoretical approach to other emotional experiences, including anger. </p><p> To clarify the link between experiential avoidance and anger, correlations between subjects' scores on subtypes of anger and levels of experiential avoidance were examined. A non-clinical sample of 215 graduate students completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II). Scores were analyzed for correlations between levels of experiential avoidance and types of anger experiences. Results suggest that experiential avoidance is related to higher levels of trait anger, increased inward expressions of anger, and decreased control over anger experiences. Implications for research, theory, and clinical approaches to anger and aggression are discussed.</p>

<p> Objectives: Study was designed to explore questions examining relational satisfaction in long-term non-monogamous heterosexual couples in comparison to relational satisfaction in long-term sexually monogamous heterosexual couples, as well as gain insight into whom those involved in non-monogamous relationships disclose to and the potential stigma felt by this disclosure. Demographic variables were also explored to see if any prediction of marital satisfaction occurred. </p><p> Methods: Both long-term sexually monogamous and long-term sexually non-monogamous participants responded to a secure online survey. The survey consisted of informed consent, inclusion criteria, ENRICH marital satisfaction scale (Fowers and Olson 1993) items, and open-ended questions for items not assessed by the ENRICH scale alone. </p><p> Results: After checking for univariate normality and outliers and assessing missing value patterns, results show that both the Marital Satisfaction and Idealistic Distortion scales were reliable. The findings in the study revealed that relationship type did not have a significant impact on marital satisfaction or idealistic distortion, with similar levels of satisfaction and idealistic distortion in both monogamous and non-monogamous couples. The results also demonstrated, through linear regression for demographic variables, that only income level significantly predicted marital satisfaction. After qualitative data was coded, there were many themes found within both monogamous and non-monogamous couples. </p><p> Conclusions: Data supports the original hypothesis that there was very little difference in marital satisfaction between monogamous and non-monogamous heterosexual couples. With these results, non-monogamy is a more viable relationship option than previously recognized for couples that are interested, and it is necessary to create models to work with these couples. Developing further research within this population specifically is also necessary for the future. </p>

<p> Wildlife management is challenged with addressing human resource needs while simultaneously conserving wildlife populations. Conflicts between humans and wildlife have increased across Northern countries with the expansion of human communities and environmental changes. Lack of information exists about reasons for such occurrences. This study explores adaptive capacity and resilience in coupled human-wildlife systems through the analysis of social and ecological factors contributing to perceptions of negative and positive human-bear (<i> Ursus</i> spp.) encounters. I first developed a theory to evaluate human perceptions and behaviors during human-wildlife encounters. Secondly I adopted an interdisciplinary framework to analyze human-bear encounters in urbanizing regions of south Sakhalin Island, Russian Far-East, and southcentral Alaska, USA. These case studies facilitate an analysis of perception development across spatial and social scales while incorporating approaches of both social and ecological sciences. Hunting, tourism and overall anthropogenic impacts are central to bear management, whereas cultural and social interests are perceived to not be considered in bear management decision-making across study regions. In Alaska, political interests are prevalent in bear management, whereas on Sakhalin, economic interests, including illegal animal trade and poaching prevail. Across study regions the perception of an encounter with a bear was dependent on the socio-economic situation of the individual having the encounter. The higher a person's socio-economic status was, the higher was their probability to perceive bear encounters as positive. Further, spatial and social scales across which perceptions vary are identified. Scales include urban-non-urban areas, wildland-urban interfaces, and a recreation-subsistence interest divide. Outside of urban areas, people's interests in recreation versus subsistence affect their perceptions toward bear encounters. Subsistence collectors of fish, game or plants are more likely to have negative encounters. Within urban areas, increased experience with encountering bears and length of residency are associated with positive encounters, whereas closeness to residences while not in sheltered environments increases negative encounters. These findings constitute spatial and social barriers and benefits to individualistic perception formation during human-bear encounters. Their identification advances resilience in researched human-wildlife systems and helps us to understand the adaptive capacities within these communities. The successful spatially-explicit integration of social and ecological variables promotes the opportunities for integrating human dimensions in wildlife management.</p>

<p> The intention of this exploratory research is to shed light on the psychological impact of interactions with digital technology, which is increasingly pervasive in our culture. This dissertation asks what psychological phenomena are generated by human interactions with digital technology, in general, and with complex recommendation systems, in particular. Nondigital technology is contrasted with digital technology, which achieves new levels of interactivity through its artificial and virtual capabilities. It is proposed that the degree of increased interactivity made possible by digital technology crosses a threshold impacting the psyche in new ways. </p><p> A theoretical framework for understanding human-digital technology interactions is introduced and developed. The psyche is conceptualized as evolutionarily and biologically based, functioning symbolically and emotionally both consciously and unconsciously. Ramifications of this conceptualization are explored in the context of interactions with digital/algorithmic technology, using recommendation systems as illustrations. </p><p> The theoretical investigation concludes that psyche-digital technology interactions are new phenomena. Psychic processes&mdash;by nature evolutionarily and biologically symbolic and largely unconscious&mdash;interact with nonbiological digital/algorithmic technology. Because of the incongruence of value systems between biological phenomena and digital/algorithmic logic, unconscious psychic processes resulting from interactions between <i> the biological feeling psyche and nonbiological digital technology</i> are likely to significantly impact both psychic development of individuals, in the short term, and quite possibly the human species at large, in the long term. </p><p> The method of exploratory research is interpretive and theoretically oriented, while employing a depth psychological lens. Contemporary depth psychology is described as an integrative field that is receptive to insights from all other fields; it considers unconscious phenomena as vital to human psychological makeup. This study brings together depth psychological and neurobiological theory; and is grounded in the work of depth psychologist Erich Neumann, who describes biological-evolutionary-symbolic unconscious and conscious dynamics of the psyche. </p><p> As background, social psychology's discoveries of unconscious social behaviors triggered by interacting with new media are highlighted as fundamental in interactions with computing technology. From a depth psychological point of view, conscious and unconscious relationships to and with technology are explored historically as precursors to interactions with digital technology. </p><p> Keywords: human-computer interactions, depth psychology, big data, recommendation systems, digital technology, emotions, affect, feeling, neurobiology, Carl Jung, Erich Neumann.</p>

<p> This study examines how personal characteristics of a team facilitator (transformational leadership, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability) impact team members' stress level, trust in leadership, and team climate. Participants comprised assessment teams in the student affairs of higher education, providing a unique perspective on a leadership role in which hierarchical positioning between the leader (facilitator) and follower was minimized.</p><p> Hypothesis 1 examined transformational leadership and three of the subscales of the Five-Factor Model (FFM)&mdash;agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability&mdash;as predictors of team stress. It was hypothesized that team facilitators who achieved higher scores would elicit lower team stress. This hypothesis was not supported.</p><p> Hypothesis 2 examined emotional stability and conscientiousness as predictors of team climate. It was hypothesized that higher-scoring facilitators would elicit a more positive team climate. This hypothesis had partial support on two of the independent variables. The higher the facilitator scored on conscientiousness, the higher the members rated Team Climate Inventory (TCI) subscale of Vision. The higher the facilitator scored on emotional stability, the lower the members rated the TCI subscale of Participant Safety.</p><p> Hypothesis 3 examined emotional stability as a predictor of trust: the higher the score elicited on emotional stable qualities, the higher the trust level. This hypothesis was not supported by the data.</p><p> Hypothesis 4 examined transformational leadership as a predictor of trust: the higher the score, the more trust gained. This hypothesis had full support, with transformational leadership being a reliable predictor of trust.</p><p> Hypothesis 5 examined agreeableness in predicting stress: those scoring moderately would alleviate stress. This hypothesis was not supported by the data.</p><p> Analyses were also conducted on team satisfaction and team performance. Trust, team climate, and stress were examined to predict team satisfaction and performance. For both satisfaction and performance, only one of the three predictors, the TCI, contributed significantly. As the team climate became more positive, team satisfaction and team performance also increased.</p>

<p> Retrospective emotional frequency appraisals are often used in clinical assessment measures, but their suitability for use with children has not been well studied. The aims of this project were to (a) examine whether items that use retrospective frequency structures gather more or less information than items that do not use such structures and (b) examine whether the information gathered by such items differs across children's ages. <i>Method</i>. Data were gathered from 9- to 12-year-old girls who participated in a larger study of a depression treatment protocol. Two sets of five pairs of items were sampled from two children's depression measures. The item pairs contained one item from each measure. One set of item pairs was matched for content and the use of retrospective frequency structures. The other set was matched for content only. <i>Results</i>. For the first research question, information curves for the two item sets were generated using Samejima's (1969) Graded Response Model (GRM). Visual analyses of the information curves provided inconclusive results as to whether the presence of retrospective frequency structures is associated with differences in item information levels. The second research question was conducted in two parts. For both, only data from the 9- and 12-year-old participants were analyzed. In the first part, confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze measurement invariance across the two groups' responses. Theses analyses showed signs of measurement non-invariance in both item sets. The second part of the analyses was conducted by generating separate GRM information curves for the two age groups and conducting visual analyses of the information curves. These analyses showed that the model which had been used throughout the remainder of the study did not fit the 9-year-old group well. They also showed that the 12-year-old group's information curves varied more in height across measures and item sets than did the 9-year-old group's curves. <i>Discussion</i>. Although the findings failed to shed light on the effects of retrospective frequency structures on children's responding, they highlighted potential differences between the 9- and 12-year-old groups' factor structures and indicated that the 9-year-olds displayed decreased sensitivity to differences in item structure.</p>

<p> People with intellectual disability have historically been excluded from the benefits of psychotherapy, despite the higher incidence of mental illness, in general, and PTSD, in particular, in this population. It had been thought that intellectual disability precluded the cognitive and emotional ability required to participate in therapy. A growing body of literature is reporting successful application of a number of these therapies, established as empirically effective for the general population, with people with intellectual disability. Typically, minor modifications are required. Criticism continues, now based on the problem of using therapies with a population for which they have not been empirically established as effective. The current study contributes to the empirical process of establishing effectiveness of a specific trauma therapy for people with intellectual disability. It applies the EMDR therapy to six participants in a multiple-baseline, ABA, time-series experiment design. EMDR has previously been used with people with intellectual disability, reporting improved symptoms and functioning for the more than 35 cases published. For the current study, the participants were all diagnosed with PTSD and other diagnoses reflecting the emotional distress associated with histories of multi- and poly-traumatization, beginning at an early age. They received weekly assessments on multiple measures: self-report, physiological, observer ratings, and continuous actigraph recordings. Each participated for a minimum of 60 weeks, which included: an A phase, the Baseline; a B phase, the Intervention; and, a second A phase, Maintenance. After a Hiatus of six weeks, participants returned for Follow-up testing. The EMDR therapy was delivered during the Intervention phase, only. All participants lost the diagnosis of PTSD and showed emotional and functional improvement on a number of measures. The self-report measures produced the most descriptive time-series data, providing indication of change in a number of dimensions, visually interpretable from graphs of the data, included in this document. Linear regression analyses support visual analysis. Additional research in using the EMDR therapy with people with intellectual disability is recommended, with the purpose of establishing it as appropriate for use with this population. Limitations of the study are addressed. </p>

<p> This research seeks to understand how people in the Denver metropolitan area perceive and remember weather, climate, and climate change and how social, demographic, and environmental factors might influence these perceptions and memories. To do this, an online survey was completed in 2006 and in-person interviews were conducted in 2010 and 2011. The online survey and the in-person interviews both asked questions about recent weather, seasonal climate for specific years, beliefs about climate change and human impact on climate change, and social and demographic information. During the 2010&ndash;2011 in-person interviews, ambient meteorological conditions were recorded. For climate recollections, overall accuracy was about 20%. In general, women who were politically liberal, majored in a science field, believed in climate change, and were in a good mood were the most accurate for past climates. However, this accuracy was still only about 30%. For recent weather memories, the accuracy was about 50%. Time was the biggest indicator of accuracy, with the most recent weather being remembered the most accurately. When asked to rate the weather from positive to negative for specific events, respondents reported the weather with a negative bias for extremely negative flashbulb memory events. For perceptions about climate change, over 80% of the respondents in the Denver metropolitan area believed global warming was occurring and that humans had an impact on global warming. Over 80% of respondents believed that global warming will impact the Denver metropolitan area, however not all of these people knew how climate change would impact them personally. </p>