1,749 research outputs found

    An examination of the verbal behaviour of intergroup discrimination

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    This thesis examined relationships between psychological flexibility, psychological inflexibility, prejudicial attitudes, and dehumanization across three cross-sectional studies with an additional proposed experimental study. Psychological flexibility refers to mindful attention to the present moment, willing acceptance of private experiences, and engaging in behaviours congruent with oneā€™s freely chosen values. Inflexibility, on the other hand, indicates a tendency to suppress unwanted thoughts and emotions, entanglement with oneā€™s thoughts, and rigid behavioural patterns. Study 1 found limited correlations between inflexibility and sexism, racism, homonegativity, and dehumanization. Study 2 demonstrated more consistent positive associations between inflexibility and prejudice. And Study 3 controlled for right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, finding inflexibility predicted hostile sexism and racism beyond these factors. While showing some relationships, particularly with sexism and racism, psychological inflexibility did not consistently correlate with varied prejudices across studies. The proposed randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention to reduce sexism through enhanced psychological flexibility. Overall, findings provide mixed support for the utility of flexibility-based skills in addressing complex societal prejudices. Research should continue examining flexibility integrated with socio-cultural approaches to promote equity

    Making sense of psychological abuse in romantic relationships: a thematic analysis

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    Studies indicate that psychological abuse is more pervasive and insidious than physical or sexual abuse (Semple, 2001). It has serious physical and psychological consequences, and yet is an under-researched area of intimate partner violence (Lammers et al., 2005). Moreover, there is little consensus among researchers (e.g. Chang, 1996; Follingstad et al., 1990; Kelly, 2004; Lammers et al., 2005; Marshall, 1996; Murphy & Oā€™Leary, 1989; Tolman, 1989) as to what constitutes psychological abuse, how it is experienced over time, and how victims make sense of it. This research therefore aims to address the questions: (1) How do victims describe their experiences of being in psychologically abusive romantic relationships? (2) How do victims make sense of, and address issues of accountability in their psychologically abusive relationships? An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on two data sets. Seven blog entries of victimsā€™ experiences of psychological abuse and 20 semi-structured interviews with victims of psychologically abusive relationships were analyzed. One overarching theme and five key themes were identified across the blogs. The overarching theme of (Retrospective Accountability) encapsulated the way that individuals tended to account for their own thoughts or actions upon the reflection of their relationships. In the first key theme, the bloggers described the beginning stages of their relationship as 'blissful' and overwhelmingly happy (Blissful Beginnings), but tended to question upon reflection whether the beginning stages were in fact ever truly happy. Second, the invisibility of psychological abuse pervaded accounts and its presence was described as building imperceptibly over time (The Invisible Nature of Abuse). Third, many of the bloggers described a Loss of Self or identity. Fourth, they portrayed abuse as a 'cycle' of brief periods of warmth, abusive and manipulating tactics, withdrawal, and intermittent warmth again (The Continuous Cycle of Abuse). Finally, victims described the ending process of their relationship as a series of stages which led to leaving (The Leaving Process). Similar themes were identified in the analysis of the interview data with some differences. One overarching theme and four key themes were identified across the semi-structured interviews. The overarching theme, (Retrospective Sense-Making), referred to the idea that through several retrospective descriptions, victims tended to make sense of the abuse, changes within themselves, and their experience as a whole. The first key theme, How This Was Abuse, encapsulated the ways in which victims constructed how they experienced psychological abuse showing that psychological abuse was an all-consuming, confusing experience that left significant impact on its victims and was difficult to describe in retrospect. A second theme, I am Less Than I Was Before, related to the way the victims noted a change in interests and loss of identity over the course of the relationship, but with difficulty in recognizing and understanding it at the time. Third, Managing Blame and Accountability, focused on the ways in which victims addressed issues of accountability and blame within themselves and others. Several victims attributed aspects of getting involved in the relationship and their partnersā€™ abusive behaviors to violence or neglect in families of origin. Fourth, Itā€™s Good That it Ended? consisted of the ways in which victims reflected upon the dissolution of their relationships while concurrently seeking confirmation that it was the right thing to do during the process of describing these endings. Here in contrast to the stages above, victims described a series of turning points which they claimed were key in recognizing the abuse and moving them toward the end of their relationships. Together the findings of the two studies provided insight into how victims made sense of their psychologically abusive relationships over time revealing a difficulty in identifying abuse as well as changes within themselves at the time of the relationship. A continuous cycle of abuse became apparent in the descriptions indicating the utility of Loringā€™s (1994) Connection-Deprivation Cycle, although this is rarely referred to by other researchers when attempting to understand how psychological abuse functions in a relationship. The findings also served to address/reject common assumptions or potential criticisms of victims (e.g. why didnā€™t they just leave?) and furthermore extended previous work (Chang, 1996) on how individuals accounted for getting involved in a psychologically abusive relationship. New research was added on how victims reflected upon their beliefs as to why their partners may have been more prone to implementing psychological abuse in romantic relationships

    Safe passage for attachment systems:Can attachment security at international schools be measured, and is it at risk?

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    Relocations challenge attachment networks. Regardless of whether a person moves or is moved away from, relocation produces separation and loss. When such losses are repeatedly experienced without being adequately processed, a defensive shutting down of the attachment system could result, particularly when such experiences occur during or across the developmental years. At schools with substantial turnover, this possibility could be shaping youth in ways that compromise attachment security and young peopleā€™s willingness or ability to develop and maintain deep long-term relationships. Given the well-documented associations between attachment security, social support, and long-term physical and mental health, the hypothesis that mobility could erode attachment and relational health warrants exploration. International schools are logical settings to test such a hypothesis, given their frequently high turnover without confounding factors (e.g. war trauma or refugee experiences). In addition, repeated experiences of separation and loss in international school settings would seem likely to create mental associations for the young people involved regarding how they and others tend to respond to such situations in such settings, raising the possibility that people at such schools, or even the school itself, could collectively be represented as an attachment figure. Questions like these have received scant attention in the literature. They warrant consideration because of their potential to shape young peopleā€™s most general convictions regarding attachment, which could, in turn, have implications for young peopleā€™s ability to experience meaning in their lives

    Introduction to Psychology

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    Introduction to Psychology is a modified version of Psychology 2e - OpenStax

    The Individual And Their World

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    A Portrait of Culturally Responsive, Socially Just School Leadership: A Latino Critical Theory Student Perspective

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    As the student demographics in classrooms across America shift to become more ethnically diverse, schools are examining their practices in supporting how students are prepared for college and career. This support includes the introduction of innovative learning environments aimed to provide students with opportunities to explore career pathways. The purpose of this qualitative study was to illuminate the leadership skills, attitudes, and knowledge that Latina/o/x students within an Innovative Learning Environment perceive as supporting students. This study examined how Latina/o/x students perceive the attitudes, skills, and knowledge of culturally responsive socially just school leadership in innovative learning environments. Through the lens of the existing literature and LatCrit Theory, the researcher identified the knowledges, skills, and attitudes of school leaders that supported Latina/o/x students. This research used portraiture methodology. Through semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, observation, document review, and photograph collection, the results of the study revealed that students perceived school staff as leaders supporting their success and thriving, not limited to school administrators. Data were collected over 12 months from three focus group interviews, 11 individual interviews, and over 90 hours of direct observations in natural settings and review of documents. The participants, who were viewed as equally knowing subjects, helped co-construct the findings presented as five themes: Everyone is a Leader, Prioritizing Belonging, Dynamic Learning Environments, Empowerment to Take Risks, and Navigating Different Worlds. Recommendations are made to provide meaningful supports for Latina/o/x students in innovative learning environments. Further research is needed to expand the ways educators and school leaders think about supporting minoritized students. Findings from this inquiry justify culturally responsive, socially just school leadership for minoritized students

    More Than ā€œJust a Friendā€: Exploring the Therapeutic Needs of Adult Survivors of a Suicide Loss of a Friend

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    Individuals who are bereaved by the suicide loss of a loved one (also known as ā€œsuicide survivorsā€) face high rates of complicated grief, mental illness, social isolation, experiences of stigma, and suicide attempts. While suicide loss therapy (or ā€œpostventionā€) attracts many individuals grieving familial suicides, those impacted by the suicide loss of a close friend are underrepresented in both individual and group therapies, despite indications that friend suicide survivors are impacted at an equivalent level and frequency to family members. Using a constructivist grounded theory method, this study aimed to investigate the lived experiences and therapeutic needs of 8 adults who identified as suicide survivors and attended psychotherapy to address grief after the suicide loss of a friend. Findings suggest that friend suicide survivors benefit from both individual therapy and suicide loss support groups; specifically, friend suicide survivors view therapy as a space to process complex emotions, challenge self-blame, obtain education about grief, and connect with group members. However, friend suicide survivors also desire to receive more specialized care from individual therapists with experience and training in suicide bereavement. While friend suicide survivors may experience challenges to help-seeking, including stigma and a perceived lack of social permission to grieve friends, they may feel motivated by the ā€œwake-up callā€ of friendsā€™ suicides and existing relationships with therapists. Outside of therapy, friend suicide survivors appear to benefit from social support from other suicide survivors and engaging in meaning-making activities. Results of this study have implications for training of mental health professionals and best practices for working with suicide survivors

    The Texture of Everyday Life: Carceral Realism and Abolitionist Speculation

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    Exploring the ways in which prisons shape the subjectivity of free-world thinkers, and the ways that subjectivity is expressed in literary texts, this dissertation develops the concept of carceral realism: a cognitive and literary mode that represents prisons and police as the only possible response to social disorder. As this dissertation illustrates, this form of consciousness is experienced as racial paranoia, and it is expressed literary texts, which reflect and help to reify it. Through this process of cultural reification, carceral realism increasingly insists on itself as the only possible mode of thinking. As I argue, however, carceral realism actually stands in a dialectical relationship to abolitionist speculation, or, the active imagining of a world without prisons and police and/or the conditions necessary to actualize such a world. In much the same way that carceral realism embeds itself in realist literary forms, abolitionist speculation plays a constitutive role in the utopian literary tradition. In order to elaborate these concepts, this dissertation begins with a meta-consideration of how cultural productions by incarcerated people are typically framed. Building upon the work of scholars and incarcerated authorsā€™ own interventions in questions of consciousness, authorship, textual production, and study, this chapter contrasts that typical frame with a method of abolitionist reading. Chapter two applies this methodology to Edward Bunkerā€™s 1977 novel The Animal Factory and Claudia Rankineā€™s 2010 poem Citizen in order to develop the concept of carceral realism and demonstrate how it has developed from the 1970s to the present. In order to lay out the historical foundations of the modern prison, chapter three looks back to the late 18th century and situates the emergence of the penitentiary within debates regarding race, citizenship, and state power. Returning to the 1970s, chapter four investigates the role universities have played in the formation of carceral realism and the complex relationship Chicanos and Asian Americans have to prisons and police by analogizing the institutionalization of prison literary study to the formation of ethnic studies. Chapter five draws this project to a conclusion by developing the concept of abolitionist speculation, or the active imagining of a world without prisons or the police and/or the conditions necessary to realize such a world, which I identify as both a constitutive generic feature of utopian literature and something that exceeds literature altogether. In doing so, this dissertation establishes an ongoing historical relationship between social reproduction of prisons and literary forms that cuts across time, geography, race, gender, and genre

    An Experiential Qualitative Analysis Exploring the Sexual Identity Experiences of Latino Caribbean Cisgender Gay Men

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    This qualitative study aims to explore the unique experiences and challenges faced by Latino Caribbean cisgender gay men within their cultural and social contexts. Using focus group and thematic analysis, the researcher examines the narratives and perspectives of a diverse sample of Latino Caribbean cisgender gay men (n = 6) to gain insights into their sexual identity process, cultural influences, family dynamics, and support systems utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the methodological framework. The researcherā€™s findings highlight the themes of Awareness of Sexual Identity, Visibility Management, Spanish Caribbean Families\u27 Influences, Being True to Oneself, and Positive Experiences & Role Models as key factors influencing the participants\u27 experiences. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the intersections between sexual and cultural identities for Latino Caribbean cisgender gay men. The participants navigate the complex process of self-acceptance and disclosure while balancing cultural expectations and societal norms. The role of family and community support emerges as both a source of strength and potential challenge in their journeys of self-exploration and acceptance. The findings shed light on the need to research the sexual identity process for Caribbean LGBTQ+ individuals, couples, and families within a social justice framework. These findings highlight the importance of creating inclusive spaces, promoting visibility, and providing culturally sensitive support services to address the unique needs of this population. And contribute to the existing literature on sexual identity development, cultural diversity, and family dynamics, and provide insights that can inform interventions, policies, and practices aimed at promoting the well-being and empowerment of Latino Caribbean LGBTQ+ individual

    Latina Christian Women Describe Their Religious Experience Overcoming Child Abuse Trauma in the Western United States

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    Abstract This phenomenological study aimed to understand and discover the childhood abuse experienced by Christian Latinas in the Western United States. The theory guiding this study was Lazarus and Folkman\u27s stress and coping theory, as it focused on the adaptation to stress as a process of interaction between individuals and stressful stimuli. This study explored issues concerning religious coping and how participants adapted and managed child abuse. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview process, whereby the discussion was recorded to ensure that all pertinent information was collected with participant consent. The interviews lasted 1ā€“1.5 hours each, depending on the candidate\u27s experience level. The data collected were isolated into distinct categories, and eight themes were identified and analyzed. Latina Christian women had difficulties with trauma and struggled to heal childhood abuse. These women experienced childhood trauma, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, and behavioral challenges in adulthood. Latinas had a higher prevalence of experiencing child abuse trauma. Also, their cultural values and beliefs made shame and guilt keep them quiet, and they did not seek the treatment they needed. The developmental stage when child abuse occurred, and the perception of the abuse made significant differences in the impact of the trauma. Childhood abuse affects the attachment relationship in adulthood. Trauma-informed care approaches that included cultural values and acceptance were essential in treating the Latina population with a Biblical base that reflected God\u27s love and mercy. Keywords: child abuse, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, Latina, Christian women
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