PSI CHI Journal of Psychological Research
Volume 16.4 | Winter 2011

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Benefits of Research Experience (A Farewell From the Outgoing Editor)
Randolph A. Smith, Editor, Lamar University

ABSTRACT: When I began my stint as editor of the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research (PCJUR), I wrote an editorial (Smith, 2009) in which I laid out my philosophy and my reasons for working with PCJUR. I noted that I was supported and encouraged to engage in research as an undergraduate and graduate student. I also noted that I carried this support over to my teaching, and that I believed that students benefitted greatly from engaging in research. In this parting editorial, I want to provide some support for that statement about students benefitting from the research process.

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Psi Chi Journal Now Serves All Psi Chi Members
Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez, Utah State University

ABSTRACT: The Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research has undergone an exciting transformation into the Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, a peer-reviewed, indexed journal, that now accepts manuscripts from all Psi Chi members. This change provides an excellent opportunity to review the evolution of the Journal and submission criteria as well as the twists and turns that the life of a submitted manuscript takes potential authors through once manuscripts are entrusted to the Psi Chi Journal team.

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Predicting Body Shame of College Women Based on Sexual Victimization
Recency and Frequency
Ava T. Carcirieri and Suzanne L. Osman, Salisbury University

ABSTRACT: We examined body shame based on sexual victimization experience, including its recency and frequency. Participants were 228 undergraduate women from a midsize public university. They completed the Body Shame subscale (BSS) of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS; McKinley & Hyde; 1996) and the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987). As predicted, women who experienced sexual victimization within the past year had greater body shame than women who experienced it earlier or not at all. However, unexpectedly, the latter two groups did not differ on body shame, and victimization frequency was not associated with body shame scores. Recent victimization experience may be most salient in the mind of the victim. Furthermore, perhaps women with recent victimization have not had time to overcome potential body-related trauma, as compared to women with earlier victimization.

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The Relations of Cynical Hostility and Depression to Sleep
Bryan T. Gastelle and Karl J. Maier, Salisbury University

ABSTRACT: Cynical hostility is related to various sleep problems and depression; however, it is not known if hostility relates to sleep independent of depression. We hypothesized that hostility would negatively relate to fatigue, as well as sleep quality and duration, but not independently of depressive symptoms. Participants (62 men, ages 18-30; 55% White) completed measures of depression (Beck Depression Inventory; Beck, 1987), cynical hostility (Cook-Medley Hostility Scale; Cook & Medley, 1954), and sleep. Hostility correlated with fatigue, r(60) = .33, p < .01, but this association did not remain after controlling for the effect of depression, ΔR²= .24, p < .001, in a hierarchical linear regression analysis. The finding that depression statistically accounted for the association between hostility and fatigue suggests that depression is important to consider as a potential mediator in prospective studies of hostility and sleep.

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Predictors of Beliefs About Altruism and Willingness to
Behave Altruistically
Allison Howard, Donna Nelson, and Merry Sleigh,
Winthrop University

ABSTRACT: We tested the effect of written priming about personal experiences of altruism on college students’ beliefs about altruism. We also examined predictors of participants’ willingness to exhibit helping behavior in a nonurgent situation. They generally had positive beliefs about altruism. Priming did not significantly affect participants’ beliefs about altruism, but did affect participants’ perceptions of the motivations underlying altruistic behavior. Similarly, priming did not significantly influence participants’ willingness to exhibit helping behavior when participants did not expect further personal benefits; however, participants with positive attitudes about altruism exhibited greater willingness to help. The findings suggest that beliefs about altruism may be stable tendencies not easily influenced by brief interventions and also suggest that positive altruistic attitudes predict altruistic behavior innonurgent situations.

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The Placebo Effect and the Relation Between Blood Pressure
and Pain Sensitivity
Rebecca C. Kamody, Elizabeth Woltja, Ashley D. Bugeja,
Sarah Jackson, and Suzanne G. Helfer, Adrian College

ABSTRACT: The goal of this study was to explore the relation between blood pressure and pain sensitivity and examine how the presentation of a placebo expectation affected this relation. We hypothesized that participants given an expectation that a cream would reduce pain would report less pain than participants not given this expectation. The results indicated that the hypothesis was correct; participants given the placebo expectation experienced less pain than participants in the control condition. We found negative correlations between blood pressure and pain, such that participants with lower blood pressure experienced the greatest pain. The introduction of the placebo expectation did not affect this relation. Similarly, the introduction of the placebo had no effect on blood pressure. This research contributes to the understanding of responses to acute pain.

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Home to Work Spillover and Psychological Distress in
Middle-Aged Women
Christina M. Marini and Katherine L. Fiori, Adelphi University

ABSTRACT: Our primary aim was to evaluate the interactive nature of positive and negative spillover from home to work in predicting depressive symptomatology in a middle-aged sample of employed women (N = 3,511 and mean age = 54). Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (Hauser & Sewell, 1957-2005), we ran a hierarchical linear regression to test our hypotheses that positive spillover would be negatively associated and negative spillover positively associated with depressive symptoms and that positive and negative spillover would interact in predicting psychological distress. Our hypotheses were largely supported. Our findings demonstrate the potential for positive spillover to buffer against the detrimental effects of negative spillover on mental health in a population of women typically overlooked in the literature on home-work spillover (i.e., middle-aged employed women likely caring for adult children and/or aging parents).