Faculty Books and Book Chapters
This is a select list of works produced by the faculty of the College of Psychology at Nova Southeastern University
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Birth Complications
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Complications during childbirth can pose a serious threat to both infant and maternal health. Birth complications can lead to a variety of different health risks, ranging from minor to severe in nature. The following common labor complications can happen even after a standard pregnancy with no difficulties or high risk variables.
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Generativity
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
In psychology, the term generativity refers to concern for the future and the need to offer positive contributions to future generations. The term first appeared in stage seven of Erik Erikson’s model of psychosocial development (generativity vs. stagnation). Erikson’s model postulates that generativity occurs explicitly in middle adulthood, but a more recent model of generativity created by Dan McAdams proposes that generativity occurs as a function of increasing cultural demand and concern for future generations, rather than a function of personality change (McAdams, 2001).
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Heredity
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Heredity is the sum of biological processes that result in the transmission of genetic traits from parents to their offspring, making each individual unique. Through the transmission of genetic traits, heredity is responsible for each individual’s genotype, as well as his or her phenotype. The genes that are passed down from generation to generation have a considerable influence on psychological characteristics including intelligence, personality, mental health, and patterns of behavior. However, when considering psychological characteristics passed down through heredity, it is vital that environmental aspects are also considered.
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Life Review
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
In traditional societies, storytelling was an art used to help understand the meaning of life. Storytellers typically included older adults who had experienced challenges in their lives and were aiming to help the young learn from them. This tradition of storytelling not only facilitated the transmission of valuable information between generations, but it also improved the elderly’s social status. One of the many changes associated with modernized society has been placing a larger focus on youth, allowing the elderly to be marginalized within society. As a byproduct of the focus on youth in modern society, older adults have collectively experienced a loss of purpose, which leads to lower self-esteem. Life review serves as a mechanism through which older adults can maintain high levels of perceived purpose and self-esteem throughout old age.
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Metabolic Theories of Aging
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles j. Golden
Excerpt
Metabolic theories of aging postulate that aging is due to energy expenditure, which ultimately results in the breakdown and eventual death of cells. Historically, within the realm of metabolic theories of aging, there have been three models: The Rate-of-Living theory, The Oxidative Damage/Free Radical theory, and the Metabolic Stability theory. All three theories maintain that aging is directly related to metabolic rate, but the theories differ in how they arrive at that conclusion.
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Nutrition and Growth
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
From a child’s embryonic development in the womb to adulthood, nutrition plays a key role in physical, mental, and social growth and development. Throughout the lifespan, proper nutrition and growth are essential to living a long, healthy life. Nutrition is particularly important in the developmental period.
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Perception
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Perception is the process through which humans are able to select, organize, and interpret sensory input from the external environment. This process of selection, organization, and interpretation of external sensory stimulation results in our internal representation of the outside world, as well as our conscious experience. Through the process of perception, we are able to gain information and knowledge about our environment, allowing us to safely and effectively navigate in the world.
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Possible Selves
Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Self-concept is an individual’s idea of who the individual was in the past, who the individual is at present, and who that individual has the potential to become in the future. When considering self-concept, group memberships and other social roles typically shape how an individual thinks about him- or herself. A strong self-concept helps an individual to make sense of his or her present situation, maintains positive feelings through difficult situations, make sensible predictions about the future, as well as helps to sustain motivation.
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Attachment Theory: John Dollard and Neal Miller
Carla J. Cabrera, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
John Dollard and Neal Miller collaborated to develop the learning theory of attachment that connects theories from Sigmund Freud and Clark Hull to reconcile psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Their combined interests helped with the efforts to develop a unified theory incorporating psychodynamic theory, learning theory, and influence of sociocultural factors.
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Complex Emotions
Jessica Choe, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles Golden
Excerpt
Complex emotions are ways in which an individual reacts and respond to complex social situations when encountering people and situations in the social world. Thus, complex emotions are ways of coping and adapting to complex social situations. Complex emotions are mental representations that have been studied on a three-level analysis surrounding the body, mind, and society, which translates to the biological and the evolutionary, the mental and the psychological, and the social and the cultural. This approach has been referred to as the neurocognitive sociology of emotions.
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Representative Sampling
Jessica Choe, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
The research process begins with an initial observation that scientists or researchers of various backgrounds want to engage in and understand, which prompts them to formulate theories and hypotheses, collect data, and use statistical procedures to organize, summarize, and interpret gathered data. Research conducted through questionnaires or surveys are often utilized to determine the nature of a population or the interests of members in a particular group.
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Programmed Cell Death
Skyler Coetzee, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Programmed cell death (PCD) is cellular death that is deliberately induced via an intracellular program. There are two main mechanisms of PCD, apoptosis and autophagic cell death. The most common form of PCD in multicellular organisms, including humans, is apoptosis.
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Physical Growth, Adolescent
Alison E. Datoc, Vijay Bajnath, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Adolescents experience a period of substantial growth between puberty and adulthood. This growth spurt typically occurs between ages 12 and 18, and is associated with various physical changes due to fluctuations in hormones. These changes are manifested in an individual’s height, weight, and sexual characteristics, and there is considerable variation between each individual for when these changes occur.
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Longevity
Alison E. Datoc, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Longevity, defined as the length of an individual life, is a topic that has been explored by the scientific community as well as across cultures for decades. Health professionals repeatedly encourage individuals to eat more vegetables, exercise more, lose weight, and engage in other health-related behaviors to live a long and healthy life; however, recent literature suggests predictors of extending life are more complex than these recommendations. While there is no specific formula to guarantee a long life, it is well-established that a multitude of factors contribute to an individual’s longevity. These factors ultimately break down into three categories- genetics, disposition, and lifestyle choices.
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Stress (Personality Types)
Alison E. Datoc, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Both stress and personality types are multifaceted topics that have been defined in multiple ways. Examining the relationship between stress and personality types is complex; however, literature on this relationship is well-established. While early research on the relationship between personality and stress focused on unidimensional personality traits, such as the relationship between stress and Type A personality, optimism, and hostility, research in this field today takes a comprehensive approach conceptualizing personality in five dimensions. The most widely accepted method of defining personality today is the Big Five model, consisting of five independent factors of personality: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
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Subjective Well-Being
Alison E. Datoc, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined as an individual’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life. The cognitive element encompasses how one feels about his or her life, and the affective element refers to emotions, moods, and feelings. In simpler terms, SWB represents an individual’s happiness and life satisfaction. The concept of SWB has been discussed for centuries; however, interest in this field has grown exponentially since the 1950s as Psychologists expanded their focus on negative emotional states such as depression to also explore positive emotional states such as happiness and feelings of well-being.
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Multiple Regression
Christian DeLucia, Kaleb Pratt, and Ashley Strong
Excerpt
Researchers use statistical models to test hypotheses about developmental phenomena. The multiple regression model is a powerful and flexible statistical model that can be used to answer a multitude of research questions. For example, a researcher might be interested in testing whether parent substance use, peer substance use, and lower school performance are risk factors for adolescent substance use. By collecting data on a sample of adolescents, a researcher could use a multiple regression model to provide insights into this research question. Below, we provide a brief, non-technical introduction to the multiple regression model.
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Information Processing Theory (R.J. Lachman)
Kimberly Chantelle Diah, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Information Processing Theory is a cognitive approach designed to understand human learning. Several perspectives of this theory emerged from the cognitive revolution in psychology beginning in the 1950s. The invention of the technological age of computers brought with it an innovative way of understanding how information is processed in humans. This lead researcher to draw analogies between the processing ability of humans and computers. The human-computer analogy developed from the foundation that as computers are able to process information so too can humans in a very similar method. Both encompasses ‘cognitive’ processes such as learning or obtaining information, solving problems, making decisions and recalling or retrieving information.
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Midlife Stress
Kimberly Chantelle Diah, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
Midlife stress occurs naturally through the aging process but can be the result of an external psychological stressor due to loss or change such as occupational stress, health concerns, parental bereavement and divorce. Coping with the psychological suffering associated with these stressors brings challenges throughout all stages of life, but when it occurs during midlife it can be complicated by heightened or unique feelings of bewilderment. For men, recognition of their own mortality and sense of purpose in life can drive the experience of midlife stress. For women, this experience may be derived from feelings of emptiness and sadness, physical changes related to menopause and the challenges of the addition of roles such as becoming caretakers for elderly parents.
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Spirituality
Kimberly Chantelle Diah, Lisa K. Lashley, and Charles J. Golden
Excerpt
The concept of spirituality is polysemic and adapts different meaning based on individual experiences, culture, and purpose. For many, spirituality means being a part of a structured religion such as attending church, going to a mosque or synagogue. For others, it is a personal journey that involves meditation, yoga, private worship with a higher power or God and reflection. Spirituality can also be a way of seeking meaning through connections with other people, or nature. Virtually, it is a broad concept that allows multiple perspectives to take hold. While the object or belief may differ, the commonality among spirituality suggests a connection to something more significant than the individual self and involves searching for purpose and meaning in life. Spirituality exists as a universal human experience that can adapt and change throughout life through evolving relationships and experiences with the world.