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A Self-Regulation Model Of Depression: Content Of Cognitive Representations And Prediction Of Treatment Seeking, Catherine Leite

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Leventhal's self-regulation model (SRM) was applied as a conceptual framework from which to examine individuals' cognitive representations of depressive symptoms. This thesis explored the nature of these representations, as well as factors that may impact on these representations and, in turn, influence coping strategies and professional help seeking. In particular, Study 1 examined the effect of symptom severity and the label used to identify the symptoms on the cognitive representations of depressive symptoms and coping, whereas Study 2 examined the effect of symptom duration in this regard. This thesis also considered the extent to which the various SRM domains are …

Flexibility In Parent-Child Interactions: The Application Of Dynamic Systems Methodology To Dyadic Processes In Children With Behaviour Problems, Vivien Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dynamic systems theory (DST) can provide a comprehensive account for how parent-child interactions evolve over time to produce stable patterns of interacting and can result in seemingly divergent trajectories. Recent methodological advances using state space grids (SSGs) have provided a graphical means to examine real-time dyadic processes, as well as measures of dyadic flexibility, or the ability to adapt emotional and behavioural responding in response to contextual demands. Higher levels of dyadic flexibility have been associated with improvements in child behaviour problems after treatment (Granic et al., 2007), while its converse, rigidity, has been associated with increases in behaviour …

The Expression Of Religious Bias In The Evaluation Of Foreign-Trained Job Applicants, Caroline Bennett-Abuayyash

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation compromises 2 experiments that investigated religious discrimination as it particularly affects foreign-trained job applicants. Study 1 consisted of a 3 (Applicant’s religion: Christian, Muslim, or No Affiliation) X 2 (Applicant’s location of training: Canada or Cyprus) between-subjects design. After viewing an advertisement for a health-care position, Canadian participants reviewed a male applicant’s CV and watched his taped interview, in which a briefly visible pendant indicated his religious affiliation. The job applicant was then evaluated on two sets of skills: hard (technical) skills and soft (non-technical) skills. As predicted based on the justification suppression model of prejudice (Crandall & …

Development Of A Cohesion Inventory For Children's Sport Teams, Luc J. Martin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to develop an inventory designed to measure cohesion in children’s (ages 9-12) sport teams. To this end, three studies were conducted. In Study 1, children became active agents in the process of test construction. More specifically, children (N = 167) participated in focus groups and completed open-ended questionnaires in order to provide information on their perceptions of cohesion as well as motives for participating, continuing, and ceasing involvement on sport teams. Study 2 involved the use of the information obtained from Study 1 to develop potential items for the questionnaire. In addition, the …

The Moderating Effect Of Reciprocity Beliefs On Work Outcomes, Stephanie Hastings

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Researchers have long assumed that employees’ reactions to treatment by their organization are guided by reciprocity norms. Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) developed a measure to assess how sensitive employees were to reciprocity obligations, focusing in particular on their beliefs that work effort should depend on treatment by the organization. Since then, research has found that this Exchange Ideology (EI) predicts variables such as organizational citizenship but cannot predict negative outcomes such as workplace deviance. Insight into why this is the case can be found by examining the related construct of reciprocity orientation. Positive (PRO) and Negative Reciprocity Orientation …

Workplace Commitment And Employee Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis And Study Of Commitment Profiles, Elyse R. Maltin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Employee commitments have been connected to a multitude of organizationally- relevant variables, including turnover, absenteeism, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours (e.g., Meyer, Stanley, Herscovtich, & Topolnytsky, 2002). Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the form these commitments take matters; that is, research has shown that commitment based on a mindset of affective attachment has the strongest positive relations with desired outcomes, while commitment based on mindsets of social or economic costs has much weaker and sometimes even negative relations with these same outcomes.

Far less research exists on the connection between workplace commitments and their implications for employees themselves, although …

The Power Of Dialogue: Understanding Developmental Origins And Processes Underlying Mother-Child Conversations About Past Emotional Events, Celia Hsiao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mother-child emotion dialogues represent an integral medium through which children’s autobiography develops. This study sought to understand the developmental origins and processes underlying this co-construction process by examining the inter-relations between: mother-infant attachment relationships, maternal attachment representations, maternal sensitivity during interactions in infancy, maternal affective mindset during toddlerhood, and mother-child emotion dialogues.

Our findings are consistent with past research on the links between the three organized categories of mother-infant attachment relationships and later mother-child emotion dialogues. Children in disorganized attachment relationships displayed a lack of consistent and coherent strategy during emotion communication. Our results emphasize the important role of maternal …

Do I Feel Dissonance Over You? Sex Differences In The Experience Of Dissonance For Romantic Partners, Sandra D. Lackenbauer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present research investigated sex differences in the experience of cognitive dissonance after decisions made for oneself or for one’s romantic partner. Guided by theory and research suggesting that women and men possess divergent self-construals, I predicted that women would experience more dissonance when making a difficult decision for their partner relative to men. Both men and women were predicted to experience dissonance after decisions made for themselves, although possibly to a lesser degree for women. In two studies, a modified free-choice dissonance paradigm was utilized to test sex differences in the experience of cognitive dissonance, as determined by the …

The Use Of Capacity As An Indicator Of Automatic Processing: Is Smoking Automatic?, Agnes A. Massak

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It has been suggested that substance use transitions from a controlled to an automatic process (Tiffany, 1990). In particular, smoking has been found to appear automatic (Baxter & Hinson, 2001). Experienced smokers were able to attend to a reaction time task with minimal interference while smoking. Novice smokers’ performances were impaired when smoking. These results were based on differences in mean reaction times using analysis of variance. Another analytic approach to test the hypothesis that smoking is an automatic process is through the use of capacity coefficients and ratios. These mathematical tools allow for the direct testing of mental processing. …

Contributions Of Signal-Detection Mechanisms And Semantic Memory Representations To Famous Name Recognition, Ben P. Bowles

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In past research, investigators have often used the recognition memory paradigm to study the cognitive and neural processes that permit the ability to accurately assess whether or not stimuli are familiar. This paradigm involves presenting stimuli to participants in a study phase, and examining their later recognition of them when these stimuli are subsequently presented again in a later test phase. It is not well understood, however, whether the same mechanisms that support familiarity assessment in recognition memory also support familiarity based on general life experience (e.g., recognizing a famous celebrity in daily life). To address this, I implemented modified …

A Model, Leah K. Hamilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

to be released at conclusion of embargo.

An Investigation Of Masked Priming Mechanisms In Binary Classification Tasks, Jason Perry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of the present research was to examine the nature of masked priming with an emphasis on the influence of stimulus-response (S-R) associations. In Chapter 2, both the magnitude of the category congruence (priming) effect and the nature of the priming distance effect were assessed in two number classification tasks. Participants made either magnitude (i.e., is the target larger or smaller than ‘5’?) or identification judgments (i.e., press one button if the target is a ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ or ‘4’ or the other button if the target is a ‘6’, ‘7’, ‘8’ or ‘9’). Priming distance effects in …

The Prejudice Paradox (Or Discrimination Is Not Dead): Systematic Discrimination In Forced Choice Employment Decisions, Paula M. Brochu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examined discriminatory responding in a forced choice employment decision paradigm, using a justification-suppression perspective to interpret the findings. In this paradigm, participants play the role of employers and make employment choices between two excellent and similarly qualified individuals that differ only on one dimension. In the first three studies, participants chose between two individuals who were described as differing only in ethnicity (European vs. Middle Eastern), gender (Male vs. Female), religion (Christian vs. Muslim), age (Young vs. Old), height (Tall vs. Short), weight (Average Weight vs. Overweight), nationality (Canadian vs. Immigrant), or sexual orientation (Heterosexual vs. Homosexual). Patterns …

Judging Covers By Their Books: Malleable Attractiveness Appraisals In Response To Belongingness Feedback, Christopher J. Wilbur

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present research examined biases in appraisals of target attractiveness in response to belongingness feedback. Specifically, I hypothesized that individuals would provide favorable attractiveness appraisals of targets who accept them, and would provide unfavorable attractiveness appraisals of targets who reject them. I hypothesized further that biased appraisals would be most pronounced when people received feedback from opposite-sex targets. Two literatures guided the development of the present research. The first literature underscores the power of reciprocal liking – people like those who like them. In mirror fashion, people are highly critical of targets who deny opportunities for social affiliation. The second …

Mechanisms Behind The Success Of Exercise As An Adjunct Quit Smoking Aid, Therese M. Harper

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is well documented that temporarily abstinent smokers who undergo an acute bout of moderate intensity exercise experience a reduction in nicotine craving and withdrawal. Conversely, available research in chronic exercise and smoking cessation does not reliably demonstrate that combining exercise with well established treatments increases smoking abstinence rates. The overall aim of this dissertation was to investigate mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of exercise in a group of female smokers taking part in a 14 week exercise plus nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) patch programme. Determining how smokers may benefit from exercise has important implications for designing effective interventions. Three …

The Importance Of Self-Efficacy And Basic Psychological Needs In Children’S Physical Activity: Measurement, Prediction And Intervention, Casey E. Gray

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The importance of physical activity in the overall health promotion and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease risk factors and metabolic diseases in children is well established. Nonetheless, interventions to increase physical activity among this population have been largely unsuccessful. The main objective of the research in this dissertation was to explore the suitability of self-efficacy and basic psychological needs for physical activity prediction and intervention in children. Item generation and psychometric evaluation of psychological questionnaires occurred in study 1 (Chapter 2). Using a prospective design, study 2 (Chapter 3) established task efficacy, barriers efficacy, competence, and autonomy as significant predictors …

Carving Cognition At Its Joints: Insights From The Interaction Between Explicit And Implicit Social Cognition, Kurt R. Peters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The distinction of cognition into kinds of cognitive process has proven theoretically fruitful and empirically compelling, but there remain significant challenges in deciding how best to carve cognition. First, it is unclear how to design measurement procedures that select distinct kinds of cognitive processing as exclusively as possible and, conversely, how to interpret the results of different kinds of measurement procedure. Second, the distinction between kinds of cognition must be specified with enough precision to derive empirically testable and falsifiable predictions. Third, there must be a reasonable explanation, ultimately compatible with phylogenetic evidence, for the existence of the specified distinction …

The Utility And Feasibility Of Metric Calibration For Basic Psychological Research, Etienne Lebel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Inspired by the history of the development of instruments in the physical sciences, and by past psychology giants, the following dissertation aimed to advance basic psychological science by investigating the metric calibration of psychological instruments. The over-arching goal of the dissertation was to demonstrate that it is both useful and feasible to calibrate the metric of psychological instruments so as to render their metrics non-arbitrary. Concerning utility, a conceptual analysis was executed delineating four categories of proposed benefits of non-arbitrary metrics including (a) help in the interpretation of data, (b) facilitation of construct validity research, (c) contribution to theory development, …

A Social Relations Analysis Of Transactive Memory In Groups, Sarah J. Ross

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Transactive memory is the knowledge of what others in a group know and the exchange of that knowledge. In groups with effective transactive memory systems, members know “who knows what”, send knowledge to the appropriate individuals, and develop strategies for retrieving that information (Mohammed & Dumville, 2001; Wegner, 1995). Transactive memory studies tend to focus on the group as a whole, but useful information might be gathered by investigating transactive memory in dyads within groups. The purpose of this research was to use the social relations model (Kenny & LaVoie, 1984) as the basis for operationalizing transactive memory and …

An Observational Assessment Of Peer Group Contributions To Adolescent Identity Development, Tara M. Dumas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that interaction-based peer groups play an important role in adolescents’ identity development. Peer group members’ current identity development and peer group interaction processes were examined as predictors of teens’ later identity exploration and commitment. Participants (n = 1070; 522 girls; M_age = 15.45 years) reported on their identity development and a subset of participants took part in an interactive group decision task within peer triads (n = 258; 86 triads). Task-related interactions were coded for support (openness to opinions) or discouragement (teasing of opinions and controlling behaviours) of …

Dissociable And Dynamic Components Of Cognitive Control: A Developmental Electrophysiological Investigation, Matthew Waxer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

One standard task used to investigate the development of cognitive control is the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS). Performance and patterns of brain activity associated with the DCCS show continued age-related advances into early adolescence. According to many theoretical accounts, the DCCS places demands on a single underlying executive control process. Three experiments examined the possibility that the DCCS places demands on multiple control processes that follow distinct developmental trajectories. In Experiment 1, rule switching and conflict processing made orthogonal contributions to DCCS performance. Rule switching was associated with a cue-locked late frontal negativity (LFN) event-related potential (ERP) and conflict …

Exploring Process Dissociation As A Tool For Investigating Discrimination In Hiring Situations, Rhys J. Lewis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Process dissociation is introduced as a way to overcome methodological limitations currently hindering sexism research. Researchers have identified two main types of sexism in hiring contexts. Meta-analyses confirm that men are traditionally advantaged over women (Tosi & Einbender, 1985), and that both genders encounter discrimination when applying to a job typically associated with the other gender (Davison & Burke, 2000). One problem is that these two biases are often confounded. As a result, researchers have hitherto been limited to showing that the two biases exist, but are largely unable to quantify them.

A possible solution might be process dissociation. It …

Does Anyone Really Like Horror Movies? Personality And Automatic Affective Reactions To Frightening Films, Michael E. Battista

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

I sought to explain why many people willingly expose themselves to apparently unpleasant media, such as horror movies. Participants (N = 133) completed a modified version of the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP; Payne et al., 2005), which assessed initial affective reactions to screenshots from movies that were either frightening or neutral. The time between exposure to the screenshots and assessment of affect was either short (100 ms) or long (1000 ms). Explicit attitudes about the movies and about the horror genre were also assessed, in addition to the following personality variables: The Big Five, Machiavellianism (from the Supernumerary Personality …

Sexual Differentiation In The Auditory System: An Investigation Into Prenatal And Adult Sex Steroid Influences On Otoacoustic Emissions, Adrian W.K. Snihur

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are a naturally occurring by-product of the outer hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear. A sexual dimorphism in OAE production favouring females has been reported in both human and non-human species. The broad objective of the present set of studies is to explore how the sexual dimorphism originates and the degree to which it reflects the organizational and activational influences of sex steroid hormones.

Most previous studies of sex differences in OAEs have been based on neonatal, infant, or broad adult samples, Study 1 of the present work was done to verify the reported …