Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Eye-Tracking Guilt Induction, Cassandra Ellison, Jordan Cooper, Wendy M. Rote, Max Owens

USF St. Petersburg campus Student Research Symposium

Previous studies have shown a difference in perceptions of maternal guilt induction when there are variations in the situation of the event and the structure of the maternal guilt inducting statement (Rote, 2017). This research expands on this by examining whether differences in attention to specific words within guilt inductive statements may underly previously observed variations. Using eye-tracking methodology and hypothetical vignettes, this study examined which words college-aged students attended to most within maternal guilt inductive statements. Vignettes varied in the topic over which guilt was induced (e.g., moral transgression vs personal choice), the focus of the mother’s criticism (behavior …