Psychology Commons^™

Tell Me What To Do Not How To Do It: Influence Of Creative Outcome And Process Goals On Creativity, Melissa G. Keith, Carolyn M. Jagacinski

Psychology Faculty Publications

The current research examines the utility of using creative outcome goals and process goals to enhance creativity. We propose that although creative outcome goals are likely to have a direct positive impact on creativity, the relationship between process goals and creativity is mediated by creative process engagement. Results from an experimental study demonstrated that creative outcome goals, particularly specific creative outcome goals, relate directly as well as indirectly to outcome creativity through creative process engagement. Creative process goals, however, impact outcome creativity only indirectly through creative process engagement. Process goals also had a negative impact on perceptions of autonomy, which …

My Baby, My Move+: Feasibility Of A Community Prenatal Wellbeing Intervention, Jenn A. Leiferman, Rachael Lacy, Jessica Walls, Charlotte V. Farewell, Mary K. Dinger, Danielle Symons Downs, Sarah S. Farrabi, Jennifer L. Huberty, James F. Paulson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background

Excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG), insufficient prenatal physical activity and sleep, and poor psychological wellbeing independently increase risks for adverse maternal and infant outcomes. A novel approach to mitigate these risks is utilizing peer support in a community-based prenatal intervention. This study assessed the feasibility (acceptability, demand, implementation, and practicality) of a remotely delivered prenatal physical activity intervention called My Baby, My Move + (MBMM +) that aims to increase prenatal physical activity, enhance mood and sleep hygiene, and reduce EGWG.

Methods

Participants were recruited through community organizations, local clinics, and social media platforms in the Fall of 2020 …

A Qualitative Study Of The Motivations And Affiliation Dynamics Involved With A Firefighting Career, Michael W. Firmin, Kristin Dewitt, Heidi Gibbs Ellis, Lauren A. Smith, Nicole M. Tiffan

Psychology Faculty Publications

We explored the experiences of full-time firefighters in the present phenomenological qualitative study, having conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 male full-time firefighters. Their personal constructs of motivation and affiliation were explored and, within the constructs of motivation, three themes emerged. First, firefighters were motivated by a love of the excitement firefighting provides. Second, firefighters reported that the work schedule, which allows them more time at home, was a motivation. Third (and most emphasized by the firefighters) was an altruistic motivation to help others. Under the construct of affiliation, the firefighters reported a strong sense of brotherhood with their shift-partners, and …

Cross-Lagged Relations Between Motives And Substance Use: Can Use Strengthen Your Motivation Over Time?, Christine A. Lee, Karen J Derefinko, Heather A. Davis, Richard S. Milich, Donald R. Lynam

Psychology Faculty Publications

Motives for substance use have garnered considerable attention due to the strong predictive utility of this construct, both in terms of use and problems associated with use. The current study examined the cross-lagged relations between alcohol use and motives, and marijuana use and motives over three yearly assessment periods in a large sample (N = 526, 48% male) of college students. The relations between substance use and motives were assessed at each time point, allowing for the examination of these inter-relations over time. Results indicated different trends based on the type of substance. For alcohol use, cross-lagged trends were …

A Brain Motivated To Play: Insights Into The Neurobiology Of Playfulness, Stephen M. Siviy

Psychology Faculty Publications

Play is an important part of normal childhood development and is seen in varied forms among many mammals. While not indispensable to normal development, playful social experiences as juveniles may provide an opportunity to develop flexible behavioural strategies when novel and uncertain situations arise as an adult. To understand the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for play and how the functions of play may relate to these neural substrates, the rat has become the model of choice. Play in the rat is easily quantified, tightly regulated, and can be modulated by genetic factors and postnatal experiences. Brain areas most likely to be …

Fractionating Choice: A Study On Reward Discrimination, Preference, And Relative Valuation In The Rat (Rattus Norvegicus), Joshua M. Ricker, Justin D. Hatch, Daniel D. Powers, Howard C. Cromwell

Psychology Faculty Publications

Choice behavior combines discrimination between distinctive outcomes, preference for specific outcomes and relative valuation of comparable outcomes. Previous work has focused on 1 component (i.e., preference) disregarding other influential processes that might provide a more complete understanding. Animal models of choice have been explored primarily utilizing extensive training, limited freedom for multiple decisions and sparse behavioral measures constrained to a single phase of motivated action. The present study used a paradigm that combines different elements of previous methods with the goal to distinguish among components of choice and explore how well components match predictions based on risk-sensitive foraging strategies. In …

Correcting Misconceptions About Gamification Of Assessment: More Than Sjts And Badges, Michael B. Armstrong, Jared Z. Ferrell, Andrew B. Collmus, Richard N. Landers

Psychology Faculty Publications

Describing the current state of gamification, Chamorro-Premuzic, Winsborough, Sherman, and Hogan () provide a troubling contradiction: They offer examples of a broad spectrum of gamification interventions, but they then summarize the entirety of gamification as “the digital equivalent of situational judgment tests.” This mischaracterization grossly oversimplifies a rapidly growing area of research and practice both within and outside of industrial–organizational (I-O) psychology. We agree that situational judgment tests (SJTs) can be considered a type of gamified assessment, and gamification provides a toolkit to make SJTs even more gameful. However, the term gamification refers to a much broader and potentially more …

The Effect Of Motivation And Positive Affect On Ego Depletion: Replenishment Versus Release Mechanism, Ze Zhu, Jian Li, Bo Zhang, Ye Li, Houcan Zhang

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this study, 2 experiments were conducted to investigate whether motivation and positive affect can alleviate ego depletion and to elucidate their possible mechanisms. In Experiment 1, a crossing-out-letter task was adapted to reach an ego depletion state for Chinese participants. Participants were then randomly assigned to the extrinsic motivation group, the positive affect group or the depletion control group. After the experimental treatment, a dumbbell task was used to measure participants' remaining self-regulatory resources. The results showed that participants in the motivation and positive affect groups performed better on the dumbbell task than participants in the depletion control group. …

Serotonin, Motivation, And Playfulness In The Juvenile Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Loren M. Deron, Chelsea R. Kasten

Psychology Faculty Publications

The effects of the selective 5HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT were assessed on the play behavior of juvenile rats. When both rats of the test pair were comparably motivated to play, the only significant effect of 8-OH-DPAT was for play to be reduced at higher doses. When there was a baseline asymmetry in playful solicitation due to a differential motivation to play and only one rat of the pair was treated, low doses of 8-OH-DPAT resulted in a collapse of asymmetry in playful solicitations. It did not matter whether the rat that was treated initially accounted for more nape contacts or fewer …

Tackling Ocd: Talk Is Not Cheap!, Christina J. Taylor

Psychology Faculty Publications

Cognitive Therapy offers techniques to help identify ways and patterns of thinking that produce distress, negative behavior, and poor motivation. Cognitive techniques can help improve an individual’s motivation to tackle their OCD, help change their reaction to and interpretation of their obsessions, and help them to cope with the anxiety they experience when they carry out an exposure and response prevention regimen.

Altruism In The Context Of Door-Courtesy Behaviors Among College Students, Landen M. Roundy, Meagan E. Griffith, Sarah E. Jensen, Joseph A. Allen

Psychology Faculty Publications

Altruism has been debated as both selfishly and selflessly motivated. Though there are many possible illustrations of altruism in daily activities, a simple model to measure altruism is observing door-holding behaviors. This study observes the door-holding behavior patterns of undergraduate college students, assessing the sex differences and the possibility of an altruistic theme within the observed population. A general sex difference was found illustrating that males hold the door more often than females. Implications of the results are discussed.

Sensory Modulation Of Juvenile Play In Rats, Stephen M. Siviy, Jaak Panksepp

Psychology Faculty Publications

A series of experiments was conducted to determine the extent to which somatosensory stimulation is necessary for the elaboration of juvenile play in rats. Anesthetization of the dorsal body surface of juvenile rats with xylocaine reduced the frequency of pinning, an indicator variable for play, by 35% to 70%, while motivation to play, measured by dorsal contacts, an index of play solicitation, remained largely intact. These data suggest that dorsal body surface anesthetization impairs the ability of juvenile rats to perceive and/or respond to playful gestures. When untreated animals were paired with xylocaine-treated animals, the xylocaine-treated animals consistently pinned the …