Psychology Commons^™

The Automaticity Of Emotion V. Emotion-Laden Word Processing : Findings From Unmasked And Masked Priming Approaches, Stephanie Ann Kazanas

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A lexical decision task (LDT) was used to determine if there are differences between emotion word types when they are processed, both explicitly (Experiment 1) and implicitly (Experiment 2). For example, prime-target word pairs contained either emotion (e.g., love, fear, anxious) or emotion-laden (e.g., puppy, chocolate, hospital) words. Previous experiments within this area of research have investigated how emotionality, concreteness, and abstractness affect word processing (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; Altarriba, Bauer, & Benvenuto, 1999). As Bleasdale (1987) first argued, abstract words were, in many ways, different from concrete words. Research has continued along this vein, confirming that emotion words are …

Exploring The Impact Of Meditation On Attentional Allocation To Emotion, Sychopathology, And Acute Stress, In A Community Sample With Mixed Anxiety And Depression, Nicholas Thomas Van Dam

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Attempts to define mindfulness in the clinical and psychological sciences have been marred by contradictions, inconsistencies, and controversies. In this wait-list (WL) controlled mindfulness meditation training (MMT) study, the efficacy and potential mechanisms of MMT was tested in a community sample with undiagnosed, but significant, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. In a pre/post design, which also included 3 month follow-up, participants completed self-report measures, participated in a psychosocial stress task (before and after which they completed self-report mood questionnaires and had physiological and salivary neuroendocrine markers collected), and completed an emotional attentional blink paradigm. Compared to WL (n = …

The Effect Of Background Music On Emotional Processing : Evaluation Using A Dot Probe Paradigm, Haans Drieberg

Theses : Honours

Music plays an important role in all of the world's cultures, and background music is an ever-present phenomenon. Despite this, few studies have formally addressed whether background music influences the way people think. The aim of this study was to discover whether the presence of background music can influence cognition. Specifically, the differential effects of music rated as being positive (inducing happy emotions) and negative (inducing anxiety) on a person's allocation of attention was investigated. A dot probe task with positive and negative word pairings, matched for length and frequency was used in order to test the hypotheses that the …

An Intra-Individual Event-Related Potential-Based Concealed Attitude Test, David R. Herring

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The evaluative oddball is an implicit measure for detecting (concealed) attitudes. In evaluative oddball studies, low occurrence stimuli such as negative pictures are presented among high occurrence context stimuli such as positive pictures. Late positive potentials (LPPs) of the event-related potential (ERP) are larger to evaluatively incongruent stimuli such as negatives compared to congruent stimuli such as positives with the context (e.g., positives). In prior evaluative oddball paradigms, this evaluative congruity effect of the LPP was reduced when participants concealed compared to truthfully reported attitudes. Because prior evaluative oddballs have been focused on the group level analysis, it has been …

The Harm Of Influence: When Exposure To Homosexuality Elicits Anger And Punishment Tendencies, Timothy Andrew Caswell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the current project, I examined the distinct elicitors and behavioral outcomes of anti-gay anger and anti-gay disgust. The CAD triad hypothesis (Rozin, Lower, Imada, & Haidt, 1999) suggests that anger and disgust are elicited by distinct moral violations and cognitive appraisals. A plethora of research has documented the strong link between disgust and sexual prejudice, but very little attention has been given to the role of anger in sexual prejudice. The biocultural framework of stigmatization (Neuberg, Smith, & Asher, 2000) suggests that people who counter-socialize against prevailing social norms are stigmatized by others. If homosexual sexual behavior does not …

Emotional Labor And Authentic Leadership, John E. Buckner V

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational research has begun to once again focus on the importance of emotions in the workplace. In particular, the concept of emotional labor, the management of emotions at work to influence clients and customers, has recently received much attention. While research has addressed the impact of emotional labor on both employees and clients or customers, research has not examined emotional labor within the context of leadership.

Authentic leadership, an emerging construct in the study of leadership, is proposed to relate to emotional labor. Leaders' authentic behavior has been shown to positively impact followers, such as increasing trust in their leader …

Asymmetry In Resting Alpha Activity: Effects Of Handedness, Ruth E. Propper, Jenna Pierce, Mark W. Geisler, Stephen D. Christman, Nathan Bellorado

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha band power during rest shows increased right, and/or decreased left, hemisphere activity under conditions of state or trait withdrawal-associated effect. Non-right-handers (NRH) are more likely to have mental illnesses and dispositions that involve such withdrawal-related effect. The aim of the study was to examine whether NRH might be characterized by increased right, relative to left, hemisphere activity during rest. Methods: The present research investigated that hypothesis by examining resting EEG alpha power in consistently-right-handed (CRH) and NRH individuals. Results: In support of the hypothesis, NRH demonstrated decreased right hemisphere alpha power, and therefore increased right hemisphere …

Linguistic Devices, Emotionality, And Memorability Of Computer Mediated Communication, Angela M. Mion

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

I examined whether college students use shortcuts, pragmatics, and errors in text messages differently depending on their gender and the emotionality of the message. Results indicate that the prevalence of particular shortcuts differed across happy, sad, and angry messages, but gender did not influence use of linguistic devices. In a second study, I examined the emotionality and memorability of text messages versus voicemails. Results indicate that texts may be remembered better than voicemails, and happy, sad, and angry messages may be remembered differently by men and women.

Emotion And Inhibition: Pride Versus Happiness, Emery K. Hilles

Scripps Senior Theses

The central question of my thesis is how different positive emotions affect inhibition. Katzir, Eyal, Meiran, and Kessler (2010) addressed this question using an antisaccade task and found that happiness decreased inhibition compared to pride, which they attribute to the links between pride and long-term goals and happiness and short-term goals. I attempted to generalize their results to a color-naming Stroop task and predicted that their results would not generalize because their study had little supporting research and their method had several limitations. I tested 45 students of the Claremont Colleges and found partial support for Katzir et al. Participants …

Mood And Advertising: A Follow-Up Study To “The Power Of Emotion”, Lisa Wiese

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Advertisements affect our lives even when we least expect it. We hear ads on the radio, read ads in magazines, and are even exposed to advertisements through billboards as we drive down the road. The effects on mood and advertisements began to be popularly researched in the early 1980s. This study conducting on mood and advertising was a follow up study to “The Power of Emotion” conducted by Wiese (2012). It was important to conduct more research into this topic to find statistical significance in support of the hypothesis. The present study used a positive group, a negative group, and …

Agency And Emotion In Interactions With Technological Representatives Of Organizations, Daniel Burton Shank

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Technology often displaces humans in organizations as a representative to customers. How does the use of computer technology instead of humans to represent an organization change customers’ feelings and behavior toward that organization? Drawing on attribution theory and the affect theory of social exchange, I argue that the customers’ perception of agency of the computer or human representative is the primary mechanism through which customers respond differently. I theorize that agency not only mediates the computer-to-emotion and computer-to-patronage relations but also alters whether the organization or its representative is the primary target of the emotions and patronage. My central argument …

The Universality Of Emotional Facial Expressions Across Culture And Implications For Survival, Lindsay Trefney

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Emotion is one of the greatest links for human interaction. Emotion allows people from culture to culture to relate to and communicate with one another when language barriers exist. Emotional facial expressions were once thought to be culture specific, much like the emotions attached to those expressions. Research exists suggesting facial expressions across culture must be universal based on Darwin’s theories of evolution and survival (Ekman & Friesen, 1971; Hansen & Hansen, 1988; Hock, 2009; Pinkham, Griffin, Baron, Sasson, & Gur, 2010; Rosenberg & Ekman, 1993), and without some universal agreement about emotional facial expressions and their attached emotions, humans …

The Capacity To Delineate And Interpret Emotion In Text Messages, Ashton C. Klingensmtih

Senior Honors Theses

Research indicates that emotion is not easily expressed or interpreted between senders and receivers who communicate through computer mediated communication methods such as text messaging. This fast paced, inexpensive and technologically advanced communication tool of text messaging has become a socially acceptable and valid form of communication in the twenty first century in many populations, cultures, and regions. Twenty pairs of female friends’ abilities to delineate and interpret accurately the four emotions of: joy, anger, sadness, and guilt in eight different text message scenarios were investigated. The results determined that although the accuracy rate of the sender expressing an emotion …

Daily Experiences And Well-Being: Do Memories Of Events Matter?, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Retrospective subjective well-being (SWB) refers to self-reported satisfaction and emotional experience over the past few weeks or months. Two studies investigated the mechanisms linking daily experiences to retrospective SWB. Participants reported events each day for 21 days (Study 1) or twice a week for two months (Study 2). The emotional intensity of each event was rated: (1) when it had recently occurred (proximal intensity); and (2) at the end of the event-reporting period (distal intensity). Both sets of ratings were then aggregated across events and used to predict retrospective SWB at the end of the study. Path analyses showed that …

Capturing The Family Context Of Emotion Regulation: A Family Systems Model Comparison Approach, Gregory M. Fosco, John H. Grych

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Several dimensions of family functioning are recognized as formative influences on children’s emotion regulation. Historically, they have been studied separately, limiting our ability to understand how they function within the family system. The present investigation tested models including family emotional climate, interparental conflict, and maternal and paternal warmth and emotional support in relation to children’s emotion regulation, using a multimethod, multi-informant design with 150 ethnically diverse two-parent families. Mother, father, and child surveys and observational techniques were used to assess the variables of interest. Three theoretically informed comprehensive models were tested and compared. The best fitting model highlighted positive family …

Associations Between Binge Eating And Executive Functioning Among Young Women, Nichole Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Binge eating is a pervasive disordered eating behavior associated with numerous psychological and physical comorbidities. Preliminary research indicates that emotion regulation difficulties, behavioral impulsivity, and executive dysfunction may contribute to the onset and/or maintenance of these behaviors. However, few studies have utilized neuropsychological measures to examine this link, and the assessment of behavioral and cognitive emotion regulation strategies are limited in scope. The purpose of the current study was to gain a deeper understanding of the emotional, behavioral and cognitive processes associated with binge eating behavior. Greater clarity regarding how these factors relate to binge eating is critical to the …

Predator-Based Fear Conditioning: A Novel Approach To The Study Of The Neurobiology Of Memory, Joshua D. Halonen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This series of experiments developed novel paradigms involving the integration of conventional and ethologically relevant forms of reinforcement in the study of fear conditioning in rats. Experiment 1 compared the effects of foot shock, immobilization and predator exposure, alone and in combination, on the expression of conditioned fear memory and extinction. The combination of all 3 reinforcers produced a significantly stronger fear memory and greater resistance to extinction, compared to when each reinforcer was administered alone. Furthermore, whereas conditioning with foot shock, alone, resulted in rapid extinction of the fear memory, the combination of immobilization and cat exposure, or all …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Standardized And Personally Relevant Stimuli In Two Mood Induction Procedures, Kathleen Hazlett

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The experience of emotion is a critical component of behavior, cognition, and general human functioning. In order to better understand emotional experience, researchers have utilized mood induction procedures (MIPs) to elicit specific emotional responses. Previous studies have reviewed the effectiveness of various MIPs; however, these studies do not account for more recently developed picture datasets and are limited in their examination of the impact that personal relevance has on MIP effectiveness. The present study examined changes in emotion using four different MIPs that varied based on stimuli type (either Picture or Vignette) and relevance to the participant (Personally Relevant or …

Dynamic Aspects Of Musical Imagery, Andrea R. Halpern

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

Auditory imagery can represent many aspects of music, such as the starting pitches of a tune or the instrument that typically plays it. In this paper, I concentrate on more dynamic, or time-sensitive aspects of musical imagery, as demonstrated in two recently published studies. The first was a behavioral study that examined the ability to make emotional judgments about both heard and imagined music in real time. The second was a neuroimaging study on the neural correlates of anticipating an upcoming tune, after hearing a cue tune. That study found activation of several sequence-learning brain areas, some of which varied …

Connecting The Spiritual And Emotional Intelligences: Confirming An Intelligence Criterion And Assessing The Role Of Empathy, David B. King, Constance A. Mara, Teresa L. Decicco

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A viable model and self-report measure of spiritual intelligence were previously proposed

and supported by King and DeCicco (2009). Despite such advances, evidence is needed

demonstrating significant associations with other intelligences. The current study sought to

test this criterion in relation to emotional intelligence. Among a sample of 420 Canadian

adults, results demonstrated significant associations between spiritual intelligence and two

self-report measures of emotional intelligence. Due to the suggestion by some theorists

that empathy be included in a model of spiritual intelligence, associations with empathy

were also investigated. Results bode well for the inclusion of a spiritual ability set in …

Smiles As Signals Of Lower Status In Football Players And Fashion Models: Evidence That Smiles Are Associated With Lower Dominance And Lower Prestige, Timothy Ketelaar, Bryan L. Koenig, Daniel Gambacorta, Igor Dolgov, Daniel Hor, Jennifer Zarzoza, Cuauhtémoc Luna-Nevarez, Micki Klungle, Lee Wells

WCBT Faculty Publications

Across four studies, the current paper demonstrates that smiles are associated with lower social status. Moreover, the association between smiles and lower status appears in the psychology of observers and generalizes across two forms of status: prestige and dominance. In the first study, faces of fashion models representing less prestigious apparel brands were found to be more similar to a canonical smile display than the faces of models representing more prestigious apparel brands. In a second study, after being experimentally primed with either high or low prestige fashion narratives, participants in the low prestige condition were more likely to perceive …

The Role Of Emotional Expression On Person Identity Recognition, Kristen Paris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Facial information concerning person identity and emotional expression is vital to human social interaction, and therefore, we find it beneficial to remember the faces we see. Little is known, however, about whether emotional expressions facilitate or inhibit recognition for person identity. The present studies examined the role of emotional expression on person identity recognition by manipulating whether such information was presented at encoding (i.e., initial perception of the actor) or at recognition (i.e., later memory for the actor). In Experiment 1, participants recognized more actors displaying an angry rather than a happy expression, when they initially saw actors display a …

Introduction To Special Issue: Dementia And Music, Andrea R. Halpern, Isabelle Peretz, Lola L. Cuddy

Faculty Journal Articles

This special issue follows two previous special issues on music and neurological disorders (April 2008, Volume 23/Issue 4 and April 2010, Volume 25/Issue 4). Like its predecessors, the issue presents studies employing a patient-based approach to music perception, cognition, and emotion. Whereas the earlier issues dealt with acquired and congenital disorders and impairments, the present issue focuses on dementia, primarily on its most common form, Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Mood And Creativity: The Mediating Role Of Attention, Viktoria Tidikis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Within literature there are two opposing views regarding the role of emotions in the creative process. The most commonly held view contends that positive emotions enhance creativity, while negative emotions stifle it; yet, some studies show an opposite trend. To help resolve this conundrum, this research examined the mediating effect of attention on the relationship between mood and creativity. The results showed that positive deactivating and negative activating emotions led to broader attention, while positive activating and negative deactivating emotions caused narrowing of attention. Furthermore, the creative process is not uniform in its requirements of attentional breadth; some creative tasks …

An Examination Of Ceo Emotion's Relationship With Organization-Level Performance, Elizabeth J. Peyton

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

My study examined the relationship between CEO emotions and organization-level performance. I also tested the feasibility of using FACS in a business setting. Lastly, I explored the nature of CEOs' expressive styles. I found support for a relationship between CEOs' positive emotion displays and organization-level performance, but not a relationship between CEOs' negative emotion displays and organization-level performance. My results also supported the idea that CEOs have a unique and consistent expressive style that remains independent of displayed emotion and that researchers can use FACS to measure this expressive style.

Cultural Similarities And Differences In The Conceptualization Of Emotion, Christie N. Scollon, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on emotional experiences across cultures is reviewed from a cultural psychological perspective. Psychometric approaches to evaluating the structure of emotions has consistently replicated two broad dimensions (positive and negative affect) in several countries. Nevertheless, there are cultural differences in other aspects of emotional experience such as the relation between positive and negative affect, the nature of specific emotions (e.g., pride and affection), and the types of emotions that are valued. Recent research on the cognitive organization of emotional experiences may provide additional insights and these methods await broader application in crosscultural research.

Effects Of Menstruation On Women's Likeliness To Forgive, Brittany K. Gaillard

Honors Theses

The effect the secretion and ovulation phases of the menstrual cycle has on forgiveness was examined in this study. It was hypothesized that women in either phase of their menstrual cycle would be less likely to forgive than those not in either phase of their menstrual cycle. Participants (N = 146) completed three questionnaires, one measuring their likeliness to forgive, one measuring their forgiveness of others, self, and situations, and the last collecting demographic information and information about their periods. The results showed no significant difference in woman's likeliness to forgive when experiencing a period and when not experiencing a …

Interactive Gaming Reduces Experimental Pain With Or Without A Head Mounted Display, Nakia S. Gordon, Juniad Merchant, Catherine Zanbaka, Larry F. Hodges, Paula Goolkasian

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

While virtual reality environments have been shown to reduce pain, the precise mechanism that produces the pain attenuating effect has not been established. It has been suggested that it may be the ability to command attentional resources with the use of head mounted displays (HMDs) or the interactivity of the environment. Two experiments compared participants’ pain ratings to high and low levels of electrical stimulation while engaging in interactive gaming with an HMD. In the first, gaming with the HMD was compared to a positive emotion induction condition; and in the second experiment the HMD was compared to a condition …

Insincerity And Depravity Get Noticed, Alexandria M. Boswell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Previous studies have shown that people use environmental cues to identify the intentions of others with whom they interact. This study sought to examine how an observer’s incidental memory for strangers was influenced by the emotional expression displayed by the stranger as well as the type of action in which the stranger was involved. Incidental memory was assessed using a memory task that first asked observers to view a series of faces (“targets”) that were each paired with an action. Later, observers were asked if they recognized previously viewed targets amongst novel targets. Incidental memory tasks are used to investigate …

The Effects Of Facial Expression On Out-Group Discrimination, Charles Brendan Clark

Dissertations

The current paper sought to test the hypothesis that the facial expression of smiling would mitigate the effects of out-group discrimination. Study 1 examined the influence of facial expression (smiling or frowning), gender (man or woman), and race (Black or White) on resource allocation decisions. Participants were shown arrays of facial photographs. The arrays all contained eight photographs and were counterbalanced to contain all combinations of the variables of interest (i.e., each group had a smiling man of each race, a smiling woman of each race, a frowning man of each race, and a frowning woman of each race). The …