263 research outputs found

    The role of heterosocial perception in men's likelihood to sexually harass

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    Sexual harassment against women represents sexually aggressive and coercive behaviour that violates women’s dignity and creates an offensive environment, which threatens women’s well-being and ability to prosper in day to day life (Pina, Gannon & Saunders, 2009). Understanding the perceptual characteristics of men with inclinations to sexually harass, through how they perceive women is important in delineating the reasons why some men may engage in the sexual harassment of women. Heterosocial perception is a concept of how an individual perceives another person interacting with the opposite sex. It is typically measured using the Test of Reading Affective Cues (TRAC), a tool encompassing an array of video clips showing a woman interacting with a man, whereby the woman displays a range of affective cues. The perceiver is assessed on their perceptual accuracy when judging the affective cues. Perceptual accuracies of male rapists and male child molesters have been well researched (Lipton, McDonel & McFall, 1987; Stahl & Sacco, 1995), yet male sexual harassment as a singular category has been neglected. The current thesis explores the potential heterosocial perception characteristics of a distinct group of men who are relatively high in the likelihood to engage in sexual harassment of women from scores on Pryor’s (1987) Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) scale focusing on their differences in performance on the TRAC in comparison to those men who are lower in the likelihood to engage in sexual harassment of women. Five empirical studies are reported in this thesis. Study 1 presents a modernized version of the TRAC and incorporates an analysis to develop it as a research tool, enabling judgements on five affective cues displayed by a woman; friendly, romantic, neutral, bored and rejecting. The tool provides this range of affective cues that were used in later studies to measure differences in heterosocial perception. Study 2 addressed theoretical explanations taken from previous perception research with sexually aggressive men (Malamuth & Brown, xiv 1994) to explain differences in heterosocial perception for men high in LSH. Explanations are given for potential biases evidenced by men high in LSH focusing on Error Management Theory (Haselton & Buss, 2000) arguing that an overperception bias will increase the frequency of falsely inferring a woman’s sexual intent towards sexual pursuit, but considerably reduce the costs of losing a sexual opportunity by falsely inferring that a woman lacked sexual intent. Altogether, study 2 provided support for the misidentification of negative affective cues (negativeness blindness), the overperception of negative affective cues and the romantic overperception bias of friendly affective cues in the perception of men high in LSH. Study 3 tested the established theoretical link that internal concepts of social power have within men who report sexual aggression and sexual coercion and the subsequent impact on perception. Unexpectedly, power did not exacerbate perceptual inaccuracy for negative affective cues and the romantic overperception bias of friendly affective cues. In study 4, objectification was assessed in its relationship to perception in high LSH men. Instrumental and both specific and general sexual objectification were significantly higher for men high in LSH. Specific sexual objectification was found to negatively mediate romantic categorizations of romantic affective cues, but general sexual objectification was found to positively mediate romantic categorizations of friendly affective cues for men high in LSH. Results also showed that men high in LSH showed poorest perceptual accuracy on bored and rejecting affective cues, and evidenced a greater romantic judgement of friendly affective cues overperception bias. In study 5, the impact of different mental states on perception was assessed, via the use of a cooling system to facilitate self-regulation. A cooling system is a psychological framework proposed for understanding self-control (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999), and in this study it incorporated techniques of distraction, distancing and empathy enhancement. Results showed that the cooling system was not beneficial in making high LSH xv men’s perceptual judgements more accurate and in making their judgements accurate to the level of low and medium LSH men for negative affective cues. However, cooling did improve perceptual accuracy of friendly affective cues removing the overperception bias to romantic judgements in comparison to the neutral condition. The cooling system was not found to reduce instrumental and sexual objectification for high LSH men. There were differences found on empathy between men high and low and medium on LSH. Differences were found such that men high in LSH showed more state empathy, but less trait empathy than men low and medium in LSH

    Impaired risk avoidance in bipolar disorder and substance use disorders

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    Comorbid substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD), with up to 60% of individuals with BD developing an SUD at some point in their lifetime. In addition, research suggests that individuals with this comorbid presentation (BD+SUD) typically have worse outcomes -- including increased mortality, morbidity, and functional impairment -- than individuals with BD alone. Given the increased illness burden associated with BD+SUD, I conducted a systematic review evaluating existing psychosocial treatments for individuals with these comorbidities. Results from this review indicated that no existing psychosocial treatments for these comorbid conditions effectively target both the substance use and mood domain of symptoms. An alternative path to treatment development is to identify mechanisms that underlie BD+SUD that can subsequently be targeted in treatment. Accordingly, I evaluated impairments in risk avoidance (a tendency to engage in a persistent pattern of problematic behaviors despite negative outcomes resulting from such behaviors) as a potential mechanism underlying negative illness outcomes in BD+SUD. Participants with BD (n = 45) or BD+SUD (n = 31) in a relatively euthymic mood state completed clinical risk behavior assessments, laboratory-based risk avoidance assessments, and neurocognitive assessments in a single study session. I hypothesized that the BD+SUD group would exhibit increased clinical risk behaviors, increased impairments on laboratory-based measures of risk avoidance, and increased deficits on neurocognitive assessments relative to the bipolar disorder alone group. Contrary to my hypotheses, results indicated a lack of notable between-group differences in clinical risk behaviors, laboratory-based risk avoidance assessments, and neurocognitive assessments, with the exception of self-reported executive dysfunction which was elevated among individuals with BD+SUD. Collapsing across group, I found that increased discounting of delayed rewards, older age, and an earlier age of (hypo)mania onset predicted increased clinical risk behaviors. These findings underscore the potential importance of delay discounting as a mechanistic target for reducing clinical risk behaviors among individuals with BD both with and without comorbid SUDs. I also discuss the neurocognitive correlates of delay discounting and interventions for addressing delay discounting as potential new directions for treating the disability associated with BD

    Cross-linguistic Effects on Spoken Picture Naming in Bilingual People with Aphasia

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    This project investigated language production in bilingual speakers with aphasia post-stroke. Existing bilingual language theories are still underspecified despite a growing bilingual population. Three extensive picture naming studies across five language combinations were conducted using a case series design. Analysis considered individual speakers' accuracy, error patterns, heterogeneous language profiles, language breakdowns, and unique lexical variables for each language. The project’s furthered our understanding of bilingual word retrieval and produced bilingual assessment resources for five languages

    A comparative analysis of colour–emotion associations in 16–88‐year‐old adults from 31 countries

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    As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well-being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations between colours and emotions observed in younger individuals also apply to older adults. We recruited 7,393 participants, aged between 16 and 88 years and coming from 31 countries. Each participant associated 12 colour terms with 20 emotion concepts and rated the intensity of each associated emotion. Different age groups exhibited highly similar patterns of colour-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient of 0.97), with subtle yet meaningful age-related differences. Adolescents associated the greatest number but the least positively biased emotions with colours. Older participants associated a smaller number but more intense and more positive emotions with all colour terms, displaying a positivity effect. Age also predicted arousal and power biases, varying by colour. Findings suggest parallels in colour-emotion associations between younger and older adults, with subtle but significant age-related variations. Future studies should next assess whether colour-emotion associations reflect what people actually feel when exposed to colour

    Distinction of Spirituality and Religiosity at the Level of Sacral Practices

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    For more than 100 years, psychologists have differentiated religiosity and spirituality at a conceptual level. Religiousness is acceptance of traditional communal religious beliefs and practices, while spiritualism is a quest for meaning and truth, a sense of connectedness with the social and natural world, and contemplations of oneself. Recent psychometric empirical evidence confirmed they are independent psychological dispositions. In this study we build up on the empirical evidence on religiosity and spirituality as different constructs by operationalizing them not just as beliefs but also as practices. We hypothesis religious beliefs should predict only religious practices, and spiritual beliefs spiritual practices. To measure beliefs, we have used 16-item subscales of questionnaire Lexical social attitudes - Serbia. Summary scores for both subscales are highly reliable (αREL = .93, αSPIR = .88). To measure practices we constructed a questionnaire for this study. On a binary scale (yes or no), participants assessed if they had done at least once in the previous year each of the ten traditional religious practices (e.g., prayed, confessed, read a holy book) and ten spiritual practices (e.g., spent time in nature, made art, wrote a diary). Reliability of summary scores is not satisfactory neither for the scale of religious practices (α = .63) nor spiritual (α = .58), so one should take caution with interpreting the results. In an online survey, 197 participants (70.0% women, Mage = 19.47, SDage = 5.43), filled questionnaires. Orthodox Christians comprised 70.1%, followed by atheists 14.2%, and 11.2% agnostics. To test the hypothesis, we derived a canonical correlation between beliefs on one side and practices on the other. The first canonical correlation (R = .66, F(4,386) = 43.00, p < .001) describes religious people (b = .98) who follow religious practices (r = .92) but decline spiritual (r = -.41). The second one (R = .38, F(1,194) = 33.95, p < .001) describes spiritual people (r = .98) who in order to find meaning and truth engage in spiritual practices (r = .91) and religious too some extent (r = .39). Results are in line with conceptualizing religiosity and spirituality as different constructs, but results eject orthogonality. Spiritualism manifests through spiritual beliefs and diverse practices that provide sense of connectedness with the social and natural world and contemplations of oneself, unlike rigid religiosity

    Exploring The Effectiveness of Mood Induction In Virtual Reality

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    Mood induction procedures (MIPs) are commonly used by researchers who seek to examine affective states and their effects on other outcomes of interest. Despite their popularity, MIPs do not generate the same type of intense and influential emotions that are caused by life events, creating an empirical gap between naturalistic and experimentally manipulated emotion. Researchers have begun exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) to address these flaws, as its engaging and immersive nature could confer higher ecological validity for laboratory-induced emotions. This study compared the effectiveness of fear-elicitation via a VR cinema MIP to that of a standard film clip MIP. The results of a regression analysis found that VR-induced fear was significantly more intense and more longer lasting than non-VR-induced fear, though only when compared against control. However, neither MIP generated fear lasting longer than four minutes post-MIP. This has major implications for researchers who hope to investigate the effect of mood on tasks which outlast the duration of a mood induction. Future research should continue to assess and improve the effectiveness of existing MIPs

    Using an Evolutionary Framework to Test the Social Functions of Risky Behavior in Emerging Adulthood

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    Peer contexts catalyze risky behavior (e.g., alcohol abuse, reckless driving, etc.) in emerging adulthood (ages 18-25), yet potential risk-taking social functions are poorly understood. Two studies motivated by evolutionary theory examined whether risky behaviors address social needs for status and connection in male and female emerging adults. An experiment in Study 1 examined participant (N = 286; Mage = 18.79; SDage = 0.79; 125 male; 161 female) perceptions of male and female peer targets after observing them take risks (high vs. low), successfully or unsuccessfully, on a modified Columbia Card Task. Risk-takers were perceived as more dominant and socially appealing, but less prosocial than risk-avoiders, and less intelligent when unsuccessful. The difference in social appeal between risk-takers and risk-avoiders was larger for male than female peer targets at low levels of success. Participants preferred including risk-takers over risk-avoiders in friend groups, but only preferred risk-takers over risk-avoiders for risk-related partnerships at high levels of success. Resource offers to peer targets were not affected by risky behavior in an Ultimatum Game. In Study 2, a 3-wave longitudinal study tested whether risky behavior engagement rates fluctuated as a function of status, connection, and mate-seeking social need fulfillment. Data collected from two cohorts at 2- (2017) or 3-month intervals (2016) were analyzed separately using Linear Curve Models with Structured Residuals (2016: N = 324; MAge = 18.58; SDAge = 1.08; 93 male, 230 female; 2017: N = 262; MAge = 18.78 years old; SDAge = 0.92; 86 male, 175 female). Findings relating risky behavior to social motives and outcomes associated with status and mate-seeking received little support. In the 2017 cohort, acceptance motives predicted greater risk-taking propensity in male participants but lower risky behavior rates in female participants. Risk-taking predicted less loneliness in the 2016 cohort, though concurrent negative associations between these variables were found in both cohorts. The overall findings show some support for evolutionary perspectives as risky behaviors communicated characteristics for status-enhancement and connection in both male and female emerging adults. However, evidence from Study 2 suggests risk-taking may primarily function to promote social acceptance in males

    The Effects of a Brief Epistemic Cognition and Metacognition Intervention on the Continued Influence Effect

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    Individuals rely on accurate information to make important decisions, but in the current environment the vast amount of misinformation present in society is complicating people’s thinking. Many people fall prey to a cognitive bias called the continued influence effect, which occurs when they continue to use misinformation even when they have seen and can acknowledge a correction of the inaccurate messaging. Researchers have started to examine this phenomenon in the context of socioscientific issues such as vaccination, but it is not apparent that it occurs when people engage with less politicized topics. Debunking interventions have also largely been ineffective at helping people avoid the bias. In this dissertation, I conducted three studies examining if people exhibited the continued influence effect when dealing with misinformation about the topic of antioxidant supplements. In the first study, novel materials were reviewed by ten individuals who provided feedback on their accessibility and clarity. In the second study, a randomized control trial (n = 440), the continued influence effect was not detected, but the manipulation of beliefs by misinformation was. After revising the materials, a third study was conducted (n = 572) to examine the efficacy of a prebunking epistemic cognition and metacognition intervention at attenuating the occurrence of the continued influence effect. Again, the bias was not detected. The findings indicated that the continued influence effect may only occur with more politicized and controversial socioscientific issues.Doctor of Philosoph
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