Positive affect, intuitive processing, and visual encoding

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 8, 2013).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Laura A. KingIncludes bibliographical references.M. A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."December 2012"The effects of positive affect (PA) on cognitive outcomes have been studied extensively. These effects map on squarely to a Cognitive-Experiential Self Theory (CEST) framework (Epstein, 1991; 1994). One component of CEST that has yet to be studied in the emotion literature is the theoretically-proposed tendency of the experiential system to encode information in visual images. The current study explored how PA and intuition affect a person's use of mental imagery using a perceptual priming paradigm. For participants who experienced a mood manipulation, PA and intuition interacted to predict facilitated response latencies to words that were primed by words representing objects sharing the same prototypical color controlling for reaction times to semantically primed targets and unprimed targets. This study lays the groundwork for future research on mental imagery and individual differences in intuitive processing

The motivational primacy of environmental coherence : self-derogation and the experience of meaning in life

Although the human tendency to make self-serving attributions is well-documented, not all behaviors and cognitions are primarily self-serving. Victims blame themselves for uncontrollable circumstances and individuals derogate themselves to maintain a sense that the world is just. Callan and colleagues (2014) found that random negative outcomes result in lowered self-esteem, increased perceptions that one deserves bad outcomes, and spurred self-detrimental behaviors. How might these self-defeating processes be explained? I examined whether such processes might serve to maintain a broader sense of coherence that allows the experience of life as meaningful. Participants (N = 1199) wrote about past bad or good breaks, or daily activities, and then rated self-esteem, deservingness of bad outcomes, and meaning in life and coherence. I found no support for the prediction that self-esteem would negatively relate (or deservingness of bad outcome beliefs would positively relate) to meaning in life following reminders of bad breaks. Some evidence emerged suggesting that self-esteem was less strongly related to coherence in the good breaks condition compared to controls. Exploratory analyses examined the role of depression in processes involved in the experience of life as meaningful. The manipulation had stronger effects on meaning in life in participants experiencing depressive symptoms compared to those who were not. Furthermore, self-esteem was more strongly related to meaning in life in individuals experiencing some depression compared to the non-depressed participants, especially in the bad breaks condition. Implications for this work regarding the study of meaning in life and future directions regarding this research question are discussed

An International Study on Psychological Coping During COVID-19: Towards a Meaning-Centered Coping Style

Background/Objective This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping. Method A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM). Results The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables. Conclusions The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic

Relational Self-Concept as a Moderator between Perceived Social Support and Outcome Variables

The current study evaluated the impact of the self-concept on the relationship between social support and multiple outcome variables. In previous research, social support has been shown to be consistently related to distress, but in an inconsistent direction. To test the impact of the self-concept as a moderating variable clarifying this relationship, 206 participants from a liberal arts college and 79 participants from a technical college completed a survey assessing their relational self-concept, perceived social support, and outcome variables including distress, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life. The relational self-concept was found to be a moderating variable in the relationship between social support and distress, and again between social support and life satisfaction. Individuals with a highly relational self-concept were greatly impacted by social support levels whereas, support was nearly neutral for low relationals. These findings help to explain past contradictory findings and have implications for the therapy setting