Effects of Imagery on Effort Perception and Cycling Endurance

The effect of associative and dissociative imagery was tested on a range of psychological-, physiological-, and performance-related variables during a progressive cycling task using a quantitative approach. Participants (n ¼ 45) were randomly assigned to dissociative imagery, associative imagery, and no imagery conditions and performed a progressive cycling task at 10% above anaerobic threshold up to the point of volitional fatigue. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE), attention focus, and heart rate were monitored and assessed at 1-min intervals. Lactic acid (LA) accumulation was recorded at RPE ¼ 5 (i.e. “strong effort”) and at the point of volitional fatigue. A series of repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that relative to their counterparts who were not using imagery, participants who used imagery accumulated higher levels of LA in blood. Despite some of the non-significant results, present effect sizes seemed to indicate that dissociative imagery may help decrease perception of effort, and associative imagery may help increase time on tas

The Good, The Bad, and The Taxed: How Taxes Shape Morals in Markets

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2019This study addresses the effects of the new tax on sweetened beverages, which has been gaining currency across the United States and beyond. I use evidence from a factorial survey to show how taxing a morally debated commodity influences people’s moral evaluations of consumption. I also experimentally manipulate the race and the class of the imagined soda consumer to test how social status matters for evaluations of morally contested consumption. To investigate moral variability based on the taxes on goods, and the social markers of the buyer, I test how people evaluate soda consumers in reference to the US healthcare market. Participants consider buying soda as less wrong, and less relevant for health care, when the soda is taxed. This study shows significant variation in moral judgements based on the respondents’ own social positions, namely their political views, income, and race. Furthermore, I find evidence suggesting that lower status groups may be held to lower standards of moral conduct in comparison to members of higher status groups, even when they engage in identical consumption practices