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- Creator:
- Erica Walker
- Description:
- In everyday life, consciousness appears to be insulated from external control. Processes such as decision making seem voluntary. However, recent theories propose that consciousness operates automatically in a manner resembling a reflex. To investigate the boundary conditions of involuntary processes, the Reflexive Imagery Task (RIT) has been employed to elicit and measure the involuntary entry of contents into consciousness. The current study sought to extend the RIT to attention, while pairing the behavioral measures of the task with electroencephalography (EEG). By manipulating perceptual load and the duration of the presentation of stimuli, we observed decreased frequency and increased latency of involuntary cognitions for stimuli presented for brief durations (90 ms) in comparison to stimuli presented for long durations (10 s). Alpha power reflected subjects’ reports of involuntary cognitions, such that alpha power was significantly lower in the 10 second condition in comparison to the conditions with brief stimuli durations. These findings suggest that environmental content can directly affect how attention is allocated to external stimuli. That the cognitions were involuntary supports the view that attention could also operate reflexively under certain circumstances. This is consistent with a contemporary framework that construes attention as an effect, rather than as a cause, of processing. These findings have implications for many areas of research concerned with high-level cognitive control, including models of attention and action selection.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Francisco
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Alexander J. Cook
- Description:
- Stimulus-driven capture of attention has been used extensively in visual search tasks to examine the automatic deployment of attention. Few studies have examined the attention capture ability of salient singletons when the task requires the participant to not attend to anything. In these studies, involving a variant of the Reflexive Imagery Task, participants were presented with an array of six objects and instructed to not think of the name (subvocalize) of any of the objects presented. In Study 1, another condition instructed participants to subvocalize the name of any of the objects. On half of the critical trials, one object was presented in a color that differed from that of all the other objects (the Singleton condition). In this condition, the subvocalization was for the critical stimulus on a high proportion of the trials for both the voluntary and involuntary conditions. Study 2 included conjunction trials which contained target stimuli defined by two features (color and motion). The attention capture effect was not observed for the conjunction trials, but it was enhanced for trials with a flashing singleton. These results provide evidence that the visual saliency of an object influences which representations enter into consciousness, regardless of whether one intends to attend to the object or not. This finding has implications for advertising and the design of user interfaces.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Francisco
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Vahle, Laura
- Description:
- Incest is underdiagnosed in the clinical setting. Clinicians often assign non-incest diagnoses based on symptomatology that is secondary to the underlying primary problem which is the impact of the externally induced trauma, incest. Another aspect of this underdiagnosis lies in the clinical setting in which the victim is examined. In this setting, her symptomatology is out of the context which gave rise to it and is therefore misinterpreted. A diagnosis of incest based on the same symptomatology would "make sense" if placed in the context of her family structure. Family patterns characteristic of paternal incest have been identified and used as the basis for a preliminary instrument for the identification of incest.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Johnson, Kelly M.
- Description:
- In order to generalize the results of stereotyping and discrimination studies to intergroup situations, it is important to attempt to examine simultaneously the many individual variables that have been implicated in this process. Three of these variables are affect, group categorization and self-esteem. Affect is known to influence intergroup perceptions, yet anger has received very little attention in studies on affect and intergroup relations. Minimal group paradigm studies have shown that participants perceive themselves as group members even though group divisions are based upon insignificant criteria, more so when divisions are based upon more salient features. Further, the more an individual identifies with his or her ingroup, the greater the ingroup favoritism. Self-esteem has also been implicated in intergroup perceptions: it appears to both influence and be influenced by stereotyping and discrimination. Further, self-esteem levels are differentially associated with intergroup bias: individuals with high self-esteem tend to use direct methods of bias and those with low self-esteem tend to use indirect methods of bias. In the following experiment, the researcher manipulated affect (induced anger versus a neutral mood) and group categorization based upon similar (dot estimation capabilities) or non-similar characteristics (no participant characteristics). Self-esteem was measured at the beginning and the end of the experiment to examine its relationship to the other variables. Stereotyping was examined through participants' 1) evaluative ratings of personality traits of in-and outgroup members; and 2) perception of variability of in-and out group members' personality traits. Discrimination was examined through participants' recall of previously-stated in-and out group behaviors. This measure is intended to reveal indirect bias. Ingroup identity was gauged through participants' perceived similarity to their ingroup. As hypothesized, significant ingroup favoritism was found on all dependent variables. Regardless of condition, the ingroup received more positive trait ratings, was perceived as more variable, and was more favorably remembered relative to the outgroup. In line with expectations, neutral mood participants and high self-esteem participants rated in-and outgroup personality traits higher than did angry or low self-esteem participants. Unexpectedly, there was no main effect of affect or self-esteem on discrimination. Expectations of greater intergroup bias (difference between ingroup and outgroup evaluations in favor of the ingroup) in trait ratings by angry, as compared to neutral participants, did not materialize. While predicted interactions between self-esteem and the group rated were not significant, implications for future research are promising. The predicted trends materialized for angry subjects only indicating that anger and self-esteem may combine to differentially influence how an individual expresses intergroup bias. Individuals with high self-esteem showed an expected, but non-significant trend towards greater ingroup identity than did those with low self-esteem. Contrary to expectations, affect did not influence ingroup identity. As predicted, stereotyping and discrimination did not influence self-esteem. Categorization was omitted from analysis since the manipulation check indicated the manipulation had failed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Baserga, Victor
- Description:
- California has about 565,000 residents incarcerated in local jails, state/federal prisons, juvenile detentions, or under involuntary supervision. The latter comprises 90,000 formerly incarcerated persons on parole and another 236,000 on probation. Incarcerated persons experience significant challenges of managing and coping with long-term incarceration. Some survive prison by adopting risky behavior, while others find a middle ground by developing positive behavior through education and self-help programs. Because of these variant social-psychological pathways of incarcerated citizens, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms of recidivism before release and while on parole. In this mixed methods study, we investigate the mechanisms that drive low recidivism rates among paroled lifers. We aim to answer the following: 1)Why do paroled lifers recidivate in significantly lower rates than other returning citizens?, 2) Is the aging-out phenomena solely responsible for the lower recidivism rate?, 3) To what extent do resiliency, education, and self-development programs contribute to the lower recidivism rates?
- Resource Type:
- Abstract
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Phan, Tammy
- Description:
- Loot boxes are purchasable items in video games that are consistent with items of randomized rarity. Current studies on loot boxes have only covered the possible effects of loot boxes and habitual gambling. However, my work explores how loot boxes affect virtual economies and player experience. As many games have integrated loot boxes into their core gameplay, loot boxes have also helped establish virtual marketplaces that allow players to sell and purchase items. The purchasable items on these online markets can vary in rarity and are bought by using in-game currency that gamers can eventually work towards. Gamers engage with this economy by grinding, which may be viewed as labor; players can spend hours trying to obtain enough materials to purchase items on the market to become more viable within the game. Without access to rarer materials, players who do not indulge in loot boxes are at a disadvantage, having to play longer and to reach the same levels as people who spend money. Contributing to economic anthropological theories of commodity and gift exchange through virtual ethnography, this paper will look into divisions of statuses among gamers based on the differences in Free to Players versus those who pay for loot boxes.
- Resource Type:
- Abstract
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Shahrokhshahi, Rita
- Description:
- Purpose of the Study: This thesis examines the patriarchal wounding of my Slavic mother line and follows the healing journey I took to transform wounds to enrich my self-identity in my pursuit toward wholeness Procedure: My study follows the motherline. The motherline is the maternal lineage of a woman backward through the generations. I explored the wounding of my motherline by using an autoethnographical narrative. Autoethnography is an autobiographical form of qualitative research that uses self reflection to explore personal stories and experiences within a cultural context. I used self-reflection to aid my stories and employed a Jungian psychological framework. Through the myth of Inanna, I embarked upon a metaphorical descent and met the dark goddess Ereshkigal. I relied on depth techniques to track and interpret my dreams, guide my active imaginations, and create spontaneous healing rituals. I made a pilgrimage to Montenegro to further assist my inquiries and overall depth experience. Findings: I found that healing occurs in the reflective process of sharing my journey of personal and cultural wounding. Healing is not a means to an end but is rather an ongoing process toward a quest to achieve wholeness. I found that my personal female individuation process is a continuous stream of engaging with the rhythms of life, death, and rebirth as a continuous cycle in my developmental pattern. My mother line wounds provided deep layers of meaningful experiences to happen that continue to offer value for me to expand my quest toward wholeness. Conclusions: Suffering from personal wounds affords the opportunity to examine the soul through a process of individuation. The connection with the motherline and one's cultural lineage is a way to further understand self and create wholeness. For women, the sacred feminine is a source for greater meaning. In the quest toward female individuation, a goddess-centered spirituality is an opening to assist the exploration of vast realms and qualities that lives inside every woman.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sonoma
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Radclyffe, Renee C.
- Description:
- Purpose of the Study: This study is an attempt to validate the importance of integrating women's issues into traditional psychology classes at a college level. Psychology, for the most part, had ignored, trivialized, and/or negated women's life experiences. All too often women are viewed as mentally unhealthy or incapable of maturing fully because of the standards set by society and by those in the psychological profession. Because of such stereotypical sex-role attitudes, it is most important to examine why such attitudes exist and to examine their origins. Procedure: I have researched two areas of female psychology: first, Freudian and feminist psychology, and second, looking at women psychologists whose contributions to the development of modern psychology have been deleted from current psychology textbooks. In part one, using literature primarily from feminist books, I chose to explore several of Sigmund Freud's concepts on female sexuality: penis envy, masochism, vaginal versus clitorial orgasm because such concepts appear to be, in part, correlated with the oppression of women. I have also commented on other Freudian theorists, and others who "broke away" from Freud's circle. In part two, I have reviewed psychology textbooks to confirm the absence of women and their contributions and have researched other feminist books to find the history of women psychologists. Findings and Conclusions: With the development of modern psychology, an attitude surfaced that still exists today, and that is that mentally healthy women are those who adhere to sex-role expectations in our society. Freud, for example, once described feminists as women who had a desire to be men. I have often heard men comment that feminists are trying to be like men or that they are dykes or castrating bitches. Because of feminist therapy, many women are challenging such attitudes by learning to understand social conditioning rather than by internalizing such conditioning that has made women feel inferior and mentally unhealthy. As students of psychology, men and women have been taught that women have not been influential in the development of modern psychology. Current textbooks in the history of psychology ignore or trivialize women's contributions. Through extensive and exhausting research, I was able to find information about many women psychologists who have now been deleted from textbooks. The integration of such information is vital to the education of today's students. While women's studies classes have attempted to fill this void, many male students and instructors believe such classes are not pertinent. this research project argues that, until textbooks are revised to include the female half of psychology, it is essential that instructors take the time to find material on women psychologists and on more positive images of female psychology and incorporate it into their lectures and reading materials.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sonoma
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Steiger, Laura L.
- Description:
- Construct accessibility has been found to play an important role in the interpretation of social information. Even when a construct is primed implicitly it has been proven to have a temporary effect on person perception. The present experiment examined the effects of increasing the construct accessibility for the traits of friendliness and hostility on social perception. The interaction of these two trait categories with person perception and gender was also investigated. Subjects performed a task in which they were unknowingly exposed to either 0%, 20%, or 80% friendly or hostile words. Next, subjects read a behavioral description that was ambiguously related to both hostility and friendliness, and rated the stimulus person on several trait scales. Although there were no significant priming effects in the experimental condition, two separate experiments indicate that effects would have been found had the exposure time during the priming task been slower. There was a significant gender difference in the hostility rating of the behavioral description across conditions; the implications of this are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Guzman, Isabel Pacheco
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to examine group differences in attachment styles and relationship functioning among individuals with high and low psychopathic traits. It was hypothesized that individuals with high psychopathic traits would report greater incidence of dismissing attachment and a lower incidence of secure attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety as compared with individuals with low psychopathic traits. It was also hypothesized that high psychopathic traits will have greater negative associations with secure attachment, preoccupied attachment, fearful attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety, as well as a greater positive association with dismissing attachment as compared to lower levels of psychopathic traits. Procedures included recruitment of 117 undergraduate students and administration of several self-report measures. The high psychopathy group reported greater incidence of fearful attachment while the low psychopathy group reported greater incidence of secure attachment and relationship satisfaction. No significant group differences were found in relationships between psychopathy, attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety. Clinical implications are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology