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The time-course of the attentional bias to threat in women and men was examined in order to clarify the validity of the "vigilant-avoidant hypothesis" and extend findings with spider pictures (Rinck and Becker, 2006) to other ecologically valid stimuli. Two hundred thirty-one (104 men, 127 women) participants pre-selected for high and low trait anxiety completed a battery of mood measures and viewed a series of slides with competing angry versus friendly faces. For a subset of these participants (54 men, 50 women), fixations and gaze durations were recorded via an eye tracker. All participants completed a face recognition task and provided copy and live measures of digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker of prenatal androgen exposure. Consistent with results from Rinck and Becker (2006), it was predicted that highly anxious individuals would show a vigilant-avoidant pattern toward angry faces while lesser anxious individuals would attend equally to angry and friendly faces over time. In addition, it was hypothesized that the vigilant-avoidant pattern would be stronger in highly anxious women. For secondary hypotheses, it was expected that digit ratio would correlate positively with trait anxiety and that attentional patterns for threat would differ between those with low and high digit ratio. Results did not support a heightened threat bias in high anxious versus low anxious individuals. Both groups showed an early bias for the angry female face during the first 1500 ms of presentation and a general avoidance for the angry male face over the course of 60 s. Although no association was found between trait anxiety and digit ratio, there was a negative correlation between reports of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and live left hand digit ratio in men. Moreover, early attentional patterns for angry faces appeared to differ between women with low and high digit ratio, suggesting that prenatal androgen action may lead to cognitive biases associated with the development and maintenance of anxiety.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX184762.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-72).

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-66). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 131 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-75).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 50 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-34).

This research targets the gender differences in the use of utterance-final particles in Cantonese with respect to the act of sajiao (撒嬌) under the speech act framework proposed by J. L. Austin. Sajiao is defined as the adorable petulance of a spoiled child or young woman who seeks material or immaterial benefits from an unwilling listener. It is hypothesized in this study that the use of utterance-final particles is not generally gender-linked. It is further suggested that some of the utterance-final particles are loaded with gender features which could feminize the utterances, thus performing the act of sajiao. This research has identified five utterance-final particles, including a newly emerged particle that has never been examined in the previous literature, which are believed to be gender-linked, namely 添 “tim1”, LU “lu3”, 噃 “bo3”, 喇喎 “laa3wo3” and 咖呵 “gaa3ho2”, and it has also analyzed meanings that are denoted by these five particles and the two genders’ usage of them. The investigator proposed that the first three particles could help soften the tone of an utterance, while at the same time, they add cuteness, so that the speakers present a more amiable impression of themselves, and thus could help them please or flatter the opposite sex. The two utterance-final particle clusters 喇喎 “laa3wo3” and 咖呵 “gaa3ho2”, on the other hand, are related to implicit demands. By skillfully employing these seemingly softer particles, female speakers could make the men who are appeared to be stronger to yield and satisfy their demands without creating any hard feelings. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

 Rumination is generally defined as a repetition of a theme in thoughts. Rumination has been consistently associated with psychopathologies. Among these psychopathologies, the relationship between depression and rumination is likely the most widely researched. Rumination was found able to predict onset of depression and duration of depressive symptoms. Rumination was also suggested to be a maladaptive coping to stress and distress, which enhance avoidant coping strategies and then further increase depression. Hence, understanding the neural basis of rumination would shed important insight into the mechanisms underpinning the regulation and dysregulation of emotion that would guide the development of cost-effective interventions. Study One was conducted to understand the sex-related differences in the rumination subtypes’ relationships with negative affect and avoidance. Thirty-six healthy participants (23 females, 13 males) were recruited in the community. We found a positive association between brooding and negative affect in both males and females. We also found, as hypothesized, a positive association between brooding and avoidance, and a negative association between reflective pondering and depression in females. A negative association between reflective pondering and avoidance was also found in males. However, reflective pondering was found to be positively associated with depression in males in this study. The findings suggest a gender difference in their emotional regulation. The brain structural correlation with this sex-related behavioral data was investigated through a voxel-based morphometry study. The sex-related difference of rumination subtypes and their relationship with negative affect, avoidance and brain volumes were explored. We found males having a larger gray matter volume over left anterior cingulate than females, and gray matter volume of this region was found to be associated with brooding in the literature. A significant interaction effect of gender and brooding was found over gray matter volume of left lateral parietal, while a significant interaction effect of gender and reflective pondering was found over gray matter volume of the several frontal regions. Consistent with the behavioral study findings, the left inferior temporal, left postcentral and right anterior cingulate were found to be associated with the significant associations between rumination and negative affect found in Study One. We also found the left inferior temporal and right precentral positively associated with brooding and behavioral-nonsocial avoidance in females. This was also found to be consistent with results from Study One. In this study, the sex-related differences among rumination, negative affect and avoidant coping strategies were found to be correlated to the regional gray matter volumes. These findings do not only help us better understand the neural associates behind the sex-related behavioral differences often discussed and found in previous studies, they also give us further information and direction on the management plans of the emotional and avoidance problems associated with rumination. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy