M.A. (Biblical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Though people tend to remember emotional information with extreme vividness, this vividness often comes at the cost of memory for surrounding information. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate this memory trade-off and how it is influenced by focused attention, trait anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In each study, participants were shown composite pictures that included an emotional or neutral item placed on a neutral background. Later, they were shown the same items and backgrounds separately. A memory trade-off occurred when participants were more likely to remember emotional items and forget the associated backgrounds as compared to equivalent memory for neutral items and backgrounds. The results from the first chapter revealed that the amount of overt visual attention on an emotional item did not predict the presence of the memory trade-off. However, when it was task relevant to disengage one's attention from the emotional item, the memory trade-off was dampened. Further, dividing attention had no effect on the memory trade-off. The results of the second chapter demonstrated that the memory trade-off was enhanced for emotional items with high levels of arousal as compared to low arousal items. This enhancement was especially strong for individuals with high trait anxiety, when this information was negative and arousing, and when the scene was remembered with a sense of familiarity. Further, for items and backgrounds that were vividly recollected, individuals with higher levels of anxiety were less likely to be able to modulate the memory trade-off, even when it was task relevant to attend to background information. The third chapter revealed that people with PTSD have a larger memory trade-off for both positive and negative information, despite the lack of overall item memory differences. These studies reveal that attention may not be the only factor that influences the memory trade-off and that the memory trade-off may be influenced by trait anxiety and PTSD. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Karen Rosen / Thesis advisor: Nancy Lau / Prior research has demonstrated that parental control, parental criticism, and parental acceptance are associated with social anxiety in youth (Wood, McLeod, Sigman, Hwang, & Chu 2003). However, researchers have not examined how these parenting behaviors might impact youth treatment responses. Research in this area has also relied almost exclusively on self and child- report measures. The current study used a newly developed behavioral observation coding system to observe: (1) parental control; (2) parental criticism; (3) quality of parent-child interaction (parental acceptance); (4) parental monitoring of youth anxiety; and (5) discussion of emotion in the context of a public speaking exposure therapy for socially anxious youth (n=39) ages 8-16 years (M = 10.82, SD = 1.94). It was hypothesized that (1) parents of socially anxious youth would exhibit higher levels of parental control, parental negativity, and parental monitoring of youth anxiety, (2) that the quality of interaction would be lower in socially anxious parent-child dyads, and (3) that parents of socially anxious youth would be less likely to discuss emotions with their children. Results demonstrated that parents of socially anxious youth offered significantly more praise than parents of non-socially anxious youth, (F(1, 33) = 5.662, p = 0.023). Parents of socially anxious youth also offered higher levels of directive help (F(1, 33) = 3.713, p = 0.063), although this finding was only trending towards significance. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Psychology Honors Program. / Discipline: Psychology.

Self-imagery plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of social anxiety (Hirsch, Clark and Mathews, 2006a). As a feared social event is anticipated, negative self- images become activated and this increases the experience of anxiety (Hirsch & Holmes, 2007). These continue to be present during the social event and become reinforced by negative interpretations of self-performance as well as by the responses of others (Hirsch, Clark, Mathews & Williams, 2003). Mental imagery is a key characteristic of fantasy proneness where the ability to generate vivid imagery forms part of imaginational ability (Sanchez-Bernados & Avia, 2004). This study investigated the relationship between fantasy proneness and social anxiety. As anticipation of a feared event plays a pivotal role in social anxiety; the establishment of a positive relationship between fantasy proneness (imaginational ability) and social anxiety may shed light on the role that imagination and fantasy play in how a socially anxious person imagines a feared event, which then contributes to the experience of social anxiety. The implications of a relationship between these constructs may indicate the role which imaginational ability (fantasy proneness) could play in underlying and maintaining social anxiety. Two self-report measures (the Creative Experiences Questionnaire and the self-report version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale) were administered to a sample of 50 non-clinical participants; 38 females and 12 males, within the age range of 19 to 52 years old. Both scales have been found to have adequate psychometric properties internationally (Fresco, Coles, Heimberg, Liebowitz, Hami, Stein and Goetz, 2001; Merckelbach, Horselenberg & Muris, 2001). Whilst no psychometric information on the use of these scales in the South African context could be found, the results of this study will contribute to the use of these scales in South Africa. The results of these scales were statistically correlated revealing that, within the research design and methodology parameters of this study, a weak, but significant, positive, relationship was found between the constructs of fantasy proneness and social anxiety. The implication of this finding is that imagination, as a cognitive process, plays a role in social anxiety. Clinically this suggests that whilst imaginative processes play a role in underlying social anxiety, they can also be utilised adaptively in cognitively countering social anxiety in a treatment context.

Background and Aims: The population aged over 65 in the UK is increasing, however this population is traditionally underserved by clinical psychologists. Part of the reason for this underservice may relate to psychologists' reluctance to work with this group. The literature suggests a number of issues which may account for this reluctance, e. g. professional ageism, anxiety about ageing, death and dependency. This research aims to explore the relevance of these issues among clinical psychology trainees, as well as exploring their attitudes towards psychotherapy with older clients and their thoughts about how recruitment could be improved Design and Participants: A cross sectional postal design was used. Questionnaires were sent to trainees at 25 of the Clinical Psychology Training courses in the UK. Three hundred and seventy-one trainees returned questionnaires. Measures: A questionnaire was designed by the author which included a number of published measures. Results: The trainees reported that they were less interested in working within the older adult specialty than within the adult or child specialties, although older adult services were more popular than learning disability services. The trainees' interest in working with older people could be predicted by their interest in this area prior to training; by aspects of their ageing anxiety and by their experience of working with older people during training. The trainees' age; death anxiety and attitude to older people did not predict their interest in this area. Trainees further discussed how they thought approaches should be modified with older people; why they thought recruitment to this area may be problematic and how recruitment could be improved. Discussion and Implications: The discussion considers provisional explanations for the findings. The clinical implications are examined particularly in terms of recruitment to the older adult specialty. The limitations with this study are explored and ways forward suggested.

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Background: Adults with autism experience high rates of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Cognitive models of suggest that anticipatory (AP) and post-event processing (PEP) develop and maintain SAD symptoms. These models underpin gold standard treatment. It is unclear if the cognitive model for SAD applies to an autism population. In addition, there is little understanding of how these symptoms are experienced by adults with autism. Aims: To examine whether the cognitive model of SAD is relevant for adults with autism, as indicated by correlations between SAD and cognitive maintenance factors. The second aim was to explore how adults with autism describe their experience of anxiety in social situations. Design: A mixed method approach was used. Participants (n = 30) completed questionnaires about characteristics of autism, SAD, AP and PEP. Bivariate correlations were used to investigate the relationship between cognitive processes and SAD. Partial correlations were used to explore relationships between SAD and cognitive processes while controlling for autism-specific language difficulties. Participants (n = 8) also completed a semi-structured interview about their social experience, associated anxiety and how any anxiety was managed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse responses. Results: Participants reported high levels of SAD, AP and PEP. There was no significant relationship between SAD and autism symptoms. While AP and autism were significantly positively correlated, exploratory analysis did not indicate a clear relationship between AP, PEP, SAD and autism. Results of thematic analysis indicate anxiety in social situations causes significant impairment, with distressing thoughts before and after social interaction. Conclusions: Results provide qualitative evidence that the Clark and Wells (1995) model of SAD is relevant for adults with autism. Further research is necessary to investigate the relationship between cognitive styles, such as intolerance of uncertainty, with SAD and autism. Adults with autism may benefit from CBT for SAD alongside strategies to structure interactions and the environment.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of yoga on anxiety using meta-analytic methods, examining overall effect size, the effect size of sub-categories of dependent variables, and moderation. A systematic search was conducted for published randomized controlled trials on yoga and anxiety on electronic databases over key terms. Reference lists of quantitative studies and literature review articles were inspected for additional articles. Once included studies were determined, outcome data were extracted and moderators were coded across studies in order to characterize differences in study sample, delivery method, and type of dependent variable. Effect size aggregation and omnibus analyses were performed, and moderator tests were conducted. Results support the hypothesis that yoga significantly decreases anxiety symptoms, in addition to symptoms more globally (i.e., anxiety and other mental health outcomes, physical health outcomes, etc taken in aggregate). Results from sub-omnibus analysis show significant effects of the yoga intervention on biological measures, non-anxiety mental health outcomes, physical health measures, stress, mental and physical health outcomes combined, and life satisfaction. In addition, significant moderation was found by location, with highest effects appearing in Indian samples.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02