This study examined the relationship between family functioning, as conceptualized by the FACES III instrument, and adolescents’ comfort and frequency communicating about sex, communicating and asserting personal boundaries, and sexual decision making. Quantitative data was collected from 154 Grade 9 students in the North Eastern Nova Scotia region. Gender, family structure, and sexual activity variables were explored. Findings showed that adolescents from balanced families scored higher on sexual decision making, were more comfortable communicating about sex, and communicated more frequently about sex to friends and parents. Females from more adaptive families scored higher on sexual decision making and sexually active adolescents were more comfortable talking about sex and their personal sexual boundaries but spent significantly less time thinking about the consequences of their choices, gathering information, and discussing it with others. Findings help understand adolescent sexual behaviour which is vital for promotion of positive sexual health across the life span. / Family Ecology and Practice

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Procedural Content Generation (PCG) in games often suffers from a lack of emotional connection with the player as well as a perceived sameness. This thesis aims to design and test a tool for PCG game levels for the game To the Skies! which incorporates an emotional intention based upon the color-emotion theory proposed by Fugate and Franco, 2019.  Russell’s (1980) Circumplex Model of Affect was used as a foundation for the parameterization of emotions, which were implemented in a PCG test level for the game, developed in Unreal Engine. By adopting research through design, this thesis goes through an iterative process where the tool is under constant improvement through quantitative testing using the Self Assessment Manikin method proposed by Lang & Bradley (1994). The tests indicate that, although colors can to some degree elicit emotions, the player’s perception of the test levels did not match the expected emotional response based on color alone for all emotional states tested. The thesis concludes that, while color-emotion association can aid in generating PCG with emotional intent, additional complementary elicitors are likely required, and further tests are needed that incorporate shapes, placement, and weather patterns.

<p>The study aims to explore the associations between narcissism, interpersonal behaviors, and aggression using situational measurement. Using an experience-sampling approach, the study examined the effect of narcissism and its fine-grained components on daily affective experiences and aggressive behaviors in the context of social interactions. Data was collected from 478 undergraduate students that were instructed to complete four prompts a day for 10 days. Narcissism and negative affect predict higher aggression overall. Grandiose narcissism affects aggression directly, and vulnerable narcissism affects aggression solely through negative affect. Interpersonal antagonism presents as the core element in narcissism that drives its association with aggression. Results are robust across different domains of aggression. In real-life social interactions, narcissism dimensions differentially affect the way individuals experience social interpersonal and process negative affect, and thus in both research and clinical practices, narcissism is the most assessed as a heterogeneous, multidimensional construct.  </p>

The purpose of this study was to examine family communication within the Core and Balance Model of Family Leisure Functioning. This was accomplished using path analysis, specifically using a mediator model. Family leisure was measured using the Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP), family functioning using the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES II), and family communication using the Family Communication Scale (FCS). The sample was youth (n = 90) and parents (n = 123) from 25 different states in the US. Family leisure involvement predicted family functioning variables from the youth and family perspectives, but only partially from the parent perspective. Family leisure also predicted family communication from the youth and family perspectives, but not from the parent perspective. Family communication predicted family functioning from all of the perspectives. Path analyses from the youth perspective indicated that the relationship between core family leisure and family flexibility was mediated by family communication, as well as the relationship between balance family leisure and family cohesion. Path analyses from the parent perspective indicated the same mediation by communication as the youth, with an addition of the mediation of the relationship between balance family leisure and family flexibility. The data indicated that family communication does mediate some of the relationship between family leisure involvement and family functioning.

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Yes / In this study we examine the structures of ten personality inventories widely used for personnel assessment, by mapping the scales of personality inventories (PIs) to the lexical Big Five circumplex model resulting in a ‘Periodic Table of Personality’. Correlations between 273 scales from ten internationally popular PIs with independent markers of the lexical Big Five are reported, based on data from samples in two countries (UK N = 286; USA N = 1,046), permitting us to map these scales onto the AB5C framework. Emerging from our findings we propose a common facet framework derived from the scales of the PIs in our study. These results provide important insights into the literature on criterion-related validity of personality traits, and enable researchers and practitioners to understand how different PI scales converge and diverge and how compound PI scales may be constructed or replicated. Implications for research and practice are considered.

This bachelor thesis discusses the conveying power of the audio and visual media in an audiovisual creative process based on the concept of audiovisual dissonance and Circumplex Model of Affect (Russell, 1980) with its key components, valence and arousal. In this design process we use the research key concept of audiovisual dissonance as a design perspective.Dissonance can also be described as a contradiction, with this an audiovisual dissonance can be seen as a contradiction between the audio and visual media. Chion (1994) coined the term audiovisual counterpoint which he describes as when the picture and the sound doesn’t match. In this design process we strived to create dissonance between audio and visual representations of different emotions. To create these dissonances the design process uses the Circumplex Model of Affect (Russell, 1980) which is a way to organize emotions in a two-dimensional coordinate system in relation to each other and their experienced valence-arousal. Valence is the concept that describes if the emotion is positive or negative while arousal is the concept that describes how intense the emotion is. The proximity between each of the emotions is based on their similarities in how they are experienced. This study is based on the idea to get a better understanding of how the audio and visual media affects a person’s emotional experience and how dissonance could be created between these two forms of media. The study resulted in a creative process with a strong connection to previous research in affect and media technology related work procedures. The creation of a matrix based on previous research created a focus and an approach that was beneficial for the creative process. The study deals with questions about effect in cooperation with the audio and the visual medium. New questions have emerged where we question whether it’s the physical properties of the medium or their association in everyday life that determines the experienced affect. / Detta kandidatarbete diskuterar ljud och bilds förmedlande krafter i en audiovisuell skapande process utifrån begreppet audiovisuell dissonans och Circumplex Model of Affect (Russell, 1980) samt dess nyckelbegrepp valence-arousal. Vi har valt att applicera undersökningens centrala begrepp audiovisuell dissonans som designperspektiv. Dissonans kan också beskrivas som motsägelse, en audiovisuell dissonans är då en motsägelse mellan ljud och bild. Chion (1994) myntade begreppet audiovisual counterpoint vilket han beskriver som när det audiella och det visuella mediet inte stämmer överens. Vi har i arbetet strävat efter att skapa dissonans mellan representationer av olika känslor i det audiella samt visuella mediet. För att skapa dessa dissonanser använder sig undersökningen av Circumplex Model of Affect (Russell, 1980) vilket är ett sätt att placera ut känslor i ett tvådimensionellt koordinatsystem i relation till varandra utifrån känslans upplevda valence-arousal. Valence är begreppet som beskriver hur positiv eller negativ en känsla är medan arousal beskriver hur intensiv känslan är. Detta koordinatsystem baseras på att känslor som är placerade nära varandra har mer gemensamt än de känslor som är placerade långt ifrån varandra. Denna undersökning syftar till att kunna få en tydligare bild av hur det audiella och det visuella mediet påverkar en persons emotionella upplevelse samt hur en dissonans kan skapas mellan dessa två medier. Undersökningen resulterade i en skapande process med stark koppling till tidigare forskning kring emotionella stimuli samt medietekniska arbetssätt. Skapandet av en matris genom sammanställning av den tidigare forskningen skapade fokus och ett tillvägagångssätt som lett den skapande processen framåt. Undersökningen hanterar frågor kring emotionella stimuli i samverkan med det audiella och visuella mediet. Nya frågor har framträtt där vi frågar oss om det är de audiella samt visuella mediets fysiska uppbyggnad eller deras association till vardagen som ligger till grund för vilka känslor som framkallas.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter R. Schumm / Abstract This study seeks to clarify a controversy in the literature about which characteristics of families are most responsible for facilitating the development of empathy in children. The study utilized a correlational research design and self-report questionnaires. The Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale measured the criterion variable, subjects’ levels of emotional empathy. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems’ accompanying questionnaire, the fourth version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV) measured the two key predictor variables, levels of family cohesion and family flexibility, in the subjects’ families of origin. The central hypothesis of the Circumplex Model is that healthy family functioning would be predicted by balanced functioning on both of these key dimensions of family life. The first predictor variable, family cohesion, appears to encompass those factors emphasized by researchers who have asserted that positive family affective bonds would be the family characteristic most predictive of higher levels of empathy in children. The second predictor variable, family flexibility, appears to encompass those factors emphasized by researchers who have asserted that the style of parental discipline would be the family characteristic most predictive of higher levels of empathy in children. Participants in this study were all students at a mid-size, public, Midwestern university. A purposive convenience sample was utilized. Correlational statistics and multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. The results suggested several conclusions. Balanced levels of family cohesion were positively associated with higher levels of emotional empathy, as predicted. The prediction that balanced levels of family flexibility would also be positively associated with higher levels of emotional empathy was not supported. Instead, higher levels of empathy were associated with a somewhat strict or rigid style of parental discipline. Various alternative explanations for these results are discussed, as are limitations of the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for practitioners.