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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-56).

Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 68. Thesis director: Jane M. Flinn. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 30, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-67). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-36).

Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 1924. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: No abstract available / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien artikel vir opsomming

Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-164). Also available online in Scholars' Bank; and in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The aims of the present study were to inquire into the origins of middle childhood South African children’s fears. In order to do this as precisely as possible it was determined to what extent Rachman’s (1977, 1991) three pathways played a role in the experience of the selected sample’s fears; in intensifying their fears; and finally in the actual onset of their fears. The results were examined across the independent variables age, gender, socio-economic status (SES), and culture. In addition, Rachman’s (1977; 1991) hypothesis that stronger, more intense fears originate through Conditioning experiences, while less intense, everyday fears originate through the indirect pathways, namely Modeling and Negative Information/Instruction was tested. The participants consisted of a sample of 660 children aged between 10 and 14 years, attending grades 5 and 7, representing the three main cultural groups found in the Western Cape, South Africa, and residing in low, middle and high socio-economic residential areas. Participants completed a short biographical questionnaire and the Fear Option List (FOL). Data analysis revealed that the majority of participants reported Modeling experiences in connection to their greatest fear, followed by Information and Conditioning experiences. Significant gender, SES, and cultural differences were found. The majority of participants reported that Information experiences were responsible for intensifying their greatest fear, and thus playing a role in maintaining it, followed by Modeling and Conditioning experiences. Significant gender, SES, and cultural differences were found. With regard to the actual onset of participants fears, the majority of participants reported that they had no clear idea of how their fear began, followed by Information, Conditioning, and Modeling. Only significant SES and cultural differences were found. The first half of Rachman’s (1977; 1991) hypothesis was confirmed in that stronger, more intense fears were found to be strongly related to Conditioning experiences. However, the second part of his hypothesis that less intense, everyday fears are likely to originate through the indirect pathways was not confirmed. The implications of the present study’s findings within a South African context are discussed, as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

The investigation was concerned with determining the effectiveness of group systematic desensitization and group covert positive reinforcement, with a control group. The two treatment conditions were to be compared if both were effective in reducing test anxiety as measured by the College Form of the Test Anxiety Questionnaire. Three groups were employed, two treatment and one control group, with four subjects in each. An analysis of covariance yielded insignificant results at the .05 level. A review of the literature was presented, procedural aspects of the treatments were covered, and possible reasons for the insignificant results were discussed.

[Truncated abstract] The finding that less time is needed to evaluate the valence of a target when it is preceded by a prime of the same valence, as opposed to one of the opposite valence, has become known as the affective priming effect. The research reported here investigated a new model of the mechanisms underlying affective priming effects, which focuses on the role of specific emotions within global valence categories. Specifically, this model stipulates that when presented with a stimulus that elicits particular emotions, the area of the brain corresponding to that emotion is automatically stimulated. This in turn will produce a diffuse activation of meaning nodes that are associated with that emotion. This emotion-based priming model departs from previous spreading activation accounts of affective priming, as it suggests that the facilitation effects observed in such studies may be due primarily to spreading activation via emotion-congruent, rather than valence-congruent, nodes. The overarching goal of the empirical research programme reported here was to test predictions based on this model. In three studies, facilitation effects ascribable to specific emotion-based congruence (e.g., fear-fear) were compared with those ascribable to global valence-based congruence (e.g., negative-negative) alone (i.e., in the absence of emotion-based congruence). Participants made valence judgements on targets which represented one of five basic human emotions: one positive (happy) and four negative (disgust, fear, sad, and anger). ... The fundamental design elements were the same across all three studies: the only difference was in the stimulus format of the prime-target pairs: emotion-laden scenes were used in Study One; facial expressions in Study Two; and emotion-laden words in Study Three. Results showed that, in comparison to the neutral and incongruent baselines, there were significant emotion-based priming effects across all stimulus formats. This result was also consistent across all of the negative emotions employed. Significant valence-based priming effects were, however, also obtained in each of the three studies, although these effects were more inconsistent than those obtained for emotion-based priming. That is, reaction times were significantly shorter on valence-congruent than on neutral and incongruent baseline trials, but only for a portion of the tests performed across the three studies. In Studies One and Two, reaction times were consistently shorter for emotion-congruent prime-target pairs than for valence-congruent prime-target pairs. This trend was absent in Study Three, in which word stimuli were used. These results indicate that while reaction times were facilitated, albeit inconsistently, for valence-congruent prime-target pairs, they were facilitated significantly further for emotion-congruent pairs when picture-based stimuli were used. The emotion-based and valence-based priming effects obtained across the three studies are discussed in terms of three competing theories: (i) spreading activation via global valence nodes, (ii) spreading activation via emotion centres, and (iii) expectancy-based processes. A dual-process hypothesis of affective priming is then proposed. The plausibility of the hypothesis is then explored through a synthesis and re-examination of results reported in previous affective priming research. Directions for future research to elaborate and extend on this work are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-193).