Humans form lasting and unique relationships with the natural world and, by extension, the organisms and animals who have for millennia carved out niche environments. Scholars and general observers agree—at least in principle—that human beings have actively shaped (for better and for worse) the habitats, behaviors, and population of the Earth’s creatures. In turn, those spaces and animals have influenced not only how humans think of the natural world, but also of humanity itself. Animals, in other words, help humans understand themselves.1 This dissertation is a history of the American Alligator. A study of human interactions with alligators can reveal not only how humans viewed the animal, but also how they created, recreated, and utilized those representations to meet their own ends. Much of what humans attached to alligators—either positive, negative, or oscillating between—were the results of an internal process of dialogue, culture, and human psychology. In simpler terms, this research investigates how human beings understand themselves and how a particular species fits within human understandings of the “natural” world.

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<P> The limited strength model of self-regulation describes self-regulation as a limited, consumable, and renewable internal resource that is depleted when people attempt to control their emotions, thoughts or behaviours (Baumeister & colleagues 1994; 1996). Evidence indicates a consistent relationship across emotional, mental, and physical domains that task performance in all of these areas draws on the same limited resource and is governed by processes occurring within the central nervous system (Galliot, et al., 2007). The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-regulation depletion on muscle activity (EMG) and physical stamina via an isometric task (ankle dorsiflexion). A secondary objective was to investigate trait self-control as an effect modifier of cognitive self-regulation depletion effects on physical stamina. It was hypothesized that individuals would show a greater decline in isometric endurance performance after undergoing a self-regulatory depletion manipulation compared to when they were exposed to· a non-depletion task of similar duration. It was also expected that participants would exhibit greater increases in EMG amplitude after being depleted compared to when not depleted. Additionally, it was hypothesized that people who scored lower on a measure of trait self-control would demonstrate greater depletion effects (i.e., greater pre-to-post performance differences) than those who scored higher on trait self-control. The study was a within-subjects cross-over design involving 31 informed and consenting sedentary university students (M^age= 21.72 ± 2.57 years). Participants were stratified by gender and randomized to experience either cognitive depletion (modified Stroop task) or non-depletion (colour word reading task) for their first trial. In each trial, they completed two isometric ankle dorsiflexion endurance trials at 50% of their MVC (predetermined by initial MVC) separated by the cognitive task. Due to an unexpected differential carryover effect of exposure order, analysis of the data was carried out for each testing session, with primary analysis focused on Time 1 as suggested by Grizzle (1965). Time 1 data indicated a trend towards significance (p = .13) for performance declines being greater in the depletion group compared to the non-depletion group, and a small effect size of .27 was detected, which is comparable to findings in other related studies (Bray et al., 2008; Muraven & Shmueli, 2006). No statistically significant differences emerged for muscle activity in the tibialis anterior for the depletion group compared to the non-depletion group. Those individuals who scored lower on trait self-regulation showed a non-significant trend towards greater depletion effects on muscular endurance performance than those who scored higher on trait self-regulation (p = .13; Cohen's d = .32). Results support the limited strength model of self-regulation and the trait self-control as an·individual difference factor affecting self-regulation, but raise questions regarding the role of central fatigue effects on muscular activation following self-regulatory depletion. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

It is well known that cultural difference could affect people’s attitude, behavior and cognitive processes. Previous studies have shown a cross-cultural difference on self-construal between Western Caucasian (WC) and East Asian (EA), as well as their culturally distinguished motivational strategies, cognitive and emotion regulation methods. “Cushion hypothesis” (Hsee & Weber 1999) has suggested that WC were more risk aversive than EA during economic decision, because of dissimilar familial-social economic supporting system between two cultures. The current study digs in depth to these differences in emotional experience associated with decision making and discovers how cultures effect people’s counterfactual emotions—the “what if” emotion—during economic decision making. There are two types of counterfactuals thoughts we are looking at: regret and relief. Regret is triggered if an alternative action would have led to a better outcome, while relief is triggered if an alternative action would lead to equal or worse outcome. WC are expected to be more self-reliance, therefore would be more conservative about financial decision, and greater vigilant at economic choices prompting WC to process prior decision that led to least undesirable economic outcome; while EA are easier to get financial help form their families, would hold a relatively more relax attitude, compare to WC, about risk-taking behavior on economic decision, and be more chilled after receive preferable outcome than WC. Current study will use electropherogram (EEG) to record different event-relative potential (P2, P3 and LPP) and both FC (frontal central lobe) and CP (central parietal lobe) regions to examined how cultural difference affects counterfactual emotions during economic decision making, at both initial spontaneous arousal stage, P2 and conscious effortful emotional appraisal stage, LPP. Additionally, self emotional rating was included in the present study to consolidate validity of the task. In our results, all subjects rated happier on Relief than Regret, and Certain than Gamble conditions, only in Relief condition WC rated happier than EA, and only WC rated happier on Certain condition than Gamble condition. The emotional effect showed at P2 in FC suggested that positive result in regret condition could lead a more intensive immediate emotion arousal. Coincidently, the main effect of emotion at LPP, in the opposite direction compared to P2, at FC, might suggest an overall convoluted counterfactual emotional processing. At P3, choices by culture interaction presented at both region, further, only EA, but not WC, had a greater arousal in gamble condition than certain. This suggested a difference in cognitive processing of choices was different between two cultures. Interestingly, a three-way interaction was found at CP during P3, indicate a complexity of culture discrepancy of emotional process. Finally, a co-relation test between LPP signal and self-emotional rating was conducted, for the coincident of result of main effect of choices plus a marginal choices by culture interaction between behavioral rating and LPP. As the result, only in EA, at both choices conditions, the rating is positively related to LPP amplitude. Overall, both at P3 and LPP we found cultural specialized results correlated with choices condition, which indicated a obscure cultural effect on cognitive process. Moreover, the marginal three-way interaction at P3, CP, may suggest a cultural effects on both economic decision-making related cognitive process and emotional response.

Yes / Current dominant trends in the biological and psychological sciences tend to put emphasis on the role of the brain, cognition, and consciousness in realising emotional states and attempting to regulate them. In this article, I suggest an alternative approach with the idea that emotions emerge within social relations and give meaning and value to the situations in which we are located. Humans are understood as embodied emotional selves for who thought and emotion are intertwined. However, individuals can get caught in obsessive and compulsive thinking and feeling traps where the self loses touch with its emotions, and because of this also loses contact with the social situation and the ability to skilfully navigate it. In such circumstances, the self gets overwhelmed by emotion and loses its poise in the social setting. I consider Buddhist meditation as a technique through which people can develop a more reflexive emotional self, where reflexivity is not about control of emotion but owning one's feelings and being able to respond more sensitively and skilfully in various situations.

Yes / This chapter offers an overview of psychology’s approach to sex differences in emotion, beginning from a discussion of how psychology has approached emotion. The chapter takes a critical, social-constructionist stance on emotion and critiques psychology’s essentialist stance. Moreover, it introduces a new direction in psychology in which emotion and gender are studied from a discursive perspective, in which emotion words and concepts can function interactionally. The article considers two examples. In the first, a woman is positioned as emotional and by implication, irrational. The second example investigates how the popular concept of ‘emotion work’, one that typically constructs women as down-trodden, can in fact be used as a

At risk individuals tend to avoid information that might perturb their sense of security. I propose certainty appraisal as an important emotional dimension that affects health message processing and persuasion. Specifically, I suggest that emotions high on certainty appraisal can provide confidence to cope with the insecurity instigated by threatening health communications. Five studies are proposed to demonstrate the interaction of certainty appraisal with two health message characteristics: vulnerability to threat and response efficacy. Studies 1-3 provide evidence that when a health threat is highly self-relevant uncertainty related emotions impede processing whereas certainty related emotions facilitate it. Studies 4-5 show that individuals who are feeling uncertain prefer to attend a high efficacy message as it offers reassurance via useful recommendations. The findings extend affect regulation theories to involve emotional uncertainty as a state to be "repaired" by avoiding further deterioration or striving for restoration. / Ph. D.

Yes / Consumers use online reviews to help make informed purchase decisions. This paper extends existing research by examining how content of online reviews influences perceptions of helpfulness by demonstrating how different emotions can influence helpfulness of both product and service online reviews beyond a valence-based approach using cognitive appraisal theory and attribution theory. This research contributes to existing knowledge regarding the theory of information processing, attribution theory, and cognitive appraisal theory of emotions. Using findings from this study, practitioners can make review websites more user-friendly which will help readers avoid information overload and make more informed purchase decisions.