Syntactically ambiguous sentences offer an insight into how sentences generally are processed, by examining how readers recognise and reanalyse the ambiguity. However, it is only more recently that the comprehension product of syntactic analysis has been adequately tested, demonstrating that ambiguities are not always fully processed. This work has led to the good-enough approach to language processing and comprehension (e.g., Ferreira & Patson, 2007), which argues that sentence processing is merely good enough for the current task, and that our comprehension may not exactly match the content of what has been read. The work presented in this thesis set out to examine what it means for syntactic ambiguity processing to be good enough, by monitoring patterns of eye movements as people read sentences containing a temporary syntactic ambiguity. Comprehension questions probed the extent to which the syntactic ambiguity had been resolved. Across six experiments, it was demonstrated that both online sentence processing and comprehension are influenced by the presence of an extrinsic memory load, the presence or absence of comprehension questions, the length of texts being read, and the age of participants. Eye movement patterns were more superficial if the task permitted it; similarly, syntactic ambiguities were misinterpreted more commonly as the task demands increased. The results support a good-enough, adaptive sentence processing system, where initial misinterpretations can linger in the product of syntactic analysis, and which is affected by task demands and individual differences.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Laura A. Brannon / Though the research on vegetarianism and meat consumption reduction has dramatically increased over the last few decades, almost all of this research focuses on current vegetarians/meat reducers and non-vegetarians’ perceptions of vegetarianism (Boyle, 2007; Ruby, 2012). Research targeting non-vegetarians and attempting to influence their meat consumption is virtually non-existent. Thus, the intent of the present dissertation was to effectively decrease individuals’ meat consumption habits and alter individuals’ attitudes toward meat. As research has repeatedly found that messages that are tailored to an individual are more persuasive and effective at influencing health behaviors (Bull et al., 2001; Ryan & Lauver, 2002)) and attitudes (e.g., Murray-Johnson & Witte, 2003; Rimal & Adkins, 2003), the present dissertation specifically sought to determine the effectiveness of tailored meat consumption reduction feedback and messages to influence individuals’ intentions to consume meat and attitudes toward meat consumption. Specifically, this dissertation investigated the effectiveness of messages specific to individuals’ behavior (a behavioral feedback approach), messages oriented to individuals’ self-schemas, egoistic and altruistic oriented messages, and feedback/messages tailored to individuals’ values. Contrary to the hypotheses, the results of the present studies suggested that individuals’ willingness to reduce their meat consumption is not differentially affected by different types of feedback/messages; however, this lack of significant impact for tailored feedback/messages may due to various limitations that are discussed at length within the present dissertation. Despite the possible limitations of the studies conducted, the present dissertation has made significant contributions to the meat consumption reduction literature. The first of its kind, this dissertation importantly illustrates the importance of and need for research encouraging meat consumption reduction.

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The Coping Competence Questionnaire (CCQ), based on the reformulated learned helplessness theory, was designed to assess a general stress resistance versus a propensity towards learned helplessness with a brief, 12-item self-report questionnaire. In this study the CCQ was administered to 247 undergraduate students, who were then paired, in groups of around 24 at a time, and then randomly assigned to either success or failure conditions on the computer game TetraVex. Mood was pretested using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) depression subscale; the experimental condition, success or failure at TetraVex was conducted; then outcome measures including 20 five letter anagrams to test performance and a posttest of the POMS depression subscale testing mood were administered. The first n = 80 participants were administered the anagrams then POMS; then the next n = 167 participants completed the POMS then anagrams. Findings indicate helplessness was induced. A statistically significant main effect of group was found for both performance and mood measures, suggesting those who were exposed to success on the TetraVex puzzles performed better on the anagrams and had lower levels of depressed mood than those who were exposed to failure. A statistically significant main effect of CCQ on mood, indicating high CCQ scores were correlated with better mood, was also found. Three way interactions of CCQ, group, and the order in which the outcome measures were administered suggested that when performance was measured first, the CCQ moderated the relationship between performance outcomes and group in the predicted direction, but when mood was measured first no interaction between performance and group resulted. Additionally, when mood was measured first, the mood effects were greater; however, coping competence, as measured by the CCQ, was inadequate to immediately overcome the frustration induced in the treatment group by TetraVex failure.

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