<p>Research has long assumed that the process of self-control involves mechanisms for overcoming temptations. Such mechanisms, however, may not necessarily be consciously deployed, and relatively little is known about how individuals’ explicit beliefs about temptations may impact their response to them. With this in mind, five studies were conducted to examine the self-regulatory impact of individuals’ general beliefs about the necessity of avoiding temptations and the potential utility of having indulged in them. These studies considered how the impact of these beliefs may themselves depend on an individual’s ability to implement self-control. Study 1 tested the connection between an individual’s decision to avoid temptations and the two beliefs on overcoming temptations – beliefs in the necessity of avoidance and in the utility of indulgence. Studies 2 and 3 examined the relationship between self-control and the general belief that the utility of indulging in temptations affects self-control related behaviors. Study 4 explored how these beliefs may impact healthy dietary choices in the face of food temptations. Finally, Study 5 employed a different task paradigm to examine how various beliefs about temptations may mitigate the negative experiences of failures in self-control. Overall, the findings indicated that a general belief in the utility of avoiding temptations may positively impact goal pursuit, especially when self-control is low. Alternatively, a belief in the value of indulging in temptations may negatively impact goal pursuit when individuals’ self-control is low. This belief, however, may mitigate the consequences of temptation indulgence for future self-control.</p> / Dissertation

How do people allocate responsibility for inter-racial conflict (Black vs. White) under ambiguous circumstances? We tested the hypothesis that responsibility allocation reflects people’s implicit racial bias—with greater blame allocated to the Black protagonist by observers with stronger implicit anti-Black bias—but only when they identify the conflict in low-level terms (i.e., the specific momentary actions of the individuals). When observers identify the conflict in high-level terms (e.g., the intentions of the individuals), they are conscious of their biases and can suppress them in favor of less prejudicial judgments. White and Black participants read or listened to an ambiguous inter-racial conflict narrative, then allocated responsibility for the conflict and rated the protagonists’ personalities. The results showed the defendants were rated as more responsible when rated more positively for personality and affective reaction. Methodological reasons for the direction of the relationship are discussed, as are suggestions for future research. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

O uso de simulações computacionais no campo da engenharia vem se tornando cada vez mais freqüente. Este trabalho aplica diferentes tipos de análise, Método Multicorpos e Método dos Elementos Finitos, para estudos dinâmicos e estruturais, como ferramenta de auxílio no desenvolvimento de veículos terrestres. Através de métodos de integração numérica e posteriormente a utilização do método dos multicorpos, uma suspensão independente dianteira de um veículo foi isolada, considerada como um conjunto de corpos unidos por juntas, movidos por forças e restringidos por batentes. O comportamento dinâmico do sistema foi determinado submetendo o modelo a entradas provenientes do pavimento. O Método dos Elementos Finitos já é considerado como ferramenta potente para o cálculo estrutural. Para abordar tal tema, foi construído um modelo discretizado em Elementos Finitos de um veículo comercial completo. Este modelo foi submetido a simulações de situações de situações reais quasi-estáticas e dinâmicas, utilizando algoritmos implícito e explícito, dependendo do fenômeno considerado. A partir destes, puderam ser verificadas a performance estrutural e a segurança passiva do veículo arremessado a obstáculos cotidianos. O último estudo retrata que com a fusão dos métodos é possível, através de programas dedicados, prever a dinâmica de um modelo encriptado de um boneco tipo HYBRIDIII, quando submetido a um pulso de desaceleração no interior de um veículo com e sem bolsa de segurança(airbag). Todos os resultados obtidos foram comparados à realidade ou \"benchmark\". Os obstáculos enfrentados permitiram definir qual ferramenta melhor se encaixa num contexto de desenvolvimento dentro de uma corporação. / The use of computational tools in various engineering fields has increased over the last years. Mathematical modelling is identified as being the most adequate tool for simulating real service conditions along several product development phases. This work investigates different dynamic and structural analysis used for ground vehicle development tools. By numerical integration using the Multibody system method, an independent suspension was isolated from the car and considered as bodies connected by joints, moved by forces and constrained by stoppers. The dynamic behaviour of the systems was predicted when submitted to input exclusively from the ground. The Finite Element Method is already considered a very powerful simulation tool. In order to study the method, a full vehicle model was built and submitted to quasi-static and dynamic inputs. Both implicit and explicit methods were used to simulate different situations. The vehicle had its structural performance analysed related to durability and safety aspects. The last analysis that shows the fusion of methods is possible using dedicated computational tools to simulate the passenger kinematics by using an encrypted dummy and an airbag model under a deceleration pulse as input. AlI the results were compared to experimental and benchmark results. Also the difficulties emerged from each tool were pointed out in order to define which is the most appropriate within the development context.

Durant la dernière décennie, l’évolution du Web a été marquée par une forte croissance des services publiés et qui s’est accompagnée d’une explosion considérable du nombre d’usagers dont les profils et contextes sont divers et variés. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse traitent de l’optimisation de requêtes de services Web où le profil/contexte de l’utilisateur joue un rôle central. Il s’agit de sélectionner un service ou une combinaison de services pertinents parmi une masse importante de candidats compétitifs et capables de réaliser une tâche requise. Ces services candidats devant répondre au mieux aux exigences demandées par l’utilisateur selon un ensemble de critères non-fonctionnels. Dans notre approche, les critères non-fonctionnels considérés sont tous associés aux préférences du demandeur de service. Un intérêt plus important est alors porté à l’utilisateur qui se trouve au coeur du processus de sélection. La diversité du profil et du contexte de l’utilisateur, et également ceux des services cibles,rend ce processus encore plus complexe. Notre étude se focalise, dans un premier lieu,sur l’analyse des différentes approches de sélection de services Web existant dans la littérature. Nous mettons, notamment, en évidence leur contribution à la résolution des problèmes inhérents à la sélection des meilleurs services dans le but de satisfaire les critères non-fonctionnels formulés dans la requête. Dans un second temps, notre intérêt s’est porté sur la modélisation de spécification de l’offre et la demande de services,de leurs contextes et profils ainsi que les deux classes de préférences utilisateurs :explicites et implicites. Enfin, nous proposons une nouvelle famille d’approches d’optimisation qui intègre une stratégie de reformulation de requêtes par introduction des préférences implicites. Le concept clé de ces approches est un mécanisme d’inférence flou permettant d’accomplir un raisonnement déductif sur les informations liées au profil et contexte de l’utilisateur. Le principe consiste à combiner les deux familles de préférences utilisateur, tout en considérant conjointement les profils et les contextes des services et de l’utilisateur. L’application de la théorie des ensembles flous dans l’optimisation des requêtes à préférences des utilisateurs, en intégrant un module de raisonnement sur les informations liées à l’utilisateur, s’avère d’un intérêt majeur dans l’amélioration des qualités des résultats retournés. Nous présentons à la fin de l’étude une série d’expérimentations pour montrer la validité et la pertinence des approches proposées. / The internet has completely transformed the way how we communicate (access toinformation). Its evolution was marked by strong growth of published services which has been accompanied by a large explosion in the number of users and a diversity oftheir profiles and their contexts.The work presented in this thesis deal with the adaptive optimization of Web services queries to user needs. This problem is to select a service or a combination of relevant services from a collection of candidates able to perform a required task. These candidate services must meet the requirements requested by the user, the selection makes his/herchoice from non-functional criteria. In our approach, non-functional criteria considered are all associated with preferences of service requester. A significant interest is therefore carried to the user who is at the core of the selection system. This selection is generally considered a complex task because of the diversity of profile and context of the service,which it is performed.Our study focuses mainly on the analysis of different service selection approaches.We especially highlight their contribution to solving the problems inherent in selecting the best services in order to meet the non-functional parameters of the request. Second, our interest has focused on modeling the specification of supply and demand for services, their context and profile as well as the two families preferences : explicit and implicit. Finally, we propose a novel optimization approach that integrates a query reformulation strategy by introducing implicit preferences based on the fuzzy inference process. The idea is to combine the two families of preferences required by the user with consideration of profiles and contexts of services and the user simultaneously. The application of fuzzy set theory in the optimization of preference query of customers by integrating reasoning module on information related to the user leads of great interest in improving the quality of results. We present at the end a set of experiments to demonstrate the validity and relevance of the proposed approach.

Previous studies of form-focused instruction (FFI) have examined the effect of various aspects of inputs, corrective feedbacks, and instructions on L2 learners' accuracy development. Although much research has suggested that L2 learners achieve high accuracy and communicative competence when they receive input enhancement, explicit instruction, and corrective feedback, limited work has been done on the effect of FFI in Chinese language. The thesis utilized qualitative and quantitative methods and tested the effect of two FFI models on two groups of learners' acquisition in Chinese adverbial phrases. Even though the quantitative results show that the group that received explicit treatment had significantly improved accuracy in the immediate and delayed post-tests, the interview results revealed that students have different learning styles. This further suggests that no one right instruction is the best, and teachers should implement various teaching approaches based on students' needs.

Research has linked emotional regulation to the adaptive functioning of adolescents. Further research suggests that family processes, which include implicit rules, impact children's emotional regulation. The current study examined the impact of implicit rules that are facilitative of family connectedness on development of adolescents' emotional regulation. Data came from the Flourishing Families Project (FFP), a seven-year longitudinal study measuring family processes that impact adolescent development. The sample was collected in the northwestern United States and consisted of 500 families with a target child between the ages of 10 and 14 years. Participants filled out self-report measures on implicit family rules and emotional regulation. Data was organized in a cohort sequential design and analyzed using latent variable growth curve modeling. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant growth in emotional regulation across the adolescent years. Results further indicated that initial status of facilitative rules did not have a statistically significant effect on growth in emotional regulation. Finally, growth in facilitative rules was found to have a statistically significant impact on growth in emotional regulation. Clinical implications for work with adolescents and families are discussed.

Social class remains a largely unexplored domain of psychological research. While steps have been taken to develop interventions for racism and sexism, no such model exists in regard to class bias. College is one particular context in which it is likely for lower-income students to experience heightened class identity saliency and encounter class-related friction. Prior literature has shown that classism is associated with negative psychosocial and academic outcomes for college students. The proposed intervention is designed to reduce class bias on elite college campuses, where a majority of students come from privileged backgrounds and class tensions are often neglected. Participants will enroll in a for-credit course that will shed light on issues of classism and encourage students to think critically about class-related issues. Effectiveness of the course will be assessed in two ways. Reduction in class bias will be measured using an implicit measure of social class bias. Participants will also complete a self-report measure of awareness of social class issues. Participation in the course is expected to result in decreased class bias and greater awareness of social class issues. Furthermore, it is predicted that awareness of social class issues will mediate the relationship between course participation and reduced class bias. Research findings will have valuable implications for the success and wellbeing of students affected by classism. The proposed study has the potential to bridge class divides within college communities and promote educational equity.

The measurement of religious belief has some social desirability concerns that make the development of an implicit measure of religiosity advantageous. Currently, there are few options for implicitly measuring religious belief. This study attempted to add to this literature by analyzing the automatic judgements of religious belief through the use of an implicit measure known as the MouseTrack task, allowing for the measurement of latency in the expression of these beliefs as well as the certainty of these beliefs by tracking the path taken during the decision process. A sample of 121 undergraduates was recruited from the UK SONA subject pool. Desired religious variance was not achieved in the sample, making interpretation of results difficult. Detailed breakdowns of these path analyses are given. Key trends in findings are discussed.

Previous research shows that social biases, such as pro-White racial bias, can influence a person's decisions and behaviors (Correll et al. 2007; Mekawi & Bresin, 2015). Studies also suggest that social biases may influence basic functions like visual perception (Cesario & Navarrete, 2014); however, few studies have examined the relationship between visual perceptions and threat (Cesario, Placks, Hagiwara, Navarrete, & Higgins, 2010; Todd, Thiem, & Neel, 2016). The current research aims to investigate whether implicit pro-White preference can influence basic functions like visual perception. A secondary aim of this study is to examine the role of threat in this relationship. To test, White male and female participants (N= 29) were asked to complete distance estimates to either a Black or White male experimenter. It was hypothesized that participants would judge the distance to the Black confederate as closer compared to those who estimate the distance to a White confederate. The results marginally supported the idea that participants’ distance judgements were influenced by the experimenter’s race, such that the Black experimenter was viewed as closer when compared to the White experimenter. However, results showed that implicit racial attitudes did not influence distance estimations, but explicit bias did. Fully powered follow-up studies will be conducted to further examine these hypotheses and investigate whether a type one error was present.

Objective: To examine nutrient-specific and individual-specific correlates of valenced and arousal-based affective evaluations of foods across the spectrum of disordered eating, as well as to examine the validity of automatic and controlled processes of affective evaluation. Methods: 283 undergraduate women provided implicit and explicit valence and arousal-based evaluations of 120 food photos with known nutritional information (i.e., high or low added fat, high or low added sugar). Participants completed structurally similar indirect and direct affect misattribution procedures (AMP; Payne et al., 2005; 2008). These AMPs were paired with novel arousal-based AMPs to investigate both fundamental dimensions of affective evaluations of foods: valence and arousal. Participants completed questionnaires assessing body mass index, hunger, eating restriction, and binge eating. Results: Nomothetically, added fat and added sugar enhance the pleasantness and arousal of affective evaluations of foods. Idiographically, hunger and binge eating are associated with higher arousal, whereas BMI and restriction enhance pleasantness ratings. Added fat enhances the pleasantness ratings of women who are hungrier, or who endorse greater restriction, and enhances both the pleasantness and the arousal ratings of heavier women. In contrast, added sugar is especially influential on the pleasantness and arousal ratings of less hungry women. Restriction was related only to valenced affective evaluations, whereas binge eating related only to arousal affective evaluations. Finally, patterns of findings are largely similar across implicit and explicit affective evaluations, albeit stronger for explicit. Conclusions: Findings support the utility of distinguishing nutrients in future work, underscore the importance of examining both the valence and the arousal dimensions of affective evaluations, and provide modest support for the validity of dual-process models of affective evaluation of foods.