Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-66). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The present study evaluated selected aspects of recent behavioural, cognitive, and psychophysiological theories of depression. Of major concern was Lewinsohn's suggestion that a deficit in social-skill may be a critical determinant of depressive behaviour. An analysis of the concept of social skill suggests that it may involve two component processes: 1) the ability to emit situationally appropriate behaviours that others can identify and respond to discriminatively, and 2) the ability to identify and respond discriminatively to the situationally-appropriate behaviour of others. It follows from Lewinsohn's position that depressed subjects should exhibit deficits in either or both of these processes. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, three groups of subjects <— depressed, nondepressed psychiatric controls, and normal controls — participated in a two-part experiment. In the first part, which was designed to elicit various forms of facial expressive behaviour, subjects were exposed to a differential classical conditioning procedure, in which one CS was followed by presentation of a "pleasant" pictorial UCS, another CS was followed by an aversive auditory UCS, and a third CS was presented with no consequating event. Videotapes were made of subjects' facial expressions during CS presentation and continuous recordings of subjects' skin conductance and heart rate were taken. In the second part of the experiment, subjects observed the videotapes from the first session of 3 other subjects, one from each group of subjects. In this session, subjects'were required to guess, on the basis of changes in the facial expressions of the subjects observed, which of the 3 types of conditioning trial the observed subject was undergoing. During this session, subjects also estimated their anticipated performance immediately prior to undergoing each of the three sets of judgements. Results of the judgemental task indicated that depressed subjects were the most difficult of all subjects to accurately judge and that this deficit did not seem to be due to response predispositions on the part of depressed subjects. This finding was interpreted as being consistent with Lewinsohn's social-skill hypothesis, but inconsistent with Ferster's notion that the depressive is a poor observer of the environment. The three groups' estimations of their anticipated performance did not differ systematically, thus failing to support Beck's specualtion that the depressive is characterized by a generalized set of negative expectations regarding the outcome of future events. More importantly, changes in subjects' verbal ratings of their anticipated performance were highly correlated with the discrepancy between anticipated and actual performance on previous trials for all groups. This finding was inconsistent with predictions from Seligman's "learned-helplessness" model of depression. Finally, psychophysiological data indicated that depressives were electrodermally hyperresponsive in comparison with other subjects, and also exhibited an elevated tonic heart-rate. These findings were interpreted as being inconsistent with speculation that the depressive is refractory to stimulation. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

There is now much evidence showing that nonverbal behavior provides valuable information about an individual's internal state. Ekman and Friesen (1969) have shown that, without training, adults can, and do, make accurate inferences about emotions, attitudes, interpersonal roles, and severity of pathology by observing nonverbal behavior. For young children, whose verbal abilities are not yet greatly developed, it would seem reasonable that nonverbal expression may be an even more valuable tool in communicating information to those around them (Odom and Lemond, 1972). Accurate parental decoding of the child's nonverbal behavior, particularly nonverbal expressions of affect, may be especially important in helping the child to interpret, label, and differentiate his or her own emotional experiences, the emotional expressions of others, and the stimuli that elicit them. Sensitivity to the child's nonverbal expressions may affect the outcome of specific interactions between parent and child, as well as the ongoing character of the parent-child relationship, by providing the parent with useful information about the child's emotional state. In turn, recognition of the child's emotional state provides a basis for the empathic understanding of the child. Since parental empathy is an important factor in promoting a sense of well-being and health in children (Carek, 1972; Ornstein, 1976; Saarni , 1978), the ability of parents to decode nonverbal expressions of affect in their children thus seems to be an impor1 2 tant area of research for understanding the emotional development of children.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.