<p> Eating is one of the most important and essential behaviors that an animal can engage in (Ruiz-Mirazo, Pereto, &amp; Moreno, 2002). For both humans and animals, energy acquisition is part of a complex system termed eating behavior that includes context, overt behaviors, and physiological processes (Morrison &amp; Berthoud, 2007; Saper, Chou, &amp; Elmquist, 2002; Schwartz, Woods, Porte, Seeley, &amp; Baskin, 2000). Previous research suggests that a specific context, being socially ostracized, can increase consumption of palatable food via a decrease in motivation for self-control (e.g., Baumeister et al., 2005; Oten et al., 2008; Twenge et al., 2007; Twenge et al., 2003). Additionally, research has found that while normal weight adolescents will work harder for social reinforcements after ostracism, overweight adolescents will work harder for food reinforcements (Salvy et al., 2011b). Fortunately, there is research to suggest that the impact of ostracism may be protected against by simply having individuals write about things that they value (Brandon &amp; Vohs, 2009). The current study explores whether or not a values writing intervention might be useful for buffering the impacts of social ostracism on the consumption of palatable foods. Specifically, whether or not weight interacted with these variables (i.e. social ostracism, values writing, and caloric consumption) was assessed. While participants did consume more after being ostracized verses being included, no other hypotheses were supported. The current research contributes implications and refinements for future research in the areas of values writing as an intervention and explorations of disordered eating.</p>

Recent work in moral psychology emphasizes the role of immediate intuitive responses in shaping moral judgments, while at the same time questioning the causal role of more reflective reasoning processes. On this account (mainly due to Haidt, 2001), such reflective processes primarily provide post-hoc rationalizations for more immediate responses, and only appear to cause the associated judgments. This account poses a strong skeptical challenge to prior theories that focused on the role of reasoning in shaping moral judgments (most notably Kohlberg, 1969). In this dissertation, I attempt to address this challenge. I do so in Part I by reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of recent studies on moral reasoning and reflection. In Part II, I describe the results of six original studies that were designed to examine the roles of reasoning and reflection in moral judgment while accounting for skeptical interpretations. Part III concludes with a summary of the conditions under which reasoning and reflection were found to occur, along with a speculative account of the practical implications of this work and suggestions for future research on the cognitive mechanisms underlying reflective reasoning processes. / Psychology

abstract: Epidemiological studies have identified obesity as a risk factor for numerous chronic diseases such as adult onset diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. In both humans and laboratory animals, high-fat diets have been shown to cause obesity. Increases in dietary fat lead to increased energy consumption and, consequently, significant increases in body fat content. CD36 has been implicated in fat perception, preference, and increased consumption, but it is yet to be tested using a behavior paradigm. To study the effect of CD36 on fat taste transmission and fat consumption, four CD36 knockout (experimental) mice and four Black 6 wildtype (control) mice underwent 20 days of fat preference and perception testing. Both groups of mice were exposed to foods with progressively increasing fat content (10%, 12.5%, 15% 17.5%, 20%, 45%) in order to assess the effect of CD36 on fat preference. Afterward, the mice were subjected to an aversive conditioning protocol designed to test the effect of CD36 on fat taste perception; development of a conditioned taste aversion was indicative of ability to taste fat. Especially, knockout mice exhibited diminished preference for and reduced consumption of fat during preference testing and were unable to identify fat taste as the conditioned stimulus during aversive conditioning. A repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni correction revealed a significant main effect of group on fat consumption, energy intake, and weight. Linear regression revealed CD36 status to account for a majority of observed variance in fat consumption across both phases of the experiment. These results implicate CD36 in fat taste perception and preference and add to the growing body of evidence suggesting fat as a primary taste. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Obesity Prevention and Management 2018

<p> Bariatric surgery has demonstrated efficacy as a strategy to address morbid obesity and the comorbidities associated with this issue. Beyond two years there is an increased risk for weight regain and increases in Body Mass Index. Excess weight loss may impact quality of life and mental health status initially. Post-surgically, social support healthcare professional utilization is believed to influence excess weight loss success. Social contagion theory provides a model to explain and predict the impact of social networks on self-management. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between social support quality, health quality of life, mental health status, and healthcare team support utilization on the maintenance of excess weight loss and BMI in post-bariatric patients beyond two years after surgery. A total of 34 participants completed the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, SF-36, and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. The electronic health records of these patients were analyzed to determine utilization of healthcare professional support. Health quality of life was the only construct that demonstrated a statistical relationship with weight and BMI maintenance after two years (<i>r</i> = .46, <i>p</i> &lt;.05; <i>r</i> =.47, <i>p</i> &lt;.05). A significant negative correlation between quality of life and mental health status was found with both weight maintenance and BMI maintenance (<i>r</i> = -.62, <i>p</i> &lt;.01; <i> r</i> = -.62, <i>p</i> &lt;.01). There is limited research on long-term maintenance, but these findings are inconsistent with research which has found that social support, support utilization and mental health status may influence initial post surgical weight maintenance. A regression model found that the study variables are not predictive of the maintenance of weight and BMI beyond two years. These finding may contribute to research on weight maintenance in post bariatric patients beyond two years. The results should be viewed cautiously due to the low participation rate, which may have influenced statistical significance. Future research should examine the possible impact of weight gain on study participation, and may benefit from qualitative research methodology to determine themes associated with excess weight maintenance beyond two years.</p><p>

The intergenerational transmission of trauma has deleterious effects on families (Kestenburg, 1981; Yehuda, 2018). This study aims to examine the role of emotional regulation and parental reflective functioning (PRF) in the transmission of trauma to discover the underlying mechanisms of trauma so that clinicians are able to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomena in order to provide targeted interventions. An online sample of 219 participants who were over 18 years of age and who identified as being a mother completed the survey. The survey included the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18), and the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). What this study found are that the relationship between the ACE and PRFQ-IC was mediated by the DERS-18 (R = .273, R2 = .074, p = .000). These results indicate that clinicians may have success in treating the transmission of intergenerational trauma with interventions targeting emotional dysregulation.

Given a significant lack of literature focused on abdominal pain sensitivity between the sexes, this paper aims to explore how biological males and females processing abdominal pain stimuli differently. Additionally, the differences between males and females as it pertains to pain catastrophizing is explored. To examine sensory processing differences, the German Research Network’s quantitative sensory testing protocol was conducted on the abdomens of 186 healthy, pain-free participants (66.1% female, 33.9% male). Ultimately, there were significant results that suggested a difference in the sensory processing of males and females. Females were more sensitive to pressure and thermal pain stimuli than males, which was consistent with prevailing literature. In regards to pain catastrophizing, the results from this study suggested no difference between males and females in a healthy, pain-free population, which was inconsistent with prevailing literature. The results of this study suggest that clinicians should use a more individualized approach with pain patients, with the consideration that each patient responds to pain stimuli differently, partially due to their biological sex.

This study examined the association between a parent’s socioeconomic status, stress, and emotion regulation abilities (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and that parent’s emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) in a sample of 192 primary caregivers using self-report, cross-sectional data. A local and an online (Amazon Mechanical Turk), sample were combined and analyzed. The findings varied slightly by sample. Cognitive reappraisal and a composite variable of SES were significant predictors of supportive ERSB use. Stress and expressive suppression were significant predictors of unsupportive ERSBB use. Exploratory analyses indicated that stress moderated the association between cognitive reappraisal and the use of both supportive and unsupportive ERSBs. Future directions in this area of research are discussed and a multi-generational perspective on emotion-related socialization is suggested. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2016. / September 9, 2016. / emotion regulation, Emotion-related socialization behaviors, parent, preschool, socioeconomic status, stress / Includes bibliographical references. / Beth Phillips, Professor Directing Thesis; Alysia Roehrig, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member.

No description available.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, Section: B, page: 3476. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: B, page: 2820. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.