The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive relationship of response styles (i.e., rumination and distraction) to depression and anxiety in children and to test the hypothesis that response styles explain the emergence of sex differences in depression in adolescence. Children in the 2nd through 7th grade completed questionnaires that measure response styles, depressive and anxious symptoms, and stressors. The reliability and validity of a response styles questionnaire, designed specifically for children, was established through multisample confirmatory factor analysis, and by examining the internal consistency, retest reliability, and convergent and divergent validity of the measure. The predictive association between response styles and depressive symptoms was examined and the diathesis–stress model was tested by examining the moderating effects of stress on the relationship between rumination and changes in depressive and anxious symptoms. Results revealed that rumination and distraction were positively and significantly correlated, suggesting that they are not orthogonal in nature. In addition, results revealed that rumination predicted both depressive and anxious symptoms, and that 6th/7th grade girls ruminated more than same aged boys. Stress did not moderate the relationship between response styles and anxiety. In contrast, the interaction between rumination and stress predicted later depression; however, the direction of the interaction was inconsistent with the prediction of the theory. Implications for the downward extension of response styles to children are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2005. / Date of Defense: July 8, 2004. / Depression, Anxiety, Response Styles, Children / Includes bibliographical references. / Janet Kistner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Frances Prevatt, Outside Committee Member; Thomas Joiner, Committee Member; Colleen Kelley, Committee Member; Bryan Loney, Committee Member.

The effect of alcohol on performance during single-feature and conjunctive-features visual search tasks was examined in 18 normal, young adult participants (nine women), using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design that examined performance under intoxicated (peak blood-alcohol concentration = 0.071 gms%) and sober (no-alcohol control) conditions. Behavioral responses, including reaction times and error rates for detection of targets were examined in the study's main analyses, as were patterns of eye-movement, including saccade velocity and amplitude, number and duration of fixations, inhibition of return, and functional field of view. The results of these analyses indicated that alcohol intoxication was not associated with increased reaction times or error rates on any searches. However, alcohol intoxication was associated with decreased numbers and increased durations of fixations on trials that involve searching for conjunctive-features targets or absent targets. Alcohol intoxication was also associated with decreased fixations on distracters during conjunctive-features searches and decreased re-fixations of search elements that they had previously visited. Finally, alcohol intoxication was associated with decreased amplitudes and velocities of saccades. In sum, these findings indicated that alcohol intoxication slowed the initiation of saccades and that this effect was most pronounced on conjunctive-features searches. The results also suggested that these delays appeared to allow participants to process more parafoveal information at each fixation than they would have when sober, thus producing more efficient processing despite reduced speed. This study provided little support for alcohol-related reductions in cognitive capacity or inhibitory control suggested by the attention allocation model (Josephs and Steele, 1990) and impaired control (Fillmore, 2003) theory, respectively, as key mechanisms underlying changes in visual search while intoxicated—at least not at the dose tested in the present study. However, there was evidence of a general slowing effect of alcohol intoxication on the initiation and velocity of eye movements, as well as alteration of their amplitudes, that appeared to enable individuals to perform visual search tasks without obvious impairment by gathering more information at each fixation and consequently reducing the number of unnecessary eye movements that they made. These results are largely consistent with those of other research that has used different oculomotor tasks to examine alcohol's effects on attention (e.g., Radach, et al., 2011). Together, this work suggests that alcohol might influence attention in visual search, not by impairing top-down, controlled processes that guide eye-movements, but rather by influencing the bottom-up, automatic processes that initiate them. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2011. / Date of Defense: May 16, 2011. / Ethanol, Fixation, Saccade, Eye-Movment, Reaction Time, Attention / Includes bibliographical references. / Alan R. Lang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Leonard LaPointe, University Representative; Michael Kaschak, Committee Member; Ralph Radach, Committee Member; Jeanette Taylor, Committee Member.

This study sought to replicate and extend previous research that used affective modulation of the eye-blink startle response (STR) to explore the emotional consequences of drinking. One of four levels of alcohol dose (including a no-alcohol control) was administered to each of 101 (48 female) young social drinkers to evaluate the extent to which increasing blood-alcohol level (BAL) differentially influences reaction to visual stimuli that vary in their emotional content. The results indicate that increasing BAL was associated with a linear decrease in the overall STR reactivity. Alcohol intoxication did not significantly alter the stereotypic modulation of the affective valence dimension of emotional responding in the low BAL group (i.e. STR responding to pleasant images was attenuated and STR responding to unpleasant images was augmented in a similar fashion). However, it did have this effect in the moderate and high BAL groups, suggesting a possible threshold for the stress-response dampening effects of alcohol. STR, which is mediated by a neural circuit that involves input from subcortical regions of the nervous system, was contrasted with the concurrently measured postauricular reflex (PAR), which is mediated by a neural circuit that does not involve input from these areas, allowing for evaluation of the functional location of alcohol's effects on the arousal component of affective responding. The results indicate that while increasing BAL was associated with a decrease in overall STR magnitude, it was not associated with an overall decrease in PAR magnitude. This suggests the observed decrease in the arousal dimension of emotional responding is likely due to alcohol's effects on subcortical areas of the central nervous system (consonant with its effect on STR magnitude), rather than its effects on motor-output components of thenervous system (which would be associated with a decrease in PAR magnitude). / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2003. / Date of Defense: December 10, 2002. / Emotional Consequences of Drinking / Includes bibliographical references. / Alan R. Lang, Professor Directing Thesis; Lisa A. Eckel, Committee Member; John P. Kline, Committee Member.

I proposed that burdensomeness expectancies are subtle concerns about bearing the burden of explanation on behalf of one's group that promote avoidance in interracial interactions. Two preliminary studies demonstrated that burdensomeness expectancies are a particular concern for Black/African American individuals and are related to avoidance of interracial contact. In Study 3, I examined whether burdensomeness expectancies could be alleviated and whether doing so would decrease Black participants' avoidance toward a White confederate. Participants viewed videos in which a White peer, with whom they expected to interact, expressed culturally sensitive or insensitive opinions. A control group saw a video in which the confederate did not discuss race. I assessed self-reported desire to avoid the interaction, avoidance-focused and approach-focused self-regulatory intentions, ratings of confederates, as well as participants' verbal and nonverbal approach-related behaviors in a video greeting they prepared. The manipulation failed to influence burdensomeness expectancies as intended and did not influence the dependent variables. Theoretical and methodological considerations for future work are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester 2010. / Date of Defense: November 1, 2010. / African-American, Burdensomeness Expectancies, Interracial Interactions, Racial and Ethnic Relations / Includes bibliographical references. / E. Ashby Plant, Professor Directing Dissertation; Janice McCabe, University Representative; Joyce Ehrlinger, Committee Member; Jon Maner, Committee Member; Joyce Carbonell, Committee Member.

Gender differences were examined in compliant helping, which is responding to a request for aid. To assess the effect of social power, participants were assigned to a high-power, low-power, or power-neutral control condition. Two predictions were made, based on social role theory and results of a pilot study. First, in the control condition, women were expected to help more than men. Second, no gender differences were expected in the two conditions in which power was manipulated. Results supported the second hypothesis, but not the first. Men in the control condition helped more than women. There was no gender difference among participants in the high-power and low-power conditions. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to social role theory. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: March 27, 2007. / Human Sex Differences, Helping Behavior, Prosocial Behavior / Includes bibliographical references. / E. Ashby Plant, Professor Directing Thesis; Joyce L. Carbonell, Committee Member; Roy F. Baumeister, Committee Member.

Activity-based anorexia (ABA) in an animal model of anorexia nervosa, in which rats are allowed free access to running wheels but only 2 h food access per day. Rats exposed to this paradigm display symptoms similar to those seen in anorexic women. These include decreased food intake, increased activity, rapid body weight loss, and estrous cycle disruptions. Despite that anorexia nervosa is more frequent in women than in men, ABA has been studied almost exclusively in male rats. In Experiment 1, development of, and recovery from, ABA was characterized in female rats with and without access to running wheels. Food intake, wheel running, body weight and phase of the estrous cycle were monitored daily prior to, during, and after a period of restricted feeding in which access to food was limited to 2 h/day. This study confirmed that access to wheels is necessary for the development of ABA in female rats, and that pre-adaptation to the wheels may accelerate the weight loss associated with ABA. Following food restriction, recovery of body weight was closely associated with resumption of estrous cycles. Despite pronounced hyperphagia during the recovery phase, rats displayed estrous-related decreases in food intake. These findings suggest that satiogenic signals that decrease food intake during estrus override the orexigenic signals that stimulate appetite following weight loss. Studies in humans suggest that the serotonergic system is involved in the etiology of anorexia nervosa. In Experiment 2, the effects of fenfluramine, a serotonin agonist, on the development of ABA was examined in female rats. Food intake, wheel running, body weight and phase of the estrous cycle were monitored daily prior to, during, and after a period of restricted feeding in which access to food was limited to 2 h/day. During the restricted feeding period, rats were i.p. injected with 0.50 mg/kg fenfluramine or saline daily. In addition, development of ABA in a saline-injected group that was pair-fed to the fenfluramine-injected group was examined. Fenfluramine treatment increased the development of ABA; rats treated with fenfluramine lost weight more rapidly, and displayed greater disruptions in estrous cyclicity, than control rats. Interestingly, a reduction in food intake, similar to that observed in fenfluramine-treated rats, failed to increase the development of ABA in pair-fed rats. This finding suggests that elevated serotonergic activity, rather than a suppression of food intake, is the critical factor that increased the development of ABA in this experiment. The mechanism underlying this effect is unknown; however, it is possible that the serotonergic system interacts with other systems involved in the control of food intake, such as neuropeptide Y(NPY), to increase susceptibility to ABA. Further research is necessary to determine how hypothalamic NPY concentration changes in response to fenfluramine treatment in rats with ABA. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2003. / Date of Defense: June 16, 2003. / Activity-Based Anorexia (ABA) / Includes bibliographical references. / Lisa Eckel, Professor Directing Thesis; Karen Berkley, Committee Member; Robert Contreras, Committee Member; Thomas Joiner, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a concept-focused and a procedures-focused instructional approach on adult learner concept acquisition in terms of performance, motivation, and concept usage in reasoning. The concepts in the study consisted of complex defined concepts from a highly technical domain. Eleven students in a graduate instructional design program were assigned via stratified groups to one of two instructional treatment groups, one concept-focused and one procedures-focused. Learners in the Concept-Focused Group received conceptual relational database design instruction early in the instructional sequence, prior to procedural instruction. Learners in the Procedures-Focused Group were presented the identical conceptual information, but embedded throughout an instructional sequence that emphasized procedural knowledge. Significant positive differences were found for far transfer performance and motivation levels in learners between the two groups. Verbal protocol analysis revealed no differences in time or trial and error strategies learners in the two groups took to solve a far transfer problem. These findings suggest that a concept-focused instructional strategy can positively impact student learning and motivation when learning complex defined concepts, and can assist learners in developing a more accurate mental model of these complex concepts. Suggestions for future research are presented. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2003. / Date of Defense: March 7, 2003. / Concept-focused, Procedures-focused, Instructional strategy / Includes bibliographical references. / Walter W. Wager, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael C. Biance, Outside Committee Member; Carolyn D. Herrington, Outside Committee Member; John M. Keller, Committee Member; Robert M. Morgan, Committee Member.

An interactive model of bulimic symptom development, first suggested by Vohs et al. (1999), was tested in middle-aged women (mean age = 45.19). The hypothesis that women high in perfectionism, low in self-esteem, and who perceive themselves as overweight would be the most likely to experience an increase in bulimic symptoms was examined in a longitudinal design over 2.5 years. Results supported the model with regard to maintenance and exacerbation, but not onset, of bulimic symptoms. Furthermore, the interactive model was tested to see if it showed specificity to bulimic, versus depressive or anxious, symptoms. Some support for the model's specificity to bulimic symptoms was observed; however, the increase of anxious symptoms was also observed. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: March 16, 2004. / Eating Disorders, Bulimia / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas E. Joiner, Jr., Professor Directing Thesis; E. Ashby Plant, Committee Member; Janet Kistner, Committee Member.

This thesis aims to show a relationship between mental imagery and sensory perception through texts that prime change blindness between mental images and visual displays. In Experiment 1, participants read short texts depicting a visual scene. Following the text, one of three types of photographs was presented: a photograph representing the scene exactly (match), a photograph representing the scene with a change (mismatch), or a photograph representing an unrelated scene (filler). Participants judged whether the picture matched the preceding text. Three types of changes were presented: color, deletion, and addition. Mirroring results from studies in visual perception, subjects showed change blindness in comparing mental images with pictures, even though critical information from the original text was recognized with a high degree of accuracy. A text variable was also included to measure the effects of language and attentional focus on change detection: each text contained a final sentence with relevant or irrelevant information related to the changed aspect of the scene. Although there were no differences in accuracy of change detection, subjects were faster to detect changes with relevant texts than irrelevant texts. Experiment 2 served as a control for comparing types of change blindness in a conventional flicker paradigm without mental imagery. As a whole, these results mirror those within change blindness studies investigating visual perception—suggesting that focused attention is necessary in comparing mental images and pictures and that mental imagery is analogous to its corresponding perceptual mode. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: April 27, 2004. / Language comprehension, perceptual symbols, change blindness, mental imagery / Includes bibliographical references. / Rolf Zwaan, Professor Directing Thesis; Mike Kaschak, Committee Member; Chris Schatschneider, Committee Member.

The present study investigates a possible causal model for the prediction of subjective well-being in Parkinson's disease (PD). The primary hypothesis proposed that, controlling for disease severity, validation-seeking attitudes among individuals with PD would predict less use of secondary control coping strategies, more relinquishing of control in the face of PD symptoms, lower psychosocial adjustment to PD, and lower subjective well-being. I also proposed that validation-seeking would indirectly contribute to lower adjustment to PD through the type of coping strategies used, as well as indirectly affect subjective well-being through both coping strategies and adjustment to PD (operationalized as fewer restrictions to work and social participation). First, the concept of relinquished control could not be investigated due to validity issues with the measure or the construct, so the results were limited to only secondary control coping efforts. Consistent with the hypotheses, validation-seeking attitudes did predict lower positive subjective well-being and better adjustment to PD predicted better overall subjective well-being (i.e., lower depressive symptoms and enhanced positive subjective well-being), controlling for all other variables. However, hypotheses regarding relationships between secondary control coping strategies and validation-seeking, adjustment to PD, and subjective well-being were not supported. Furthermore, exploratory analyses of these relationships suggested that, contrary to the hypothesis that secondary control coping would predict positive outcomes, the use of secondary control coping strategies predicted higher depressive symptoms and poorer adjustment to PD. Closer investigation of the secondary control coping measure suggests that individuals may not have distinguished between voluntary use of secondary control coping strategies and restrictions in activities that had to be made due to PD, especially when reporting changes in what they were doing as a result of PD. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: May 20, 2008. / Coping, Control, Parkinson's, Psychosocial Adjustment, Chronic Illness / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark H. Licht, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tonya Toole, Outside Committee Member; Chris Schatschneider, Committee Member; Barbara Licht, Committee Member; Janet Kistner, Committee Member.