<p> The goal of this study was to demonstrate that warmth and attachment are two inherently distinct systems by showing how trust is connected more closely to attachment than warmth. Measures of attachment, interpersonal warmth, and trust were taken from CSULB undergraduates. Participants watched an empathetic video or a non-emotional control video before engaging in the economic investment game. Participants were given the choice to send a whole dollar amount of zero to four to another participant as an indication of their level of trust. It was predicted that there would be no correlation between either trust measures with the measures of empathic response. Although weak correlations were found, results showed interpersonal warmth items did not correlate with trust items and the emotional video did not have an impact on the amount of money sent, supporting the theory that attachment and interpersonal warmth may be separated if one examined trust.</p>

<p> Previous research has suggested that both alcohol cues and positive affect increase the tendency to incorporate false information into memory. This series of studies sought to determine if affect mediates the influence of alcohol cues on incorporation of false information into memory. Initially, a pilot study was completed to determine the individual differences that predict which individuals experience a heightening of positive affect following visualization exercises involving alcoholic beverages. Next, a study was conducted to determine if this affect increase from exposure to alcohol cues leads to increased acceptance of misinformation into memory. Participants' memories were tested while they were in the presence of an alcoholic or control beverage, rather than merely visualizing these beverages. The pilot study found that individuals engaging in alcohol thoughts exhibited a lower reduction in positive affect compared to those in the control condition. In addition, the relationship between cue exposure and positive affect was moderated by alcohol cognitions, such that individuals with stronger positive alcohol outcome expectancies experienced a greater boost in positive affect after engaging in an alcohol imagery exercise. However in study 1, there was no relationship between exposure to alcohol cues and change in positive affect. In addition, there was no influence of alcohol cognitions on change in affect. Cue exposure, alcohol cognition, and change in positive affect also showed no influence on responses to misinformation items. Regardless of cue type exposure, an overall misinformation effect was observed, whereas individuals made more errors on misinformation items while at the same time expressing more confidence in their responses to misinformation items.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2001. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-03, Section: B, page: 1645. Chair: William Nasby.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1996. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-08, Section: B, page: 5390.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1999. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 60-11, Section: B, page: 5837. Adviser: William J. Froming.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1998. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 59-08, Section: B, page: 4533. Chairperson: Janet A. Sigal.

Each year, corporate America spends millions of dollars on leadership training programs in an attempt to create more effective managers, but many specialists in this field have speculated that much of this effort is wasted. In the past ten years, a small group of researchers have been approaching this issue from a different perspective; they are looking at how leaders think and create meaning in their roles. The purpose of this study is to contribute to that growing body of research by: (a) exploring the connections between concepts of transformational and transactional leadership models as defined by James MacGregor Burns and Bernard Bass, double-loop learning, a managerial model, as defined by Chris Argyris, and social cognitive development as defined and measured by Robert Kegan and Lawrence Kohlberg; (b) investigating how workers experience a range of leadership models. Eight leaders in a mid-sized, natural food distribution company comprised the primary research sample; eighteen employees also participated in the study via informal interviews. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to determine the range of transformational abilities and in addition, each leader was assessed using two social cognitive tools: Robert Kegan's subject-object interview and the Defining Issues Test created by James Rest to assess moral reasoning abilities. Workers were interviewed to see how they experienced their environment and themes were culled from their responses. The results of the study suggested a relationship between the cognitive developmental level of the leaders as measured by Robert Kegan's stages and their transformational leadership abilities. Four out of five leaders used transformational skills with a fairly high degree of frequency. Worker interviews seemed to reflect a substantial degree of satisfaction with the organization. Four themes were extrapolated from the employee interviews: company as community/family, lack of hierarchy, informal atmosphere, and freedom to voice opposition. The implication of the study suggests that the ability to practice transformational leadership is strongly connected to an individual's social cognitive complexity and when this kind of leadership is practiced, the employees reported positive effects.

<p> Neuromodulatory systems originate in nuclei localized in the subcortical region of the brain and control fundamental behaviors by interacting with many areas of the central nervous system. Much is known about neuromodulators, but their structural and functional implications in fundamental behavior remain unclear. This dissertation set out to investigate the interaction of neuromodulators and their role in modulating behaviors by combining methodologies in computational modeling, game theory, embodiment, pharmacological manipulations, and neuroinformatics. The first study introduces a novel computational model that predicts how dopamine and serotonin shape competitive and cooperative behavior in a game theoretic environment. The second study adopted the model from the first study to gauge how humans react to adaptive agents, as well as measuring the influence of embodied agents on game play. The third study investigates functional activity of these neuromodulatory circuits by exploring the expression energy of neuromodulatory receptors using the Allen Brain Atlas. The fourth study features a web application known as the Allen Brain Atlas-Drive Visualization, which provides users with a quick and intuitive way to survey large amounts of expression energy data across multiple brain regions of interest. Finally, the last study continues exploring the interaction of dopamine and serotonin by focusing specifically on the reward circuit using the Allen Brain Atlas. The first two studies provide a more behavioral understanding of how dopamine and serotonin interacts, what that interaction might look like in the brain, and how those interactions transpire in complex situations. The remaining three studies uses a neuroinformatics approach to reveal the underlying empirical structure and function behind the interactions of dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and norepinephrine in brain regions responsible for the behaviors discussed in the first two studies. When combined, each study provides an additional level of understanding about neuromodulators. This is of great importance because neuroscience simply cannot be explained through one methodology. It is going to take a multifaceted effort, like the one presented in this dissertation, to obtain a deeper understanding of the complexity behind neuromodulators and their structural and functional relationship with each other.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 120 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-120). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center