Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Gary Brase / Consumers’ choice behaviors are influenced by multifaceted decision factors. Information processing theory (Bettman, 1979) predicts that consumers’ decision processes are constructed at the time of a decision, and consumers’ meta-goals model (Bettman, Luce, & Payne, 1998) posits that their choice behaviors are generally guided by the minimization of cognitive effort and negative emotion, and the maximization of accuracy and justification. Insightful as this model may be at describing how consumers’ choices are shaped, it does not specify the interactions among the goals, assess the benefits of cognitive effort, or fairly evaluates the importance of emotion and justification in consumer decision making. Thus, the current studies collectively propose an alternative meta-goals choice model. Particularly, the current studies speculate on the importance of regret in consumer decision making. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 shows that participants trade-off between cognitive effort and accuracy goals depending on the monetary value of the products at hand, suggesting that the cognitive effort-accuracy trade-off may be moderated by price. Study 2 investigated the impact of cognitive effort on the experience of regret, showing the effectiveness of cognitive effort in attenuating the experienced regret. This relationship is explored with respect to the role of cognitive effort as a means of the justification factor in Study 3. Results showed that unjustified (wasted) cognitive effort did not make a substantial difference in post-purchase regret, but under spent cognitive effort generated more post-purchase regret. Study 4 examined both anticipated and experienced regret in relation to cognitive effort and justification; results showed that an exertion of cognitive effort is helpful in reducing the experience of regret but the justification of the choice also affects this relationship especially when the choice during the decision search is incongruent with the final decision. These results from current studies suggest interrelations between consumers’ four meta-goals. Based on these findings, an alternative meta-goals model is proposed which includes the benefits of cognitive effort exertion on consumer decision making, shedding light on how and when consumers choose to exert effort in an attempt to alleviate the potential future experience of regret.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Lester C. Loschky / Öhman and Mineka (2001) proposed the existence of an evolved fear module with four Fodorian characteristics of modularity. They presented evidence that the fear module is selective, automatic, encapsulated, and operates in dedicated subcortical neural circuitry. The consistently rapid physiological and behavioral (attention capture) evidence (e.g., Öhman & Mineka, 2001) provides clear support for its automaticity. However, recent developments (e.g., Blanchette, 2006) cast doubt on the selectivity of the module. Specifically, it is unclear whether or not the fear module automatically responds selectively to evolutionarily ancient fear stimuli or whether modern threats may also elicit automatic responding. Furthermore, previous research using visual search paradigms has produced unclear results regarding the evolutionarily derived selectivity of the fear module. Unfortunately, the visual search method is notoriously sensitive to visual characteristics of stimuli (Duncan & Humphreys, 1989). However, eye movements provide a valid alternative measure of covert attention capture. In order to clarify the issues, Experiment 1 used an oculomotor inhibition paradigm to present ancient and modern threats with one another or neutral stimuli in competition for visual attention. In addition, we collected measures of participants’ experience with the stimuli to assess the influence of experience/familiarity/learning on rapid attention to threats. Furthermore, because image inversion maintains low level stimulus characteristics (e.g., spatial frequencies, contrast, and luminance) while disrupting the semantic processing of images, presenting the stimulus pairs upside down was used to determine whether any observed effects were due to low level stimulus characteristics. Experiment 1 produced null results with respect to systematic differences in attentional processes as a function of threat type. Because Experiment 1 was modeled after Nummenmaa et al., (2009, Exp 3), it was therefore necessary to attempt to replicate their findings. Experiment 2 successfully replicated the findings of Nummenmaa et al. Therefore, it is suggested that the rapid attention processes responsible for systematic deviations in saccade trajectories seen in Experiment 2 (and Nummenmaa et al., 2009, Exp 3) do not translate to the methodology used in Experiment 1. Given the findings from the present study, the question of whether or not there exists and evolved fear module remains open. This study clearly supports the existence of an attentional bias for emotional content as indicated through the use of oculomotor inhibition paradigm. However, like the visual search methodology, the oculomotor inhibition paradigm appears to be very sensitive to visual differences of the stimuli.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. Fullagar / The field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology has begun to incorporate elements from the growing field of Positive Psychology which has been manifest in Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) and Positive Organizational Behavior (POB). This study examined two POB constructs, Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and Flow in a lab-based virtual-world simulation while utilizing Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. It was hypothesized that PsyCap would predict flow experiences and that those flow experiences would predict several outcomes, namely performance, affect, and resilience. It was found that individuals higher in Psychological Capital tended to experience more flow in a flow inducing task. During that task, individuals in flow performed better and experienced more positive affect than individuals who experienced lower levels of flow. Additionally, flow in that task was able to predict performance, affect, and resilience in a later, overly challenging task. Implications for these findings are discussed as well as limitations and future directions.

Master of Science / Department of Marriage and Family Therapy / Amber Vennum / The majority of scholarship on romantic relationship development in emerging adulthood is with Western populations using theories grounded in a Western cultural context. This study had two goals. The first goal was to explore the experience of non-arranged romantic relationships for young people in urban India through in-depth interviews with four men and four women. The second was to examine the relevance of Western notions of emerging adulthood, romantic relationship development, and theoretical constructs related to relationship development (e.g., terms such as ‘dating’, ‘commitment’ and ‘satisfaction’) for this population. Findings indicated one potential pathway to relationship formation that begins in friendship and gradually evolves into a romantic relationship. Other findings shed light on young adults’ culturally bound negotiation with their families around the issue of romantic relationships and the similarities in definitions of relationship terms with Western literature. This study makes important contributions to the growing field of romantic relationships in emerging adulthood by suggesting that, first, while Indian youth display several characteristics of emerging adulthood and define commitment similarly as in the West, there are important differences too. Second it has implications for future quantitative measurement of romantic relationships among Indian young adults.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. Fullagar / The current study examines how leaders craft conditions of the workplace to make it more conducive for flow to occur in their followers and what beneficial effects this has on employee well-being and performance. Data from 43 employees surveyed daily over two work weeks suggested that transformational leaders and leader-member exchange relationships impact several workplace conditions that in turn impact flow. Also, daily flow experiences were related to daily psychological well-being and daily performance.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Amber Vennum / Using a sample of 109 students at a Midwestern university with divorced or separated parents I explored a) how sibling order and young adults’ age at parental divorce or separation impacted their experience of boundary ambiguity, parentification, stress, and family satisfaction and support, b) whether parentification mediated the effects of boundary ambiguity on stress, family support and family satisfaction, and c) whether sibling order moderated the relationship between these variables. I found that the child’s age at parental divorce/separation was positively correlated with boundary ambiguity, and negatively correlated with parentification, stress, family satisfaction, and social support. First or only children reported higher rates of parentification, specifically taking on a spousal role with their parents than younger siblings. Further, in divorced/separated families boundary ambiguity was positively related to young adults’ stress and negatively related to their levels of family satisfaction and family support both directly and indirectly through parentification. However, sibling order was not found to moderate the relationships between boundary ambiguity, parentification, family support, family satisfaction, and stress. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Richard J. Harris / The use of different language learning methods for the purposes of acquiring foreign language vocabulary has long been explored but studies have often failed to take into account the potential effects on lexical processing. The current study examined the effectiveness of the Keyword, Context and Paired-Associate learning methods in acquiring foreign language vocabulary, but primarily focusing on the lexical and conceptual organization effects that each method may have on a foreign language learner. Three main theories/models (i.e., Word Association, Concept Mediated and Revised Asymmetrical Hierarchical) have been used to explain the organization of bilingual lexical, conceptual stores and connections between each store, but studies have not examined the addition of a third language (i.e., L3) and the potential connections created between new L3 and the two existing language stores. It was predicted that since low-proficiency bilinguals would create lexical models which heavily rely on translation equivalents, thus, the use of non-elaborative learning methods would assist in creating only lexical translation links, while more sophisticated elaborative methods would be successful in creating direct access to the conceptual meaning. The current study further explored the potential effects of language learning methods on comprehension ability, requiring the creation of situation models for comprehension. Finally, the present study explored the immediate and delayed effects of language learning methods on both vocabulary acquisition and comprehension ability. Results from the current study indicated that all learning methods were successful in creating and conceptual connections between the languages and the conceptual store, while Keyword learners had significantly better scores on certain trial types. Differences in terms in lexical and conceptual strength are suggested since differences in RTs and scores were found between some of the learning methods. Furthermore, in terms of comparisons across time, repeated testing learners attained better scores on all trial types in comparison to learners who were only tested at Time 2. Lastly, when assessing if lexical links could be created to a non-associated highly fluent second language known by the bilingual, results indicated that each language learning method successfully created such lexical connections, but these links were weaker in strength than those of the base language that was used during learning. Based on the current results, new models of lexical access are proposed which vary based on the use of language learning methods. The current findings also have strong implications and applications to the field of foreign language acquisition, primarily for bilingual language learners acquiring an L3.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared R. Anderson / Amber V. Vennum / The present study sought to extend the research on cyclical, or on-again/off-again relationships, by examining whether a history of cyclicality moderated the association between neuroticism and relationship satisfaction. A second goal of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of neuroticism on relationship satisfaction through communication. The sample consisted of cohabiting cyclical (n = 1,055) and noncyclical (n = 2,527) couples from a larger dataset collected by the RELATE Institute. Results showed that cyclical partners reported higher levels of neuroticism, higher levels of conflict, lower levels of positive communication, and lower levels of relationship satisfaction than noncyclical couples. Direct actor paths from neuroticism to satisfaction were significant for cyclical and noncyclical females and males. Only the direct partner path from female neuroticism to male satisfaction was significant, and was only significant for cyclical couples. All indirect actor and partner paths were significant for cyclical and noncyclical females and males. Further, a history of cyclicality significantly moderated the direct paths from male communication to male and female relationship satisfaction, indicating this relationship is stronger for cyclical couples.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Gary Brase / An evolutionary perspective suggests that changes in resource availability produce changes in fertility decisions and desires, and that these adaptive mechanisms are sensitive to sociocultural factors that act more proximally to the decision-maker. The current work systematically investigates several factors as potential predictors of fertility decisions at the level of the individual decision-maker in a three-study design, adding to an existing literature of fertility decision-making that has focused on demographic-level shifts. In study 1 (N=228, 69.3% female, average age=25.6), study 2 (N=232, 72.4% female, average age=24.7), and study 3 (N=333, 67% female, average age=25.1) data was collected from a general Internet sample and a student sample. Findings suggest that high resource variability produces insecure romantic attachment, which is associated with increased fertility plans and desires. Further, this work indicates that fertility decision making mechanisms are sensitive to sociocultural factors, particularly gender roles and identities, cultural pressures to become a parent, mothering expectations, and relationship status. These findings suggest that demographic-level changes in fertility can be understood, with strong predictive models, at the individual-level of analysis.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / Despite the functional importance of performance appraisals in organizational settings, rating inaccuracies persist and have been a widely researched topic for decades. Contemporary efforts to explore the problem have turned to components of accuracy to foster a more detailed understanding of the influence of situational factors and individual biases. In particular, a great deal of research has examined the role of rating purpose (e.g., administrative, developmental) on subsequent accuracy, consistently revealing greater leniency for administrative ratings than for developmental ratings. On the basis of spreading activation theory, rating purpose was conceptualized as a priming event, and in combination with rating strategy priming, was expected to prompt predictable enhancements to specific components of accuracy. Participants for this experimental study were 160 undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned a rating purpose with “real-world” implications, and exposed to a strategy priming task designed to promote specific rating cognitions. Students viewed video-recorded competitive marching band performances, and rated them. Participants’ ratings were compared to those made by experienced raters to compute accuracy estimates. Results were largely non-significant, but in the directions expected. Limitations and future research opportunities are discussed.