Using household level scanner data for 2006, 2007, and 2008, this dissertation consists of four studies, which present household- and market-level analyses of food safety issues concerning the 2007 Peter Pan recall on the demand for peanut butter at the category level and at the brand level. Findings of the first study suggested that the recall had a statistically significant positive effect on the demand for peanut butter at the category level. At the brand level, spillover effects were evident in that the demand for Jif was positively affected, while the demand for Skippy was negatively affected. The second study examined structural change in the demand for peanut butter using demand system models corresponding to the pre-recall and the post-recall periods. Matrices of own-price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities were calculated for both recall periods, and upon comparison, there were statistical differences in the corresponding estimated elasticities. In general, most price elasticities in the post-recall period were larger in absolute value than the comparable elasticities in the pre-recall period. The third study investigated the impact of household socio-economic characteristics associated with choices to purchase peanut butter across the pre- and the post-recall periods. Four choice scenarios were no buy-no buy, buy-no buy, no buy-buy, and buy-buy. Socio-economic characteristics considered included age, employment, education, race, ethnicity, presence of male and/or female household head, region, age and presence of children in the household, household size, and income. While the results varied by brand, region was the socio-demographic characteristic that was consistently significant among the choice scenarios for the respective peanut butter brands. Conditional on households purchasing peanut butter in both the pre- and the post-recall periods, the final analysis examined the influence of the same aforementioned socio-economic variables as well as the change in the own price on the change in the quantity purchased. The results varied across brands, but the principal drivers of the conditional change in the quantity purchased were the change in the own price and the age and presence of children in the household.

This licentiate thesis is focusing on conditions for teaching and learning in a project based vocational education in a Swedish upper secondary school.  To address this topic the aim is to increase the understanding of opportunities for teaching and learning provided in a project-bases vocational educational and training. From this aim, following research questions is addressed through article I as: (1) What kinds of competence are the students able to develop in a PBLE? (2) In what ways do the developed competence and vocational skills relate to the specific course syllabuses? (3) How is the students’ vocational competence constituted? And through article II as: How do teachers view PBVET as (a) framing possibilities for their practice, (b) affecting students learning, and (c) presenting challenges in this learning environment?  A methodological approach that involved stimulated recall inspired interviews that were based on field notes was used in the empirical gathering and was found highly useful. The theoretical approach is based on activity theory according to Vygotskij, Leontiev and Engeströms thoughts and from Ellströms idea of learning.  The result indicates that different activities are affecting the teachers’ opportunities for teacher guidance as well as their ability to engage students into tasks. For the students to develop vocational skills a slow progress in the building process is affecting their ability to perform tasks. The vocational competences that they develop are mainly set as a reproductive learning that in some easy tasks can move to a higher, re-productive learning. As for the relationship between teacher guidance and students ability to develop vocational skills, the hierarchic structure identified in this study indicates that the educational system is overridden by the production system that sets the outer frame for the opportunities that are provided in this educational setting.

This study examined the effects of framing on participant interest and retention of diversity-related material. In this study, 204 students from undergraduate psychology courses across two universities read a vignette about Kenneth and Mamie Clark. The vignette was presented in the context of one of four frames that either highlighted or did not highlight their minority status and/or their status as leaders in their field. After reading the vignette, students responded to 13 items measuring recall of the material figures and 11 items assessing their interest in these figures. Participants also responded to the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE), Modern Racism Scale (MRS), and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). The data found in the present study provided varying levels of support for the hypotheses. The effects were stronger for Illinois participants, which may be due to the larger sample size collected and/or the greater diversity of the school population. These results bring to light an interesting potential area of future research that could eventually impact school curricula. It is possible that a better understanding of effective methods for engaging students in discussions of diversity may be around the corner. Participant race, gender, location, and major all had varying degrees of an effect on the results, indicating that, like many other topics in psychology, understanding how people react to diversity discussions is not simply black and white.

Previous research has shown that people who are depressed, have recently attempted suicide or experienced childhood sexual abuse have difficulties recalling specific autobiographical events from memory. This overgeneral memory bias has been found for both negative and positive events and has been found to be a maladaptive cognitive style. The present study is an investigation of autobiographical memory retrieval in people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a disorder which has para-suicidal behaviour as one of its diagnostic criterion. The BPD group (n = 23) was compared with a control group (n = 23) on i) a measure for autobiographical memory retrieval, ii) various measures of mood, iii) a dissociative experiences scale and iv) frequency of para-suicidal incidents. In line with hypotheses, results indicated that the subject group produced significantly more overgeneral autobiographical memories than the control group. This memory bias remained for positive and negative events when depression was statistically controlled. No differences were found between the two groups on autobiographical memory for neutral events when depression was statistically controlled. Analysis indicated that dissociation positively correlated with overgeneral autobiographical memory and that both depression and anxiety correlated with selfharm. A trend was also found between overgeneral autobiographical memory and self-harm, suggesting that overgeneral memory may function as a defence mechanism, protecting individuals from self-harrrýing behaviour. These results are discussed in relation to the current theories of autobiographical memory and the nature of dissociation in memory disturbance. The importance of assessing Axis I disorders and targeting of mood in clinical practice, to decrease self-harm, is highlighted. The study also highlights the heterogeneous nature of Borderline Personality Disorder. The implications for clinical practice are discussed and guidelines for further research are outlined.

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This thesis investigates source memory for performed and observed actions in recall and recognition tasks. The motor simulation account predicts that motor activation during action observation results in source misattributions of observed actions as self-performed. Alternatively, source judgements at test may be based on the evaluation of source features (source monitoring framework) or memory strength (relative strength account). Experiments 1, 2 and 3 in Chapter 2 test if the motor simulation account explains false memories of self-performance after observation. Interfering with participants’ ability to encode the motor trace during observation does not reduce participants’ propensity to falsely recall observed actions as performed, but increases it. Experiment 4 in Chapter 3 manipulates motor and visual interference at retrieval. Participants’ false recognition of observed actions as performed and performed actions as observed is not significantly affected by motor or visual interference. Experiments 5, 6 and 7 in Chapter 4 test if participants are better able to discriminate performed and observed actions if they generate the idea for the action they perform themselves. Participants’ source discrimination in a recall task improves if they generate the ideas for self-performed actions (Experiment 5 and 6), only if they do not also generate ideas for actions they observe (Experiment 7). Experiment 8 in Chapter 5 manipulates participants’ visual perspective of actions they observe. There is no evidence for a significant effect of visual perspective during observation on subsequent false memories of self-performance in a recognition paradigm. In my thesis I find no substantial support for a motor simulation account. While the results are broadly compatible with the source monitoring framework, model-based analyses show that participants’ performance may be based on items’ overall strength, in line with the relative strength account, rather than evaluation of source features.

Thesis advisor: Maureen Ritchey / Regulating negative emotions that arise while recalling an unpleasant event presents a persistent challenge. As a reconstructive process, recall offers an opportunity to ease the burden of repeated regulation by updating negative memories, with the potential for long-term reductions in the negative affect associated with a memory. However, little is known about the recall-related brain processes that support lasting effects of emotion regulation on episodic memories. Across three studies, the current project examined the behavioral and neural correlates of regulating emotionally negative memories. First, a stimulus database of real-life news videos optimized for studying naturalistic emotional memory was developed. Then, the behavioral effects of two emotion regulation strategies, memory reappraisal and memory suppression, were tested. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the brain processes associated with lasting reappraisal-related changes in memory valence. We found that reappraisal was associated with lasting reductions in the negative valence of naturalistic memories, whereas suppression had no effect on memory valence. We also found that recall-related activity in lateral occipital cortex was associated with a reappraisal-mediated reduction in negative valence 24-hours after reappraisal. These results suggest that brain processes involved in the initial retrieval of negative content also support the emotion regulation of those memories, consistent with research showing that memory reactivation is critical for robust memory updating. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

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