abstract: Prior research suggests that people ignore evidence that is inconsistent with what they want to believe. However, this research on motivated reasoning has focused on how people reason about familiar topics and in situations where the evidence presented interacts with strongly-held prior beliefs (e.g., the effectiveness of the death penalty as a crime deterrent). This makes it difficult to objectively assess how biased people are in motivated-reasoning contexts. Indeed, recent work by Jern and colleagues (2014) suggests that apparent instances of motivated reasoning may actually be instances of rational belief-updating. Inspired by this new account, the current studies reexamined motivated reasoning using a controlled categorization task and tested whether people assimilate evidence differently when they are motivated to maintain a certain belief versus when they are not. Contrary to earlier research on motivated reasoning, six studies with children and adults (N = 1295) suggest that participants’ motivations did not affect their information search and their beliefs were driven primarily by the evidence, even when the evidence was incongruent with their motivations. This work provides initial evidence for the account proposed by Jern and colleagues. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

La recherche d’aide est une stratégie qui peut améliorer l’apprentissage et la réussite scolaire. Malgré ce constat, la littérature montre que les étudiants ou élèves décident fréquemment de ne pas rechercher de l’aide. Par ailleurs, dans le domaine de l’aéronautique, peu d’études ont été consacrées à la formation des contrôleurs aériens, qui jouent un rôle central dans le système de régulation du trafic aérien. Étant donné que la performance humaine est classiquement considérée comme un facteur qui contribue à la majorité des incidents et accidents aériens, l’enjeu de ces formations est majeur. L’objectif de cette thèse est double: au plan général, comprendre pourquoi les étudiants décident de ne pas rechercher de l’aide alors que la tâche à réaliser n’est pas à leur portée. Cela relève-t-il d’une décision rationnelle? Quels sont les coûts impliqués? Au plan particulier, vérifier si ce problème existe aussi dans l’environnement d’apprentissage des contrôleurs aériens et si les mêmes conclusions concernant la décision de rechercher ou non de l’aide peuvent être tirées. En ayant pour base un modèle rationnel de prise de décision, dans lequel la décision est une fonction des coûts, de la probabilité et des bénéfices, quatre expériences ont été menées: trois dont les participants étaient des étudiants universitaires et une avec les élèves contrôleurs aériens. Les résultats montrent que les étudiants hésitent à demander de l’aide quand elle est objectivement coûteuse; que le temps consommé en l’utilisant n’est pas considéré comme un coût; et que les étudiants sont prêts à demander de l’aide même quand elle n’est pas assurément utile. En outre, il y a un coût social impliqué dans la décision de rechercher de l’aide: la présence d’un expert baisse les taux de recherche d’aide, notamment quand la tâche est considérée comme facile. Les données de la quatrième expérience suggèrent que le coût social n’impacte pas la décision des élèves contrôleurs d’utiliser les aides. / Learners who encounter difficulties can improve learning and achievement by seeking help. However, literature shows that students frequently decide to not seek help. In aeronautics domain, few studies were dedicated to the training of air traffic controllers, who play an important role in the air traffic regulation system. Given that the human performance is traditionally considered a factor that contributes to the majority of incidents and accidents in aviation, the challenge of their training is greater. This thesis has two goals: generally, understand why students decide not to seek help while the task they have to realize is beyond their reach. Is this a rational decision? What are the costs involved? Specifically, to verify if this issue also exists in the context of air traffic controller training and if we find the same conclusions about help-seeking decision. Based on a rational decision model, where the decision is a function of costs, expectancies and benefits, four experiences were conducted: three of them in a general context, having university students as participants, and an experience with air traffic controllers’ students. Results show that students hesitate to seek help when it is objectively costly; the time consumed to seek help is not considered as a cost; and that students are ready to seek help even when its utility is not assured. Besides, there is a social cost implicated in the decision to seek help: the presence of an expert reduces the levels of help-seeking, particularly when the task is considered easy. The results of the fourth study suggest that the social cost adversely do not have an effect in the decision of air traffic controller students of using all help tools, but the difficulty of the exercise may affect the decision of seeking some kinds of help.

Masculinity research suggests help-seeking attitudes towards mental health concerns conflict with socialized masculine norms such as emotional control and self-reliance (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Heath, Brenner, Vogel, Lannin, & Strass, 2017). As psychologists continue to find ways to reach out to men, exercise intervention may be the catalyst for men to seek out psychological services. More specifically, boxing training has been shown to increase the sense of self-confidence and character development (Shultz, Stoner, Lambrick, & Lane, 2014; Sokol, 2004). In this study, 24 men engaged in a six-session boxing training program to examine the impact high-intensity exercise has on psychological help-seeking attitudes and psychological distress. Participants reported lower psychological distress, an increase in health behaviors, and high levels of exercise self-efficacy throughout the intervention. Additionally, participants who reported greater adherence to traditional masculine norms endorsed greater psychological distress compared to participants reporting lower adherence to masculine norms. Help-seeking attitudes towards psychological services did not change throughout the boxing program, suggesting men may gain the psychological benefits they seek directly from action-oriented activities.

Billions of dollars are invested annually on leadership development interventions within organizations. And while these leadership development programs are generally effective, as evidenced by meta-analytic findings, researchers and organizational leaders alike are perplexed by the fact that some individuals’ leadership abilities do not show improvement after participating in a leadership development program. Drawing from social psychology and implicit person theory, I extend implicit self-theory into the leadership domain to examine leadership mindset, the belief an individual has about the malleability of leadership ability, and its relationship to leadership growth. Individuals with a more incremental leadership mindset believe that through hard work and effort they can improve their leadership ability. Individuals with a more fixed mindset, conversely, believe that leadership ability cannot be purposefully changed. Implicit self-theory would suggest that individuals with a more incremental mindset will have more leadership growth than individuals with a more fixed leadership mindset. Using self-regulation theory as a foundation, I propose that the effect of leadership mindset on leadership growth will be transferred through three mechanisms: negative feedback-seeking, reflection, and fear of failure. I also hypothesize that the relationship between these mediators and leadership growth will be stronger for leaders who have more developmental opportunities. Thus, I hypothesize a second-stage moderated mediation effect whereby the effect of leadership mindset on leadership growth through negative feedback-seeking, reflection, and fear of failure is stronger when individuals have more developmental opportunities.

The aim of this study was to examine the association between personality and risk taking in a sample of 461 older adults from the Charlotte County Healthy Aging Study (CCHAS). The personality factors of openness to experience, extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness were measured with the NEO Five Factor Inventory. Risk-taking was measured with an 8-item questionnaire and a single-item question that assessed subjects' participation in sensation seeking behaviors. Spearman correlation coefficients, hierarchical linear regression and hierarchical logistic regression were used to assess the association. As consistent with past research, high scores on openness to experience (beta = 0.16, P<.0001) and low scores on neuroticism (β = -0.14, P<.01) and agreeableness (β = -0.16, P<.01) were associated with the total score of the 8-item risk taking questionnaire. The single-item risk question was also associated with openness [OR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.05-1.13], neuroticism [OR = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90-0.97] and agreeableness [OR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92-0.99]. After stratifying by gender, only openness was still significantly associated with risk-taking. Interaction terms including gender and personality factors were added to the models to test if gender was an effect modifier. Although personality differences existed between men and women, none of the interaction terms were statistically significant.

The internalization of stigmatizing beliefs is influential on the attitudes a person holds toward seeking help because it leads to harm on one’s self-esteem and concept of self (Corrigan, 2004). The Model of Self-Stigma (Corrigan, Watson, & Barr, 2006) outlines the process of how self-stigma develops and highlights the essential role agreement with negative stereotypes has on the development of self-stigma. Research on the stereotypes relevant to African Americans is limited, and no scale exists to measure stereotype endorsement specific to this population. The current study investigated the relevant beliefs held among African Americans toward psychological help seeking and developed a scale to examine the stereotype endorsement stage of the Model of Self-Stigma. Study one involved conducting an Exploratory Factor Analysis on 228 participants and produced one single factor describing help seeking beliefs for the population. Study two involved conducting hierarchical linear regressions on 148 participants to determine whether the Psychological Help Seeking Stereotypes for African Americans (PHSSA) scale accounted for unique variance beyond existing stereotype endorsement scales developed on majority White samples. Results indicated that the PHSSA scale accounted for unique variance beyond that of the existing stereotype endorsement scales. Implications for the PHSSA scale are discussed.

Goal Orientation (GO), the behavioral tendencies for the goals individuals will adopt in a variety of situations has been thoroughly utilized to understand feedback seeking behaviors. While previous and ongoing research has answered many questions within this area, there remains theoretical inconsistencies involving these relationships. For example, the relationship between prove performance goal orientation (PPGO) and feedback seeking has largely been inconsistent. There are also relationships yet to be tested such as how the GO dimensions are related to different sources of feedback within the workplace. Because of this, the purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships between the three GO dimensions and feedback seeking to different sources (supervisor and colleague). Additionally, the impact of impression management on the relationship between PPGO and feedback seeking behaviors, and the impact of feedback source credibility on the relationship between learning goal orientation (LGO) and feedback seeking behaviors was examined. Based on a sample of 291 working adults in southern California, results indicated that LGO and PPGO positively predicted feedback seeking to a supervisor and a colleague. Additionally, APGO (avoidance performance goal orientation) was unrelated to either feedback source in regression models containing LGO and PPGO, but bivariate correlations revealed a small positive relationship between APGO and a colleague. Impression management did not practically moderate the relationship between PPGO and feedback seeking to a supervisor and feedback source credibility did not impact the relationship between LGO and feedback seeking to a supervisor. This means that individuals with a LGO and PPGO have tendencies for seeking feedback from not just a supervisor, but also colleagues within the workplace, while APGO individuals may lean towards a colleague for feedback. For the two interactions, Impression management may not be an adequate measure for finding the inconsistencies between PPGO and feedback seeking. Finally, feedback source credibility does not seem a factor for LGO individuals in the feedback seeking process. Practical and theoretical implications are provided along with the limitations and suggestions for future research.

The Black Church has been a powerful support system for African Americans, providing economic, and psychological support in addition to meeting spiritual and religious needs. African American church leaders continue to provide a multitude of services to the community; however, research has shown that African American Protestant Christian churchgoers'€™ preference for informal supports may exacerbate some symptoms of mental illness as people may postpone seeking formal help. Utilizing a nonexperimental, cross-€sectional design, this study examined the relationship between these churchgoers'€™ attitudes toward religious help-€seeking and attitudes toward professional help-€seeking. One hundred four African American Protestant Christian churchgoers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States participated in this study. Data were collected using online and paper and pencil self-€administered surveys. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Religious Commitment Inventory-€10, The Attitudes toward Religious Help-Seeking Scale, and The Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between religious and professional help-seeking attitudes while controlling for the religious denomination, prior utilization of counseling services, and religious commitment. The results of this study support previous research showing that African Americans who are affiliated with a church have more favorable attitudes towards seeking help from their church than they do towards seeking professional help. The results of this study can influence the way counselors communicate with church leaders to improve mental health care for the African American community.

While several studies examining African Americans' mental health rates appeared in the past, existing research does not describe internal and external factor influences on positive ethnic identity development and their mediating effects on mental health help-seeking attitudes for this population. This quantitative study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships between 3 ecological levels (the individual level/level of bicultural identity, the family level/family ethnic socialization, and the social context level/self-concealment) and examine their collective influence on ethnic identity development and mental health help-seeking attitudes of African Americans. The choice of variables for this study was grounded in Stokols' social ecological theory, Lewin's theory of psychological fields, and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems that outline human development. Results were measured by responses to surveys from 161 African American males and females residing within the Atlanta, Georgia area. The family and social level were more predictive of ethnic identity development and ethnic identity positively and negatively, respectively, related to bicultural self-efficacy. Having the ability to communicate in both mainstream and ethnic cultures was directly predictive of positive attitudes toward seeking professional help. The social change implications of this study included gaining insight into African Americans' difficulty with developing positive ethnic identity and mental health help-seeking, providing professional clinicians with a model of the process of ethnic identity and mental health help-seeking attitude development, and improved advancement in training and cultural-based interventions for clinicians specifically working with minority populations.

Previous researchers have found mass murderers characterized as loners, victims of bullying, goths, and individuals who had a psychotic break. A gap in the literature that remained concerned the motive and mindset of mass murderers before their attack, particularly those who seek fame, and why they are motivated by such violent intentions. The purpose of this study was to provide a deeper analysis of the characteristics of fame-seeking individuals who have completed or attempted mass murder, as well as insight into their behavior on social media. The conceptual framework consisted of a constructivist model, which guided the exploration the purposeful sample of 12 Americans who completed or attempted mass murder. The research questions aligned with themes provided by Bandura's social learning theory, Sulloway's theory of birth order and family dynamics, Millon and Davis's psychopathy theories, O'Toole's findings on the copycat effect, and Lankford's criteria for fame-seeking mass murderers, and guided an analysis of open-source data. Six main themes among fame-seeking individuals in the United States who had completed or attempted mass murder emerged: (a) fame as primary motivation, (b) preoccupation with violence, (c) presence of specific role models/copycat behavior, (d) strong opinions about society/racial groups, (e) symptoms of narcissism/mood disorder/personality disorder, and (f) failed relationships. These findings add to the knowledge about mass murder and fame seeking. Social change may occur through recommended evaluation of and improvements in current mental health approaches, improved threat assessment, expanded education on characteristics of mass murderers, and dissemination of information related to mass murder.