<p> Social media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites: Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses are analyzed. Temporal patterns of situational experiences are found. Geographic and gender differences in experience are examined. Relationships between personality and situation experience were also assessed. Implications of these finding and future applications of this new method of situational assessment are discussed.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1997. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 58-01, Section: B, page: 0460. Chair: Michael Sperling.

Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms often struggle with heightened sensitivity and arousal in response to perceived threats. Moreover, interpersonal dysfunction in GAD has become increasingly a focus of empirical investigation and treatment, given the possibility that responses to social interactions may contribute to GAD symptom maintenance. Laboratory studies and cross-sectional trait assessments of interpersonal problems comprise most of our understanding of interpersonal dysfunction in GAD. However, how GAD symptoms interact with perceived interpersonal threats to predict affective responses (increased arousal, lower valence) within daily life remains poorly understood. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine effects of in vivo social perceptions on state affect, and how GAD symptoms may moderate those relationships. Participants (N = 161) completed baseline measures of trait GAD and depression symptoms (as a covariate). Then participants completed 30 social interaction surveys over the subsequent 10 days. In each survey, participants rated interaction partners’ dominant, cold, and immoral behavior (each conceptualized as interpersonal threats) as well as their own arousal and valence in response to the behavior. Multilevel modeling analyses of between- and within-person effects revealed that mean perceptions of cold and immoral behavior predicted higher arousal and lower valence as hypothesized, whereas mean perceived dominance unexpectedly predicted only lower valence. All within-person fluctuations in social perceptions predicted both higher arousal and lower valence. Regarding the moderating effects, GAD symptoms unexpectedly buffered the effect of average perceived cold behavior on valence and strengthened the effect of average perceived immoral behavior on valence. These results provide a deeper understanding of how social perceptions may contribute to affect in naturalistic interactions, and add to the literature on interpersonal correlates of GAD symptoms.

Although the current literature calls for generally increased attention to culture-specific influences in therapeutic settings, much more needs to be known regarding specific groups. Accordingly, this exploratory phenomenological study addressed the lack of awareness of the pendejo construct and its perceived threat as a stigmatizing attribute among indigenous Puerto Ricans. Since this phenomenon is believed to jeopardize self-other relationships including therapeutic relationships, the purpose of the study was to describe the pendejo concept as a cultural dimension of Puerto Rican psychology. The research focus included participants' personal and collective experiences of the pendejo construct, with attention directed to how this phenomenon was represented as a cognitive distortion, a self-referent in discourse, and manifested behaviorally. The study employed data collected via in-depth interviews with 8 successful, college-educated native Puerto Ricans. Transcribed data was organized by categories, coded by significant statements and distilled into structural and textural descriptions that revealed a marked similarity of participants' descriptions of the pendejo experience in terms of definitions, assumptions, emotional and behavioral responses, propensity and consequences. Psychological manifestations included escapist behaviors, cognitive distortions (people are out to "take me for pendejo"), and negative self-referents ("I am a pendejo") that translate into nonclinical paranoid tendencies and introjected hurt feelings. Awareness of this phenomenon can help culturally oriented therapists assist Puerto Rican clients toward becoming more assertive and proactive persons. This can lead to positive social change by enhancing mental health and interpersonal behavior within this population at the individual and the collective levels, as well as adding new insight to the literature.

The purpose of this study was to examine Pender's Health Promotion Model to determine the effects of selected cognitive perceptual variables, modifying factors, and situational factors on the reported health-promoting behaviors of young-adult incarcerated males. Data were collected from 266 incarcerated males at a medium security prison located in north-central Massachusetts. This convenience sample was disproportionately minority, predominately young, male, and from the poor and disadvantaged strata of society. The sample ranged in age from 18 to 35 years (M = 28.4, SD = 4.3). Six dimensions of lifestyle were measured using the 52-item Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP II). Competence in health matters, perceived self-efficacy, and health judgments were measured using the 17-item Health Self-Determinism Index (HSDI). Perceived family social support was also measured using the 20-item Perceived Social Support - Family scale. Demographic data was also collected on age, level of education, and years of incarceration. Results indicated there was a weak association between perceived family support and general health status. Perceived family support likewise explained 9 to 20% of the variance in the six dimensions of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Differences were noted in the ethnic/racial mix with young adult incarcerated Hispanic males reporting higher total HPLP II scores (M = 131.04) while young adult incarcerated Caucasian males reported higher levels of education (M = 10.96). No significant differences between subject's aged 18 to 26 and 27 to 35 were noted among study variables (i.e., level of education, perceived general health status, total HPLP II, total HSDI, and perceived family social support). Conclusions and implications for future research are discussed.