Thesis advisor: Michael McDannald / Uncertainty is a pervasive facet of life, and responding appropriately and proportionally to uncertain threats is critical for adaptive behavior. Aversive prediction errors are signals that allow for appropriate fear responses, especially in the face of uncertainty, and provide a critical updating mechanism to adapt to change. Positive prediction errors (+PE) are generated when an actual outcome of an event is worse than the predicted outcome and increase fear upon future encounters with the related predictive cue. Negative prediction errors (-PE) are generated when the predicted outcome is worse than the actual outcome and decrease fear upon future encounters with the related predictive cue. While some regions have been offered as the neural source of positive and negative prediction errors, no causal evidence has been able to identify their sources of generation. The objective of this dissertation was to causally identify the neural basis of aversive prediction error signaling. Using precise neural manipulations paired with a robust behavioral fear discrimination task, I present causal evidence for vlPAG generation of +PEs and for a ventrolateral periaqueductal grey (vlPAG) to medial central amygdala (CeM) pathway to carry out +PE fear updating. Further, I demonstrate that while dorsal raphe serotonergic neurons are not the source of -PE generation, they appear to receive and utilize this signal. Understanding the neural network responsible for aversive prediction error signaling will not only inform understanding of the neurological basis of fear but also may provide insights into disorders, such as PTSD and anxiety disorders, that are characterized by excessive/inappropriate fear responses. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

This study examined perceptions among non-racists, aversive racists, and blatant racists of differentially-performing African-American employees and the effects of the evaluation manipulation on future hiring decisions of an African-American applicant. Using a procedure for categorizing participants into one of these three racism groups, which utilized both implicit and explicit measures of racism, an internet-based sample (n = 221) rated the job performance of a European- or African-American incumbent law associate in a positive or mediocre performance condition and then provided performance ratings of the incumbent associate. Participants also evaluated a moderately-qualified African-American's hireability. Racism group, incumbent performance, and incumbent race were hypothesized to interact to differentially affect mediocre-performing African-American incumbent performance ratings and African-American applicant hireability and qualification ratings. The hypothesized three-way interactions were not significant. However, a significant two-way interaction of incumbent race X incumbent performance was found for incumbent performance ratings, F(1, 191) = 6.06, p = .015, ηp2 = .031, and African-American applicant hireability, F(1, 191) = 7.31, p = .007, ηp2 = .037. Hierarchical regression analyses probing the interactions showed that the positive-performing African-American incumbent's performance was rated significantly higher than the positive-performing European-American's performance, simple slope = .13, SE = .10, t = 2.10, p = .037. Participants also rated an African-American job applicant's hireability lower after viewing a mediocre-performing African-American incumbent, as compared to a mediocre-performing European-American incumbent, simple slope = -.18, SE = .14, t = -2.36, p = .019. These findings are consistent with the theoretical tenets of aversive racism. This study also explored the political ideologies of non-racists, aversive racists, and blatant racists. Using chi-square analysis, the political ideologies (conservative or liberal) of the three racist groups were significantly different, χ2 (2) = 43.03, p < .001. The majority of non-racists and aversive racists identified as liberal, whereas the majority of blatant racists identified as conservative. Although several key hypotheses were not supported, this study did provide further distinctions between aversive racists, blatant racists, and non-racists. Although differences were not found between the racism groups, the pattern of findings is suggestive of aversive racism. Furthermore, the finding that aversive racists were predominantly liberal supported previous findings concerning aversive racists' political ideologies.

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Thesis (B.A. (Hons.))-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1972.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1963. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [32-33]).

Thesis (M.Sc.) -- Memorial University of Newfoundland. 1973. / Typescript. Bibliography : leaves 58-69. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

This study examined perceptions toward Affirmative Action beneficiaries among non-racists, aversive racists, and blatant racists, and the effects of evaluating a mediocre Black employee on subsequent attitudes toward Affirmative Action. Using a novel procedure for categorizing participants into one of these three racism groups, which utilized both implicit and explicit measures of racism, undergraduate students (n = 127) rated the job performance of a White or Black attorney in a positive or mediocre performance condition and provided their attitudes toward Affirmative Action. Although differential evaluations of job performance were not affected by racism type, a significant three-way interaction (employee race X performance condition X racism type) for attitudes toward Affirmative Action was found. Aversive racists, compared to non-racists and blatant racists had lower attitudes toward Affirmative Action after evaluating the mediocre Black attorney and more positive attitudes after evaluating the strongly performing Black attorney. This finding supports Gaertner and Dovidio's (2000) proposition that aversive racists have fragile pro-Black attitudes that may easily erode when presented with stereotype-confirming exemplars.

The following study aims to understand the effects Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, has on individuals who have experienced discomfort through exposure to aversive stimuli. Experiencing discomfort is a natural part of human life. Each person has their own class of responses to respond to discomfort. A typical response may include avoiding an object, person, or situation that had made the person uncomfortable in the past. Batten, Follette, and Aban (2001) found that women who experienced childhood sexual abuse and scored high in experiential avoidance where more likely to engage in high risk sexual behaviors. Avoiding discomfort can have serious repercussions. ACT has been a proven therapy to treat anxiety, gambling, PTSD, eating disorders among other disorders. Previous studies show the effectiveness of ACT on treating discomfort (Cohrane, Barnes-Holmes, & Barnes-Holmes, 2008; Hayes, Bissett, Korn, Zettle, Rosenfarb, Cooper, & Grundt, 1999; Luciano, et al., 2010). This study extends the findings and further supports the utility of ACT to treat discomfort through a laboratory study. This study exposes participants to “disgusting” stimuli to evoke disgust and discomfort. A brief ACT session is administered to half the participants which is compared to a control task which includes a distraction/avoidance task. Findings from this study suggest the utility of ACT to increase tolerance to discomfort.