The purpose of my research was to examine the impact of likability between two previously unacquainted individuals on memory conformity. One hundred and twenty seven undergraduate students were assigned to a likability condition (control, likable, or dislikable). After the likability manipulation the pair viewed pictures and were later tested on their memory for those pictures. The research confederate always answered first, so the participant’s responses could be based on a combination of their memory for the event and what the confederate reported. Results indicated that participants were most likely to conform to the confederate’s responses when in the dislikable condition. Participants were most likely to answer accurately when in the likable condition. Although contrary to the previous research examining memory conformity among friends and romantic partners, these results are supported by the rapport-building literature in which creating a comfortable relationship between two strangers results in more accurate recall.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / Thesis advisor: Natasha Sarkisian / This dissertation explores the ideological undercurrents of fringe and alternative health movements throughout US history and within today’s wellness industry - specifically the "detox" movement. By investigating health behavior and health ideologies that deviate from or exist in opposition to mainstream medicine, the project examines what is communicated through these movements beyond claims about health. It explores how alternative practitioners discern between good and bad information, how they build knowledge and networks, and how they are driven by broader political ideologies to participate in alternative practices. Using historical analysis, interview data, and case studies of radicalized wellness influencers, the project considers the potential and the limitations of alternative health movements. Because research took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, both the regulatory environment and ideological debates about healthcare were heightened; this enabled an exploration of radicalization pathways within alternative health movements as well. Overall, the project characterizes and evaluates the norms that govern information-seeking within alternative health movements and identifies elements of the “radicalization pipelines” that exist within fringe movements. The first chapter uses historical data to explore how alternative health movements throughout history have been shaped by both epistemological values and bids for class, gender, and race supremacy. The second chapter describes and evaluates the norms that govern information quality and expert legitimacy outside of traditional channels of expertise within today’s wellness industry. And the third chapter investigates radicalization pathways within these movements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

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Research conducted over the past two decades has contributed a wealth of new knowledge to the field's understanding of stress effects on memory. It has been widely demonstrated that stress can either facilitate or impair memory, depending on 1) the phase of memory processing influenced by stress hormones and 2) the valence or arousing nature of the encoded information. It has also been reported that, when stress levels are significantly elevated at encoding, emotional memory is preserved (or enhanced) while memory for non-emotional information is impaired. These effects have been discussed at the neurobiological level with respect to the stress hormone, cortisol, and the impairing and facilitating modulatory effects it has on regions of the brain involved in emotional learning and memory. Whether diurnal shifts in basal levels of cortisol modulate these effects remains unknown. Additionally, it remains unknown whether enhancing and impairing effects of stress on memory result in memory traces that are more or less open to alteration by subsequent experiences, such as observed in the so-called "misinformation" effect.The current dissertation aimed to investigate the effects of stress on encoding of thematically negatively arousing and non-emotional events, composed of negatively arousing and neutral stimuli. Our goal in using more complex materials, in lieu of stimuli (e.g. word lists, images) traditionally used in studies of emotion and memory, was to examine the effects of stress on encoding of information more representative of a real-world event. Within this framework we examined 1) the effects of basal cortisol levels on stress modulation of memory encoding, and 2) the integration of subsequent misinformation on memory for negatively arousing versus non-arousing events encoded under stress. The research included in this dissertation aims to further the field's current understanding of the effects of stress on memory processes. Findings are relevant to the literature on traumatic memory, eyewitness testimony, and the effects of moderate to severe emotion on long-term episodic memory.

Exposure to misleading post-event information can result in impaired memory for the original event. Two theoretical mechanisms (i.e., retrieval blocking and source misattribution) have been proposed as explanantions for the occurrence of the misinformation effect. The impact of context on the occurrence of these errors has been examined to determine if changing the context between events reduces the misinformation effect. Previous findings indicate that context plays a different role in each of these mechanisms; however, experimental differences in the paradgms used to examine retrieval blocking and source misattribution have made comparisons between these mechanisms difficult. The present study examined the role of context in eyewitness memory using the same materials, manipulations, and procedures to determine if context does, in fact, have a different impact on these mechanisms. Results indicate that changing the context between events reduces the occurrence of source misattribution but does not ameliorate the impact of retrieval blocking.

According to the misinformation effect, exposure to misleading post-event information typically impairs memory for the original event. Such findings are generally obtained in the laboratory using the misinformation paradigm. One component of the typical misinformation paradigm is that most of the post-event information corresponds with the event information, implying that the context surrounding the misinformation is the same as that of the original event. The present experiments investigated the role of such implication by presenting the experimental conditions with misleading items in a narrative that differed from the original event (a slide show) to varying degrees; both the location of the event and the persons described were varied. A significant misinformation effect was obtained regardless of implication condition. Even when a relationship between the witnessed event and post-event narrative was not implied, memory was impaired by the presence of misleading information. The findings are discussed in terms of retrieval blocking.

Health misinformation is prevailing on Chinese social media like WeChat – a multi-functional social networking infrastructure in China – and it affects people’s choice and food and health care, which then influences people's health and sometimes cause panic. Many literatures have focused on health misinformation related to pandemic, vaccines or emergent diseases. However, few of them studies daily lifestyle related misinformation on social media. Also, many literatures suggest that aging plays a role in increased vulnerability to misinformation, but few discuss about it in the context of daily lifestyle related misinformation. In this study, an online survey (N=1,141) was conducted to study people’s susceptibility to daily lifestyle related health misinformation on WeChat, and the associated factors from the perspectives of misinformation topics, health belief, cultural belief, social networks and media. The results indicate that perceived severity and benefits increases people’s susceptibility to health misinformation. Alliance of people’s pre-existing belief with the underlying construct of the misinformation also increases their susceptibility to health misinformation. Additionally, lower rating of self-reported health status also plays a role in such susceptibility. Yet, in the contrast to existing literature, this study finds that self-efficacy has no effect on assisting people in identifying health misinformation. Regarding health information sharing, people tend to share what they consider credible but with different motivations to WeChat connections in different social settings. In a relatively more semi-public platform (WeChat Moments) with generalized social connections, they are motivated by the goal of sharing useful information and maintaining social relationships. Yet, in relatively more private settings like individual chat or group chat, they are motivated by altruism when sharing with strong ties while by maintaining social relationships when sharing with weak ties. The results also reveal that the increase in age increases the frequency of health information sharing behavior. In addition to the survey, I conducted a follow up interview with 30 participants of different age groups to explore how people access, process and share health information on WeChat. The interview contains a think-aloud protocol that can detect the criteria people employ to evaluate health mis/information on WeChat. Building on Elaborative Likelihood Model of Persuasion, the interview results reveal that in addition to relevance of topic and ability to process the mis/information, time constraints also contribute to which route people take on when processing information, especially with busy daily schedules and overwhelming amount of available health information on WeChat. When taking on the peripheral route, besides author credibility, older and younger generations use different peripheral cues to process health mis/information, and employ different criteria in evaluating the quality.

As growing numbers of people access the internet, it has also grown as a medium for white nationalists. Podcasts in particular present a unique media form for misinformation and white nationalist ideology to spread as they are not regulated by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. As a result of this lack of regulation, the following questions are central to this paper: what role does misinformation play in influencing white nationalist ideology? What are the consequences? How do podcasts serve as a medium for white nationalist ideology and misinformation to spread online? This research project reveals how white nationalism has become more attractive and mainstream over the past ten years, largely around the Presidency of Donald Trump. Analyzing and researching white nationalism in the present is necessary to better understand and tackle the issue at large. To fully understand these questions, I engage in a summative content analysis of several prominent conservative podcasts and conclude interviews with leading scholars of global studies and global communications, all while using a feminist lens of analysis. While these podcasts differ on the extremity of their views, I find that they share a similar sentiment of resentment and the dear of a loss of identity as a white race, while utilizing and relying on misinformation. The themes shared among all of the shows are identified as: (1) a distrust in institutions, (2) fear-mongering, and (3) a belief that white people - need to “regain their power”. The implications of this loom large due to the sheer number of listeners among the podcasts. Certainly, future research is necessary to fully understand exactly how podcasts impact listeners, yet preliminary evidence is clear that podcasts with a white nationalist ideology presents a danger. White nationalists believe they, as white people, hold an inherent power over people of color, and need to take this power back; the dissemination of this ideology through podcasts only amplifies this message.

Erroneous suggestions can add to or contradict people’s memories for previously witnessed event details. Researchers have also investigated a different kind of erroneous suggestion in which details from a target event that had actually been witnessed are erroneously suggested to not have transpired in the event. This phenomenon is referred to as the suggested invisibility effect. Previous research examining suggested invisibility has not thoroughly examined the mechanisms underlying the effect. That is, does not reporting previously witnessed event details reflect demand characteristics or genuine memory impairments? The current dissertation research was motivated by such questions. In a newly developed paradigm, 5 experiments examined suggested invisibility and its accompanying subjective memory. Subjects watched a crime video and 2 days later read three hand-written simulated witness testimonies. Each testimony (a) stated that two event details were not visible in the video (though they in fact were clearly displayed) and (b) mentioned two other details in broad generic terms. Subjects then completed a final memory test to assess their memory for the original crime video. Experiment 1 produced the basic effect, showing that subjects were significantly less likely to report witnessed details when they had been erroneously suggested to not have been visible compared to control details. Experiment 2A was conducted to further examine the basis of suggested invisibility, however, many subjects expressed disbelief in the testimonies and this resulted in null effects. Subsequent experiments enhanced the plausibility of the testimonies. Experiment 2B amended the rationale to subjects for reading the lengthy testimonies and replicated the suggested invisibility effect; Experiment 3 embedded suggestions of invisibility in response to cued-recall questions rather than in lengthy narratives; and, Experiment 4 presented subjects with a transcript of an interview between a witness and an experimenter. In both Experiments 3 and 4, robust effects of suggested invisibility were only attained with naïve subjects who claimed to not have been suspicious of the experimental manipulation. When suggested invisibility was observed subjects’ confidence levels were similar to that of control details, suggesting that sometimes subjects were genuinely confident in not having witnessed previously seen details. Collectively, these findings support the idea that memories can be swayed in the direction of erroneous suggestions that render false reports of not having seen previously witnessed details. / Graduate