Most White Americans believe they are not prejudiced people despite evidence suggesting that most people hold and express racial bias. How is this possible? Drawing on research from motivated cognition, I tested whether people engage in motivated reasoning when facing a threat to their unprejudiced self-image. Students in this study were randomly assigned to a control condition or a threat of prejudice condition. Afterward, they read an article connecting either introversion or extraversion to racial prejudice and explained why that relationship might be true. Finally, they answered how well introversion and extraversion traits describe themselves. Although I hypothesized that students would respond by shifting their self-concept away from the traits they believed are related to prejudice, the data only supported this prediction in the control condition. In the threat of prejudice condition, there was no support for the motivated reasoning explanation. In fact, it appears that students were more likely to acknowledge their racial bias in the threat of prejudice condition. Despite the lack of evidence for motivated reasoning, I discuss the implications of this study for maintaining an unprejudiced self-image. / 1 / Aaron James Moss

Consumer impulsivity accounts for a large percentage of purchases yet this aspect of personality is measured with a variety of instruments. Three studies were conducted to examine how measures of consumer impulsiveness relate to each other, other measures of trait level impulsivity, and a variety of decisions and judgments. These studies looked at the relationship between biases resulting from motivated reasoning and the trait of impulsiveness. Motivated reasoning and impulsiveness was considered within the context of consumer and other choice decisions. Consumer impulsivity was found to be related to both general measures of trait level impulsivity as well as containing a lot of content overlap among the three measures considered here. One measure was distinct and formed its own factor in a factor analysis suggesting it may be the most specific measure of consumer impulsivity. The other measures of consumer impulsivity overlapped quite a bit with general impulsivity. The Iowa Gambling Task was used to measure both choice behavior and anticipatory SCR, however no significant results were found. The cups task, a risky decision making task, was also administered and results mirrored classic findings such that participants were more risk averse in the domain of gains than losses. Additionally, both expected value and outcome magnitude influenced results. Individuals who scored higher on the UPPS urgency subscale made more risk advantageous choices when looking at sensitivity to expected value. The third task assessed differences in purchase time for hedonic and utilitarian items. Impulsive consumers reported they would purchase both hedonic and utilitarian items sooner than their less impulsive counterparts.

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There is contention surrounding two major questions in regard to voting behavior in American politics. First, are political advertisements efficacious? Second, do partisans interpret political information in a different way than those who do not identify with a political bias — that is, do partisans engage in partisan-motivated reasoning? As billions of dollars each American presidential election cycle are spent, and fierce competition pervades the elections, shedding light on these two questions is more essential than ever. This project focuses on coupling these questions together to investigate if individuals who identify with a political party reason in a partisan-motivated manner in response to political advertisements. Utilizing a novel survey instrument and originally designed political advertisements featuring the candidates of the 2020 Presidential election, I surveyed over 900 individuals to discern if partisan-motivated reasoning was operative. I found three key results. First, partisan-motivated reasoning was utilized by those who identified as Republican or Democratic, but not for those who did not identify as being a partisan of one of the major political parties. Second, Republicans and Democrats reason in distinct, separate manners. Republicans did not modify their responses after exposure to partisan-conforming political advertisements (Trump-source advertisements) but did modify their responses after receiving partisan-nonconforming political advertisements (Biden-source advertisements). Oppositely, Democrats did modify their responses after exposure to partisan-conforming political advertisements (Biden-source advertisements) but did not modify their responses after receiving partisan-nonconforming political advertisements (Trump-source advertisements). Third, and more broadly, political advertisements are indeed effective; over 85% of individuals changed their first responses after exposure to the political advertisements. Moreover, across treatments, more than 31% of individuals updated their first answers and submitted updated responses as the same statistic presented in the advertisement. In sum, this thesis helps to elucidate an understanding of how partisans understand political information, specifically in the format of a political advertisement.

This study examines the effects of reputation threats and anonymous whistle-blowing channels on Chief Audit Executives’ (CAEs) decisions to investigate whistle-blowing allegations. Participants were 94 CAEs and Deputy CAEs from publicly traded companies in the eastern half of the United States. Participants received whistle-blowing reports from either an anonymous or a non-anonymous source. In the high reputation threat condition the whistle-blowing report alleged that the wrongdoing was perpetrated by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls that had been previously evaluated by external auditors and the internal audit function. The report in the lower threat condition alleged that the wrongdoing was accomplished by the circumvention of internal controls. Findings show that CAEs found anonymous whistle-blowing reports to be significantly less credible than non-anonymous reports. Although CAEs assessed lower credibility ratings for the reports alleging wrongdoing by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls, they perceived greater personal and departmental responsibility in this condition. CAEs did not, however, perceive a significant reputation threat in either the Exploitation or Circumvention condition. Regardless of report source credibility, perceived reputation threat, or felt responsibility, CAEs’ resource allocation decisions consistently demonstrated a determination to thoroughly investigate the allegations of wrongdoing and uncover the truth.

End stage renal disease (ESRD) is a growing epidemic impacting the United States. While the optimal treatment for ESRD is renal replacement, barriers exist making this treatment difficult and sometimes impossible for patients to pursue. One potential solution to existing barriers is to encourage patients to actively seek living donors. This is an inherently communicative and social process. The Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) offers a framework for understanding factors that contribute to patients’ conversations about transplantation with their social networks. It is also possible that Patient Empowerment can add to this model, and inform future patient education. Specific variables related to the TMIM and Patient Empowerment are analyzed in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. Variables that were significant in bivariate analysis did not rise to the level of significance when included in a full logistic regression analysis. Study results and outcomes suggest that further research is warranted.

Thesis advisor: Jon C. Horvitz / Previous research has yielded conflicting results regarding the involvement of mesolimbic dopamine in Pavlovian and operant tasks. While there is abundant evidence that an operant lever press requires intact dopamine (DA) D1 transmission in the nucleus accumbens (ACB) and in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), there is conflicting evidence regarding the specific brain sites at which DA mediates a Pavlovian approach response. The present study was designed to compare the effects of ACB and BLA D1 receptor-blockade on an operant and Pavlovian task, while minimizing differences in behavioral response topography. Animals were trained on either a Pavlovian cued approach task or an operant cued nosepoke task. In the Pavlovian approach task, a tone signaled a pellet delivery to which animals responded with a head entry into a food compartment. In the operant nosepoke task, animals were trained to emit a nosepoke in response to the same tone, in order to trigger a pellet delivery. Bilateral microinfusions of the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (0, 1 or 2 microgram/side) into either the ACB or the BLA produced a dose-dependent disruption of the operant nosepoke. In contrast, the Pavlovian cued approach response was unaffected by D1 antagonist microinfusions into either the ACB or the BLA. In addition, infusion of SCH 23390 into either site suppressed general locomotion. The results suggest a dissociation of the anatomical substrates mediating an operant nosepoke and a Pavlovian approach, despite similar response topographies. These findings are consistent with the notion that D1 activity at the ACB and BLA plays a role in the expression of operant responses, but not in the expression of Pavlovian approach responses. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

This thesis contains four chapters presenting theory and empirical evidence for two distinct aspects of human behaviour: social learning and motivated beliefs. I develop a simple theory to revisit the classical social learning models by challenging the assumption of freely available information. My model suggests that when it is costly to acquire information, social learning (herding) is prevalent, and people do not have incentives to acquire private information (e.g. to form their own judgements). Classical information cascade models suggest that although herding is observed, information aggregation is still possible with communication channels (e.g. a survey); however, my model indicates that information aggregation is unattainable because people in the herd do not acquire private information. We then test my model in a laboratory and find that, as predicted, subjects can learn from others successfully. Also, individual heterogeneity exists in: there are herd animals biased against private information, lone wolves who are biased toward it and subjects who behave optimally. In aggregate, there is no overall bias for or against private information. We also document a new cognitive bias involved in processing social information. Individual characteristics, especially the cognitive ability, seems to be a very good indicator of subjects' behaviour. Subjects with higher cognitive scores choose optimal information more frequently and follow information more frequently. Overconfidence can be driven by the consumption motive (e.g. savouring future payoff/self-image) and the instrumental motive (e.g. being optimistic about the outcome of effort for motivation). I develop a simple model incorporating these two motives and suggest that individuals hold a dynamic pattern of overconfidence. Then I conduct an online field experiment with students to test the theory. The experimental findings indicate that students are likely to adopt overconfident beliefs as a commitment device to deal with their self-control problem. However, I do not find evidence for the consumption motive of overconfidence.

This thesis explores how domestic factions and authoritarian regimes in Japan and Korea in the period from the 1850s to 1970s appropriated the concept of “modernity” to gain normative superiority over their competitors. The appropriating entity revised the concept of modernity to suit its own worldview. Across the case studies, the propaganda of modernity created a hierarchy that privileged those who are “more modern,” encouraged martial masculinity, and attached itself to existing domestic norms, such as ethno- nationalism. Under authoritarian regimes, modernity helped justify the mobilization of capital, manpower, and other critical resources in the name of nation-building or defense. Many factions and demagogues may have initially used the concept of modernity for domestic gains, but using this narrative later devolved into foreign conquests and imperialist expansion, for otherwise, their call for modernization would have become an empty promise in the eyes of the masses. This paper examines five cases along these dimensions, namely the rise of reformist samurais in feudal-era Japan, the failure of Joseon Korea’s ruling regime to adopt modernity in a timely manner, Imperial Japan’s colonial practices in Korea and Manchuria, the ideological divergences among factions in Colonial Korea, and a South Korean dictator’s attempts to gain legitimacy following a coup d’etat. Each case follows how domestic factions or individuals were motivated by an inferiority complex and how they produced their own version of modernity that favored their ascendance.

This essay examines why Vietnam veterans, who were draft motivated enlistees, enlisted when drafted or threatened with the draft. Data is taken from 63 oral history interviews conducted by The Vietnam Archive Oral History Project at Texas Tech University and is analyzed using the phenomenological research approach. The background of this paper briefly explains the Vietnam Draft and the draft avoidance options available to those men who were drafted. The results section utilizes quotes from the oral history interviews to show the main themes of why men chose to enlist when faced with the draft. The discussion section discusses these themes in a wider context and brings up areas for further research.