Improving group cooperation and coordination is one of the fundamental functions served by group leaders. Leaders therefore often work to increase the positive social bonds among group members. In the present research, the authors provide evidence that leaders sometimes generate divisions--not cooperation--among their subordinates. Four studies supported the hypothesis that dominant leaders separate group members who pose a threat to their power, as a way to lessen the threat potential subordinate alliances pose. In a preliminary study, leaders in unstable power (versus egalitarian control) became particularly anxious about subordinates working closely together when a threatening group member was present. In Experiments 1-3, leaders restricted the amount of communication among subordinates (Experiment 1), physically sequestered subordinates (Experiment 2), and prevented subordinates from bonding with one another interpersonally (Experiment 3). These behaviors were observed only among dominance-motivated leaders (not prestige-motivated leaders), and only under conditions of unstable power (not stable power). Furthermore, dividing strategies were only directed toward a threatening group member (not a neutral group member). These results shed new light on one key strategy through which dominant leaders try to maintain control over valuable yet potentially threatening group members. Findings have implications for theories of power, leadership, and group behavior. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2013. / June 10, 2013. / dominance, evolutionary psychology, individual differences, leadership, motivation, power / Includes bibliographical references. / Jon K. Maner, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Kaschak, Committee Member; James K. McNulty, Committee Member.

Two experiments used the discounting paradigm to investigate the effect of age on how individuals value technology and technology-related learning. Previous literature has shown that older adults display a lower monetary discount rate than younger adults. It was hypothesized that this trend would be reversed in the current study due to older adults' increased costs associated with technology-related learning as well as lower perceptions of value for technology related rewards when compared to younger adults. Both experiments used technology-related measures based on the format of the Monetary Choice Questionnaire to determine individual discount rate. In Experiment 1, 37 older (mean age = 72.9) and 39 younger (mean age = 18.8) adults completed the MCQ and two devised technology-related measures. Previous findings for age and monetary discount rate were replicated but there was no significant difference in discount rate between age groups for the devised technology-related measures. In Experiment 2, 40 older (mean age = 74.9) and 40 younger (mean age = 20.2) adults completed six devised discounting measures. Older adults displayed a significantly higher discount rate for four out of six discounting measures, including three out of four technology-related measures. Implications for older adults and technology adoption are discussed. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2011. / June 3, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references. / Neil Charness, Professor Directing Thesis; Walter R. Boot, Committee Member; Joyce Ehrlinger, Committee Member.

As a kind of controlled cognition, strategically reinstating an encoding process to facilitate retrieval of specific subsets of information is more cognitively costly than more automatic forms of retrieval. Although strategic reinstatement of encoding operations is cognitively costly, it may offer no memorial advantage when familiarity-based retrieval is diagnostic or when following events that fail to promote distinctive encoding. In three experiments, I investigated conditions that vary the likelihood and benefit of encoding context reinstatement using the memory-for-foils paradigm (Jacoby, Shimizu, Daniels, & Rhodes, 2005a). In Experiments 1-2, I tested whether the likelihood of constrained retrieval varies as a function of the diagnosticity of familiarity by varying word frequency (Experiment 1) and the need for recollective details in the context of an associative memory task (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, I tested whether the likelihood of constrained retrieval varies as a function of cue distinctiveness. Throughout, I also evaluated whether constrained retrieval actually benefits memory. Overall, I created variations in the likelihood of constrained retrieval and found evidence to support the view that constrained retrieval benefits recognition memory, particularly in the case of memory for deeply processed items. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / April 25, 2013. / Constrained Retrieval, Memory, Memory-for-Foils, Recognition, Recollection / Includes bibliographical references. / Colleen M. Kelley, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles F. Hofacker, University Representative; Neil H. Charness, Committee Member; Michael P. Kaschak, Committee Member; Elizabeth Ashby Plant, Committee Member.

Previous research has found that uncertainty temporarily impairs people's ability to exercise self-regulation (Alquist, Baumeister, & Tice, in prep; Milkman, 2012). The present study tested the hypothesis that uncertainty continues to impair self-regulation, even after the uncertainty is resolved. Participants were told that they'd be participating in a study where some participants would be assigned to give a speech and some participants would be assigned to rate others' speeches. Participants in two resolved uncertainty conditions were left uncertain about what they would be doing later for ten minutes, then were either told that they were giving a speech or were told that they were not giving a speech. Participants in a continued uncertainty condition were left uncertain through the whole study, and participants in two certain conditions were told at the beginning of the study that they were giving a speech or were not giving a speech. Self-regulation was measured using anagrams. Contrary to prediction, there were no significant differences between any of the conditions in the number of anagrams attempted or solved. The present study was also designed to test the hypothesis that uncertainty would increase the amount of planning, thought control, and emotion control in which participants engaged. Participants who had been left uncertain about whether they were giving a speech reported more planning to give a speech, more thinking about giving a speech, and having a harder time controlling their thoughts than participants who knew for certain that they would be giving a speech. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / June 26, 2013. / ego depletion, self control, uncertainty / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy F. Baumeister, Professor Directing Dissertation; Pam L. Perrewé, University Representative; Jesse R. Cougle, Committee Member; Jon K. Maner, Committee Member; E. Ashby Plant, Committee Member.

The representation of locations and movement in peri-personal space (the space directly in front of the torso) has been hypothesized to be important in the representations of abstract concepts, most notably quantity and time. Presumably, spatial and motor response compatibility effects (interactions between stimuli referring to the abstraction, and the spatial location of a response button) are due to shared representations between real space and metaphorical space. However, the bulk of these types of effects are not explained by one general theory as to the re-use of circuits responsible for perception and movement of peri-personal space during representation and comprehension. In this paper, I propose and test the idea that two types of re-use underlie spatial response compatibility effects pertaining to the representation of quantity. To test the idea that two types of re-use are responsible for different sets of spatial-response compatibility effects, I use the same representation domain, quantity, to contrast the directional differences, and directional flexibility (or lack there-of) that each type predicts. Results indicate that semantic understanding of quantity elicits spatial compatibility effects only on the up-down axis, which is the one used in the conceptual metaphor, while tasks that do not tap into the semantic understanding of quantity can adopt the left-right axis as a convenient spatial schematic organizational tool. These results support the conclusion that, 1) space, or at least, spatial representation is used in processing language about quantity and 2) the uses the spatial representations differ, depending on the task. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2011. / May 3, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael Kaschak, Professor Directing Dissertation; Paula Gerson, University Representative; Colleen Kelley, Committee Member; Jon Maner, Committee Member; Wally Boot, Committee Member.

The aim of the present study was to examine the validity of classifying juvenile sexual offenders (JSO) by victim age based subgroups. JSOs were categorized into one of three subgroups (those who only offend against children, those who only offend against peers, and those who offend against children and peers). The child, peer, and mixed subgroups were compared to non-sexual delinquent offenders on sexual recidivism, non-sexual recidivism, sexual abuse history, and non-sexual criminal history. Institutional files of juveniles remanded to a high-security Department of Juvenile Justice facility, as well as recidivism information from Florida's Computerized Criminal History (CCH) database served as the data source for this study. Results revealed that the victim age classification method utilized in the present study significantly predicted sexual recidivism, history of sexual abuse, non-sexual recidivism, and non-sexual criminal history. Secondly, those who offended against children (i.e., child and mixed offenders) had significantly higher rates of sexual abuse history and sexual recidivism than those who did not (i.e., peer offenders and delinquent offenders). Also, child and mixed offenders had lower rates of non-sexual recidivism and non-sexual criminal history than peer and delinquent offenders. Although the mixed offender subgroup was not significantly higher than the other subgroups, there was a trend for them to have a more extensive criminal history and be at higher risk for sexual and non-sexual recidivism than other JSOs. Implications for classification, treatment, and recidivism prediction of juvenile offenders are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / May 28, 2013. / Juvenile Justice, Recidivism Risk, Sexual Offending / Includes bibliographical references. / Janet Kistner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Daniel Mears, University Representative; Jesse Cougle, Committee Member; Michael Kaschak, Committee Member; Jeanette Taylor, Committee Member.

The present research suggests that people's bodily states affect their beliefs about free will. The more intensely people felt sexual desire, physical tiredness, and the need to urinate, the less they believed in free will (Study 1). People with epilepsy and people with panic disorder, which are disorders characterized by a lack of control over one's body, reported less belief in free will compared to people without such disorders (Study 2). In Study 3, among people who were not especially resistant to attempted manipulation by others (i.e., low in trait psychological reactance), those who had their involuntary reflexes triggered reported less belief in free will compared to those who demonstrated a voluntary response. In Study 4, trait reactance moderated the effect of an essay-reading task (pro-determinism vs. control) on people's self-reported beliefs about determinism (a construct related to free will) and on people's level of helpfulness (a variable that has been shown in previous research to be related to belief in free will). Thus, this research supports two claims: 1) bodily states affect free will beliefs, and 2) trait reactance moderates the effects of free will belief manipulations / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2013. / December 3, 2012. / embodied cognition, free will, reactance / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy Baumeister, Professor Directing Thesis; Ashby Plant, Committee Member; Michael Kaschak, Committee Member.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) represents a heterogeneous diagnostic classification as individuals with this disorder can vary considerably in their symptom presentation. Research examining underlying risk factors for antisocial behavior could aid in understanding its manifestation and foster hypotheses regarding potential intervention strategies. The current study tested the hypothesis that, among antisocial incarcerated individuals, affective psychopathic traits mediate the relationship between low cortisol reactivity and proactive aggression, and impulsivity mediates the relationship between high cortisol reactivity and reactive aggression. A sample of 49 young adult male offenders aged 18 and older were recruited to complete a performance-based stressor task as well as interviews and self-report measures assessing psychopathy, aggression, and impulsivity. Salivary hormone samples were taken just prior to the Trier Social Stress Test (baseline) and at 20 min post-stressor. Ultimately, results did not support the hypotheses, suggesting that cortisol reactivity alone lacks specificity in prediction of psychopathic traits, impulsivity, and aggression. Given that previous research has demonstrated Factor 1 psychopathic traits are significantly predictive of blunted cortisol reactivity to the TSST in college students, exploratory analyses tested whether this finding could be replicated in a severely antisocial incarcerated sample. Results indicated that affective psychopathic traits in particular predicted significant cortisol decline in response to the stressor. Results of this project highlight the directionality of the relationship between psychopathic traits and cortisol reactivity, suggesting that blunted or declining cortisol reactivity may be a symptom of psychopathic traits, not a causal factor. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / November 19, 2012. / Cortisol, HPA axis, psychopathy, TSST / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeanette Taylor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Eric Stewart, University Representative; Joyce Carbonell, Committee Member; Christopher Patrick, Committee Member; Lisa Eckel, Committee Member.

Purging Disorder (PD), a proposed Eating Disorder Not Elsewhere Classified (American Psychiatric Association, 2010), is characterized by recurrent purging in the absence of binge eating. Though objectively large binge episodes are not present, some individuals with PD experience a loss of control (LOC) while eating a normal or even small amount of food. The present study sought to examine the role of LOC eating in PD using archival data from 101 women with PD. Participants completed diagnostic interviews and self-report questionnaires. Analyses examined the relationship between LOC eating and eating disorder features, psychopathology, personality traits, and impairment, controlling for purging frequency, age, and body mass index. More frequent LOC eating was associated with greater disinhibition around food, greater hunger, greater body image disturbance and greater eating disorder severity, but LOC eating was not associated with restraint. LOC eating was associated with depressive symptoms, but not anxiety symptoms. More frequent LOC eating was associated with a greater likelihood of lifetime substance use disorders and impulse control disorders, but LOC eating was not associated with lifetime mood and anxiety disorders. LOC eating was positively associated with negative urgency, but not with other aspects of impulsivity. Those with more frequent LOC eating were significantly more impaired and reported more distress. LOC eating is a clinically significant feature of PD and should be considered in future definitions of PD. Future research should examine the relationship between LOC eating and the course of PD. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 27, 2013. / Eating Disorder Not Elsewhere Classified, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Loss of Control, Purging Disorder, Subjective Binge Eating / Includes bibliographical references. / Pamela K. Keel, Professor Directing Thesis; Thomas E. Joiner, Committee Member; Jon K. Maner, Committee Member.

Reading, writing, language, and spelling all fall under the umbrella of literacy skills. A number of studies have looked at these constructs and their relationship to each other but the results have been highly variable. The aim of this study is to help to clarify the relationship between reading, writing, language, and spelling in 5th grade students (N = 395). Specifically this study focused on clarifying the role spelling plays as a component of literacy. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to identify the factor structure of the four constructs of interest. Model fit statistics revealed that reading, writing, language and spelling function as separate constructs in both the fall and spring data. A test for measurement invariance revealed that spelling and language measures were invariant across the school year. The writing and reading construct loadings were not consistent from fall to spring. These results have implications for the future assessment of spelling and writing. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 20, 2013. / reading, spelling, writing / Includes bibliographical references. / Carol Connor, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Chris Schatschneider, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Rick Wagner, Committee Member; Mike Kaschak, Committee Member.