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(in English) This diploma thesis is examining the ways of using immersive virtual reality with senior citizens aged 65 plus with health problems. Those chosen individuals who live in a retirement home were examined and questioned after trying out a virtual reality headset with a specific travel experience using the Google Earth VR app. The main focus was to study their emotional state and its shifts. The author used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research to finalise the analysis. The theoretical part offers an insight on the use of immersive virtual reality in the lives of senior citizens such as how they spend free time in the Retirement homes. The analytical part of this dissertation shows a summary of existing studies and commercial projects using virtual reality with the aim to facilitate seniors. The qualitative research has helped to a better understanding of the Czech market. It also helped executing a scientific investigation centred on a particular group of seniors. Data was gathered via half structured interviews, observation and standardised questionnaires PANAS and Flow Short Scale.

This thesis was concerned with the psychological adjustment of 67 end-stage cancer patients, and three psychosocial variables considered to influence that adjustment: emotional support from spouse, positive meaning, and working models of attachment. Furthermore, this thesis was also concerned with the psychological adjustment of the patients' spouses, and the influence of emotional support from patient and working models of attachment on their adjustment. It was hypothesised that each of these psychosocial variables would directly influence the psychological adjustment of patients and spouses, measured using the negative affectivity scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Furthermore, it was hypothesised that emotional support would influence positive meaning, and working models of attachment would influence both emotional support and positive meaning. Variables were measured via paper and pencil self-report inventories, with the exception of positive meaning, where verbal responses to an open question were coded. Univariate analyses indicated an association between patients' and spouses' emotional support provided by one another and their psychological adjustment. Univariate results also showed that patients' positive meaning was related to patients' psychological adjustment, and that patients' working models of attachment involving higher levels of attachment anxiety were associated with patients' poorer psychological adjustment. All these individual associations remained statistically significant after three control variables related to the patients' physical condition were taken into account. In addition, univariate analyses indicated that attachment was associated with emotional support, and that emotional support was associated with positive meaning. Following univariate analyses, variables were integrated into one model for patients and another for spouses using path analyses. Results were generally consistent with the prior sets of analyses. However, patients' working models of attachment involving higher levels of attachment anxiety no longer had a direct effect on patients' psychological adjustment to statistically significant levels. Rather, the influence of the working models of attachment on patients' psychological adjustment was mediated by emotional support. In addition, patients' positive meaning no longer had a significant direct effect on patients' psychological adjustment. The insignificant path coefficients between attachment anxiety and psychological adjustment, and between positive meaning and psychological adjustment, were attributed to the large amount of variance in negative affect due to emotional support. In summary, this research indicates that emotional support given and received between patients and spouses is important to the psychological adjustment of each party. Furthermore, emotional support influences patients' ability to construe positive meaning in their illness, although positive meaning does not appear to be as critical to the psychological adjustment of patients as emotional support. Working models of attachment influence the psychological adjustment of patients primarily through their influence on emotional support.

The current study examined the relationship between depression and uncertainty within the stress-diathesis model. Depression is a mental health disorder that is wide spread within our society. However, few causes of this disease have been able to be identified. Studies in uncertainty have shown that it is a major stressor in day-to-day life. Previous research has shown that individuals with high levels of uncertainty show higher levels of depression. The stress-diathesis model, a model originally developed to explain differences in development of schizophrenia, provides a theoretically meaningful way to combine these two concepts. The model states that a person who is likely to develop a disease has an internal mechanism, a diathesis, that will be triggered upon presentation of a stressor. This study tested the idea that uncertainty can be used as a stressor to activate diathesis within an individual, aiding in the prediction of depression. In total, 163 participants were randomly assigned one of three conditions, an uncertainty threat, an affirmation condition, and a control condition. Participants were given pre and post independent variable measures of depression and anxiety. Findings suggest that uncertainty activated negative emotions differentially within the participants, resulting in higher levels of negative affects after the uncertainty threat, especially for participants who already scored relatively higher on depression indicators. These results hint at a possible understanding of why depression rates and diagnosis rates of mental health issues rise during economic downturn and other times of strong uncertainty.

La separación del constructo del afecto en sus dos dimensiones, afecto positivo y afecto negativo, está siendo utilizada en la literatura científica debido a la relación que posee con la depresión y la ansiedad. Teniendo en cuenta la potencialidad de la dimensión afectiva para identificar posibles problemáticas futuras, se está trabajando en la actualidad para medir dicho constructo en edad infantil. Por tanto, la validación de instrumentos para evaluar el afecto en muestra infantil en España se convierte en una necesidad importante. En este sentido, la presente tesis doctoral elaborada por compendios de tres publicaciones trata de responder a una serie de cuestiones importantes acerca del afecto en muestra de estudiantes españoles con edades comprendidas entre los 8 y 11 años de edad. Por un lado, el primer artículo se propone validar la versión corta de la escala Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) e identificar la existencia de cuatro perfiles afectivos y compararlos en función de las puntuaciones en optimismo y pesimismo. El segundo artículo, por su parte, identifica también la presencia de los cuatro perfiles afectivos en una muestra distinta y los compara teniendo en cuenta las puntuaciones en rechazo escolar. Por último, el tercero de los artículos trata de identificar una serie de perfiles de agresividad en la muestra de estudiantes y analiza las diferencias que muestran en las puntuaciones de afecto, rechazo escolar y perfeccionismo. El primer artículo utilizó dos muestras de 647 y 1296 estudiantes de Educación Primaria, el segundo artículo una muestra de 1575 estudiantes y el tercer artículo una muestra de 1202 estudiantes. Todos ellos con edades comprendidas entre los 8 y 11 años de edad y pertenecientes a centros educativos españoles. Las escalas que se utilizaron fueron las siguientes: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) para el afecto, Youth Life Orientation Test (YLOT) para el optimismo y pesimismo, School Refusal Assessment Scale Revised for Children (SRAS-R-C) para el rechazo escolar, Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) para la agresividad y Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS) para el perfeccionismo. Respecto a los resultados obtenidos en los mismos, por un lado, se ha validado la versión corta del PANAS-C para poder aplicarla en estudiantes españoles entre 8 y 11 años de edad. Por otro lado, se ha podido comprobar la identificación de cuatro perfiles afectivos que pueden ser considerados a la hora de proponer programas de intervención en la práctica profesional. En este sentido, se ha podido observar como el perfil autorrealizado ha tendido a relacionarse con dimensiones adaptativas del desarrollo humano como es el caso del optimismo, mientras que el perfil autodestructivo se ha relacionado con puntuaciones altas en dimensiones desadaptativas como es el caso del pesimismo y el rechazo escolar. A su vez, también se ha podido comprobar como los perfiles de agresividad alto se caracterizan por mostrar puntuaciones altas en afecto negativo, rechazo escolar y perfeccionismo, mientras que los perfiles de agresividad baja se caracterizan por mostrar puntuaciones altas en afecto positivo. Estos resultados expanden el conocimiento de las dimensiones afectivas en el campo de la Educación y de la Psicología.

Worldwide, 450 million people are estimated to have a mental health problem. Therefore this study set out with the aim to fill the gap in research on how to raise happiness and subjective well-being amongst adolescents. The sample of the study consisted of 90 students ranging from 16 - 19 years of age. They were randomly assigned to one of two methods; BPS (Best Personal Self) or nostalgia. Each group was then given varying instructions on a task they would perform on a daily basis, with tests taken on the first and last day of the study. The tests consisted of questions from the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Scale) and the SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale), which would determine the different methods short- and long-term effect on the participants happiness and subjective well-being. A control group was used to compare the results of the test groups. The results indicated nostalgia as being the most effective way to raise short-term well-being amongst adolescents, which raised interesting questions for future studies.

Examensarbetet genomfördes av Philip Wockatz utan stöd och handledning. Detta ledde fram till att Kip Smith tog över som handledare strax innan presentationen.

How can an experience have such an impact that it can be described with the words “wow effect”? Though not a scientific term, it is often used vividly in the business world as an aspirational goal. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the structure behind positive experiences that lead to a so-called “wow effect” by combining cognitive theories and consumption-based emotion theories to create a method for assessing satisfaction in postpurchase experience. In collaboration with the Volvo Car Corporation, this thesis aimed to identify the relevant antecedents for such a possible experience and create a method for measuring it. The automobiles product category has shown high levels of variation in affect (Oliver, 1993) and as such, it has become increasingly important for automobile companies to be able to identify relevant antecedents of positive affect.