Sensation seeking is a facet of impulsivity that leads individuals to seek out novel and provocative experiences for the sake of taking part in that experience. Sensation seeking, which has been found to be at least partially based in biology, has also been found to relate to certain preferences for food and other substances, such as alcohol. Further, sensation seeking has been found to correlate with the acquired capability for suicide. Given that taste perception, and one's tasting status (i.e., nontaster vs. taster vs. supertaster) is also rooted in biology, a further elaboration of the relationship between the above variables is warranted. The current study focused on four hypotheses: (1) sensation seeking would vary according to taste perception; (2) sensation seeking would mediate the relationship between taste perception and acquired capability; (3) taste perception would interact with food preference to predict acquired capability; and (4) taste perception would interact with consumption of alcohol to predict acquired capability. Hypothesis three was partially supported, in that supertasters who consume certain foods that are known to be more unpleasant to them reported a higher level of acquired capability than their nontaster or taster counterparts. Implications of these findings, as well as future directions, are addressed. / 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 26, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas Joiner, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Kirby, University Representative; Joyce Carbonell, Committee Member; Jesse Cougle, Committee Member; Ashby Plant, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183714 |
| Contributors | Fink, Erin (authoraut), Joiner, Thomas (professor directing dissertation), Kirby, David (university representative), Carbonell, Joyce (committee member), Cougle, Jesse (committee member), Plant, Ashby (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds