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Emotional Reactions to Stationary and Moving Animals

Appraisal theory posits that the addition of new, relevant, information can alter the outcome of the appraisal process for a given emotional elicitor, such as an animal. The current study aimed to explore whether the addition of animal movement would sufficiently influence the intensity of emotional reactions and action motivation ratings for animals. The current study compared self-reported emotional reactions and self-reported action motivations for still images and videos for six animal categories (snakes, spiders, cockroaches, tortoises, deer, and ducks). Our findings indicate that movement increases the intensity of relevant emotional reactions to cockroaches, tortoises, deer, and ducks, but not snakes or spiders. Action motivation ratings indicate that movement increases approach motivations for the positively associated animals but does not alter avoidance motivations for the negatively associated animals. The implications for our understanding of the perception of and reactions to animals are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_41406
ContributorsSt. Peter, Krystal S. (author), Kersten, Alan (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format57 p., application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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