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Item Sex Differences in Response to a Large 200-Person Audience using the Trier Social Stress Test in Pre-Recorded Virtual Reality(North Dakota State University, 2022) Byron, GarrettThe Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) induces stress in the lab by having participants complete challenging tasks in front of an audience. The TSST has been adapted to virtual reality (VR), eliminating in-person audience variability that could explain sex differences in stress responses. Furthermore, the VR-TSST facilitates the examination of factors difficult to investigate in person, such as the effect of a large, 200-person audience. This study compared male and female physiological and psychological responses to an in-person 2-person TSST and a prerecorded VRTSST with audience sizes of 2 and 200 persons. Results indicated that only males had statistically significant cortisol reactivity to the TSST and responded with more positive affect, arousal, and lower ratings of stress than females. In the VR conditions these differences were less apparent, suggesting that the sex differences may be a result, at least in part, of in-person audience variability.Item The Psychological Benefits of Positively-Focused Writing(North Dakota State University, 2013) Schaible, Kelly LaRaineWriting about potent positive events has been shown to be associated with physical health benefits in a manner similar to the expressive writing paradigm originally espoused by Pennebaker and Beall (1986). Little has been done to date, however, to explore the potential association of positive writing with aspects of psychological well-being. This project attempted to substantiate results of previous studies that have shown positive writing to be linked with not only the promotion of physical health, but indicators of psychological health such as life satisfaction and positive affect. Participants answered questions regarding their affect, life satisfaction, perceived stress, and physical symptoms in the prior week. They then wrote about either an extremely positive life event or a neutral topic. Participants completed the same questionnaires online a week later. While the writing exercise impacted momentary positive affect, it showed no effect on physical or psychological well-being after one week.Item Dual Effects Model of Social Control: Extending the Model to 24-Hour Health Behavior(North Dakota State University, 2017) Mead, Michael P.The Dual Effects Model of Social Control suggests that partners can positively and negatively influence the health behaviors of their partner. However, the model fails to consider the impact of control on non-targeted health behaviors, such as sleep. The current study sought to expand this model by including sleep continuity and duration as outcomes related to control efforts targeting diet and exercise. Partner control and objective sleep data were collected via daily sleep diaries and Fitbit Charge HR. Regression models were used to test the direct and indirect effects of control on sleep duration and continuity and the extent to which affective response mediates this relationship. Negative control had a significant effect on negative affect, but not on sleep continuity or duration. Positive control had a significant effect on positive affective response, but the full mediation model was not supported. Recommendations for future research using the proposed model are discussed.Item Literal vs. Symbolic Immortality: Exploring the Relative Strengths of Religious Paths to Death-Transcendence(North Dakota State University, 2010) Juhl, Jacob TimothyAccording to terror management theory, religious worldviews provide protection from mortality concerns by providing feelings of literal immortality ( conscious life after death) and symbolic immortality (the essence of one's self or identity living after death). Although research has shown that both feelings of literal and symbolic immortality provide protection from mortality concerns, no studies have sufficiently compared the relative strength of these forms of immortality. To investigate their relative strengths as death anxiety buffers, three studies made mortality (MS) or a control topic salient and then made salient aspects of religion that provide symbolic or literal immortality ( or social affiliation-Study 3). Subsequently, religious worldview defense (Study 1) and search for meaning (Studies 2-3) were measured. In Study 1, results revealed that compared to the salience of literal immortality (and neutral condition), the salience of symbolic immortality increased religious worldview defense after MS. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that compared to the salience of literal immortality (Study 2) or the social aspects of religion (Study 3), the salience of symbolic immortality mitigated MS-engendered search for meaning. Taken together, these studies suggest that feelings of symbolic immortality generally provide a better defense against mortality concerns.Item Does Discussing Problems Online Change the Nature of Co-rumination and Its Associated Effects on Negative Affect and Perceived Friendship Quality?(North Dakota State University, 2012) Ranney, John D.Engagement in problem-focused discussions that direct attention to negative emotions predicts heightened depressive affect and feelings of closeness with friends (Rose, 2002). The goal of this study was to test whether the psychosocial correlates of such conversations are altered by engaging in those conversations through computer-mediated forms of communication and to identify mechanisms that may account for those differences. Fifty-three female friend pairs engaged in problem-focused discussions in an online or face-to-face context. Observers rated expressed negative affect and information disclosure. Self-reports of self-disclosure, true self-expression, and feelings of similarity were obtained. Although participants interacting online were rated as exchanging less information than those interacting face-to-face, they reported feeling more similar, engaging in more self-disclosure, and expressing fewer aspects of their true self. Discussing problems online was indirectly related to feelings of closeness through greater felt similarity. Implications for the study of computer-mediated communication and problem-focused talk are discussed.Item Creativity and Randomness(North Dakota State University, 2010) Zabelina, Darya LvovnaMajor theories of creative cognition are reviewed in the present thesis. These theories are diverse yet seem to converge on similar key processes. One definition of creativity emphasizes going beyond stereotypical responses in the service of truly novel thought patterns. However, the generation of remotely associated elements must be done in a 111 controlled, goal directed manner. To examine stereotypic and novel thought patterns, I used a cognitive measure termed Random Number Generation (RNG). Baseline tendencies reflecting departures from randomness ('trait' tendencies) were assessed, as were tendencies exhibited in a condition in which participants were asked to type number sequences in as random an order as possible ('ability'). Creative originality and creative achievement were found to relate to lower trait randomness on the Repetition of Responses factor of RNG. Creative fluency and creative flexibility, on the other hand, were related to higher ability for randomness according to the Prepotent Associates factor of RNG. Results indicate that the ability to overcome stereotyped sequences is beneficial for generating ideas, but that a certain rhythmicity of responding facilitates creative achievement. Limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.Item The Inkblot Re-conceptualized: Developing an Implicit Situational Judgment Test of Multiple Components of Poor and Optimal Functioning(North Dakota State University, 2021) Irvin, Roberta LindaSituation judgment tests (SJTs), which provide a balance between global personality measurement and context-specific social-cognitive processes, can be combined with implicit measurement approaches to limit some of the biases that are common in self-reports. Based on such considerations, the author developed an implicit SJT, called the Inkblot Scale, to investigate three components of optimal functioning – Happiness, Success, and Friendliness – that can be assessed from the same response set. Undergraduates completed the Inkblot Scale and various measures related to each component of optimal functioning (n = 184) before reporting their daily experiences and behaviors for two weeks (n = 124). Happiness, Friendliness, and Success, as measured by the Inkblot Scales, predicted global and daily outcomes and processes that were relevant to their respective constructs. The Inkblot Scale materials are therefore valid and have potential to assess a variety of important constructs in ways that bypass self-ascriptions of the relevant qualities.Item Visuospatial Attention and Autism Spectrum Trait Expression(North Dakota State University, 2016) Stettler, Benjamin AndrewPseudoneglect (PN: Bowers & Heilman, 1980) references neurotypical leftward attentional bias reflective of right hemisphere (RH) specialization for spatial attention. Phasic visual cues can alter PN magnitude (McCourt et al., 2005). Tonic leftward bisection error for Uncued (UC) lines and its modulation with left (LC) and right (RC) cues were confirmed. Reported Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) neurobehavioral concomitants include greater lateralized RH function (Floris et al., 2015), narrowed visuospatial attentional spotlight (Robertson et al., 2013), reduced leftward bias in the grayscales task (English et al., 2015), and facial processing deficits. Neurotypical individuals’ judgments for chimeric faces and cued line bisection tasks were recorded, and analyzed as a function of their Autism Spectrum-Quotient (ASQ) scores. We find two distinct visual attention processing differences associated with high autistic trait expression. ASQ score, handedness, gender, and age were predictive of PN modulation UC to RC and degree of leftward bias for chimeric faces.Item Do Highly Mindful Individuals Experience Less Interference as a Result of Better Attention Control and Emotion Regulation?(North Dakota State University, 2016) Siyaguna, Tharaki JavendraMindfulness has been found to be beneficial to psychological health. Furthermore, research suggests that mindfulness is associated with better attention control and fewer difficulties in emotion regulation. The purpose of the current study was twofold. First I investigated whether attention control and emotion regulation are mechanisms of mindfulness that aid performance on two cognitive tasks. Second, I investigated whether mindfulness moderates the relationship between rumination, a risk factor for mental health, and cognitive interference. In this study, participants completed two cognitive tasks that measure interference from emotional stimuli. They also completed self-report questionnaires that measure levels of mindfulness, attention control, difficulties in emotion regulation, and rumination. The results indicated that mindfulness was related to attention control, difficulties in emotion regulation and rumination. However, mindfulness did not predict attentional performance as measured by cognitive interference. It was also found that mindfulness did not moderate the impact of rumination on cognitive performance.Item Buddhism is More Than Just Meditation: A Cognitive Non-Attachment Training for Social Stress(North Dakota State University, 2018) Klein, RobertBuddhism is essentially a cognitive-behavioral intervention where oral teachings and meditation work together to develop nonattachment, a mind-state considered to be the antidote to all human suffering. The present work investigated a twelve-minute cognitive nonattachment induction that taught a wisdom training called the “Three Marks of Existence.” We expected nonattached attitudes to increase following the training. Anxious reactivity to a public speaking task was also expected to be reduced. Results were mixed, and suggested that the training increased agreement with nonattachment world-views, and reduced threat appraisals as hypothesized. However, the training generally did not reduce anxiety measures, although it was effective across several measures among women. These results suggest that nonattachment could be an important mind-state for mitigating the emotional and social stressors inherent to everyday life, and that more research is needed to better understand the cognitive and behavioral development on nonattachment.