Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, Psychology

Evidence to date suggests that a higher level of positive emotion is generally associated with improved psychological health (e.g., Tugade, Fredrickson, & Barrett, 2004). However, the specific features characterizing the ways in which upregulation of positive emotion is associated with good psychological functioning are less understood. I investigated how three factors may link regulation of positive emotions to greater psychological health: 1) the presence of both a large repertoire and persistent use of regulation strategies; 2) a “match” between the features of a situation and the strategy used; and 3) the use of specific categories of regulatory strategies, such as expression (capitalization), and less use of suppression. One-hundred and thirty-four undergraduates (mean age = 19.22; 73% female; 78% Caucasian) indicated the strategies they would use to maintain or improve their mood in response to eleven hypothetical positive situations. After their initial response, participants were prompted four more times to report how they would respond if their initial strategy was not working. Participants then completed a battery of self-report measures assessing psychological health variables, including measures of positive emotion and psychopathology. Coders rated the quality (effectiveness) of each strategy and assigned them to categories. Coders also rated each situation for its degree of ambiguity (how ambivalent the situation was), and whether it represented a more hedonic (i.e., short-term pleasure) or eudaimonic (i.e., long-term meaning) form of well-being. Data were analyzed with a series of correlations and regression models using the three factors above as predictors and the psychological health (PH) measures as criterion variables. Repertoire was associated with several indices of positive emotion, but was unrelated to measures of psychopathology. In contrast, persistence was unrelated to PH, except for an inverse association with intensity of positive emotion (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Cheavens (Advisor); Daniel Strunk (Committee Member); Baldwin Way (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2024, Psychology

There is long-standing evidence that acquired capability and emotion regulation are key to understanding the progression from self-harm to suicide (Law et al., 2015; Turton et al., 2021; Van Orden et al., 2010). However, recent literature suggests that emotion dysregulation alone is not a sufficient explanation for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidality. Research has demonstrated that emotion-regulation self-efficacy (ERSE), or the belief in one's ability to regulate one's emotions (e.g., Gratz et al., 2020), is a factor in predicting the pathway between NSSI and suicidal behavior (Gratz et al., 2020). The purpose of this project was to examine the relationship between emotion reactivity, ERSE, NSSI, acquired capability, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Participants were asked to complete a screener and those who endorsed self-harm history were eligible to complete the follow-up questionnaire (N = 174). Findings indicated that ERSE is lower among people with history of NSSI and either suicidal ideation or suicide attempt history, as compared to those with only a history of NSSI. In addition, ERSE is negatively associated with emotion reactivity such that those with greater emotion reactivity have lower ERSE. ERSE predicted suicidal risk over and above emotion reactivity, acquired capability, and number of NSSI methods. Last, ERSE for positive affect predicted suicidal risk over and above emotion reactivity and acquired capability, such that those with lower ERSE have higher suicidal risk. Implications of these findings point to ERSE as a predictor for suicidal risk.

Committee: Nicholas Salsman Ph.D., ABPP (Committee Chair); Morrie Mullins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Anne Fuller Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2023, Psychology

Using cross-sectional findings, predominantly from Western countries (e.g., Belgium), researchers have conceptualized parental socialization of adolescents' positive affect (PA) to be a predictor of adolescent depression. However, most studies have found that these responses do not directly predict depressive symptoms over time. Given interpersonal theories of depression, cross-sectional findings may be more reflective of depressive symptoms eliciting parenting behaviors. Additionally, given family systems theory, the relations between depressive symptoms and parental PA socialization may differ based on parents' own psychopathology. Therefore, the current study tested whether adolescent depressive symptoms predicted changes in parental PA socialization (i.e., dampening, enhancing, balancing) in a sample of families from India, and whether parental depressive symptoms moderated these associations. Adolescent girls (N = 318) and their parents residing in Bangalore, India, participated across two time points approximately five months apart. Using path analyses, neither adolescent depressive symptoms nor their interaction with parental depressive symptoms predicted changes in any parental PA socialization responses. Despite null longitudinal findings, concurrent relations revealed that both adolescent and parental depressive symptoms related to higher dampening and lower enhancing of adolescent PA. Clinicians providing family- based interventions for depression may consider gathering information on parent- adolescent interactions surrounding the adolescent's experience of PA.

Committee: Aaron Luebbe (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Kiel (Committee Member); Vaishali Raval (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Negative interpretation bias, the tendency to interpret ambiguous situations as negative or threatening, is associated with reports of intense and more frequent negative affect. However, there is a relative paucity of work seeking to determine whether this cognitive bias might account for individual differences in positive affect. Given the wealth of benefits associated with positive emotional experiences, such as greater psychological wellbeing and better physical health, this investigation tested the influence of negative interpretation bias on positive emotion responses to emotionally-evocative film clips. In particular, we tested the potential role that negative interpretation biases might play in reducing reports of positive emotion in individuals with generally higher trait negativity. Mediation analyses across two samples of college students at a large, Midwestern public university revealed partial effects of negative interpretation bias on the association between trait negativity and reports of positive emotion following emotionally-evocative films in one sample (b = −0.051), but no significant mediation in the other sample. A potential reason for these mixed findings may be that the demand of the context was too clear, given prior evidence of the role of ambiguity in bias. Future investigation using less explicit stimuli may help to determine whether negative interpretation bias reliably drives low positive emotional reactivity and what role context may play on this process.

Committee: Karin Coifman (Advisor); John Updegraff (Committee Member); Christopher Flessner (Committee Member); William Lechner (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Organization Development

The influences on organizational health, productivity and effectiveness are vast and complicated. Gaining in popularity are interventions steeped in unique modalities such as percussive experiences like group drumming. Clinicians leverage drumming as therapy for its physiological, psychological, and social benefits (Yap et al., 2017), but many corporate organizations are now seeing a positive lift from group drumming's ability to address stress, burnout, and other desired organizational outcomes (Bittman et al., 2003). Organizations invest a significant amount on employee development, employee engagement, and overall wellness, but the empirical support for attaining the desired benefit(s) for the organization is either suspect, achieved over long and resource-intensive periods, or nonexistent altogether (Woodman & Sherwood, 1980). This study leverages a quasi-experimental approach to gain quantitative insights that led to significant results from a single group drumming event that improved emotional and affective states of a large number of co-workers within 60 minutes.

Committee: Steven Cady Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Robert Green II Ph.D. (Other); Colleen Boff Ed.D. (Committee Member); Truit Gray Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Fine Arts; Management; Music; Music Education; Occupational Psychology; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Performing Arts; Psychology; School Counseling; Social Psychology; Sociology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Animal Sciences

Animals are often used as educational resources in post-secondary educational settings across the United States, especially in animal science curricula. Yet, little is known about the effect of student-animal interactions (SAI) on students' attitudes, curiosity, and empathy (ACE) towards animals or how their demographic backgrounds, past animal experience, and previous animal science coursework affect these areas. Moreover, while these SAI impact the animals used as educational resources, there is minimal understanding regarding their effect on the animals' welfare. Thus, this study aimed to (1) determine if animal sciences students' ACE responses toward animals changed over the course of the semester while identifying any demographic factors contributing to this change and (2) evaluate the emotional states of the animals used as educational resources through measurements of behavioral responses observed during SAI. This study was conducted at The Ohio State University during Autumn semester of 2022. A pre-course (n = 215) and post-course (n = 96) survey was administered to animal sciences students to collect self-reported demographic information, prior animal experience, prior animal science coursework, and ACE responses toward animals by species to determine if there was a change over the semester. Curiosity increased between the pre-course and post-course survey (p < 0.001), with students' attitude, experience, and perceived knowledge of animals (p < 0.001) providing plausible explanations. There was a strong positive correlation between the students' perceived knowledge of species and experience with species, indicating potential for further studies to assess changes in knowledge before and after working with animals (R = 0.793, p < 0.001). The emotional state of animals used as educational resources varied depending on the level of invasiveness of the activity as well as the length of SAI. Animals exhibited a higher frequency of negative emotional states during (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kimberly Cole (Advisor) Subjects: Animal Sciences

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2023, Psychology - Clinical

Problematic social networking site use (PSNSU) has demonstrated associations with social anxiety symptom severity across the literature; however, less is known about transdiagnostic psychopathology-related variables that may mediate relationships between PSNSU and fear of evaluation. There is an especially prominent gap regarding mediating variables between PSNSU and fear of evaluation - involving difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The present study builds on recent research findings that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with PSNSU severity, and that intolerance of uncertainty is related to PSNSU severity and motives for addictive behavior. There is also a lack of literature regarding how fear of positive evaluation (FPE), a construct unique to social anxiety, relates to PSNSU severity. Given the current prevalence of SNS usage and the social nature of these sites, it is especially important to explore whether individuals who fear social evaluation use SNSs in a problematic way, and whether lesser-studied transdiagnostic constructs such as intolerance of uncertainty and difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between fear of evaluation and subsequent PSNSU. The present study explored this gap in the literature with a mediation model in which DER and IU explained relations between both FNE and FPE with PSNSU. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analyses indicated that IU and DER mediated the relationship between FNE and PSNSU, but did not mediate the relationship between FPE and PSNSU. These findings highlight the role of IU in PSNSU for individuals experiencing social anxiety symptoms, which has not been previously established, and provide further support for the relationship of DER with FNE and PSNSU, where DER particularly functions as a mediator of this relationship.

Committee: Jon Elhai (Committee Chair); Peter Mezo (Committee Member); Matthew Tull (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Psychology; Technology

MA, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Psychiatric disorders, such as contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other anxiety disorders, are associated with heightened disgust reactivity. Emerging evidence suggests that dominant methods for treating such disorders (e.g., exposure therapies) are less effective at targeting disgust responses. Thus, alternative strategies are needed to enhance the effectiveness of treatments for disgust-related disorders. In two studies, we investigated positive emotion (elicited via humorous content) for the attenuation of disgust reactivity in response to film clips. In study 1, n=174 undergraduates were randomized to view either a humorous, sad, or neutral film clip prior to viewing a disgusting film clip. Results showed a buffering effect, such that those who first viewed the humorous clip rated the disgusting clip as less disgusting than those who viewed the sad or neutral clips. In study 2, n=284 undergraduate participants viewed a series of four disgusting film clips randomized within-person. Two of the clips were purely disgusting and two were both disgusting and humorous (mixed). Participants reported lower disgust and higher positive affect in response to the mixed clips, suggesting that the presence of humorous content within disgusting stimuli was associated with attenuated disgust reactivity. For both studies, results remained significant within sub-samples of participants with clinically significant symptoms of depression. Together, the findings suggest that positive emotion alters the appraisal of disgusting content, attenuating feelings of disgust. Potential clinical implications are discussed.

Committee: Karin Coifman (Advisor); John Updegraff (Committee Member); Christopher Flessner (Committee Member); Joel Hughes (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2022, Psychology

Introduction: This study applies positive emotion regulation models to identify within-person and between-person mechanisms that contribute to co-occurrence of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms. SAD is a risk factor for the development of AUD, and comorbid SAD and AUD confer greater detrimental effects than either disorder alone. People high in social anxiety have difficulties regulating positive emotions, including difficulty accepting positive emotions. Although people with AUD symptoms often experience trait-level difficulties regulating positive emotions, in the short term, alcohol use may facilitate adaptive positive emotion regulation. Thus, an understudied area of research is whether alcohol consumption temporarily allows people experiencing elevated social anxiety symptoms to accept positive emotions, which, in the long term, could lead to alcohol-related problems. To address this gap in research, the present study (1): Tested whether alcohol consumption moderated within-person relations between state social anxiety and positive emotion acceptance in emerging adult hazardous drinkers, and (2): Tested whether, on a between-person level, the extent to which alcohol helped people accept positive emotions was associated with alcohol-related problems. Method: 104 young adults (aged 18-25) who reported hazardous drinking participated in a baseline session and a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data collection period. During the EMA data collection period, participants initiated EMA reports about each social interaction they experienced, which assessed their social anxiety, positive emotion acceptance, and alcohol use. Results: Social anxiety was associated with lower positive emotion acceptance during social interactions. Alcohol consumption occurrence, but not quantity, was associated with lower positive emotion acceptance. Alcohol consumption did not moderate the relation between state social anxiety and positive e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elise Clerkin (Committee Chair); Joshua Magee (Committee Member); Elizabeth Kiel (Committee Member); Philip Smith (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2019, College of Sciences and Health Professions

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent disorder of a recurrent nature that enacts a high burden across many domains. MDD has been conceptualized as a disorder of emotion regulation deficits in the frequent use of maladaptive ER responses as opposed to adaptive ER responses. While adaptive ER responses have been generally found to be efficacious in reducing distress within laboratory settings, they often fail to predict depression symptoms, do not differentiate those at high- from low-risk for MDD, and do not prognosticate risk for new MDD episodes. Given the preponderance of evidence suggesting a reliance on maladaptive ER among depressed persons and those at risk for the disorder, it is feasible maladaptive response deployment precedes and undermines the effectiveness of adaptive ER responses. The present study sought to test this possibility in a sample of 59 adults who following a negative mood induction either deployed an adaptive ER response (recalling a Positive Autobiographical Memory, PAM) or maladaptive ER (engaging in rumination) that preceded PAM. Contrary to expectation, neither rumination, participants' depression levels, nor their interaction undermines PAM's mood repair effects. An interaction between ER response sequence and depression levels was observed regarding the negative affect endorsed post-PAM. Moderation analysis revealed that those who immediately recalled PAM following mood induction endorsed higher negative affect compared to those who ruminated prior to PAM.

Committee: Ilya Yaroslavsky Ph.D (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Goncy Ph.D (Committee Member); Eric Allard Ph.D (Committee Chair) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2019, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Attachment is inextricably linked to emotion, although less is known about positive emotion and dynamic measures of emotion in middle childhood. The development of a secure attachment relationship is also predictive of a child's depressive symptoms, and this relationship has been proposed to be explained by a mechanism such as emotion. The goal of the present study is therefore to investigate associations among attachment, emotion, and depressive symptoms by (1) examining how average and dynamic measures of negative and positive emotion are related to attachment patterns and (2) investigating measures of emotion as mechanisms explaining the relation between attachment patterns and depressive symptoms in middle childhood. Parent-child attachment was coded from a story stem method, emotion was reported via daily diaries, and depressive symptoms were measured using the short version of the Children's Depression Inventory 2. In a sample of Midwestern children (N=102, M=10.4 years), attachment security was not related to emotion; greater attachment avoidance was associated with less mean positive emotion; greater attachment ambivalence was associated with greater mean negative emotion and mean positive emotion; and greater attachment disorganization was associated with greater positive emotion instability. The association between attachment ambivalence and depressive symptoms was not explained by mean negative emotion. These findings provide insight into the emotion profiles for different attachment patterns in middle childhood and have clinical implications for children's well-being and mental health.

Committee: Kathryn Kerns Ph.D. (Advisor); Jeffrey Ciesla Ph.D. (Committee Member); Karin Coifman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Christopher Flessner Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, Psychology

Social anxiety symptoms are associated with diminished ability to up-regulate, or savor, positive emotional experiences. This study tested whether experiential avoidance, fear of positive evaluation, and fear of positive emotion, mediated the relation between social anxiety symptoms and change in positive emotions following a reminiscence savoring task, and whether reminiscence instructions moderated the relations between these mediators and change in positive emotions. 196 unselected participants were randomized to immersed, first-person reminiscence or distanced, third-person reminiscence, and reported positive emotions before and after reminiscence. As expected, in the immersed condition, participants high (vs. low) in experiential avoidance benefited less from reminiscence, and experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and change in positive emotions. Surprisingly, for participants in the immersed condition, fear of positive evaluation was positively associated with positive emotions, whereas for those in the distanced condition, fear of positive evaluation was negatively associated with positive emotions. Finally, there was no evidence of a moderated mediation effect for fear of positive emotion. Together, data suggest that social anxiety symptoms may lead to diminished positive emotions through multiple, disparate mechanisms, and that these mechanisms differentially interact with savoring strategies to influence change in positive emotions.

Committee: Elise Clerkin (Committee Chair); Aaron Luebbe (Committee Member); April Smith (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, Psychology

The present study sought to validate and examine family savoring as a family socialization process and test its relation to adolescent positive emotion regulation and depression. The first two aims focused on developing an observational account of family savoring and examining whether it is distinct from additional family socialization processes (parental warmth and family expressiveness of positive emotions). The final three aims investigated: i) whether observed family savoring uniquely accounts for variance in adolescent positive emotion regulation, ii) if observed family savoring is inversely related with adolescent depression, and iii) if adolescent positive emotion regulation mediates the relation between observed family savoring and adolescent depression. Eighty-four adolescents (Mage= 14.01, 60.7% girls) their primary female caregiver (Mage = 41.19, 88% mothers) completed a series of questionnaires and engaged in a Plan a Day Trip interaction task. Results validated the observational account of family savoring and demonstrated that it is a related, yet distinct construct from other family socialization processes of positive affect. Furthermore, results revealed that observed maternal savoring in a future oriented task predicted higher adolescent effective positive emotion regulation which, in turn, was related to decreased adolescent depressive symptoms. These findings may inform therapists to encourage families to model appropriate strategies for regulating positive emotions through frequent discussion and attention to positive life events.

Committee: Aaron Luebbe PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Psychology

Happiness is among the most enduring goals in human existence, and confers myriad psychological benefits. Happiness is also frequently characterized by – indeed, often indistinguishable from – experiences of positive affect. Yet, recent research has suggested that frequent experiences of positivity may also be linked to pathological functioning, including hypomania risk. These separate lines of research underscore the importance of identifying how, when, and why positive emotions can be linked to psychological health or illness. This dissertation builds on the evaluative space model of affect (Cacioppo & Berntson, 1994) to suggest that happiness and positive affect are not equivalent, and that investigating the full spectrum of affective experience is necessary to understand the distinction between happiness and hypomania risk. Five studies directly compare affective experience between happiness and hypomania risk, two outcomes that are both linked with positive affect. These studies show that positive affect is linked differentially to happiness and hypomania risk depending on the presence or absence of negative affect and variables associated with negative affect, and that the relationship between positive and negative affect in both happiness and hypomania risk differs when affect is measured at the trait level compared to when affect is measured in the moment. Taken together, these studies support different relationships between positive and negative affect for happiness and hypomania risk.

Committee: William Cunningham (Advisor); Jennifer Crocker (Committee Member); Baldwin Way (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2014, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

This study tested a model of children's emotionality as a moderator of the links between maternal emotion-related socialization and depressive symptoms and child emotion regulation. Participants were 129 mother-preschooler dyads. Child affect and emotion regulation were assessed observationally during a laboratory mood induction task, and were factorized into 3 categories: passive soothing, negative focus on distress, and positive engagement. Hierarchical linear regression models indicated that child positive emotionality moderated the links between maternal emotion-related socialization and depressive symptoms and child emotion regulation; whereas child negative emotionality moderated the links between maternal support and child emotion regulation. Findings suggest a transactional perspective to understand the effects of both child characteristics and familial influence on child emotion regulation.

Committee: Xin Feng (Advisor); Natasha Slesnick (Committee Member); Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Organizational Behavior

Uncontrolled diabetes leads to blindness, amputation, kidney failure, and death. Despite such severe complications, treatment adherence rate for diabetes is low. This dissertation explores a mediational model of treatment adherence in type 2 diabetics. Mediation analysis goes beyond assessing whether a predictor causes change in an outcome; it examines how that change occurs. Specifically, this research hypothesizes that a patient's positive/negative emotional states, represented by the Lorenz attractors of Positive and Negative Emotional Attractors (PNEA), mediate the relationship between psychosocial correlates of doctor-patient relationship and treatment adherence. The study was conducted in Karachi, Pakistan. Survey respondents were 375 type 2 diabetic patients and their companions who attended follow-up clinics; and 25 physicians who examined them. Mediation analysis was performed using hierarchical linear modeling techniques to account for nested data. Bootstrapping procedure tested the significance of mediated effects. Findings confirmed the hypotheses that empathy, trust, information exchange, rapport, physicians' PNEA and diabetes knowledge were associated with treatment adherence. Patients' PNEA was found to completely mediate the relationships of empathy, trust, rapport and diabetes knowledge with treatment adherence. The relationships of information exchange and physician's PNEA with that of treatment adherence were partially mediated. No association was found between treatment adherence and social support, co-morbid depression or shared decision-making. The results also demonstrated that higher levels of a patient's Positive Emotional Attractor (PEA) were related to higher levels of treatment adherence. Overall, these findings lend support to the proposition that a patient's emotional state plays a pivotal role in treatment adherence outcome.

Committee: Richard Boyatzis PhD (Committee Chair); Christopher Burant PhD (Committee Member); James Stoller PhD (Committee Member); Corinne Coen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Care; Health Education; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Organizational Behavior

This research is a qualitative and quantitative study based on an archival examination of the relationships between the demonstration of behavioral affect as represented by positive and negative emotional attractors (PEA and NEA) and medical student effectiveness in a clinical diagnostic intervention, namely, the Clinical Skills Exam (CSE). The research question is “Does a medical student's overall positive versus negative emotional tone influence his or her effectiveness in a clinical diagnostic encounter with a standardized patient (SP)?” The study analyzed 116 videotaped CSE encounters between medical students from the Class of 2009 at a medical school in a major mid-western university and SPs. A codebook of themes was developed from a sample of encounters between the Class of 2008 medical students and SPs which was used to code the behavior of the Class of 2009 medical students during the encounters. The associations among PEA and NEA themes and medical student effectiveness as measured by SP scores of the encounters, Faculty scores of notes written by medical students immediately after the encounters, and differential diagnosis scores were determined using moderated multiple regression (MMR) analysis. Medical student MCAT scores were examined as a possible moderator of the associations. MMR analyses found a significant positive association (p<.05) between PEA and the SP scores; near significant positive association (p<.10) between PEA and the Faculty scores of student notes; significant positive association (p<.05) between NEA and the Faculty scores of student notes; and a significant negative association (p<.05) between MCAT scores and the SP scores. A near significant positive moderating effect (p<.10) of MCAT scores on the association between PEA and the Faculty scores of student notes was also found.

Committee: Dr. Richard Boyatzis PhD (Committee Chair); Dr. Melvin Smith PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Jamie Stoller MD (Committee Member); Dr. Klara Papp PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Care; Health Education; Organizational Behavior; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2009, Organizational Behavior

Few research studies have tested hypotheses from an integrated, multilevel theoretical model on coaching intentional change. Drawing on Intentional Change Theory (ICT) and supporting cognitive emotion and social complexity perspectives on positive and negative affect, this dissertation presents the first empirical investigation on the differential impact of inducing positive emotion vs. negative emotion in real time executive coaching sessions. Nineteen coaching recipients were randomly assigned to two coaching conditions. In the PEA condition the coachee's own hopes, strengths, desired future (the Positive Emotional Attractor) was the anchoring framework of a onetime, hour-long coaching session. In the NEA condition the coachee's own perceived improvement needs, weaknesses, present reality (the Negative Emotional Attractor) was the anchoring framework. Two central ICT propositions were tested. Hypothesis1 predicted that PEA participants would show higher levels of positive emotion during appraisal of 360-degree feedback results and discussion of change goals than NEA participants. Hypothesis2 predicted that PEA participants would show lower levels of stress immediately after the coaching session than NEA participants.Regression analyses found that the PEA group showed significantly lower levels of negative emotions (p = .05) and anger (p = .02) and focused more on personal interests and passions (p = .01) as compared to the NEA group. These findings lend preliminary support to the proposition that framing a coaching session around a coachee's PEA elicits positive emotions that broaden a person's momentary thought-action repertoire, whereas framing a session in the NEA elicits negative emotions that narrow this array. Further, demonstrated time series changes in expressed sadness or depression (.01) and future (.04) offer preliminary support to the ICT proposition that recurrent PEA-NEA arousal, and associated interplay of positive and negative emotion, characterize (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Boyatzis E. (Committee Chair); Diana Bilimoria (Committee Member); Melvin Smith (Committee Member); Steve Wotman (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior