Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

Engagement in the three good things positive psychology exercise is associated with improvements in mental health (e.g., Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005), yet the mechanism of change in this exercise has yet to be investigated (Quoidbach, Mikolajczak, & Gross, 2015). Researchers have hypothesized that the exercise is beneficial because it trains attention toward positive information in life (Peters, Vieler, & Lautenbacher, 2016; Watkins & McCurrach, 2016). The present study investigated this hypothesis in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 78) using data from an emotional Stroop task before (Time 1) and after completing the three good things exercise for one week (Time 2). Participants also completed measures of depression, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and happiness at Time 1, Time 2, and at 1-month follow-up (Time 3). It was hypothesized that individuals would have a greater positive attentional bias (mean reaction time [RT] to positive words minus mean RT to neutral words) at Time 2 than Time 1, and the positive attentional bias at Time 2 would significantly predict outcome variables. Results indicate that happiness and life satisfaction significantly increased from Time 1 to Time 2 but were not significantly different from Time 2 to Time 3. There were no significant differences across time for depression or positive or negative affect. In addition, there were no significant differences in positive attentional bias from Time 1 to Time 2. Positive attentional bias at Time 2 did not significantly predict any of the outcome variables. Exploratory analyses revealed that mean RT to positive words significantly decreased across time and predicted outcome variables at Time 3. This finding may be interpreted in terms of the broaden and build theory of positive emotions (Frederickson, 1998, 2001) and suggests a need to reevaluate and clarify the effects of the three good things exercise and positive emotions on attention.

Committee: Jennifer Gibson (Advisor); Cynthia Dulaney (Committee Member); Nicholas Salsman (Committee Member) Subjects: 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

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

Case Western Reserve University and the Department of Organizational Behavior have housed the Master of Science in Organization Development (MOD) & now the Master of Science in Positive Organization Development and Change (MPOD) programs for over 40 years. During the program's history, many alumni have shared anecdotal accounts of cognitive, affective and behavioral changes that positively transformed their lives toward becoming more self-aware, more self-confident and effective change agents. Given such accounts, this study explores the question: How do MOD and MPOD graduates experience positive transformation and sustain it over time? Positive transformation, within this study, refers to the long-lasting, strength-based changes in behavior, affect and cognition used to help oneself and others to flourish. Through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Appreciative Inquiry (AI), 32 graduates spanning MOD classes 1 – 15 and MPOD classes 1 – 4 were interviewed to answer the research question. The MOD/MPOD program shaped the interviewees' lives and changed their futures. The program's design in conjunction with the cohort's composition supported the interviewees' positive transformative experiences. The study concluded: (1) positive relationships with high-quality connections (HQCs) serve to facilitate strength-based behavioral, emotional and cognitive changes that lead to positive transformation; (2) validation and confirmation support individual transformation contrary to the disconfirmation and discrepancy theories of change; (3) positive relationships with HQCs increased interviewees' capacity to withstand conflict and experience it as a learning opportunity; (4) multi-dimensional diversity heightened and deepened self-awareness by engaging with diverse others, having exposure to diverse learning modalities, and experiencing oneself in diverse contexts; and, (5) creating generativity via positive relationships and doing work that brings val (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ron F. Fry PhD (Committee Chair); David Cooperrider PhD (Committee Member); Harlow Cohen PhD (Committee Member); Peter Whitehouse MD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Organizational Behavior; Psychology

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

The definition of a word helps us understand its context and how it is meant to be used in daily life or research. When a word lacks a universal definition, it is hard to know how to use it. “Resilience” is that type of word. The resilience community in psychological research does not have a concrete, universal definition for this word. It takes on whatever characteristics are useful to the investigator. This study began with seeking a universal definition for the domain known as resilience. This study used a convergent parallel design with adults aged 60 and older living independently to seek out their personal definitions of resilience, then employed a well validated measure—the Conner-Davidson-25 (CD-RISC-25)—to test this population's resiliency and how they felt the measure addressed to domain of resilience. The findings of the study demonstrated that resilience is a complex and nuanced domain and a broad scope, making it challenging to develop a universal definition.

Committee: William Heusler PsyD (Committee Chair); Douglas Kerr PhD (Committee Member); Michael Sakuma PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Mental Health; Personal Relationships; Personality Psychology; Psychobiology; Psychological Tests; Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, Psychology

Nonconscious behavioral mimicry is the tendency for people to unintentionally mimic the behaviors of others to facilitate liking and smooth social interactions. The proposed research examined how compassion and pride could differentially affect one's mimicry. Experiencing compassion was expected to increase nonconscious mimicry by increasing perceived self-other similarity, whereas pride was expected to reduce nonconscious mimicry by decreasing perceived self-other similarity and increasing feelings of power. In the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to watch a slideshow designed to induce compassion, pride, or no specific emotion. Then, participants were video recorded while interacting with a confederate who subtlety repeated a behavioral mannerism. Participants then completed measures of perceived self-partner similarity, rapport, and power. Contrary to the hypotheses, compassion did not lead to more mimicry, and pride did not lead to less mimicry (all compared to the control condition). There were also no significant effects of emotion induced on rapport or power. Greater dispositional compassion was associated with greater rapport with one's partner. The current research offers insights into the role of incidental emotion and the self in affiliative processes such as mimicry.

Committee: Allen McConnell PhD (Advisor); Heather Claypool PhD (Committee Member); Carrie Hall PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, ED Physical Activities and Educational Services

Standards created by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) require that teachers have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to present instruction in a caring and professional manner that leads to P-12 student achievement (INTASC, 2006). Teachers who are able to build close relationships with students are likely to have students with higher engagement and achievement (Pianta, Stuhlman, & Hamre, 2002). Isen (2001) provided evidence that positive emotions can produce behavior (e.g., helping tendencies, generosity, and interpersonal understanding) that represent an ethic to care (Noddings, 1992). The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of positive emotionality and care involving two physical education teachers and their 5th grade students. This study specifically explored how two elementary physical education teachers represented their lived-positive emotional experiences and the extent to which these emotions aligned with the teachers' and students' perception of their caring classroom ecology. Using a phenomenological design data were collected on teacher and student perception of care and positive emotional experiences. Situated learning theory was used as the lens in analyzing data through the use of two prominent analysis strategies: (a) line-by-line coding (Glaser, 1978; Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and (b) constant comparison method (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Glaser, 1992). Findings indicate that the two physical education teachers do find their lived-positive emotional experience as being functional for effective teaching, fostering caring and supportive relationships with students, and helping students to achieve desired learning objectives within class. Findings from this study support Fredrickson's (2004) broaden-and-build theory, suggesting that positive emotions can broaden cognition and enhance interpersonal relationships; thus, establishing the teachers experience of lived-positive emotionality as a strong contrib (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Phillip Ward PhD (Advisor); Sutherland Sue PhD (Advisor); Seidl Barbara PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Physical Education; Teaching

MA, Kent State University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

The deleterious effects of negative emotions on relationships are well documented. However, while researchers have shown that positive emotions can buffer negative emotions, the process by which positive emotions influence negative emotions in marital exchanges is less clear. Researchers have examined positive sentiment override (PSO) in marital exchanges and found that PSO effectively buffered against low intensities of negative affect, but with high-intensities of negative affect, PSO was ineffective and marital dissolution was predicted. The current thesis uses two studies to examine the role positive emotions play in marital exchanges: 1) a nationally representative sample of 2,286 married/cohabiting individuals, and 2) a more in-depth examination of 104 married/cohabiting couples expecting their first child. Results from multiple linear regression analyses for the first study suggested that for destructive marital exchanges, positive emotions moderated negative emotions, such that positive emotions buffered low and moderate levels of negative emotion while losing its impact at high levels of negative emotion. Results from multiple linear regression analyses for the second study only found main effects and no interactions. The lack of an interaction between positive and negative emotions and marital exchanges may be due to a limited sample size or it may be indicative of a different relationship between positive and negative emotions in marital exchanges during the transition to parenthood. Overall, results support the importance of positive emotions in marital exchanges. Future research using a longitudinal study should examine the role of positive emotions in marital exchanges beyond pregnancy and childbirth, and also identify the directional nature of the relationship between emotions and marital exchanges.

Committee: Kristin Mickelson PhD (Advisor); John Updegraff PhD (Committee Member); Dan Neal PhD (Committee Member); John Dunlosky PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology