PHD, Kent State University, 2012, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Schizophrenia is marked by impairment across a variety of domains including neurocognition, social cognition, and social functioning. There is evidence that social cognition contributes to social functioning above-and-beyond variance accounted for by neurocognition, possibly mediating the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Previous investigations of these relationships have been methodologically limited. The present study utilized confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to investigate the relationships between neurocognition, social cognition, and social functioning in a large sample of outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Neurocognition and social cognition emerged as separate, but closely related, constructs. Although an indirect effect (i.e., mediation) model provided better fit for the data than a direct effects model where neurocognition and social cognition separately predicted social functioning, the confidence interval for the indirect pathway did not support a mediation effect. The findings of the current study are interpreted in the context of the current schizophrenia literature, and methodological issues are discussed.

Committee: Nancy Docherty PhD (Committee Chair); John Gunstad PhD (Committee Member); Manfred van Dulmen PhD (Committee Member); Colleen Novak PhD (Committee Member); Vera Camden PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Mental Health

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Psychology

Successfully navigating the social world requires people to make accurate predictions about others. Individual differences in emotion prediction, or the ability to predict someone's subsequent emotion given their current emotional state, can lead to variability in social success. Two studies examined 1) emotion prediction in schizotypy, 2) the role of emotion prediction in social satisfaction in individuals with schizotypy, and 3) the roles of emotion representation granularity and emotional awareness in emotion prediction abilities in this population. In both studies we found evidence that higher schizotypy was associated with worse emotion prediction. However, we did not find evidence that emotion prediction ability explained the relationship between schizotypy and social satisfaction. We also did not find evidence that emotion granularity or awareness underlie emotion prediction ability. These findings provide initial evidence that emotion prediction ability is disrupted in individuals with schizotypy, though the social consequences of this disruption remain unclear.

Committee: Sarah Hope Lincoln (Advisor); Lee Thompson (Committee Member); Brooke Macnamara (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Educational Studies

One of the major challenges that students in the 21st century have faced is the need to reconcile various perspectives in the increasingly complex and interconnected world. Epistemic cognition—the process of thinking about what counts as knowledge and the process of knowing— plays an important role in enabling people to critically examine their understanding about the social world (i.e., social knowledge). Research has suggested that students lacking sophisticated social knowledge are vulnerable to negative social experiences, such as bullying or victimization, which can lead to long-term detrimental life-course outcomes. To this end, the major research gap in this field is the lack of scholarly understanding about the nature and development of epistemic cognition about social knowledge. The overarching aim of this study was to unpack the process by which early adolescents develop epistemic cognition about social knowledge. Based on 12 small groups' (63 fifth-grade students) discussions performed at three time points (a total of 36 discussions), this study investigated 1) the ways by which networks of epistemic cognition about social knowledge operate; 2) the impact of collaborative small group dialogic inquiry on the development of epistemic cognition about social knowledge; and 3) the associations between students' epistemic cognition about social knowledge and their social reasoning development. To examine how students' epistemic cognition worked and developed within the context of group discussions through the continued participation in collaborative small group dialogic inquiry, this study applied a network analysis approach called Epistemic Network Analysis, along with qualitative coding of discussions and quantitative analyses. The findings showed that 1) epistemic cognition about social knowledge constructed during small group discussions were connected epistemic networks; 2) the collaborative small group dialogic inquiry activity was effective in pro (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tzu-Jung Lin (Committee Chair); George Newell (Committee Member); Michael Glassman (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Among individuals with schizophrenia disorders, the experience of trauma during childhood is common. Childhood trauma has been connected to numerous adverse outcomes, yet its impact on the phenomenology of schizophrenia is still largely unknown. The present study's primary aim was to test the relationships of emotion perception, paranoia, and social functioning with self-reported childhood traumatic experiences in a sample of community mental health outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Potential mechanisms of these relationships were tested in two sets of mediation models: the first set tested if the effect of childhood trauma acted on paranoia through emotion perception, and the second tested if the effect of childhood trauma acted on social functioning through emotion perception and paranoia. We also tested the relationships of these variables with specific symptoms in schizophrenia. Results indicated significant relationships between emotion perception and paranoia, as well as between paranoia and social functioning. Analyses found no evidence of significant relationships between childhood trauma and any of the other tested variables. Consequently, both sets of mediation models did not show evidence of significant mediational effects. Exploratory results indicated that paranoia displays different relationships depending upon whether contextual information is present (i.e., accidental situations) or not (i.e., ambiguous situations). Findings and limitations are discussed in detail, as well as possible explanations for the hypothesized relationships that were not supported by our results. To conclude, implications of this study are examined and potential future research is suggested to continue improving early detection of those at risk for worse deficits in schizophrenia.

Committee: Nancy Docherty Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jeffrey Ciesla Ph.D. (Committee Member); John Updegraff Ph.D. (Committee Member); Deborah Barnbaum Ph.D. (Committee Member); Richard Adams Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Social interaction is not random. There is not a single prototypical social interaction; they are guided and functional. This begs the question, why do we interact with particular individuals initially and how to we maintain these interactions over time? How do we explain initiating social interactions and how do we explain interaction extended in time? Social-cognitive approaches to person perception argue that social cognition is the detecting particular types of person characteristics about others (i.e. sex and race) for use during interaction. Yet, this approach does not account for perceptual-motor processes like biological motion or coordination, which are known to impact social interaction broadly. The ecological perspective has been successful in explaining behavior in terms of perception and action. Here, social cognition is conceptualized as an emergent outcome of a nested system of agent-environment and agent-agent-environment perception action systems that realize behavioral opportunities for interaction—or said differently, social affordances. As both the social-cognitive and ecological approach have contributed to our understanding of initial interaction, this project combined these approaches to understand how movement and movement coordination relate to social cognition and a particular social affordance, interact-ability. It was expected that biological motion would specify invariant person characteristics (i.e. sex and race) and movement coordination would be associated with greater prosociality and interact-ability. To test these hypotheses I employed a mixed design in which participants coordinated with kinematic information or kinematic information embedded in body structure and subsequently made target characteristic judgments. Results indicated that movement kinematics were necessary but not sufficient for sex detection, and that kinematics embedded in body structure afforded more accurate detection. Race was not detectable from biological (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rachel Kallen Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Anthony Chemero Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Richardson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Psychology/Clinical

Youth aggression is a serious problem not only in terms of its immediate effects, but in its future consequences as well. In addition, whether children are aggressive or not, their proneness to aggressive behavior remains relatively stable throughout the lifespan (Huesmann, Dubow, & Boxer, 2009). For decades, researchers have been interested in how aggressive behavior is developed and maintained. The predominant theory in the field of developmental psychology is the social cognitive model. This thesis focuses on parental influences on childhood aggression. The data for this study come from a project on the development of aggression within and across generations (Columbia County Longitudinal Study; Dubow, Boxer, & Huesmann, 2009; Eron, Walder, & Lefkowitz, 1971; Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, & Huesmann, 1977; Huesmann, Dubow, & Boxer, 2009). I examine the links among parental aggression, parents' and children's social cognitions, and children's own aggression. The degree to which parent variables (parent aggression, parent social cognitions, inter-parental aggression, and parental punishment) predict child aggressive behavior as mediated by child social cognitions supporting aggression (a composite of hostile attribution bias, normative beliefs about aggression, aggressive fantasy, and social problem solving) are investigated. Results support a mediational model in which parental aggressive punishment predicts their children developing more aggressive social cognitions, which in turn predicts children having higher aggression. Results suggest that parental punishment—specifically verbal punishment—plays a significant role in increasing childhood aggression.

Committee: Eric Dubow Ph.D. (Advisor); Marie Tisak Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carolyn Tompsett Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2014, Psychology

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently experience co-occurring mental health symptoms as well as peer impairment. This study tested the hypothesis that social information processing (SIP), and attribution biases in particular, may be important for understanding the presence of comorbid disruptive behavior disorder or anxiety symptoms among children with ADHD. Specifically, it was hypothesized that negative internal or external attribution biases would be differentially associated with co-occurring anxious or oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) symptoms, respectively. It was also hypothesized that the pathway from negative external attribution biases to ODD/CD symptoms would be associated with peer exclusion but not peer withdrawal, whereas the pathway from negative internal attribution biases to anxiety symptoms was hypothesized to be associated with both peer exclusion and withdrawal. Participants were 112 children (73 boys; ages 7-12; 76% non-Hispanic white) diagnosed with either ADHD Inattentive Type (49%) or ADHD Combined Type (51%). Results supported the hypothesis that negative internal attribution bias was positively associated with parent/child-rated anxiety symptoms among children with ADHD, although negative external attribution bias was not found to be associated with parent/teacher-reported ODD/CD symptoms. However, negative external attribution bias was related to children's self-reported aggressive behavior. In terms of comorbid mental health symptoms and peer isolation domains, ODD/CD symptoms were found to be uniquely related to teacher-rated peer exclusion, whereas anxiety symptoms were unrelated to either peer exclusion or withdrawal. However, more support was found when only child-report measures were used, as anxiety symptoms were positively associated with child-rated loneliness and negatively associated with child-rated social acceptance. This study furthers the extant literature by providin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Aaron Luebbe Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Joshua Langberg Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carl Paternite Ph.D. (Committee Member); Vaishali Raval Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert Burke Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, Psychology

The experience of cancer during childhood is marked by significant challenges. In addition to the broader danger of a life threatening illness, children undergo demanding treatment protocols that disrupt daily routines and create a range of side effects that may cause both physical and emotional discomfort. While managing the demands and physical side effects of treatment, children must try to continue normal development. It is commonly suggested that children return to school while still undergoing active treatment in order to maintain academic progress and peer relationships. Nevertheless, a prolonged initial absence after diagnosis is common, and there is often concern that children will experience social difficulties when returning to school due to peer reactions to the physical side effects of treatment. This has led to suggestions that services to facilitate school reintegration should include training in social skills to help children manage illness-related social stressors. Unfortunately, there is little empirical data to guide the content or even support the need for social skills interventions at this time. In fact, there is growing evidence that many children with cancer experience quite positive social outcomes after returning to school. Specific areas of social functioning typically targeted by social skills interventions, such as social goals, knowledge of social strategies, self-efficacy for assertive social interaction, have not been examined in this population. The current study examined areas of social information processing often targeted by social skills programs in order to understand the degree to which these proposed programs may be necessary for children with cancer. Children ages 8 to 15 were recruited upon returning to school while on treatment for cancer. Data were collected in the child's classroom and home. School data collection included peer ratings of the child's social behavior and acceptance, while home data collection included chil (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathryn Vannatta Ph.D. (Advisor); Cynthia Gerhardt Ph.D. (Committee Member); Steven Beck Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Cheavens Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2002, Psychology

The intuitive prosecutor metaphor of human judgment is a recent development within causal attribution research. The history of causal attribution is briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on explanations of attributional biases. The evolution of such explanations is traced through a purely-cognitive phase to the more modern acceptance of motivational explanations for attributional biases. Two examples are offered of how a motivational explanatory framework of attributional biases can account for broad patterns of information processing biases. The intuitive prosecutor metaphor is presented as a parallel explanatory framework for interpreting attributional biases, whose motivation is based on a threat to social order. The potential implications for person memory are discussed, and three hypotheses are developed: That intuitive prosecutors recall norm-violating information more consistently than non-intuitive prosecutors (H1); that this differential recall may be based on differential (biased) encoding of behavioral information (H2); and that this differential recall may also be based on biased retrieval of information from memory rather than the result of a reporting bias (H3). A first experiment is conducted to test the basic recall hypothesis (H1). A second experiment is conducted that employs accountability in order to test the second and third hypotheses.

Committee: Marilynn Brewer (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2011, Psychology

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotypic expectancies exacerbate the cross-race effect in face recognition (CRE). Experiment 1 examined this stereotyping hypothesis by pairing cross-race (CR) Black targets and same-race (SR) White targets with either firearms or tools. Given the stereotypic linkage that exists between Blacks and firearms (Correll et al., 2002; Payne, 2001), the stereotyping hypothesis predicts an exacerbated CRE in the firearm relative to tool conditions. Furthermore, it was predicted that this increase should be predicted by the strength of participants‟ own race-weapon associations. Experiment 2 investigated attentional bias as a possible mechanism for these effects using a dot probe paradigm. Across both experiments, SR faces were better recognized than CR faces (consistent with the CRE), and faces were better recognized in the firearm than tool conditions. Neither the presence of a firearm nor the strength of participants‟ own race-weapon associations predicted the CRE. Possible theoretical implications for social cognitive models of the CRE and applied implications for eyewitness memory are discussed as well as possible directions for future research.

Committee: Kurt Hugenberg (Advisor); Heather M. Claypool (Committee Member); Maria L. Cronley (Committee Member); Amanda B. Diekman (Committee Member); Allen R. McConnell (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2007, Psychology

Research exploring the Cross Race Effect (CRE) indicates that individuals show better recognition accuracy for same-race faces compared to cross-race faces (Malpass, 1981), an effect thought to be due to a reduction in motivation to individuate cross-race faces (Hugenberg, Miller, & Claypool, 2007). Furthermore, research indicates that power reduces the motivation to individuate others while powerlessness increases the motivation to individuate others (Stevens & Fiske, 2000). Combining these research domains, the current study primed participants with either high or low power and had them complete a traditional CRE recognition task. The results indicated that compared to control participants, individuals primed with low power showed a larger CRE effect. High power participants, however, did not differ from control participants. Furthermore, the effect power on the CRE was not related to participants' information processing style, which did not vary by power condition.

Committee: Kurt Hugenberg (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Social

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

Theory of Mind (ToM) impairment is frequently observed in schizophrenia and these impairments are hypothesized to play a role in the etiology and maintenance of psychotic symptoms. As with many features of schizophrenia, ToM impairment may represent a vulnerability factor which may be present among individuals with schizotypal traits. Previous investigations of ToM in schizotypy have yielded mixed results. Using a dimensional approach, the present study explored the relationship between schizotypal traits, neurocognition, ToM, and social functioning in a sample of undergraduate students from a mid western university. Contrary to predictions, no associations between schizotypy and neurocognition were found. Likewise, schizotypal traits were not associated with impaired ToM. Rather, schizotypal traits were associated with enhanced performance on a ToM task which involved detection of ironic statements. Strong relationships emerged between schizotypy, depression and social functioning impairments. The findings of the current study are interpreted in the context of the current schizotypy literature, and methodological issues are discussed.

Committee: Nancy Docherty PhD (Advisor); David Fresco PhD (Committee Member); John Gunstad PhD (Committee Member); Manfred Van Dulmen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2009, Leadership and Change

Healthcare is a complex and dynamic environment containing a plurality of social forces and perspectives that shape the organizational culture and the nature of the leadership. As leadership is a social phenomenon, it is important to understand the complex social processes that mediate our perceptions and that in turn influence processes of leader attribution. The central purpose of this study has been to illuminate the nature of culturally specific processes that emerge within a specific organizational setting and that fuel leader attribution and the social construction of leadership. Accordingly, this qualitative study has developed a Grounded Theory utilizing Situational Analysis to study leadership in a comprehensive healthcare organization. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Mitch Kusy PhD (Committee Member); Donald Polkinghorne PhD (Committee Member); Nick Nissley EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Community; Health Care; Management; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Music History

This dissertation examines the social contexts for music livestreams, in order to lay the groundwork for future studies of both livestreaming as a whole and individual case studies. No frameworks currently exist for analyzing music livestreams. Although the technologies of livestreaming have been evolving over the past few decades, there have been no organized or successful attempts to standardize the ways we understand and study this fast-growing medium for music performance. Chapter 1 provides basic definitions of livestreaming, and then emphasizes the framework of liveness, arguing that although livestreaming technologies developed relatively recently, the practice of transmitting and receiving live music has been developing since the late-nineteenth century. I examine livestreaming as a continuation of broadcast media wrapped up with conceptions of liveness that have been constantly transforming over the long twentieth century. Chapter 2 connects livestreaming with the social media platforms that have emerged in the past two decades. I also position livestreaming within discussions and anxieties surrounding attention and distraction in the context of digital media. In Chapter 3 the discussion of attention extends into the realm of joint attention, and the ways livestreaming engages our attentive capacities in groups to facilitate specific modalities of participation—observational, reactive, and generative. Finally, the conclusion pulls these frameworks together to demonstrate their use in an analysis of music livestreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the patterns of behavior and audience engagement, conceptions of liveness during the pandemic, and the effects of these factors on the social aspects of live music.

Committee: Daniel Goldmark (Advisor); Francesca Brittan (Committee Member); Georgia Cowart (Committee Member); Vera Tobin (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Mass Media; Multimedia Communications; Music; Performing Arts; Psychology; Recreation; Sociology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

Both culturally and in decision-making research, humans have traditionally viewed guaranteed good things as highly valuable. However, in some contexts a guaranteed good thing may produce more negative experiences than not receiving one – if that means having to make a decision between the guarantee and something superior, but uncertain. The differences in emotional experiences that arise between only waiting for something favorable and having to choose between waiting for something favorable, or settling for something guaranteed, but less preferable have not been previously explored. Using an employment paradigm, Studies 1 and 2 provided evidence that receiving a guarantee can produce more anticipated regret and negative affect than having nothing for sure. Study 3 replicated those findings and further explored them through the lens of regulatory focus theory. Regulatory focus did not moderate the effects of receiving a guarantee but did produce differences in participant priorities and choice behavior; prevention focus, relative to promotion focus, made participants more likely to view being empty-handed as the more important concern and choose to settle for the guarantee. In sum, this work provides evidence that guaranteed good things can feel worse than having nothing for sure if they introduce a decision.

Committee: Keith Markman (Advisor); Dominik Mischkowski (Committee Member); Kimberly Rios (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Experimental Psychology; Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Management

The early twenty-first century zeitgeist has been characterized by a cultural and corporate fascination with leveraging mind-body practices such as meditation and yoga as tools for professional performance. At the same time, executive coaches trained in body-mind approaches to coaching make strong but as-yet unsubstantiated claims about the transformative power of body-based behavioral learning. Practitioner literature suggests that developing embodied self-awareness (ESA) enhances well-being, resilience, and relationships while building the emotional and social intelligence (ESI) that sets outstanding leaders apart from ordinary ones. These claims are consistent with theoretical relationships between brain, body, and behavior, but they have yet to be put to the empirical test. This mixed methods research project seeks to challenge, clarify, and validate these claims by examining the antecedents and outcomes of embodied self-awareness through both a theoretical and an empirical lens. Starting with a qualitative study based on critical incident interviews and thematic analysis, the research proceeds to gather survey-based data from over 550 professional coaches about their experience of embodied self-awareness, its potential outcomes, and the activities likely to produce it. Using factor analysis and structural equation modeling, results show that ESA has strong and significant effects on all dependent variables tested and that ESA can be cultivated through multiple avenues, including body-oriented coach training, yoga, meditation, and hands-on bodywork. Ultimately, by triangulating across methods and studies three convergent conclusions emerge: (1) Body-oriented coach training appears to have stronger effects on ESA than more commonly practiced pursuits such as yoga, mindfulness, and bodywork; (2) Developing ESA strengthens one's capacity for resilience, adaptability, and flourishing; and (3) ESA builds interpersonal competencies including empathy, connectedne (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Boyatzis (Committee Chair); Anthony Jack (Committee Member); Ellen Van Oosten (Committee Member); Avi Turetsky (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Cognitive Psychology; Management; Neurobiology; Organizational Behavior; Social Psychology

Master of Arts in Speech Pathology and Audiology, Cleveland State University, 2021, College of Sciences and Health Professions

The prevalence of hearing loss due to old age is rapidly growing amongst the elderly population impacting over 450 million people worldwide making it the third most chronic disease (Lohler et al., 2019). While highly prevalent, hearing loss still remains one of the least studied factors, yet it has one of the greatest impacts on public health as 67% of adults age 70 and up have a hearing loss that impedes daily communication (Lin & Albert, 2014). Research has found a connection between hearing loss and cognitive deficits. People with hearing loss experience cognitive decline 30% to 40% faster than same-aged normal hearing adults (Lin et al., 2013). When hearing loss is properly diagnosed and treated, it can aid in the preservation of cognition and residual hearing and help to improve quality of life in the elderly population. The purpose of this small-scale study was to examine the professional practices and attitudes of 10 Hearing Instrument Specialists and 13 audiologists as it relates to the assessment of hearing in the elderly population. This study also examined whether or not there was a difference in the manner in which hearing professionals allow for challenges in behavioral testing of elderly clients, and to determine whether or not additional audiological assessment is sought for geriatric patients. The findings revealed no statistical difference between audiologists and HIS as it relates to hearing assessment of elderly people. Both hearing professionals rely on behavioral audiometry and are not likely to recommend elderly adults for additional audiological testing, even when the behavioral results are less than reliable. There are important clinical implications from these findings to gather more reliable data to improve hearing aid fittings so that elderly adults can improve their overall quality of life.

Committee: Violet Cox PhD, MLS, CCC-SLP (Committee Chair); Myrita Wilhite PhD, AuD, CCC-A (Committee Member); Lori Lundeen-Smith MS, CCC-SLP, MT-BC (Committee Member) Subjects: Audiology; Speech Therapy

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Psychology

Teasing is a common but complex part of communication, especially when needing to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial intents/types. Its complexity may also explain the protracted development of prosocial-antisocial tease comprehension (PATC) into late childhood and continued difficulty with PATC into adolescence and adulthood. To understand this comprehension process, its development, and its difficulties, a measure is needed to study the nuances of PATC, but previous PATC measures are undermined by the lack of a theoretical basis and more intensive testing of and/or support for validity and reliability. This pair of studies begins the process of developing a new PATC measure based in social information processing theory (e.g., Dodge & Crick, 1990), which postulates that contextual and situational cues are used to navigate and comprehend complex, ambiguous social interactions. The measure features prosocial, antisocial, and ambiguous teases that vary in the number of cues and the specific cue categories (i.e., facial expression, gesture/body language, and relationship information) included. Study 1 tested the preliminary measure with a small sample, focusing on evaluation of tease types and participants' explanations for those evaluations to move beyond face validity and test the expectations for the measure. Study 2 improved the measure and identified items for a more finalized measure by having a much larger sample evaluate the tease types of possible items. The expectations for the measure from social information processing theory and past research were all supported to some extent and replicated across the studies. Namely, participants used cues present in a tease scenario to guide their reasoning about PATC. The more cues an item had, the better the PATC and accuracy were. There were differences in item and general measure performance by tease type, and, finally, different cue categories had different effects on PATC and accuracy. Altogether, these fi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Gibbs PhD (Advisor); Stephen Petrill PhD (Committee Member); Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Psychology/Clinical

Serious aggression, such as violence and criminal acts, is a major concern in the United States, especially in urban areas. Characteristic patterns of aggressive behavior emerge early in life and predict long-lasting patterns of aggression (Huesmann, Dubow, & Boxer, 2009; Kagan, 1989). Researchers have argued that social cognitions that develop in early childhood and become stable in middle childhood and adolescence are, in part, responsible for the continuity observed in aggression over time (Fagan & Wilkinson, 1998; Guerra, Huesmann, & Spindler, 2003; Huesmann & Bachrach, 1988; Musher-Eizenman, Boxer, Danner, Dubow, Goldstein, & Heretick, 2004). Drawing from a social-cognitive framework for understanding the development of aggression (Boxer et al., 2013; Dubow, Huesmann, & Boxer, 2009; Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007), the current study used longitudinal data to investigate the growth trajectories of two social cognitive variables, aggressive fantasy and normative beliefs supporting aggression, across childhood and adolescence in a predominantly urban, African American sample growing up in Flint, Michigan. Results indicated that three distinct developmental trajectories exist for both social cognitive variables. As predicted, older youths were overrepresented in the high trajectory classes across both social cognitive variables. This finding may be indicative of a developmental shift in early adolescence, as posited by Guerra and colleagues (2003), as participants in the oldest cohort consistently showed the highest level of support for and rehearsal of aggressive behaviors. Furthermore, results indicated that levels of social cognitive support for aggression and violence in adolescence are significantly associated with violence, weapon use, and crime in young adulthood.

Committee: Eric Dubow Ph.D. (Advisor); Samuel McAbee Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carolyn Tompsett Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Music

Music, perhaps more than any other art form, is able to influence moods and affect behavior. There are limitless accounts of music eliciting feelings of nostalgia, transcendence, and other seemingly ineffable emotions. In the scientific study of music and emotion, however, only five music-induced emotions have been studied in depth: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and tenderness (Juslin, 2013). Although these emotions are certainly important and can be expressed and elicited through music listening, a pertinent question becomes the following: do these five words accurately capture all affective states related to music? Throughout my dissertation, I argue that in order to better understand emotional responses to musical stimuli, we need to change the way we use emotional terminology and examine emotional behaviors. In the first part of the dissertation (Chapters 1-4), I review how emotional music has been theoretically characterized and which excerpts have been utilized in research. I will show that the field of music and emotion is fraught with conceptual difficulties and that passages of music expressing a single emotion (e.g., sadness) span an unmanageably large area of emotional space. The second part of the dissertation (Chapters 5-8) provides an in-depth analysis of music that has been classified by other researchers as sad. I will show that previous research has conflated at least two separable emotional states under the umbrella term sadness: melancholy and grief. Through a series of behavioral experiments, I argue that melancholic and grief-like music utilize different kinds of music-theoretic structures, are perceived as separate emotional states, and result in different feeling states. In the last part of the dissertation (Chapters 9-11), I offer two possible interpretations of the research findings, drawing first from the field of ethology to show that melancholy and grief could be separable emotion states that have different biological functions and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Daniel Shanahan (Advisor); David Huron (Committee Member); Anna Gawboy (Committee Member); Dónal O’Mathúna (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Music; Psychology; Social Psychology