Matching Items (23)
Description
ABSTRACT This thesis proposes that a focus on the bodily level of analysis can unify explanation of behavior in cognitive, social, and cultural psychology. To examine this unifying proposal, a sensorimotor mechanism with reliable explanatory power in cognitive and social psychology was used to predict a novel pattern of behavior in cultural context, and these predictions were examined in three experiments. Specifically, the finding that people judge objects that require more motor effort to interact with as farther in visual space was adapted to predict that people with interdependent self-construal(SC) , relative to those with independent SC, would visually perceive their cultural outgroups as farther relative to their cultural in-groups. Justifying this cultural extension of what is primarily a cognitive mechanism is the assumption that, unlike independents, Interdependents interact almost exclusively with in-group members, and hence there sensorimotor system is less tuned to cross-cultural interactions. Thus, interdependents, more so than independents, expect looming cross-cultural interactions to be effortful, which may inflate their judgment of distance to the out-groups. Two experiments confirmed these predictions: a) interdependent Americans, compared to independent Americans, perceived American confederates (in-group) as visually closer; b) interdependent Arabs, compared to independent Arabs, perceived Arab confederates (in-group) as closer; and c) interdependent Americans, relative to independent Americans, perceived Arab confederates (out-group) as farther. A third study directly established the proposed relation between motor effort and distance to human targets: American men perceived other American men as closer after an easy interaction than after a more difficult interaction. Together, these results demonstrate that one and the same sensorimotor mechanism can explain/predict homologous behavioral patterns across the subdisciplines of psychology.
ContributorsSoliman, Tamer (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur M. (Committee member) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the present research, two interventions were developed to increase sun protection in young women. The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of intervention content eliciting strong emotional responses to visual images depicting photoaging and skin cancer, specifically fear and disgust, coupled with a message of self-efficacy and benefits of sun protection (the F intervention) with an intervention that did not contain an emotional arousal component (the E intervention). Further, these two intervention conditions were compared to a control condition that contained an emotional arousal component that elicited emotion unrelated to the threat of skin cancer or photoaging (the C control condition). A longitudinal study design was employed, to examine the effects of condition immediately following the intervention, and to examine sun protection behavior 2 weeks after the intervention. A total of 352 undergraduate women at Arizona State University were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (F n = 148, E n = 73, C n = 131). Several psychosocial constructs, including benefits of sun protection, susceptibility to and severity of photoaging and sun exposure, self-efficacy beliefs of making sun protection a daily habit, and barriers to sun protection were measured before and immediately following the intervention. Sun protection behavior was measured two weeks later. Those in the full intervention reported higher self-efficacy and severity of photoaging at immediate posttest than those in the efficacy only and control conditions. The fit of several path models was tested to explore underlying mechanisms by which the intervention affected sun protection behavior. Experienced emotion, specifically fear and disgust, predicted susceptibility and severity, which in turn predicted anticipated regret of failing to use sun protection. The relationship between this overall threat component (experienced emotion, susceptibility, severity, and anticipated regret) and intentions to engage in sun protection behavior was mediated by benefits. The present research provided evidence of the effectiveness of threat specific emotional arousal coupled with a self-efficacy and benefits message in interventions to increase sun protection. Further, this research provided additional support for the inclusion of both experienced and anticipated emotion in models of health behavior.
ContributorsMoser, Stephanie E (Author) / Aiken, Leona S. (Thesis advisor) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Committee member) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Castro, Felipe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Psychology of justice research has demonstrated that individuals are concerned with both the process and the outcomes of a decision-making event. While the literature has demonstrated the importance of formal and informal aspects of procedural justice and the relevancy of moral values, the present study focuses on introducing a new form of justice: Substantive justice. Substantive justice focuses on how the legal system uses laws to constrain and direct human behavior, specifically focusing on the function and the structure of a law. The psychology of justice literature is missing the vital distinction between laws whose function is to create social opportunities versus threats and between laws structured concretely versus abstractly. In the present experiment, we found that participant evaluations of the fairness of the law, the outcome, and the decision-maker all varied depending on the function and structure of the law used as well as the outcome produced. Specifically, when considering adverse outcomes, individuals perceived laws whose function is to create liability (threats) as being fairer when structured as standards (abstract guidelines) rather than rules (concrete guidelines); however, the opposite is true when considering laws whose function is to create eligibility (opportunities). In juxtaposition, when receiving a favorable outcome, individuals perceived laws whose function is to create liability (threats) as being fairer when defined as rules (concrete guidelines) rather than standards (abstract guidelines).
ContributorsLovis-McMahon, David (Author) / Schweitzer, Nicholas J. (Thesis advisor) / Saks, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Infectious diseases have been a major threat to survival throughout human history. Humans have developed a behavioral immune system to prevent infection by causing individuals to avoid people, food, and objects that could be contaminated. This current project investigates how ambient temperature affects the activation of this system. Because temperature is positively correlated with the prevalence of many deadly diseases, I predict that temperature moderates the behavioral immune system, such that a disease prime will have a stronger effect in a hot environment compared to a neutral environment and one's avoidant behaviors will be more extreme. Participants were placed in a hot room (M = 85F) or a neutral room (M = 77F) and shown a disease prime slide show or a neutral slide show. Disgust sensitivity and perceived vulnerability surveys were used to measure an increased perceived risk to disease. A taste test between a disgusting food item (gummy bugs) and a neutral food item (gummy animals) measured food avoidance. There was no significant avoidance of the gummy and no significant difference in ratings of disgust sensitivity or perceived vulnerability as a function of temperature conditions. There were no significant interactions between temperature and disease. The conclusion is that this study did not provide evidence that temperature moderates the effect of disease cues on behavior.
ContributorsOsborne, Elizabeth (Author) / Cohen, Adam B. (Thesis advisor) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Research at the intersection of psychology and law has demonstrated that juror decision-making is subject to many cognitive biases, however, it fails to consider the influence of culturally derived cognitive biases. As jurors become increasingly demographically and culturally diverse it is possible—and even likely—that their attributions might vary because of their cultural background. I predict that cultural and demographic group affiliation affects attributional tendencies such that, compared to situationally focused individuals (those from East Asian cultures, women, those from lower socioeconomic status groups, and older individuals), dispositionally focused individuals (those from Western cultures, men, those from higher socioeconomic status groups, and younger individuals) are less likely to attribute some portion of causation and responsibility for the harm to other influences, and they are more likely to find the defendant liable and hold the defendant financially responsible to a greater degree. This dissertation has three aims: (1) to examine how culturally derived attributional tendencies influence jurors' assessments of causation in complex negligent tort cases where there are multiple causal influences (i.e., multiple tortfeasors and plaintiff negligence) (Studies 1 and 2); (2) to study the implications of those causal determinations on liability determinations, damage awards, and other legal decisions (Studies 1 and 2); and (3) to determine whether these culturally derived attributional tendencies are malleable, suggesting an intervention that might be used to attenuate the influence of attributional tendencies in a trial setting (Study 3). This work advances psychological research on cultural differences in attribution by exploring attributional differences in a new domain, developing a new scale of individual differences in attributional tendencies, and examining how multiple causal influences affects culturally derived attributional tendencies and downstream decision-making.
ContributorsVotruba, Ashley M (Author) / Kwan, Sau (Thesis advisor) / Saks, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Varnum, Michael (Committee member) / Ellman, Ira (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
A study was conducted to assess the effects of generational status on various measures of stigmatization, acculturative stress, and perceived social and interpersonal threat within the Mexican heritage population in the Southwest. The role of the fear of stigma by association, regardless of actual experiences of stigmatization, was investigated, including its relationships with acculturative stress, perceived threat, and social distancing. Exploratory analyses indicated that first generation Mexican Americans differed significantly from second generation Mexican Americans on the perception of Mexican nationals as ingroup members, the fear of stigma by association by Americans, and levels of acculturative stress. Additional analyses indicated that Mexican Americans with one parent born in Mexico and one in the United States held opinions and attitudes most similar to second generation Mexican Americans. Results from path analyses indicated that first-generation Mexican Americans were more likely than second-generation Mexican Americans to both see Mexican nationals as ingroup members and to be afraid of being stigmatized for their perceived association with them. Further, seeing Mexican nationals as in-group members resulted in less social distancing and lower perceived threat, but fear of stigma by association lead to greater perceived threat and greater acculturative stress. Implications for within- and between-group relations and research on stigma by association are discussed.
ContributorsBoyd, Brenna Margaret (Author) / Knight, George P (Thesis advisor) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
The Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) are highly valid depressive testing tools used to measure the symptom profile of depression globally and in South Asia, respectively (Steer et al., 1998; Kroenke et al, 2001). Even though the South Asian population comprises only 23% of the world’s population, it represents one-fifth of the world’s mental health disorders (Ogbo et al., 2018). Although this population is highly affected by mental disorders, there is a lack of culturally relevant research on specific subsections of the South Asian population.<br/><br/>As such, the goal of this study is to investigate the differences in the symptom profile of depression in native and immigrant South Asian populations. We investigated the role of collective self-esteem and perceived discrimination on mental health. <br/><br/>For the purpose of this study, participants were asked a series of questions about their depressive symptoms, self-esteem and perceived discrimination using various depressive screening measures, a self-esteem scale, and a perceived discrimination scale.<br/><br/>We found that immigrants demonstrated higher depressive symptoms than Native South Asians as immigration was viewed as a stressor. First-generation and second-generation South Asian immigrants identified equally with somatic and psychological symptoms. These symptoms were positively correlated with perceived discrimination, and collective self-esteem was shown to increase the likelihood of these symptoms.<br/><br/>This being said, the results from this study may be generalized only to South Asian immigrants who come from highly educated and high-income households. Since seeking professional help and being aware of one’s mental health is vital for wellbeing, the results from this study may spark the interest in an open communication about mental health within the South Asian immigrant community as well as aid in the restructuring of a highly reliable and valid measurement to be specific to a culture.
ContributorsMurthy, Nithara (Co-author) / Swaminathan, Manasa (Co-author) / Vogel, Joanne (Thesis director) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This dissertation describes a series of four studies on cognitive aging, working memory, and cognitive flexibility in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and their wild relatives. In Chapters 2 and 3, I designed assessments for age-related cognitive deficits in pet dogs which can be deployed rapidly using inexpensive and accessible materials. These novel tests can be easily implemented by owners, veterinarians, and clinicians and therefore, may improve care for elderly dogs by aiding in the diagnosis of dementia. In addition, these widely deployable tests may facilitate the use of dementia in pet dogs as a naturally occurring model of Alzheimer’s Disease in humans.In Chapters 4 and 5, I modified one of these tests to demonstrate for the first time that coyotes (Canis latrans) and wolves (Canis lupus lupus) develop age-related deficits in cognitive flexibility. This was an important first step towards differentiating between the genetic and environmental components of dementia in dogs and in turn, humans. Unexpectedly, I also detected cognitive deficits in young, adult dogs and wolves but not coyotes. These finding add to a recent shift in understanding cognitive development in dogs which may improve cognitive aging tests as well as training, care, and use of working and pet dogs. These findings also suggest that the ecology of coyotes may select for flexibility earlier in development.
In Chapter 5, I piloted the use of the same cognitive flexibility test for red and gray foxes so that future studies may test for lifespan changes in the cognition of small-bodied captive canids. More broadly, this paradigm may accommodate physical and behavioral differences between diverse pet and captive animals. In Chapters 4 and 5, I examined which ecological traits drive the evolution of behavioral flexibility and in turn, species resilience. I found that wolves displayed less flexibility than dogs and coyotes suggesting that species which do not rely heavily on unstable resources may be ill-equipped to cope with human habitat modification. Ultimately, this comparative work may help conservation practitioners to identify and protect species that cannot cope with rapid and unnatural environmental change.
ContributorsVan Bourg, Joshua (Author) / Wynne, Clive D (Thesis advisor) / Aktipis, C. Athena (Committee member) / Gilby, Ian C (Committee member) / Young, Julie K (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Pregnancy is often described as one of the most cooperative ventures that a woman can experience in her lifetime. But when one considers the biological changes that occur during pregnancy, it becomes clear that pregnancy is not as cooperative as it seems on the surface. The current research uses a genetic conflict framework to predict how underlying conflict between mother and fetus over resource transfers is expected to alter eating behavior and food preferences, and how these changes in eating behavior and preferences should then be associated with certain pregnancy complications. Across two studies, women who had recently had a baby (Study 1) or were currently pregnant (Study 2) recalled changes in their eating behavior during pregnancy as well as any pregnancy complications they experienced during that pregnancy. Providing partial support for the hypotheses, women who reported increased vomiting in response to maternal-favoring foods were more likely to experience preeclampsia during pregnancy. In addition, the results provided preliminary evidence that changes in pregnancy eating behavior were associated with an increased the likelihood of experiencing high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, and infections during pregnancy. Taken together, these studies show that the framework of genetic conflict makes testable predictions about the relationship between eating behavior in pregnancy and pregnancy complications, and that several pregnancy complications that are relevant to genetic conflict (high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and infection) are associated with changes in eating behavior in pregnancy. Future research should continue to investigate how genetic conflict influences the relationships between pregnancy eating behavior, pregnancy complications, and how these associations impact postpartum health.
ContributorsAyers, Jessica D (Author) / Aktipis, Athena (Thesis advisor) / Boddy, Amy (Committee member) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The reliable operation of critical infrastructure systems is of significant importance to society. The power grid and the water distribution system are two critical infrastructure systems, each of which is facilitated by a cyber-based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Although critical infrastructure systems are interdependent with each other due to coupling (a power grid may be the electrical supply for a water distribution system), the corresponding SCADA systems operated independently and did not share information with each other. Modern critical infrastructure systems tend to cover a larger geographic area, indicating that a SCADA control station supervising a small area is far from meeting the demands.
In this thesis, the above-mentioned problem is addressed by building a middleware to facilitate reliable and flexible communications between two or more SCADA systems. Software Defined Networking (SDN), an emerging technology providing programmable networking, is introduced to assist the middleware. In traditional networks, network configurations required highly skilled personnel for configuring many network elements. However, SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, making network intelligence logically centralized, and leaving the forwarding switches with easy commands to follow. In this way, the underlying network infrastructures can be easily manipulated by programming, supporting the future dynamic network functions.
In this work, an SDN-assisted middleware is designed and implemented with open source platforms Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and Mininet, connecting the power grids emulator and water delivery and treatment system (WDTS) emulator EPANet. Since the focus of this work is on facilitating communications between dedicated networks, data transmissions in backbone networks are emulated. For the interfaces, a multithreaded communication module is developed. It not only enables real-time information exchange between two SCADA control centers but also supports multiple-to-multiple communications simultaneously. Human intervention is allowed in case of emergency.
SDN has many attractive benefits, however, there are still obstacles like high upgrade costs when implementing this technique. Therefore, rather than replace all the routers at once, incremental deployment of hybrid SDN networks consisting of both legacy routers and programmable SDN switches is adopted in this work. We emulate on the ratio of SDN deployment against the performance of the middleware and the results on the real dataset show that a higher fraction of SDN results in a higher reliability and flexibility of data transmissions. The middleware developed may contribute to the development of the next-generation SCADA systems.
In this thesis, the above-mentioned problem is addressed by building a middleware to facilitate reliable and flexible communications between two or more SCADA systems. Software Defined Networking (SDN), an emerging technology providing programmable networking, is introduced to assist the middleware. In traditional networks, network configurations required highly skilled personnel for configuring many network elements. However, SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, making network intelligence logically centralized, and leaving the forwarding switches with easy commands to follow. In this way, the underlying network infrastructures can be easily manipulated by programming, supporting the future dynamic network functions.
In this work, an SDN-assisted middleware is designed and implemented with open source platforms Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and Mininet, connecting the power grids emulator and water delivery and treatment system (WDTS) emulator EPANet. Since the focus of this work is on facilitating communications between dedicated networks, data transmissions in backbone networks are emulated. For the interfaces, a multithreaded communication module is developed. It not only enables real-time information exchange between two SCADA control centers but also supports multiple-to-multiple communications simultaneously. Human intervention is allowed in case of emergency.
SDN has many attractive benefits, however, there are still obstacles like high upgrade costs when implementing this technique. Therefore, rather than replace all the routers at once, incremental deployment of hybrid SDN networks consisting of both legacy routers and programmable SDN switches is adopted in this work. We emulate on the ratio of SDN deployment against the performance of the middleware and the results on the real dataset show that a higher fraction of SDN results in a higher reliability and flexibility of data transmissions. The middleware developed may contribute to the development of the next-generation SCADA systems.
ContributorsLiu, Beibei (Author) / Zhang, Junshan (Thesis advisor) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018