http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1747 2013-06-12T10:13:20Z 2013-06-12T10:13:20Z Power, Katherine Emilia http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6165 2012-07-13T15:20:12Z 2011-11-23T00:00:00Z

Title: The Ideal Self and State Authenticity Authors: Power, Katherine Emilia Abstract: The current study investigated the effect of priming people with alignment or distance to ideal self attributes on their feelings of authenticity. The effect of priming participants with self-irrelevant alignment or distance to ideal attributes was also explored, to test whether these manipulations might respectively increase or lower state authenticity, or whether state authenticity would only be affected by self-relevant priming. As expected, discrepant conditions were associated with lower state authenticity than non-discrepant conditions. Participants primed with self-relevant alignment to ideal self attributes felt more authentic than participants in any other condition, a relationship which was partially mediated by negative affect. Contrary to expectations, participants in the self-relevant discrepant condition experienced more authenticity, on average, than participants in the self-irrelevant discrepant condition, but the positive main effect of self-relevancy on state authenticity became non-significant once individual differences were added as covariates, while the interaction between self-relevancy and discrepancy became significant. The study is consistent with the idea that we feel more like our real selves when we feel more like our ideal selves.

2011-11-23T00:00:00Z Kenefick, Emily http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6157 2012-07-13T15:00:31Z 2011-11-23T00:00:00Z

Title: Science and Politics: The Role of Conversion Therapies in the American Psychiatric Association’s Declassification of Homosexuality as a Psychiatric Disorder Authors: Kenefick, Emily Abstract: On December 15th, 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) declassified homosexuality as a mental illness by removing it from its official catalogue of psychiatric diagnoses, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Its removal is typically reported to reflect the efforts of homophile activist groups who, in opposition to the APA’s illness model of homosexuality, staged radical political and social protest in the early 1970’s (Bayer, 1987; Drescher & Merlino, 2007; Silverstein, 1991; Terry, 1999). Others, however, have defended the role of empirical science in the APA’s 1973 decision (see Bayer, 1987; Drescher & Merlino, 2007). For instance, Marmor (see Drescher & Merlino, 2007) maintained that the declassification was based upon consideration of the available scientific evidence at the time. A third group, however, accords equal weight to both politics and science in driving the APA’s abandonment of the illness model. This group includes Gonsiorek (1991), Miller (1995) and Minton (2002), each of whom present arguments that rest delicately between those of Marmor and Bayer/Silverstein, and thus somewhat reconcile the opposing narratives. In assessing the scientific validity and contextual history of conversion therapies- clinical therapeutic treatments to sexually reorient the homosexual- the plausibility of Gonsiorek, Miller and Minton’s perspective(s) is reinforced. That is, as the discussion to follow contends, active protests coupled with extensive scientific debate yielded the deletion of homosexuality as an official category of psychiatric disorder. The evidence for this conclusion is rooted in examining the contentious debates surrounding the administration of conversion therapies prior to 1973.

2011-11-23T00:00:00Z Kopiske, Karl K http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6154 2012-07-13T14:45:55Z 2011-11-23T00:00:00Z

Title: The influence of visual secondary tasks on prospective memory in healthy adults Authors: Kopiske, Karl K Abstract: Prospective Memory can be defined as “remembering to carry out intended actions at an appropriate point in the future” (McDaniels & Einstein, 2007). Prospective Memory tasks have been shown to be susceptible to interference with Working Memory tasks (Benuzzi, Basso & Nichelli, 2005), indicating Working Memory involvement in their execution. Following up on evidence of Phonological Loop involvement (Law, Logie & Pearson, 2006), this study aims to determine if the Working Memory involvement is restricted to verbal Working Memory, or if visuo-spatial memory content would demand resources of the visuo-spatial sketchpad (Baddeley & Logie, 1999). N=19 participants completed the Edinburgh Virtual Errands Task (EVET) with measures of Prospective Memory performance being collected, while being presented with either a visuo-spatial or nonsense Working Memory task, Brooks’ (1967) Matrix Path Test (MPT). Contrary to my original hypotheses, analysis showed no significant difference in performance change in EVET performance, as well as MPT performance between the visuo-spatial group and the nonsense group, although there was a trend to be observed in the data towards a larger impairment in spatial groups.

2011-11-23T00:00:00Z Graham, Vanessa http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6153 2012-07-13T14:43:25Z 2011-11-23T00:00:00Z

Title: Cognitive Control of Episodic Memory Retrieval and Frontal Function in Young Adults: Memory for Foils Authors: Graham, Vanessa Abstract: The success of episodic memory retrieval is reliant on the degree of similarity between encoding conditions and cognitive operations at retrieval (‘encoding specificity’) and thereby the ability to flexibly adopt a retrieval orientation which biases retrieval cue processing in line with the specific goal of retrieval is associated with better memory performance. The present study adapted Jacoby et al.’s (2005) memory-for-foils paradigm to investigate whether agreement between retrieval orientation at encoding (picture-target vs. spoken word-target) and stimulus material at test (pictures vs. spoken words) produced superior memory for foils in young subjects. A series of neuropsychological tests assessing frontal function, long-term memory and intelligence were also administered to subjects. No difference in memory for foils between conditions was evident, a result attributed to a lack of retrieval selectivity demanded by the experimental tasks. Memory for foils performance was however correlated with level of frontal function in subjects. Poorer frontal function was associated with higher recognition errors and lower successful recognition of mismatched items in which demand for retrieval constraint is presumed to be greater. The use of the memory-for-foils paradigm for future research into source-constrained retrieval cue-processing is discussed.

2011-11-23T00:00:00Z