Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Theses
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ItemA variable set appraisal model of emotion in intergroup inequality( 2011)Inequalities between groups exist in every society, and individuals may experience emotions about these inequalities as members of those groups: intergroup emotions. In this thesis I present a model of the appraisal basis of four emotions commonly experienced by members of relatively advantaged groups in response to intergroup inequality: sympathy, anger, guilt and shame. Though there is a relatively large literature on intergroup emotions, systematic research into the appraisals involved in eliciting these emotions is lacking. I have called the appraisal model presented here a ‘variable set’ appraisal model; this model differs in its structure from most existing ‘fixed set’ appraisal models, and seeks to address a number of limitations of those models. In four studies I test the predictions of three versions of the variable set model: the additive variable set model, the interactive variable set model, and the cascade model, each of which contains different assumptions about the way in which appraisals and emotions are related. Study 1 uses a reaction-time paradigm to test the necessity of the predicted appraisals for the elicitation of each emotion, and shows that the predictions of the variable set model are largely supported. In Study 2, I experimentally manipulate each of the appraisals in the model to show that a different set of appraisals is required for each of the four emotions, as suggested by the variable set model. Studies 3 and 4 are questionnaire studies in which participants’ appraisals and emotions about real-life intergroup inequalities (in Australia and Canada) are assessed. These studies show that each of the three versions of the variable set model may apply to some emotions, but not others. Together, the studies largely support the specific predictions of the variable set model, validating both the model and its implicit critique of existing appraisal models. Furthermore, they suggest that the relationship between appraisals and emotions may be different depending on the emotion in question.
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ItemThe psychological impact of torture and other types of systemic abuse( 2011)Concerns continue to be raised worldwide about the psychological impact of torture and other types of systemic abuse. Few controlled studies have investigated psychological distress resulting from torture and other systemic abuse or from the asylum seeking processes itself. No study has taken into account the impact of systemic abuse on the subjective ‘self view’. By contrast, this thesis compares the degree of psychological distress, and ‘self views’ between three groups: survivors of torture, survivors of other types of systemic abuse, and a control group who experienced neither. It was expected that torture survivors would present with higher levels of psychiatric symptoms and greater negative self views compared to the other two groups. Similarly, it was predicted that survivors of other types of systemic abuse would present with higher levels of psychiatric symptoms and greater negative ‘self views’ compared to the control group. A further question concerns residential status, that is, whether asylum seekers in detention have higher levels of distress and changes in ‘self-view’ compared to asylum seekers living in the community and those with permanent residency who never experienced the asylum seeking process. It was expected that asylum seekers in detention would present more negatively compared to asylum seekers in the community. It was also expected that asylum seekers in the community would present with greater psychiatric symptoms and negative ‘self views’ than permanent residents. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 259 people using a comprehensive methodology that included a semi-structured interview incorporating the structured interview for PTSD, the Global Assessment of Functioning and the ICD-10 for personality change. The interviews included three self report psychiatric scales: the SCL- 90-R, The Impact of Event Scale, and The Repertory Grid (measuring ‘self views’). Although torture survivors presented with increased psychiatric symptoms, there was no significant difference between torture survivors and survivors of other types of systemic abuse as measured by the IES and PTSD. Survivors of other systemic abuse presented with greater psychiatric symptoms than the control group on PTSD and IES measures, but not for the SCL-90-R. Torture survivors’ ‘self views’ were more negative than the other two groups but not for present and future views of self. There was no difference between torture survivors and survivors of other systemic abuse on the GAF. There were significant differences between these groups on personality change. The hypothesis that asylum seekers in detention will present with greater psychological distress and more negative ‘self views’ was not clearly confirmed. In fact, asylum seekers living in the community presented with greater psychological distress than both other categories as measured by the SCL-90. Both asylum seeker categories presented with greater PTSD symptoms than permanent residents; however, there was no significant difference between the two asylum seeker categories. There was no difference between the three residential categories on the GAF. There were significant differences between these categories on personality change and ‘self view’. The results are discussed in relation to: other studies, complexity of symptom presentation, ‘self views’ and resilience of survivors. The consequences of systemic abuse and asylum seeking are complex and worthy of further research.
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ItemChanging smoking behaviour: the contribution of interpersonal communication to mass media campaign effects( 2011)Anti-smoking mass media campaigns play an important role in efforts to reduce the public health impact of tobacco. Although there is strong empirical evidence that these campaigns can reduce the prevalence of smoking by curbing initiation and encouraging cessation, it is also clear that campaign potential is not always fully realised. In an effort to explain why some anti-smoking campaigns are more effective than others, the current program of research developed a model of the pathway of effects through which anti-smoking television advertisements lead to changes in smoking behaviours. The contribution of interpersonal communication to this pathway was also investigated, by examining the impact of conversation participation, the influence of conversation content, and predictors of both conversation participation and content. Three studies were conducted. Study 1 was a forced exposure study in which 101 smokers evaluated 20 advertisements. Study 2 was a natural exposure study in which 482 smokers were exposed to one of six advertisements while watching television at home. Study 3 was an experimental study with a follow-up component that involved 232 smokers and two advertisements. Across the three studies, strong and consistent support was provided for the proposed pathway of effects. In this model, audience perceptions of message narrativity were positively associated with the extent to which audiences were transported into the message. Transportation had a positive effect on the amount of positive cognitive processing and self-referencing. Transportation and self-referencing both increased emotional responses. In turn, positive cognitive responses, self-referencing, and emotional responses all independently predicted perceptions of message effectiveness. Perceptions of message effectiveness predicted the likelihood that smokers changed their intentions to quit from before to after seeing the advertisement, and perceptions of message effectiveness and changes in intentions to quit both increased the likelihood of changes in actual smoking behaviour. Interpersonal communication substantially influenced this pathway of effects. In Study 2, naturally-occurring conversations that contained positive talk about the advertisement enhanced emotional responses and perceptions of message effectiveness. In Study 3, being forced to talk about the advertisement with a friend immediately post-exposure dampened positive cognitive processing and emotional responses, but amplified the amount of self-referencing. Conversations were more likely to have positive effects if they contained positive talk about the campaign. Interpersonal communication also potentially extended the reach of the campaign message within the population, as a substantial amount of campaign-stimulated talk occurred in the days subsequent to exposure. There is some evidence that conversation occurrence was predicted by message novelty and controversy in Study 2, and by self-referencing and emotional responses to the advertisement in Study 3. The current findings indicate that the designers of anti-smoking advertisements should strive to use dramatic storylines, prominent characters, strong arguments, and realistic scenes to maximise transportation and positive cognitive, self-referencing, and emotional responses. Advertisements should also aim to be novel, in order to stimulate interpersonal conversations. The current findings also support the use of perceived effectiveness measures to compare and assess the potential impact of anti-smoking messages, and they point to the importance of future research on the predictors, content, and impact of interpersonal conversations.
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ItemThe breast cancer survivors' healthy living study: a pilot to test the effects of a behavioural intervention on the uptake of physical activity in breast cancer survivors( 2011)Physical activity (PA) is a potentially modifiable behavioural risk factor for breast cancer recurrence, yet despite this, most cancer survivors do not meet recommendations for PA levels. PA usually declines during treatment, and most breast cancer survivors do not engage in PA at recommended levels. PA has been associated with a range of survival outcomes following diagnosis and treatment, and therefore effective interventions to increase PA after primary treatment for early stage breast cancer are needed. Lifestyle change, such as PA, is enhanced when interventions are theoretically driven. Between November 2008 and January 2010, 118 women who had completed primary treatment for early stage breast cancer, and not currently meeting PA guidelines, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions; a) control group (UC), who received a self-care fact sheet; or b) one of two intervention groups, who either received theory-based information and advice (INFO), or theory-based information and advice combined with a behavioural planning intervention, formation of an implementation intention, (INFO+BPI). Measures were collected at study baseline, Time 1 (T1), and after completing 12 weeks in the study, Time 2 (T2), 107 participants’ completed T2 measures. Data on a range of domains was collected from participants, including medical and demographic information. The primary endpoints for PA included self-reported minutes of moderate/strenuous PA/week, adherence or frequency of PA/week, and an objective measure of walking fitness; secondary endpoints included measures of mood (anxiety and depression), personality, constructs associated with the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and quality of life. There was no difference in PA levels, anxiety, depression, or quality of life across the three groups at study baseline. At study baseline, the groups were equivalent with respect to measures of intention and motivation, and this pattern was replicated at T2. Elements of the theory of planned behaviour were associated with intention. PBC and intention were associated with PA behaviour, though PBC was the only significant predictor. Past behaviour was also significantly associated with PA behaviour at T2. Personality measures were not associated with measures of the TPB or behavioural outcomes. No adverse events were reported. At study completion, compared to the control group, the intervention groups demonstrated superior outcomes on the main study PA endpoints. The intervention groups also reported improved quality of life and physical well-being. A minimally intensive, theory-based intervention increased PA participation over a 12 week period in this single centre study. The addition of a behavioural planning intervention did not significantly improve PA participation over and above delivery of theory-based information and advice. The findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive theories of behaviour change and post-intentional cognitive processes.
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ItemExploring the social behaviour of cattle: the effect of the presence of familiar and unfamiliar individuals( 2011)The social behaviour of cattle encompasses a large range of affiliative and agonistic behaviours. The collection of these behaviours contributes to the overall social structure, which influences how a group functions and survives. Dominance behaviour has been a large focus of the existing literature on cattle social behaviour, with less emphasis on the affiliative behaviours that contribute to group cohesion. Affiliative behaviours are displayed between familiar individuals with established social relationships, however, details on the process of familiarisation and the underlying social properties of a cattle relationship remain largely unexplored. Over a series of experiments, this thesis explored the affiliative behaviours involved in relationship development between unfamiliar steers in different social contexts. The first experiment presented in Chapter 5 examined the trade off individual steers make between a food-reward and maintaining close proximity to a peer with which they were either familiar or unfamiliar. This experiment analysed the impact of familiarity on an individual steer’s feeding motivation. It was found that the presence of an unfamiliar pen mate impacted on the test steer’s decision to move away and consume food, while steers paired with familiar pen mates were more willing to consume food at greater distances. It was suggested that the presence of an unfamiliar steer as well as isolation from familiar group mates in an artificial environment elicited a stress response that modified the steer’s behaviour. Chapter 6 describes a pair-wise experiment quantifying the changes in temporal and spatial associations between pairs of steers during familiarisation, where inter-individual distance, behaviour, movement and encounter patterns of pairs of familiar and unfamiliar steers were compared over a 5 day period. It was shown that unfamiliarity affected behaviour, movement, close proximity encounters and inter-individual distance. Relationships had begun to develop between the unfamiliar steers within 3 days, yet consistent treatment differences revealed that relationships had not stabilised after 5 days. Based on the findings from the first two experiments, it was concluded that the presence of an unfamiliar peer created stress, which affected the steer’s behavioural patterns in both artificial and natural physical environments. A triad based experiment is detailed in Chapter 7, where an unfamiliar steer was introduced into a pair of familiar steers and the resultant changes in social encounters were monitored over a 5.5 day period. It was found that the introduction of the unfamiliar steer led to an increase in close proximity encounters between the familiar pair due to social disruption. To analyse the data in greater detail the same experiment was re-analysed in Chapter 8 using a new social network related method: the relational event model. The model was used to analyse the sequences of social encounters between the three steers and identify patterns of encounters indicative of relationship development. The model identified the importance of pair-wise relationships and described characteristics of an established social bond between two steers. It was shown that familiarisation with the unfamiliar steer was hindered by the familiar peers providing social support for each other which led to the exclusion of the third steer. The model also revealed how social processes unfold in sub-groups of steers and structural differences between dyads and triads of steers were identified. A second application of the model presented in Chapter 9 described the encounter characteristics of a socially stable group of steers, where both dyadic and triadic encounters were identified as important features of the steers’ social system. The research demonstrates that relational event modelling provides a novel predictive tool to identify and analyse the complex encounter structures of steers during periods of social disruption as well as social stability. It was also shown that proximity logging devices can be used to quantify the social relationships of cattle and differentiate between the encounter patterns of familiar and unfamiliar steers. This thesis identified emergent properties of social relationships in steers and described the social properties of dyads and triads of steers. This work will enable future studies on cattle social systems to take into account the influence of dyadic and triadic pressures on social processes in order to interpret the higher order processes more clearly. Further work is required to investigate the importance of other sub-group sizes on the social dynamics of larger groups: such work would continue to develop an understanding of the underlying social principles of cattle social systems, which has the potential to provide benefits not only to scientists, but also producers and the welfare of domestic cattle.
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ItemLanguage ability and brain structure in 7-Year-old children born very preterm( 2011)Children who are born very preterm (<32 weeks’ gestational age) or very low birth weight (<1500 g) are at risk for cognitive impairment. However, there are few methodologically-sound studies comprehensively assessing language abilities. Language can be conceptualised as comprising the sub-domains of phonological awareness, semantics, grammar, discourse, and pragmatics, and is vital for daily interpersonal communication, relationships, and academic outcomes. Many factors may influence language outcomes in children born very preterm. A large proportion of these children display cerebral white matter abnormalities, which may affect the structure and function of the brain. This may include the arcuate fasciculus, a white matter tract involved in language processing. Children born very preterm are also at greater social disadvantage, which may negatively influence language development. The aim of the study was to investigate language abilities, arcuate fasciculus structure, and the influence of the early environment and white matter abnormalities in children born very preterm. It was first hypothesised that children born very preterm would perform worse on the five aforementioned language sub-domains. Second, children born very preterm would show compromised white matter microstructure in the arcuate fasciculus. Third, phonological awareness, semantics, and grammar would be more strongly related to left hemisphere arcuate fasciculus structure, and discourse and pragmatics would be more strongly related to right hemisphere arcuate fasciculus structure, for both groups of children. Finally, in children born very preterm, social risk would influence language outcomes via its effect on the home environment, and this relationship may differ for different degrees of white matter abnormality. The current study investigated 116 children born very preterm and 37 term control children, born between July 2001 and December 2003 in Melbourne, Victoria. MRI was conducted at term-equivalent age. At age 2 years, social risk and the home environment quality were characterised. At age 7 the children participated in a cognitive assessment and a further MRI scan, to identify the arcuate fasciculus and determine the average fractional anisotropy, a measure of white matter microstructure. As hypothesised, the children born very preterm performed significantly lower in all language sub-domains compared with children born term. In contrast to the second hypothesis, the children born very preterm did not display reduced fractional anisotropy, but they did fail to display the typical hemispheric asymmetry of this metric. For the group of children born very preterm, phonological awareness was related to the right arcuate fasciculus and weakly associated with the left arcuate fasciculus. In contrast, semantics was weakly associated with the left arcuate fasciculus in the children born at term. Finally, social risk influenced language abilities in the group of children born very preterm, but not via the quality of the home environment, and neonatal white matter abnormality had little influence on language at 7 years-of-age. The results indicate that children born very preterm are at a disadvantage in their communication skills. The lack of hemispheric asymmetry and the different pattern of relationships between language and the arcuate fasciculus for the very preterm group were evidence for disruption to brain-behaviour relationships, consistent with literature on functional activation in this population. This study furthered the research on language outcomes in children born very preterm, their brain structure, and the factors that may influence these outcomes.
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ItemWhy transition is not the whole story: neurocognitive function and risk for psychosis( 2010)“Ultra-high risk” (UHR) refers to individuals thought to be in the prodromal phase of psychotic disorder. The neurobiological mechanisms underlying progression from UHR to frank psychosis remains unclear, although neurocognition has been shown to be a promising endophenotypic marker. The aim of this project was to investigate baseline neurocognitive markers of transition to psychosis and poor functional outcome in a cohort identified as UHR between two and 14 years prior. Extensive tracking was used to trace all individuals who participated in research at the PACE Clinic in Melbourne from 1994-2005 (N = 416). Seventy five percent of the sample was assessed by interview. Transition status was established for all 416 participants. There were three main aspects to this research project: the examination of transition to psychosis, poor functional outcome and change in performance over time in relation to neurocognitive function. This study is the longest follow-up of any UHR sample to date, with a mean follow-up period of 7.52 years (SD 3.26). It was demonstrated that 29.3% of the sample transitioned to psychosis and that transition occurred up to five years and more after identification as UHR. When all baseline neurocognitive scores were modelled together, none significantly predicted transition. Conversely, lower functioning and psychotic symptom scores significantly predicting the development of frank psychosis. Of the individuals who experienced poor functional outcome (defined by low scores on the Quality of Life Scale and Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale), less than two thirds of them had ever experienced a frank psychotic episode and less than one third had schizophrenia. The poor outcome group showed impaired neurocognitive performance at baseline, particularly on the task of logical memory. Poor performance on this task was still the strongest predictor of later poor functioning when modelled with baseline functioning and symptom scores. This model correctly classified 75% of poor outcome cases. Very poor Verbal IQ and verbal learning and memory at baseline significantly increased the odds of poor functioning at follow-up. In general, the neurocognitive performance of the cohort improved over the follow-up period. There were no significant interactions of transition group by time, indicating that individuals who transitioned did not show a significant reduction in neurocognition relative to those who did not. However, interactions of functional outcome group by time were significant on Verbal and Full-scale IQ, and a task of attention and processing speed. The poor outcome group showed decrements in performance on these measures, while the good outcome group improved over time. The current results indicate a need to shift the traditional notion of outcome in UHR investigation. It may no longer be sufficient to focus only on transition to psychosis because there is a group of individuals who never transition to threshold level psychosis, but continue to demonstrate very poor social and occupational functioning. The results also bring into question the validity of comparing individuals who transition to psychosis with those who do not in the search for biomarkers and endophenotypes for schizophrenia.
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ItemCan conflict resolution education help young refugee students cope in the classroom?( 2011)In the present study, a six week classroom-based conflict resolution program was trialled within mainstream and English language school settings to better understand the social and emotional needs of students with refugee backgrounds. The program, Play Fighting Fair, worked to create an inclusive classroom environment, strengthening relationships between students and staff by facilitating sessions about how to effectively cope with conflict. Mixed methods were used to gain insight into the experiences of students, staff and researchers/outsiders within these settings, and to measure social and emotional outcomes over time in order to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. Baseline and post-test data was collected from 80 students regarding their exposure to traumatic events, time in Australia, psychosocial functioning and coping styles— productive, nonproductive, reference to other (Adolescent Coping Scale; Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993). Within the sample, students with refugee backgrounds (38 in total) tended to be older, were more likely to be of Middle Eastern or African origin, to have been in the country less than a year and be attending a specialist English language school than non-refugee immigrant (19) and local (20) students. As expected, significant positive correlations were found between exposure to trauma and age, as well as exposure to trauma and nonproductive coping style across the sample at baseline. Contrary to expectation, an ANCOVA controlling for age did not find that refugees indicated more exposure to traumatic events compared to immigrants or locals. Follow-up chi-square analyses on traumatic event items revealed that refugees were more likely to have been exposed to a sudden death of a person, fire and war-zones. ANCOVAs controlling for age compared refugee, immigrant and local students on coping styles at baseline. When asked how they coped with interpersonal conflicts refugee students indicated reference to other coping style significantly more than immigrant or local students. In particular, refugee students were more likely to use coping strategies such as seeking spiritual support or seeking to belong. For refugee students, the effect of seeking spiritual support was higher in English language school settings compared to mainstream, and vice-versa for the effect of seeking to belong. In order to assess the utility of the program, univariate analyses of post-test coping style scores controlling for baseline scores and age were compared for intervention and comparison groups for Mainstream and Language school settings respectively. Simple contrasts indicated nonproductive coping style reduced significantly more within the intervention group versus the comparison group in the Language school setting. Qualitative observations and ratings of the program by the researcher/facilitator and teachers involved are integrated with quantitative findings to answer research questions. Findings are discussed in relation to previous literature from research with young refugees, as well as studies into the effectiveness of social and emotional learning/conflict resolutions programs in schools. The study’s limitations and implications focus on how findings can be used to improve policy, practice and research into the mental health of young refugees attending Australian schools.
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ItemNational identity and national history: role of historical narratives on the identity construction( 2011)Over three studies (qualitative, survey, and experimental research) in two industrialised countries with different cultural and historical backgrounds, Korea and Australia, the thesis provides evidence that people’s perceptions of national history play an important role in constructing national identity. The thesis showed that people’s national identification takes on different meanings due to a national difference in history of Korea and Australia, and because of individual differences in perceptions of their nation’s past history, especially the extent to which their national history was seen to have a coherent continuous structure. In order to examine more richly textured psychological meaning of national history, the thesis examined people’s perception of culturally specific contents of their national history, and established that there are multiple narratives by which people understand their national history in both Korea and Australia. Two main historical narratives were national progress (narrating political or economic developments) and cultural contrast (narrating conflicts between the tradition and modernity) narratives. The national progress narrative, however, took a different form in Korea and Australia: economic development was emphasized in Korea, whereas social progress was emphasized in Australia. Moreover, these historical narratives play a role in the construction of national identification. That is, different historical narratives encourage people to pay attention to different aspects of national history, leading them to construct their national identity differently. It was revealed that the evaluation of social and economic changes contributed to national identification positively in the national progress narrative, but negatively in the cultural contrast narrative. Finally, the thesis demonstrated that people’s perception of national history is susceptible to situational cues to some extent, resulting in situational variability in identity construction. People’s historical perceptions could be manipulated with an exposure to different historical narratives, which in turn affected the process of identity construction. These findings shed light on the important and dynamic role of people’s perception of national history in the construction of national identity.
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ItemConceptions about humanness across cultures( 2011)What it means to be human is a fundamental question in psychology. Research on lay theories of the concept has recently emerged from two lines of work on dehumanization processes. Leyens et al. initiated a systematic approach to the concept by suggesting secondary human emotions as the human essence. Haslam’s theory proposes two independent senses of humanness: human nature and human uniqueness. However, neither approach has examined how concepts of humanness vary across cultures. The current thesis aimed to take a cultural psychological approach to extend their understandings. First, I questioned whether there is basic agreement or disagreement in understanding what it means to be human across cultures, in terms of the relationships between human nature and human uniqueness and in terms of how they related to dimensions of self-construal. Results showed that Australians, Japanese, and Koreans were not dramatically different in understanding the basic concept and that a relationism-reflecting aspect of self-construal was universally central to concepts of human nature. Second, I investigated whether people’s attributions of humanness in interpersonal relations are consistent or different across cultures. Results indicated that the basic tendency of self-humanizing exists in all three countries. Finally, I attempted to examine effects of empathy on interpersonal attributions of humanness in a controlled setting. Results implied that empathy tended to reduce self-humanizing effects in both Australia and Japan, but the degree was greater in Japan than in Australia. On the basis of these findings, I conclude that to some extent, cultures share basic views of what it means to be human as well as the ways of applying the concept in interpersonal perceptions, although some differences in specific aspects exist.