Previous Lab News
CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONVENTION 2017
Students from the lab presented their projects at the Canadian Psychological Association's Annual Convention. Here are some of their rock star moments!
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY POSTER CONFERENCE 2017
Dr. Wilson's undergraduate and graduate students recently presented their thesis projects at Laurier's poster conference. Congratulations!
To Seize the Day or Seize the Dream? The Role of Implicit Theories in Short-term and Long-term Goal Pursuit
Leah Brassard
When presented with a conflict between long-term goals or the indulgence of immediate pleasures, individuals differ in their preferences. The present research explores the role that an individual’s implicit theory plays in this selection process. We predicted that individuals adopting an incremental theory (that one’s abilities are malleable) would choose long-term goals, while those holding an entity theory (that one’s abilities are fixed) would choose immediate pleasures. We also predicted that these effects would be stronger for individuals low in life satisfaction, and that perceived control would mediate the effect. Undergraduate students from Wilfrid Laurier University (N=334) participated in an online survey on goal choice. Results indicate that implicit theories did not have a main effect on goal choice, however an interaction indicated that for those low in satisfaction, entity theorists preferred short-term to long-term goals. A mediation model of perceived control was also significant, suggesting entity theorists choose short-term goals in part when they feel a lack of control over long-term goals.
When Life Changes You: Examining the Relationship Between Perspective-Altering Experiences and Identity, Behaviour, and Values
Emily-Marie Pacheco
The current study seeks to explore the kinds of events people identify as perspective altering experiences. Little past research has examined perspective-altering events, defined as an event or experience that profoundly influences the way an individual perceives or interacts with themselves, others, or the world. Undergraduate university students (N=220) retrospectively reflected on a time in their life when they experienced a perceived perspective-altering event. We collected both open-ended descriptions of these events and their perceived impact, and a number of closed ended measures characterizing the events. Individual differences were also measured, including big 5 Personality, Self-Esteem, Self-Continuity, and Individualism/Collectivism. As hypothesized, event immersion was positively correlated with reported behaviour and perspective change towards one’s self and the world. However, contrary to our expectations, collectivists did not significantly differ from individualists on reported experiences. This research will provide a platform for a better scientific understanding of a fundamental, but currently under-investigated, human experience.
Onward and Upward: Investigating the Puzzle of Inclining Subjective Life Satisfaction Trajectoy Estimates
Erin Shanahan
Young adults typically expect their life satisfaction to improve into the future. Surprisingly, however, expecting large improvements in future life satisfaction has been linked with maladaptive functioning (i.e. depression). This may occur because expected improvements in life satisfaction often do not come about, which may lead to disappointment. We wondered whether these results suggest that believing in life satisfaction improvement is maladaptive, or whether it is the way some people think about life satisfaction improvement that may be maladaptive. We created a scale to capture differences in how individuals think about future satisfaction. Items assess the extent to which individuals have a plan for improving satisfaction or are uncertain how to achieve this goal. Results suggested both individual’s with a plan and those who are uncertain report similar levels of expected improvement. However, those who were more uncertain showed a suite of less adaptive beliefs about goal pursuit and attainment.
Rose-Coloured Illusions: Exploring the Downstream Consequences of Illusory Change
Victoria Parker
Researchers have documented how, although people often believe they have changed for the better, perceptions of improvement are often illusory. Perceived growth following self-help programs, positive psychology interventions, or even traumatic experiences are often more reconstructed than real. However, what has received less attention is how these illusions may be related to downstream changes in behaviour and affect. We wondered whether, in some cases, an illusion of change (even in the absence of actual change), might still lead people to experience benefits related to well-being. The proposed research aims to explore this possibility. We hypothesize that participants who perceive illusory change following the completion of an objectively difficult gratitude exercise, will begin to believe that they can change their own well-being. This increased efficacy will subsequently lead them to engage in more happiness-producing activities, increasing subjective well-being over time.
Shutting the Door on the Unknown? Understanding How Economic Uncertainty Predicts Endorsement of Xenophobic Immigration Policy
Jaslyn A. English
What situational factors lead people to vote more conservatively? Regardless of political ideology, past research has demonstrated that situational threat increases state conservatism and endorsement in conservative leaning policy (Nail, McGregor, Drinkwater, Steele, & Thompson, 2009). The proposed experiments investigate the effects of uncertainty threat on xenophobic policy endorsement, mediated by an increase in state conservatism. Further, we are proposing two studies that moderate the threatening effects of uncertainty. First, we propose to use a self-affirmation to bolster self-esteem and protect against the reaction to uncertainty threat. Second, we propose that implicit bias training will interrupt the automatic processing facilitated by uncertainty threat and moderate the effect of uncertainty on endorsement of conservative policy. The proposed research contributes to the understanding of how uncertain voters perceive conservative policy, as well as how to reduce the effects of situational uncertainty on perceptions of xenophobia.
NEW PLACES
Congratulations to Suzanne Boroumand who is now at The School of Medicine at the University of Ottawa!
Congratulations to Verena Fawzy who is now at Friends University in Kansas pursuing a MSc in Family Therapy!
CONVOCATIONS AND HONOURS
Congratulations to Dr. Monica Soliman who received her PhD at her Convocation and is now at Carleton University as a Postdoctoral Scholar!
Congratulations to Dr. Scott Leith who received his PhD along with the university's PhD Gold Medal of Academic Excellence at his Convocation ceremony on Oct 30!
Congratulations to Dr. Cindy Ward who received her PhD along with the Award for Outstanding Work at the Graduate Level at her Convocation ceremony on Oct 30!
And Congratulations to Katie Schuett and Sarah Williams who both recieved their Masters of Arts in Psychology at Convocation on Oct 30!
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY POSTER CONFERENCE 2016
Dr. Wilson's undergraduate and graduate students recently presented their thesis projects at Laurier's poster conference. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr. Monica Soliman who received her PhD at her Convocation and is now at Carleton University as a Postdoctoral Scholar!
The Large and Small of It: A Longitudinal Analysis of Gratitude Interventions on Happiness and Well-Being
Victoria Parker
Although gratitude diaries have been established as a means of enhancing well-being, little is known about how specific forms of gratitude may influence outcomes. We assigned participants to one of two gratitude conditions, where they were asked to either list very general categories that evoked gratitude (i.e., friends, family, health) or little things/ specific events that elicited feelings of gratitude (i.e., their first sip of coffee, receiving a text from a friend, etc.) daily for a week. A control condition reported only their affect daily. The little things condition was rated as higher in difficulty (low fluency) and took longer to complete than the general gratitude condition. Length of time predicted perceived difficulty. Importantly, ratings of greater perceived difficulty were linked to lower well-being outcomes. The implications of these findings will be discussed: results underline how imperative it is to understand the participants' subjective experience of completing the gratitude exercises, as it is an important component of self-perceived efficacy. An intervention that is both difficult and takes longer for participants to complete may actually produce well-being vulnerabilities in some participants.
When Fear Backfires: The Roles of Threat and Efficacy in Promoting Pro-Environmental Beliefs and Intentions
Nicole Moreira
The present study evaluated the impact of combining threatening and efficacy building messages in environmental posters on participants' distress, environmental efficacy, climate change skepticism, and future environmental intentions. Real-world environmental posters often include threatening messages. However, past research suggests that participants may actively avoid such threats to reduce their anxiety, for instance by denying the existence of climate change. However, we predict that high efficacy measures might mitigate the threat and promote proactive responding. The present study randomly assigned 409 participants to nine conditions where they would view a combination of threatening (high, low, neutral) and efficacy building (high, low, neutral) posters that were previously identified on the basis of pilot testing. As predicted, high threat posters increased distress, increased skepticism, and lowered efficacy; however, efficacy did not moderate these results. Results suggest that highly threatening posters may backfire, rather than have their intended effect on promoting pro-environmental behaviours.
The Role of Implicit Theories of Malleability in Judgments of a Criminal Offender
Philip Yang
There is currently a dearth of research regarding implicit theories of malleability in the morality domain. The present study assessed whether implicit theories about the fixed or malleable nature of personality/ morality would interact with time to predict judgments of a moral transgressor. Entity theorists, who believe personality traits are fixed, should provide harsh moral judgments of a person's past and future based on evidence of a single offense. Incremental theorists, who view human characteristics as being malleable, should be more lenient and more sensitive to the passage of time. We measured participants' implicit beliefs, asked them to imagine being a member of a jury, and provided a concocted scenario about an offender who committed armed robbery a specified time ago (six conditions varied by calendar and subjective temporal distance). Entity theorists were more likely to misremember past offenses, emphasize punishment, and provide harsh moral judgments compared to incremental theorists. The passage of time did not affect moral judgments. Results suggest entity theorists are making biased assumptions of an offender's past and future behaviour without adequate evidence for their beliefs.
The Role of Implicit Theories and Landmarks on the Motivation to Pursue Health Goals
Verena Fawzy
The present study assessed whether implicit theories moderate the impact temporal landmarks have on motivation to pursue health goals. Incremental theorists, who believe traits are malleable and learn from past failures, were predicted to be more motivated across all conditions than entity theorists, who believe traits are fixed. Due to the impact temporal landmarks can have on temporal selves, it was predicted that giving participants a "fresh start" to start reaching their goal would be more motivating than a regular calendar date. Lastly, it was predicted that entity theorists would find temporal landmarks more useful in initiating motivation to pursue a goal than incremental theorists. The study included 366 participants who took an implicit theory premeasure, and then were randomly assigned to one of four experimental landmark conditions, and then asked about their motivation. The study found that incremental theorists were more motivated than entity theorists across conditions, and the fresh start condition was most motivating for both incremental and entity theorists. No interaction was found between temporal landmarks and implicit theories. Thus, temporal landmarks may prompt goal pursuit, while adopting an incremental theorist view can keep us motivated, regardless of specific landmarks.
