BSc (Hons) Psychology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7263

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Mediating Role of Alexithymia and Fear of Happiness on the Relationship Between Insecure Attachment and Happiness
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
In recent years, much of psychology has been focused on positive outcomes of human functioning with emphasis on well-being. Investigations into what factors contribute to subjective experience of happiness have identified adult attachment, emotion regulation and problems in emotion processing as significant predictors of levels of happiness. Previous research has established links between insecure adult attachment and problems with emotion regualtion. Specific problems in emotion processing - alexithymia and fear of happiness - were also related to insecure attachment. These concepts have been linked to various psychopathologies and posit serious implications for well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of alexithymia and fear of happiness on the relationship between insecure attachment and happiness in a non-clinical sample. Futhermore, predictive values of alexithymia subscales were investigated in relation to happiness. A total of 147 participants completed a series of online questionnaires measuring attachment security (ECR-R), alexithymia (TAS-20), fear of happiness and happiness (OHQ). Alexithymia and fear of happiness were positively correlated as demonstrated in previous studies. Attachment-related anxiety was found to predict both fear of happiness and alexithymia, whereas attachment-related avoidance was a predictor for alexithymia only. Both alexithymia and fear of happiness contributed significantly to the overall happiness score. Attachment-related anxiety and avoidance showed no direct effect on happiness. Mediation analysis revealed a full mediation between insecure attachment and happiness. Based on these findings it can be concluded that alexithymia and fear of happiness posit a full mediating role on the relationship between attachment security and happiness. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
Is There a Difference in EI Scores Between Problem Focused Copers and Emotion Focused Copers When Individuals are Stressed?
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The relationship between EI and coping in stress was examined in a random sample taken from the general population. It was hypothesised that EI related to coping in stress. There were 201 participants in the study and each participant completed a questionnaire comprising of the COPE scale, Schutte's Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale. Five separate t-tests were used in order to explore whether there was a relationship between EI and coping in stress. Results indicated that this relationship was significant. The findings of this study provide valid theoretically based evidence in support of the hypothesis. It shows that a significant relationship occurs within a general sample when measuring EI, coping and stress. Further research in this area may be helpful in order for the construct of EI to be improved as well as exploring its relationship with stress and coping more fully.
Scene Complexity and Exposure Duration: A Multifactorial Investigation of the Weapon Focus Effect
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The presence of a weapon has been found to detrimentally affect memory for events but the literature is divided as to why the phenomenon, known as the weapon focus effect, appears. In addition there are factors such as scene complexity and stimuli duration that have been implicated in affecting weapon focus onset that have not been explored through experimental manipulation. The current study employed a multifactorial design in order to explore main effects of object threat, object usualness, exposure duration and scene complexity on the onset of the weapon focus effect. Target-present and target-absent lineups were also used to explore the weapon focus effect. Scene complexity and exposure duration had highly significant effects on measures of memory employed. Evidence to support the threat explanation of weapon focus was found in memory recall scores with no effect of object usualness observed. A significant effect of threat was found to result in higher proportions of correct identifications in target-present lineups. Therefore no weapon focus effect was found in lineup responses and a confounding variable of target actor may have affected the reliability of the findings. General implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Investigating false memories. Are fear memories different?
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The primary aim of this present study was to investigate the effects of emotion on a false memory paradigm, exploring specifically whether a fear emotion or a sadness emotion will have more of an effect on false memory. 61 participants, 20 males and 41 females were recruited through opportunistic sampling. Participants watched two film clips, which order was counterbalanced, one eliciting the emotion of sadness and the other the emotion of fear. After each film clip, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (Roediger and McDermott, 1995) was administered to each participant to examine levels of false recall in each condition. Thirty-six lists were used all fifteen words long and were categorized into list types. Main findings suggest that participants falsely recalled more overall critical lures in the sad condition compared to the fear condition. More over, participants falsely recalled more film related critical lures in the two conditions than any other list type. The present study concludes that fear memories may be different to memories for sad emotions however for a better understanding of why, additional research is needed into the area. This study provides further evidence that subjects will confidently recall and recognise words that were not presented. The implications of the results of this study are discussed in relation to future research. Keywords: False memory, DRM procedure, emotion, fear, sadness, films
The relationship between dispositional mindfulness, attachment security, emotion regulation and attentional control during adolescence.
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Previous research has demonstrated the relationship between naturally-occurring mindfulness and emotion regulation and attachment security in adult populations. Moreover, the link between the ability to control attention and mindfulness has also been established. However, research into naturally-occurring mindfulness on younger populations has been limited. The current research attempts to investigate the relationship between dispositional mindfulness, attachment security, emotion regulation, and attentional control in an adolescent population. In total, 206 high school age individuals participated in the study and they each completed the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale - Revised (CAMS-R), Experiences in Close Relationships - Relationship Structures (ECR-RS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the Attentional Control Scale (ACS). Standard linear regression analysis demonstrated that attentional control and some aspects of emotion dysregulation were strong predictors of mindfulness as they independently predicted scores on most of the mindfulness subscales. Attachment security, however, was not as strong a predictor as only attachment avoidance independently predicted one of the mindfulness subscales. The current findings confirmed that attachment security, emotion regulation, and attentional control are linked to mindfulness and provide a unique insight into the nature of this relationship in an adolescent population.
The Effect of Serial Position on Lineup Decisions
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Incorrect eyewitness testimony causes many issues for the justice system - with the most severe being high numbers of incorrect prosecutions and this therefore calls for a redesign of the structure of lineups to assess what may be the cause of such inaccuracies. Positioning of targets within lineups has been theorised as being influential for witnesses identifications of potential perpetrators and is therefore the key area of investigation for the current study. Many studies have aimed to investigate whether there is a serial position effect observed in recall for list items, but very few have investigated whether said serial position effect can also be reported in tests of recognition - specifically, within lineup decisions. To gain a better insight into the possibility of such effects, we assessed the influence of target position on 72 participants' recognition for the target, whilst also recording potential influences on accuracy through one or two lap viewing of lineups. The results revealed non-significant results for position or lap viewings on accuracy of identifications, but instead reported significant results for confidence within accurate decisions when influenced by position of target within target present lineups - although both target-present and target-absent lineups were tested. It was proven that witnesses report higher confidence levels for accurate decisions made for targets in later positions (7-9) when compared to earlier positions (1-3). However, these results suggest that there is no serial position effect, or lap effect within sequential lineups - thus meaning that police officers may not have to account for position as much as was first thought - however, it must be acknowledged that the current study does not fully support the results presented by past research.
Representational Pseudoneglect in the Absence of Visual Processing
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The phenomenon of visuospatial pseudoneglect proposes that perception can be biased towards the left-hand side of visual space. Current literature identified a similar lateral bias in the mental representations of spatial arrays, either through memory of familiar scenes or novel material. However the majority of previous research has involved some degree of initial visual processing, and therefore it can be questioned if the lateral bias originates in the initial perception or if in fact there is an independent bias in memory storage. The present experiment aimed to investigate whether more items on the left are accurately remembered than those on the right, by using aural-verbal description task to create a mental representation of a pattern on a 3x4 matrix. Additionally feature binding and a verbal suppression task were included in order to limit capacity of the short-term memory and to eliminate the possibility of participants verbally rehearsing the information. Both feature binding and verbal suppression increased the amount of errors made. In the current sample, a non-significant finding was found between accuracy scores on the left and right-hand side.
What's Eating Luis Suarez? A Psychobiography
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Aim: The aim of this psychobiography is to examine the descriptions that the authors provide on Luis Suarez's actions and how these reflect different forms of psychological theorising. Introduction: It is important to examine football players as they are regularly captured by the media, they act as role models for many individuals and sport generally has a huge impact on society. Luis Suarez is a professional footballer, notorious for his talented football skills and his bad behaviour on-pitch, particularly his tendency to bite other players. Psychobiography is useful in that it allows for the exploration and description of the life of a particular individual. Method: Data collected on Suarez's life were drawn from fifty secondary sources and the various viewpoints were analysed using grounded theory. Results: Five themes emerged from the data as dominant to Suarez's biting behaviour. These themes were: (1) a lack of impulse-control, (2) emotions influenced his thoughts and behaviour, (3) his behaviour stemmed from his childhood, (4) it is explained by a primal or instinctive act, and (5) his behaviour occurred due to context, which is split into two sub-sections: pressures from external sources and name-calling from opposing players. Discussion: The most viable explanation of Suarez's biting behaviour is his lack of impulse-control. The most compelling evidence of this explanation is that the punishment and public embarrassment continued to show no impact on his repeated biting behaviour. However, his behaviour may also be better explained by a combination of factors discussed, most likely a lack of impulse-control and intense emotions or pressures from external sources.
Scene and Object Manipulation's Role in Weapon Focus Effect Triggers
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The weapon focus effect refers to a witness' compromised ability to recall and identify details of a scene and a perpetrator when a weapon or unusual object is present. This experiment investigated if scene complexity and exposure duration interact with participants' recall and identification ability when objects were either low or high in unusualness and threat. Scene complexity and duration can potentially influence participants' ability to encode enough details of the scene in sufficient time. Participants watched a video clip altered in either length of time or complexity of scene or a combination of both. The video depicted two actors engaging in conversation with one holding a target object. After watching, participants completed a questionnaire about details relevant to actors, periphery and object held and then viewed both target-present and target-absent lineups and asked to identify which, if any, of the choices of persons were shown in the video. Main effects of threat and unusualness were not found for memory and identification however a significant interaction with complexity, duration and threat was found for cued recall memory and a marginal significance of the same interaction in recognition memory. Overall, memory was inferior with participants in conditions with a short duration, complex environment and threatening objects. No significant interactions were found for target identification. It is concluded that further research on the effects of duration and scene complexity should be carried out with objects that can more reliably fit their desired levels of threat and unusualness in order to better understand this relationship.
The experience of lower limb amputation: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Despite there being relatively sufficient quantitative research efforts directed towards amputation, there is little qualitative or amputation specific research in this area. This study is an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of lower limb amputation experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 individuals who have lower limb amputations. Phenomenological analysis was performed on the data collected. Situational factors, phantom limb pain, support, low mood and psychological support, prosthesis relationship and attitude (both of others and the individual) were all deemed to influence amputation experience; however the manner in which they do so is dependent on the individual. The study concludes that lower limb amputation experience is a dynamic endeavour encompassing several factors which are all subject to individual differences. Future researcher would benefit from exploring specific lower limb amputations and the subsequent impact on experience.
Effects of emotion suppression upon memory with reference to attachment dimension
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Commonly associated with attachment dimension, individuals actively employ emotion regulation strategies, such as suppression. Despite suppression rendering the individual emotionally neutral in appearance, analysis of its self-regulatory demands suggest that it may come at a cognitive cost. 60 students at Queen Margaret University took part in a correlational study which examined the effect of suppression on memory for concurrent events, in relation to attachment dimension. Relationships between main study variables were explored using correlations and regression analysis. In support of previous literature, associations between trait suppression and attachment avoidance were found, trait suppression accounted for an estimated 18.7% of variance in avoidance scores. Conversely, no significant relationship between suppression and episodic memory was discovered. It could therefore be argued that emotion regulation is so overtly learned by adulthood that it has no significant effect on cognition. Future research is necessary to assess spontaneous regulation in more dynamic interpersonal contexts.
Trolls are going to troll: A look at flame trolling responses on twitter
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Flame trolling has become a common phenomenon amongst online communication and has been covered widely by the media. Previous studies have found that vulnerable and minority groups such as women and feminists are more likely to be targeted by flame trolls who gain a lot of enjoyment from sending offensive and threatening messages. However there has been little research focussed on the form and construction of trolling. This study wanted to investigate what types of negative responses a high profile Twitter user's posts received. The study also looked in detail at the form and construction of these responses. What was found from analysing the data was that the different types of posts that the user tweeted did appear to receive different types of responses. The responses mainly contained derogatory language regarding her gender, attacks against her intelligence as well as threats and wishes of physical and sexual violence against her.
Are There Differences in Left and Right-Handers Performance on Cognitive Functions in the Context of Deficits in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a possible consequence of any traumatic event in which a person experiences high levels of fear, helplessness or horror. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD is 7.8% within the American population, where prevalence of PTSD is twice as common in women than in men (Kessler et al., 1995). Evidence has suggested that prevalence of PTSD was doubled (15%) in left-handers in comparison to those who are right handed (8%) (Choudhary and O'Carroll, 2007). Furthermore, research has shown that when individuals are exposed to a situation involving fear, left-handers apparently perform similarly to people with PTSD. The current study investigated performance on several cognitive tasks (verbal memory, visual memory, attention, verbal fluency and central executive function) within a non-clinical population between left ad right-handed individuals after eliciting fear. Fear was induced through the use of a fictional film, previously identified as targeting fear (Gross and Levenson, 1995). The study found better performance on visioconstructive skills in left-handers when compared to the right-handed subjects, where results on working memory and central executive function were consistent with previous research findings- there were no differences in handedness or sex after the fearful film. In line with previous findings, women displayed better performance on verbal memory, however, verbal fluency measures were greater in males than females. Recruiting equal number of sexes to the conditions, as well as handedness, may be worthwhile to investigate further.
Gone Fishing: Love & Deception Online
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The ever-advancing digital age has made it possible for every day interactions to be completed from behind a screen. The Internet has become a tool even to fall in love. Meeting, cheating, falling in and out of love and even having sex on the net has become feasible in the modern world. Yet, little is known about these new forms of cyber-relationship, particularly when initiated outwith traditional dating websites. Most online communication is based on textual messages, allowing anonymity, at least visually. The hit TV show Catfish tugs back the 'proverbial curtain' on relationships online, revealing the true identity of who lies behind the computer screen. This study looks at the online exchanges between guests who appeared on Catfish the TV show, identifying how deception was achieved throughout the interactions and how this was negotiated and subsequently affected the relationship in the aftermath. Three themes were identified splitting guests into those who: accepted, rejected and condoned deception. Changes in turn-taking in conversation, conversation nature and the differences between accepting self-blame and blame of a third-party when deception was identified was found and will be discussed.
The Effects of Positioning on the Accuracy of Lineup Decisions.
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Lineup decisions can be crucial in deciphering whether a suspect is guilty of a crime or not. However, lineup decisions can often be inaccurate which can often result in innocent people being convicted of a crime. Previous research has investigated if the suspect's position in a sequential lineup has any effect on whether the suspect will be chosen or not. However, much of the research has used six-person lineups - the norm in North America - rather than nine-person lineups as is the norm in the UK. We manipulated the position of the suspect in target-present and target-absent sequential nine-person lineups. The experiment also investigated if there were any differences between viewing the lineup once versus twice. Whilst position and number of viewings had no effect on identification accuracy, significant results were found in confidence ratings which showed that confidence of correct decisions increased when the perpetrator was presented later in the lineup. Implications are discussed and it is suggested that future research is required to investigate the effects of positioning further.
The role of schematic complexity in the survival processing effect.
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The current study looked at some possible proximate mechanisms underlying the survival processing advantage. The study investigated if and how schematic complexity and perceived survival threat influenced the mnemonic boost found when processing information for its survival relevance. A total of ninety-two individuals participated in a surprise memory test after reading one of three possible survival scenarios (Highlands original, Highlands plus one sentence or Highlands long) and rating a list of words for their relevance of survival to the given scenario. The free recall test and several subsequent questions such as thoughts about death, self and survival during the rating task, were then analysed. The results showed no significant differences between conditions and neither of them showed the survival processing advantage. The results suggest that the use of the Highland environment might not be an appropriate survival scenario as compared to Nairne's Grasslands scenario. A comparison Grasslands scenario might have given a better understanding of this. Possible explanations for the obtained results are further discussed as well as other possible proximate mechanisms. Keywords: adaptive memory, survival processing, proximate mechanisms, functionalism, evolutionary psychology
An examination of the role played by threat, unusualness, duration and complexity on producing the weapon focus effect.
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
The Weapon Focus Effect is a well documented phenomenon whereby the presence of a threatening or unusual object during a crime will capture an individuals attention to the extent where there memory for the event is reduced along side their ability to correctly identify the perpetrator of the crime. The current study will examine this effect, and the extent to which it is influenced by; the perceived level of threat or unusualness of an object; the duration for which the object is seen; and the complexity of the scene in which it is viewed. Participants watched a short video in which an actor held either a gun, knife, flamingo or hole-punch before their memory of the scene was tested. The results suggested that the more threatening or unusual the object the more likely it was to be remembered. Results also suggested that threat, duration and complexity in combination lead to reductions in memory. Only the threat condition was found to have an effect on lineups, with threat resulting in more correct identifications in target-present lineups.
The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation, Attachment and Attention on Dispositional Mindfulness in Adolescents.
(Queen Margaret University, 2015)
Mindfulness can be conceptualised as a dispositional trait. Mindfulness has been associated with beneficial positive outcomes in regard to emotion regulation, attachment security and attention. Furthermore, literature has established independent correlations for attachment and emotion regulation in dispositional mindfulness in adult populations, although this has not yet been addressed on an adolescent sample. The present study investigated the effect of emotion regulation, attachment security and attention on dispositional mindfulness in an adolescent sample. 206 participants (average age= 13.48, female = 51.9%, male = 48.1%) completed the Cognitive Affective Mindfulness Scale Revised (CAMSR), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR-RS) and the Attentional Control Scale (ACS). Four linear regressions were conducted in which each CAMSR subscale (attention, present focus, awareness and acceptance) was regressed onto the predictor variables. The highest percentage of variance was recorded for the CAMSR subscale of attention (43.9%) and lowest for present focus (16.7%), whilst the scales of awareness and acceptance presented variance of 27.7% and 25.8% respectively.
Sequential lineups do not attenuate the biasing effect of tattoos
(Queen Margaret University, 2016)
Prior research has demonstrated that tattoos negatively affect identification accuracy in simultaneous lineups. However, research has not explored the effect of tattoos with sequential lineups. As sequential lineups have been shown to attenuate bias (Lindsay et al., 1991), I examined whether sequential presentation could mitigate the biasing effect of a tattoo. Participants completed eight trials; in each trial they watched a mock-crime video, viewed a biased or unbiased simultaneous or sequential lineup, and then rated their confidence in their decision. Sequential lineups did not reduce false identifications of tattooed suspects compared to simultaneous lineups, unfortunately. Thus, it is essential that the police follow current recommendations and ensure that all lineup members either appear with a tattoo or without a tattoo, as failing to do so increases the risk of wrongful convictions through an increase in false identifications. Exacerbating the effect, I found that participants expressed significantly higher confidence in false identifications when the lineup was biased compared to unbiased. As confidence is the primary predictor of judgments of the credibility of eyewitness evidence, this result further highlights the need for police to present eyewitnesses unbiased lineups.
Executive functions, visuospatial bootstrapping and pseudoneglect in relation to Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder: A correlational study
(Queen Margaret University, 2016)
ADHD diagnosis and Executive function deficits are of increasing concern as the knowledge about the condition continues to expand. 100 participants were collected to partake in this study. In this dissertational study a correlational method was used to see the relationship between ADHD symptom markers and Executive Function tasks along with tasks of attention. The Executive Function tasks that were used differed from previous research, meaning that tasks not normally chosen to test the effect of ADHD on Executive Function performance were chosen. This was to allow this study to stand out from previous research within this field. Results of this study found that age correlated highly with ADHD symptom markers from a self-report questionnaire. There were many unexpected correlations which may be interesting for further research in the future. Conclusions of this study show that no correlation was observed between ADHD and the Executive Function tasks used within this study.