Department of Psychology Graduate Theses
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Item Exploring the Impact of Internalized Stigma on Kink Group Identification in Individuals with Kink-related Interests(2024-11-14) Maki, Samantha M.; Psychology; Chivers, Meredith L.Kink/BDSM involves both sexual and non-sexual exchange of sensation, control, and authority, with high levels of communication to facilitate ongoing negotiation and consent. In recent years, researchers have found that some BDSM acts were identified as aspects of ‘rough sex’ rather than kink/BDSM which may mean that vital aspects of kink/BDSM negotiation and consent frameworks are not being utilized. For kink-interested individuals, accessing community may be an essential protective factor that facilitates greater practice of safety and consent protocols, and decreases the impact of stigma and discrimination. Accessing community, however, may only be possible through the act of acknowledging one’s kink interest and forming kink identities. The current study investigated the role of internalized stigma in the relationship between kink/BDSM interests and in-group identification. We found that for those interested in more common, less extreme behaviours, such as, blindfolding and tying up, internalized stigma seemed to have a negative impact on one’s positive feelings toward in-group members, and salience and importance of identification with group members. In contrast, for those interested in choking, and strangulation, we saw that internalized stigma has a positive impact on one’s investment with other in-group members. These results indicate that the impact of internalized stigma on identification with in-group members is complex and may depend on the kink/BDSM interests one investigates. Future researchers should consider investigating the impact of internalized stigma on interest and identity, while including additional factors that may impact this relationship. Additionally, we should attempt to understand how all these factors impact pathways to community, access to essential safety information, and the potential benefits of social support.Item Ad-justing Results: How Recruitment Ads Shape Participant Characteristics and Study Outcomes(2024-10-15) Avila Patro, Gabriella; Psychology; Fabrigar, LeandreThe field of Social Psychology is experiencing a replication crisis and researchers often do not consider how their methods could influence their results. I proposed that features of recruitment ads can alter the characteristics of a sample being used which can then influence results. Study One focused on highlighting incentives in recruitment ads (i.e., features of intrinsic motivation like enjoyment vs. features of extrinsic motivation like cash), while Study Two focused on the specificity of the content and its description in the ads (i.e., detailed vs. generic). In each study, first-year psychology students were randomly assigned to a recruitment ad. They completed measures of relevant participant characteristics that I hypothesized would differ across the ads and then completed measures from previous effects found in the literature. Across both studies, results were inconsistent. In Study One, ad type did not produce different characteristics. While it did moderate one previous effect, most of them were not moderated by ad type; although they were mostly in the expected direction and trended towards significance. In Study Two, recruitment ads produced some differences in participant characteristics. Only one effect was moderated by ad type, although others were in the expected direction and approached significance. I conclude by discussing the limitations to my studies and future directions.Item Assessing Attachment Anxiety as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Self-Distancing and Emotions Following Relationship ConflictParker, Maxine A.; Psychology; MacDonald, TaraThird-person self-talk involves referring to oneself using third-person language instead of typical first-person language when using internal and external monologues. Self-talk tactics have been shown to be helpful for self-regulation and emotional regulation (Kross et al., 2014). Because third-person self-talk theoretically works by inducing an observer, or distant-other perspective, it tends to promote a more objective and less emotional evaluation of an experience. However, there are individual factors that bias how people construe observer perspectives. Specifically, those high in attachment anxiety tend to overperceive others’ rejection and negative evaluation of them and are less accurate when judging observers’ perceptions of themselves (Debbané et al., 2017). Yet, there has been little research exploring attachment orientation as a potential moderator between third-person self-talk and emotional-regulation benefits. Because third-person self-talk simulates that of an observer perceiving the self, I expected that those high in attachment anxiety would experience heightened levels negative emotions, specifically self-conscious emotions, when using third-person self-talk (compared to first-person self-talk) during a reflection task on interpersonal conflict. I did not find support for my hypothesis in Study 1 (N = 322), or Study 2 (N = 233), but found unexpected results with attachment avoidance. Future research could explore attachment orientation in relation to self-distancing and self-reflection of interpersonal conflict in order to explain the potential mechanisms driving these inconsistent results.Item Exploring Chronic Clitoral Pain: Cognitive-Affective Factors and Healthcare Experiences(2024-10-10) Park, Julianna T.; Psychology; Pukall, CarolineThe clitoris may be the most important structure for sexual pleasure in individuals with clitorises; however, research on chronic clitoral pain remains a critical gap in the literature, resulting in clitoral pain being underdiagnosed and undertreated within the healthcare system. An initial descriptive study found that chronic clitoral pain can be a substantially distressing problem that impacts daily and sexual functioning. Still, there is a need for a greater understanding of the role of psychological (cognitive-affective) factors in outcomes associated with this condition. Additionally, literature on clitoral pain has exclusively considered heterosexual, cisgender women, neglecting the experience of sexual and gender minority individuals. The current study aimed to (1) further describe the characteristics of chronic clitoral pain (e.g., onset, duration, pattern) in a diverse sample of gender and sexual minority and majority individuals, (2) evaluate the association between psychological factors (pain catastrophizing, hypervigilance to pain, and fear and avoidance of pain) and outcomes (pain intensity and sexual function interference), and (3) describe the healthcare experiences of individuals with chronic clitoral pain and identify barriers to seeking healthcare. Participants were recruited for a more extensive online study on chronic genitopelvic pain. Of the larger sample, thirty participants reported experiencing clitoral pain and were included in analyses. Descriptive analyses illustrated substantial diversity regarding the onset, duration, and pain pattern. Multiple regression analyses indicated that pain catastrophizing was significantly associated with increased pain intensity and sexual function interference. A thematic analysis showed that barriers to seeking healthcare included a perceived lack of knowledge from healthcare providers and a feeling that pain would be dismissed or ignored. The current study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of individuals with chronic clitoral pain.Item Mapping Cognition Across Lab and Daily Life Using Experience Sampling(2024-10-04) Chitiz, Louis; Psychology; Smallwood, JonathanThe goal of psychological research is to understand behaviour in daily life. Although lab studies provide the control necessary to identify cognitive mechanisms behind behaviour, how these controlled situations generalise to activities in daily life remains unclear. Experience-sampling provides useful descriptions of cognition in the lab and real world and the current study examined how thought patterns generated by multidimensional experience-sampling (mDES) generalise across both contexts. We combined data from five published studies to generate a common ‘thought-space’ using data from the lab and daily life. This space represented data from both lab and daily life in an unbiased manner and grouped lab tasks and daily life activities with similar features (e.g., working in daily life was similar to working memory in the lab). Our study establishes mDES can map cognition from lab and daily life within a common space, allowing for more ecologically valid descriptions of cognition and behaviour.