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Tuft, S. E. - Dissertation 2018.pdf (5.16 MB)

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Examining effects of arousal and valence across the adult lifespan in an emotional Stroop task

Tuft, Samantha E
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7939-6658
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1525997542908059

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy in Adult Development and Aging, Cleveland State University, College of Sciences and Health Professions.
As age increases, there is evidence that people tend to pay less attention to negative information, pay more attention to positive information, or both. There are many theoretical accounts that attempt to explain this positivity bias. In the current study, I examined positivity effects across the adult lifespan by evaluating competing predictions of two theories: Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, which is based in motivation, and Dynamic Integration Theory, which is based in capacity. Computer mouse tracking was used to examine effects across levels of Valence (negative, neutral, and positive) and Arousal (low, medium, and high) in an emotional Stroop task. Participants were instructed to identify the ink color of each word, while ignoring word meaning. With increased age, participants responded faster and more efficiently to negative words relative to neutral words. Additionally, with increased age and EC (Emotional Complexity), participants’ responses were slower and more deviated for low arousing positive words relative to neutral words, consistent with SST. Furthermore, as age and EC increased, participants had faster initiation times (ITs) for low arousing negative words relative to neutral words, consistent with SST. The results contribute to a better understanding of emotional cognitive biases across the adult lifespan.
Conor McLennan, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Eric Allard, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Andrew Slifkin, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Jennifer Stanley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Bryan Pesta, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
135 p.
Psychology
valence; arousal; language; lifespan; emotional Stroop; aging; emotional complexity; socioemotional selectivity theory; dynamic integration theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tuft, S. E. (2018). Examining effects of arousal and valence across the adult lifespan in an emotional Stroop task [Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1525997542908059

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tuft, Samantha. Examining effects of arousal and valence across the adult lifespan in an emotional Stroop task. 2018. Cleveland State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1525997542908059.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tuft, Samantha. "Examining effects of arousal and valence across the adult lifespan in an emotional Stroop task." Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1525997542908059

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

csu1525997542908059
430
© 2018, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Examining effects of arousal and valence across the adult lifespan in an emotional Stroop task by Samantha E Tuft is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Cleveland State University and OhioLINK.