School of Psychology · Te Kura Mātai Hinengaro 2021-08-02T09:59:10Z The Number of Unanimous Witnesses who Identify a Suspect from a Lineup Influences Mock Jurors The Number of Unanimous Witnesses who Identify a Suspect from a Lineup Influences Mock Jurors Taylor, Robbie During a criminal proceeding, jurors need to weigh up the presented evidence and determine a verdict. Research has shown that witness identification evidence is compelling to jurors, despite the fact that it can be unreliable. How reliable are the combined lineup decisions gathered from multiple witnesses? Generally, the more witnesses who identify the same person from a lineup, the more likely that person is guilty. But recent theoretical evidence suggests that a greater number of witnesses identifying the same person from a biased lineup can indicate that person is actually less likely to be guilty than if there were a smaller number of witnesses identifying that person (Gunn et al., 2016). As the number of agreeing witnesses increases, the more likely that agreement is caused by the lineup bias, rather than consistent witness memories of the crime. In this thesis, I examined how unanimity and lineup bias influenced jurors’ perceptions of guilt. Subjects who saw a biased lineup gave lower ratings of guilt compared to subjects that were shown a lineup that had no obvious bias. In addition, warning subjects that a lineup was biased led them to give lower guilt ratings than subjects who did not receive a warning. Subjects who were told there were two witnesses who identified the police suspect gave higher guilt ratings than subjects who were told there was one witness who identified the police suspect, but only when the lineup was clearly not biased. Subjects’ guilt ratings were not significantly greater in conditions with more than two unanimous witnesses identifying the police suspect. It seems subjects had a limit of certainty based on changes in witness numbers alone. We also found that the way in which witness numbers were presented to subjects influenced guilt ratings. When we presented witnesses coming forward in different groups and on different days, subjects shifted their guilt ratings upwards. When the number of witnesses decreased during the experiment, subjects did not decrease their guilt ratings to the same extent as those subjects in conditions in which the number of witnesses increased by the same magnitude. This finding is consistent with the literature on confirmation bias and the story model of juror decision-making—subjects likely formed an initial belief that the identified suspect was guilty and subsequent evidence was evaluated against that belief (Nickerson, 1988; Pennington & Hastie, 1993). The finding that presenting witnesses coming forward in separate groups increased subjects’ guilt ratings adds to the literature showing that jurors are influenced by irrelevant information presented to them during a proceeding. This research also demonstrates that future research should examine strength of evidence manipulations over multiple levels—rather than as dichotomous “strong” and “weak” extremes. 2021-01-13T01:59:34Z No place like home: The role of place attachment in increasing individual preparedness for natural hazard events No place like home: The role of place attachment in increasing individual preparedness for natural hazard events Wallis, Amanda New Zealand is exposed to many natural hazards and yet, despite its heightened risk, national rates of individual preparedness remain low. Previous research has shown that place attachment is positively associated with disaster preparedness. My work builds on this research and explores (i) the relationship between place attachment and preparedness intentions and behaviours and (ii) the potential for a place attachment intervention to change preparedness and behaviours. In the first two studies (Chapter 2), I examined 1) participants’ levels of place attachment at different spatial scales, 2) participants’ preparedness (intentions and behaviours), and 3) place attachment as a mediator of previously identified demographic predictors of preparedness. Findings show that place attachment is associated with both preparedness intentions and behaviour when measured simultaneously. When controlling for socio-demographic predictors, participants who reported stronger house and neighbourhood attachment also reported stronger intentions to prepare (Study 1). In Study 2, house attachment was associated with mitigation preparedness behaviour, whereas neighbourhood attachment was associated with community preparedness behaviour. House and neighbourhood attachment mediated the relationship between homeownership, length of residence, and preparedness. These findings suggest that place attachment varies by spatial scale which matters for different types of disaster preparedness. The second set of studies (Chapter 3) consisted of a pilot study with undergraduate students (Study 3) and a two-wave randomised control trial with a community sample (Study 4) to examine whether the use of a place visualisation intervention would strengthen people’s intentions to prepare (at Time 1) and encourage people to implement preparedness behaviours (at Time 2, two weeks later). I developed and implemented a guided place-based visualisation task, which asked participants to visualise a place they feel attached to (their house or in their neighbourhoods) and compared the effectiveness with visualisation of a neutral place. I expected that visualising one’s house or neighbourhood (i.e. a place people feel attached to) would result in stronger intentions to prepare and higher uptake of preparedness behaviours at a two-week follow-up when compared to people who visualised a neutral place. I did not find any meaningful effect of place visualisation on preparedness intentions or behaviours. In Study 5 (Chapter 4), I used qualitative methods to gain a deeper understanding of the quantitative findings. I thematically analysed qualitative data gathered as part of a previous survey (Study 1) to understand people’s relationships to places in more depth and to identify what people think is important about their attachment to places at different spatial scales. I identified six key themes (i.e. social, physical, residential, functional, sentimental, psychological) that were important for place attachment across four different spatial scales. Finally, across two chapters, I further explored my place visualisation intervention and why it may not have been as effective as expected. To this end, I first provided a mixed- methods analysis of how participants engaged with the intervention task (e.g. time spent on the task and number of words written) (Study 6, Chapter 5). Then, I used insights from behaviour change theories (Chapter 6) to discuss the findings from Studies 1-6 as they relate to the advancement of place attachment theory, application to disaster preparedness behaviour-change, and implications for intervention design and implementation. In the final chapter (Chapter 7), I discussed the key findings and implications across the entire thesis and how these can be used to inform theory, practice, and future research directions. 2020-12-01T20:49:31Z Understanding the Expertise Required by Law Enforcement Investigating Cybercrime: An Exploration of Social Engineering Techniques Understanding the Expertise Required by Law Enforcement Investigating Cybercrime: An Exploration of Social Engineering Techniques Nock, Grace Cybercrime represents a significant threat for the 21st century, a threat that traditional methods of policing cannot adequately manage. Consequently, new ways of policing utilising specialised teams have been implemented to address cybercrime proactively. One method of policing that has been relatively unexplored within academic literature is covert online investigations, wherein law enforcement creates false identities to interact with offenders from. Existing research has not comprehensively explored what tactics, techniques, and procedures law enforcement use when conducting these investigations. Accordingly, selection and training of employees presents unique challenges. Therefore, this study aims to provide a detailed evaluation of what skills are needed by law enforcement. This information can then inform future training and selection. This study examines in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight New Zealand Police investigators using Applied Cognitive Task Analysis. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results revealed three themes with 18 sub-themes. The first theme explored operational pre-planning, the second theme explored social engineering techniques used to gather information, and the third theme explored the wide-ranging external considerations. Finally, the discussion outlines the implications for theories of social engineering, applications for law enforcement training and recruitment, and potential future research opportunities within social engineering and police psychology. 2020-11-11T01:20:51Z The link between depressive symptoms and guilt induction, and the subsequent effects on partner accommodation and tolerance of intimate partner violence The link between depressive symptoms and guilt induction, and the subsequent effects on partner accommodation and tolerance of intimate partner violence Harrison, Bryony Guilt induction is a behaviour involving exaggeration of hurt feelings to elicit guilt in an intimate partner, and thus elicit a reassuring and loving response. This thesis investigates whether greater depressive symptoms are linked with use of low level, everyday guilt induction. We also examine the possibility that guilt induction elicits commitment-driven maintenance behaviour from partners, including accommodation (e.g., smiling, providing encouragement) but also increased tolerance for intimate partner violence. We tested a mediation model in which higher depressive symptoms predicted greater of guilt induction, which in turn predicted greater partner accommodation (Study 1) and tolerance of intimate partner violence (Study 2). We assessed observer-coded guilt induction behaviours in a dyadic study (Study 1; 152 couples) and experiences of partner guilt induction in self-report questionnaires (Study 2; 217 individuals). Depressive symptoms predicted greater use of guilt induction (Study 1), and perceptions of partner’s depressive symptoms predicted more experiences of partner guilt induction (Study 2), suggesting that individuals higher in depressive symptoms experience insecurities consistent with motivations to guilt induce. Guilt induction predicted greater use of immediate partner accommodation (Study 1), and experiences of guilt induction predicted greater tolerance for one of four forms of intimate partner violence (Study 2). This suggests that guilt induction elicits accommodation of negative behaviours, including tolerance of certain types of intimate partner violence. An additional analysis highlighted a change in partner behaviour from increased accommodation when guilt induction initially occurred, to relatively decreased accommodation at the following time point, 30 seconds later (Study 1). This research supports and expands on prior theory suggesting people higher in depressive symptomology tend to use strategies to gain reassurance and care that can ultimately backfire. 2020-11-05T01:52:21Z Saliency in Context: The Effect of Context on the Diagnosticity of Facial Features Saliency in Context: The Effect of Context on the Diagnosticity of Facial Features Reedy, Morgan How might faces we have learned be represented in our memory? Researchers believe that our memory for faces is based on building a robust averaged representation comprised of the stable aspects of the face (i.e., eyes, nose, mouth). However, anecdotal evidence suggests this one size fits all approach to face representations may not be correct. A new theory suggests our representation for faces is instead based on a dynamic weighting, wherein what is seen as most diagnostic during learning will be encoded to a greater extent than other features in the face. One factor that may be especially important for a weighted representation is the context in which a face is initially viewed. Dependent on the context of learning, certain features may appear more distinctive than others and therefore be deemed diagnostic and receive representational weight. The current study had participants learn four faces with one manipulated to appear distinctive in the experimental context by having a unique hair colour (Experiment 1), or eye colour (Experiment 2) compared to the other faces. Participants then completed a recognition task where the feature of interest (i.e., hair or eye colour) was either available or unavailable (i.e., bald and eye closed conditions) for recognition. Findings suggested recognition was disrupted when the diagnostic feature was unavailable compared to when that feature was available, across both distinctive and typical faces. Interestingly, Experiment 2 showed a distinctiveness performance advantage compared to Experiment 1, most likely because neighbouring features may be more diagnostic than others during recognition. In addition, further exploratory analysis showed the order of the test could further affect what was encoded. 2020-11-03T03:00:05Z Suspicious Minds: The Link Between Stress and Perceptions of Agency Suspicious Minds: The Link Between Stress and Perceptions of Agency Meier, Jeremy How do we perceive other minds? Research shows that people intuitively think about other minds in terms of two dimensions: agency (the capacity to think and act) and experience (the capacity to sense and feel). Perceiving a mind in another entity can alter how people interact it because mind perception implies moral status. There is evidence that stress alters the treatment of others, including contributing to dehumanization (the failure to perceive a humanlike mind in another person), but the effect of stress on mind perception is unknown. Based on previous research about the effects of stress on psychological phenomena related to the dimensions of agency and experience, I hypothesized that stress increases perceptions of agency and reduces perceptions of experience. To test these hypotheses, I conducted four studies combining two different measures of mind perception and two different methodological approaches. The results were inconsistent from one study to the next, but a tentative pattern emerged when taking all studies together. Participants who reported high levels of pre-existing stress tended to perceive more agency across a range of different entities, while inducing stress in the laboratory caused participants to attribute agency more readily to inanimate human faces. These results were weak and inconsistent, but they suggest that stress might increase perceptions of agency. The results for experience were inconclusive. I discuss some possible implications of my findings for mind perception and morality. 2020-11-03T02:38:23Z Te Tiriti in Conversation: A Qualitative Approach to Biculturalism and Multiculturalism in Aotearoa Te Tiriti in Conversation: A Qualitative Approach to Biculturalism and Multiculturalism in Aotearoa Ritchie, Tyler Aotearoa is a unique context with complex relationships between many cultural groups. As a result, there are various perspectives on whether society in Aotearoa should adopt biculturalism or multiculturalism to ensure cultural cohesion. This thesis examines the perspectives of two minority groups on this issue by discussing these two cultural approaches with indigenous Māori and migrant groups. Focus groups were held with ten Māori and twelve migrant participants. Participants were asked questions about what biculturalism and multiculturalism mean, how these systems operate in participants lives, and how Aotearoa should develop in regard to these systems. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and pool responses, with five themes identified: biculturalism, multiculturalism, generational changes, sustainability, and identity. Using these themes to help unpack how participants navigate life in Aotearoa, I conclude by discussing whether Aotearoa should be formally identifying as bicultural or multicultural, what a “New Zealand” national identity is to minority citizens, and how immigration policy could be shaped to better fit the ideals of our indigenous and “newest” New Zealanders. 2020-10-29T22:46:59Z From syndromes to symptoms: Advancing our understanding of mental disorders From syndromes to symptoms: Advancing our understanding of mental disorders Clack, Samuel Traditionally, psychiatric syndromes have formed the primary target of explanation in psychopathology research. However, these syndromes have been significantly criticised for their conceptual weakness and lack of validity. Ultimately, this limits our ability to create valid explanations of these categories; if the target is invalid then our explanations will suffer as a consequence. Using depression as extended example, this doctoral thesis explores the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with classifying and explaining mental disorders, and develops an alternative explanatory approach and associated methodology for advancing our understanding of mental disorders – the Phenomena Detection Method (PDM; Clack & Ward, 2020; Ward & Clack, 2019). This theoretical thesis begins by evaluating the current approaches to defining, classifying, and explaining mental disorders like depression, and explores the methodological and theoretical challenges with building theories of them. Next, in moving forward, I argue that the explanatory target in psychopathology research should shift from arbitrary syndromes to the central symptoms and signs of mental disorders. By conceptualising the symptoms of a disorder as clinical phenomena, and by adopting epistemic model pluralism as an explanatory strategy, we can build multi-faceted explanations of the processes and factors that constitute a disorder’s core symptoms. This core theoretical and methodological work is then followed by the development of the PDM. Unique in the field of psychopathology, the PDM links different phases of the inquiry process to provide a methodology for conceptualising the symptoms of psychopathology and for constructing multi-level models of the pathological processes that comprise them. Next, I apply the PDM to the two core symptoms of depression – ¬anhedonia and depressed mood – as an illustrative example of the advantages of this approach. This includes providing a more secure relationship between the pathology of depression and its phenotypic presentation, as well as greater insight into the relationship between underlying biological and psychological processes, and behavioural dysfunction. Next, I evaluate the PDM in comparison to existing metatheoretical approaches in the field and make some suggestions for future development. Finally, I conclude with a summary of the main contributions of this thesis. Considering the issues with current diagnostic categories, simply continuing to build explanations of syndromes is not a fruitful way forward. Rather, the complexity of mental disorders suggests we need to represent their key psychopathological phenomena or symptoms at different levels or aspects using multiple models. This thesis provides the metatheoretical and methodological foundations for this to successfully occur. 2020-10-19T03:17:46Z The Impact of Educational Intervention on Young People's Understanding of Legal Rights in New Zealand The Impact of Educational Intervention on Young People's Understanding of Legal Rights in New Zealand Ryan, Julia The Child and Young Persons version of the Rights Caution is read to young people to inform them of their legal rights during police arrest and questioning in New Zealand. Research to date suggests the way legal rights are currently delivered does not meet young people’s developmental needs, as young people do not understand their rights. This research aimed to examine: 1) the level of legal rights understanding among young people in New Zealand; 2) the relationship between age and understanding; and 3) whether understanding can be improved with a video-based educational intervention which provided young people with legal rights knowledge. In this study a community sample of young people (n = 99), aged 10 to 18-years, was used. Participants were assigned to two groups; one group received an educational video which provided legal rights knowledge, while the other received the legal rights as they are currently delivered in practice with the Child and Young Persons version of the Caution. Young people’s understanding of legal rights was then assessed in a semi-structured interview using the New Zealand Rights Caution Competency Questionnaire (Fortune et al., 2017). The results showed levels of understanding among this sample were low, with young people misunderstanding many parts of their legal rights. Regression analysis revealed age was a significant positive predictor of legal rights understanding, suggesting younger youth are most vulnerable to incomplete legal rights understanding. Regression analysis also revealed the educational video significantly improved young people’s understanding across a variety of legal rights abilities, including their ability to remember and apply legal rights in hypothetical legal scenarios. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed, alongside the need for the delivery of legal rights to address a broader range of young people’s legal rights difficulties; including young people’s lack of legal rights knowledge. 2020-10-18T23:05:44Z Will You Run? The Development of a Risk Assessment Tool to Predict Absconding from Secure Youth Justice Residences Will You Run? The Development of a Risk Assessment Tool to Predict Absconding from Secure Youth Justice Residences Wood, Jesse Absconding, or escaping, from usually state-based custody is a growing problem in different settings across the world, including New Zealand’s secure youth justice residences. This thesis provides an in-depth review of absconding from Oranga Tamariki’s secure youth justice residences in New Zealand, providing important insight that will be useful in preventing absconding in the future. A review of the international and New Zealand absconding literature was conducted looking at the risk and protective factors associated with absconding risk. From this, a coding framework of absconding related factors was developed, and then applied to historic absconding incident reports and interviews with Oranga Tamariki staff members. These were analysed to confirm potential absconding risk or protective factors and identify any new factors. Results fell into four key categories: individual (e.g. previous absconding history), relational (e.g. avoidance goals), contextual risk factors (e.g. significant life stressors), and protective factors (e.g. positive staff relationships). Several implications and conclusions were drawn from the findings. Absconding factors identified in international research were also present in the current research adding weight to these as potential risk and protective factors in a New Zealand context (Martin et al., 2018; Powers et al., 2018; Pyrooz, 2012). Novel absconding related factors were identified which were not found in the extant literature, such as planning indications, ringleaders, and hope. The reasons young people abscond are complex and individual, however, they abscond for reasons that make sense—often as a coping strategy—and thus are identifiable. By identifying these underlying reasons, it is possible to intervene and reduce their absconding motivations. A preliminary risk assessment tool aimed at doing this, was created for Oranga Tamariki use, incorporating factors drawn from the current research and the wider literature. 2020-10-12T01:02:51Z Belief, Belonging, or Both? The Interaction Between Supernatural Belief and Identity Fusion, and their Influence on Cooperative Behaviour Belief, Belonging, or Both? The Interaction Between Supernatural Belief and Identity Fusion, and their Influence on Cooperative Behaviour Twitchin, Samuel Research within the psychology of religion has illustrated the importance of both religious belief and religious belonging for facilitating cooperative behaviour. Specifically, the supernatural punishment hypothesis (Johnson, 2016; Johnson & Krüger, 2004) and identity fusion (Swann et al., 2009; Whitehouse, 2018) discuss belief and belonging, respectively. This thesis examines the connection of these two areas, with a focus on the understudied religious concept of karma. In Study 1, 193 participants took part in an online questionnaire, with a five-condition between subjects design, that investigated the content of religious belief by using karma and god related religious priming stimuli (images and vignettes) to influence individual’s belief. None of the four experimental conditions were found to change responses on belief in supernatural agents or karma. Belief in god/karma was associated with endorsement of both a punitive and benevolent god/karma. However, when both endorsements were included in the model, only benevolent endorsement was significant. In Study 2, 402 participants took part in a three-condition mixed-methods design with six repeated trials of a voluntary contribution task, which investigated how karma and god related religious priming stimuli (vignettes) influenced cooperative behaviour. Mixed methods analysis revealed that those in the karma condition had higher cooperative tendencies than those in the neutral condition, but did not differ from the god condition. Belief in supernatural agents did not affect how individuals were affected by the god condition. However, those with higher belief in supernatural agents and higher identity fusion were the least cooperative within the karma condition. Contrary to what was predicted, increased belief in karma predicted un-cooperative behaviour in the karma condition. These and other important findings are discussed with focus on the New Zealand context and how the findings from this thesis contributes to the supernatural punishment and identity fusion literature, by highlighting implications, limitations, and areas of focus for future research. 2020-10-05T00:50:02Z The Developmental Role of Serotonin: A Comparison of Short- and Long-term Blockade of the Serotonin Transporter on Behavioural Outcomes in Adulthood The Developmental Role of Serotonin: A Comparison of Short- and Long-term Blockade of the Serotonin Transporter on Behavioural Outcomes in Adulthood O'Connell, Amy Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter that regulates a range of processes within the brain and is implicated in several psychiatric disorders. In addition, serotonin acts as a developmental signal during critical periods of prenatal development, influencing processes such as neuronal proliferation, migration, and synaptogenesis (Gaspar et al., 2003). The serotonin transporter (5- HTT) plays a key role in regulating extracellular serotonin levels and is the main target of selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of drugs that have anti-anxiety and anti- depressive activity. SSRIs cause an acute increase in extracellular serotonin and are commonly prescribed as a treatment for depression and anxiety during pregnancy (Tran & Robb, 2015). Given that these drugs alter serotonin transmission and can pass to the developing fetus via the placenta, it is vital that the outcomes of prenatal SSRI exposure are investigated. In humans, a genetic variant of the gene that codes for the 5-HTT (SLC6A4) has been linked to increased risk for developing depression and anxiety (Caspi et al., 2003). The functional consequences of this genetic polymorphism are life-long alterations in 5-HTT activity, resulting in increased extracellular levels of serotonin (Nakamura et al., 2000). Given prenatal SSRI exposure results in a time-locked blockade of 5-HTT during critical periods of development, it follows that alterations in serotonin during development might similarly result in enhanced risk for depression and anxiety later in life. Outcomes in children prenatally exposed to SSRIs are difficult to study due to confounds of pre- existing maternal depression. Therefore, the current thesis presents two experiments that aimed to further investigate the role of altered extracellular serotonin levels during development in an animal model. Experiment one aimed to develop a method of voluntary oral administration of the SSRI fluoxetine to pregnant rat dams. This method was then applied in experiment two to create a time-locked blockade of 5-HTT during critical periods of development in an animal model of life-long 5-HTT blockade. The aim of experiment two was to directly assess the contribution of short- and long-term 5-HTT blockade on anxiety and depression phenotypes in adult male offspring. In addition, maternal behaviour was assessed to determine whether fluoxetine treatment had an influence on mother-pup interactions that could confound results. To test for anxiety and depression phenotypes, the novel affective disorder test (ADT) was used to assess anxiety behaviour and the deficits in anticipatory pleasure indicative of anhedonia. In the current study, fluoxetine treatment did not have an effect on litter outcomes or mother-pup interactions. Crucially, no significant group differences were found indicating that neither short- nor long- term blockade of 5-HTT resulted in increased anxiety- or depressive-like behaviours in the current experiment. However, limitations with methodological design limit the translatability of these results to the broader literature, and validation of the ADT is required before these results can be generalised beyond this thesis. 2020-09-30T22:19:56Z Exploring the role of schizotypy in creative cognition Exploring the role of schizotypy in creative cognition Hedley, Sophie Creativity is hugely important in our everyday lives. Understanding what makes some people more creative than others is not just important in traditional creative fields. Creative problem solving is the key to solving all significant challenges we face as a society, including but not limited to technological, political and environmental challenges. Mental illness, in both popular culture and in psychological science, have long been linked to creative thought. Many eminent creatives, both past and current, attribute their success to their mental illness. For example, in schizophrenia, the grandiose thinking and florid hallucinations that characterise this disorder may be supportive of creative thinking. However, schizophrenia is characterised by severe cognitive deficits that, according to models of creativity, would be disadvantageous to creative thinking. Schizotypy is a personality trait that is characterised by some features of schizophrenia (unusual thinking, poor interpersonal communication), but is not accompanied by the same severe cognitive deficits seen in schizophrenia. Based on this view, it is reasonable to assume that people high on schizotypal traits may be more creative than those who are low on schizotypal traits. While there a number of studies examining this relationship, findings are inconsistent, with effect sizes ranging from -.42 to .8. In my thesis, I explored a) whether there was a relationship between schizotypy and creativity and b) whether that relationship could be explained by underlying differences in cognitive processing (associative processing and executive control). I predicted that positive schizotypy in particular (typified by unusual thinking, superstitious beliefs) would be positively correlated with schizotypy in three different measures of creativity (two performance based tasks and one self-report measure) in two different samples of participants. In Chapters 3 + 4, I tested the relationship between schizotypy and creativity using two different methods. In chapter 3, I found no evidence for the predicted effect. In fact, I found a negative association between positive schizotypy and scores on one measure of creativity (the Remote Associates test) and a positive association between negative schizotypy (characterised by interpersonal deficits) and performance on the RAT. These effects did not replicate in the second sample. Finally, there was a positive association between disorganised schizotypy and creativity on the Alternate Uses task. The results of Chapter 4, using a latent profile analytic approach, mirrored the results of Chapter 3. Finally, Chapter 5 found no support for any relationship being mediated by associative processing or executive control; however, there was partial support for two models of creativity. Overall, evidence suggests that schizotypal traits are not helpful for creativity. These results shed light on some of the challenges when conducting research regarding both schizotypy and creativity. 2020-09-30T03:51:56Z Why do people prepare for natural hazards? An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to household preparation Why do people prepare for natural hazards? An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to household preparation Vinnell, Lauren Natural hazards impact millions of people globally and lead to billions of dollars of economic loss each year. New Zealand is one of many countries vulnerable to multiple natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruption, and high impact weather. Despite these well-known risks, many residents of the capital city of Wellington have taken few steps to be more prepared. This location, therefore, presented an appropriate population for the investigations within this thesis. Decades of social science research has identified a multitude of factors related to preparation behaviour. However, many of these factors, such as risk perception and previous experience of natural hazards, are difficult to manipulate successfully in broad public education campaigns. The first main aim of this thesis was therefore to identify thoughts and beliefs about preparing which predict people’s preparation behaviour, with the aim of identifying specific factors which can be efficiently and effectively targeted in campaigns encouraging preparation. This research was structured using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) which proposes a specific set of cognitions that affect intention formation as well as beliefs which inform those cognitions. In addition to using this model to structure the investigation, this thesis undertook several refinements and extensions to the model to address inconsistencies within TPB research. The intent of doing so was to provide a set of findings and a questionnaire which are not limited by those inconsistencies and which can be adapted for a range of behavioural contexts. Four empirical studies were carried out, involving a total of 2,298 participants from the general population. Study 1 tested the applicability of this theory to the context of natural disaster preparation and clarified the nature of that context. Using an online survey of 722 residents of the urban Wellington region, Study 1 demonstrated low levels of preparation, identified not “getting around to it” as a main barrier to preparation, and supported a more extensive application of the TPB with the factors explaining approximately 16% of the variance in intentions. Study 2 tested a full TPB questionnaire including both the two-factor distinction (splitting attitudes into instrumental and experiential, norms in descriptive and injunctive, and perceived behaviour control into controllability and self-efficacy) and belief components which are proposed to precede attitudes, norms, and control. This study used an online sample of 603 Wellington residents. All the cognitions within the theory except perceived descriptive norms were significantly associated with either past behaviour or intentions to prepare, explaining approximately 47% of the variance in intentions. This study also included an experimental framing manipulation, demonstrating benefits of referring to “natural hazard” preparation rather than “natural disaster” preparation. Study 3 concluded the development of the TPB questionnaire by assessing intentions, cognitions, and beliefs at one point in time and behaviour one month later to allow for stronger inferences about causality, with a sample of 61 participants across both time points. This study used a different recruitment method than the previous studies: posted survey invites using addresses randomly selected from the electoral roll. Although this method did not produce a more demographically representative sample than the recruitment method used in Studies 1 and 2 as intended, Study 3 reproduced the findings of the “natural hazard” condition in Study 2. Finally, this study identified several key beliefs related to preparing such as the belief that preparing helps people to get through a natural hazard event better, that people can make the effort to prepare, and that preparing can be fun and rewarding. These beliefs offer specific and tangible factors which can be efficiently addressed in public education campaigns. An intervention run previously by the New Zealand National Emergency Agency, the ShakeOut earthquake drill, was retrospectively evaluated in Study 4 by comparing those who did and those who did not participate (N = 480) using the TPB framework. Those who participated in the drill demonstrated better knowledge and use of the protective actions that are the focus of the drill than those who did not participate. Although this intervention was not informed by the findings of the previous studies, drill participants also demonstrated more positive scores for the TPB cognitions and intentions compared to non-participants, although more of the variance in intentions was explained for the latter (approximately 41%) than the former (approximately 31%). Overall, findings from the empirical studies support the recommendation for consistent inclusion of all tested refinements to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (i.e., the two-factor distinction, the inclusion of belief measures, and careful development of behavioural measures). This thesis represents a uniquely thorough test of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to natural hazard preparation with important implications for both the contextual value of the theory and how the theory is applied in research broadly. The research also supports previous findings of the importance of instrumental attitudes and self-efficacy for natural hazard preparation and contributed the novel factor of experiential attitudes as well as identifying new, specific beliefs to target in public education campaigns. These contributions to our understanding of why people prepare for natural hazards can be used to encourage more people in Wellington, in New Zealand, and globally to be more prepared. 2020-09-07T01:28:31Z Revising the Language of the New Zealand Youth Rights Caution to Support Understanding Among Young People Revising the Language of the New Zealand Youth Rights Caution to Support Understanding Among Young People Talbot, Lydia Many young people in New Zealand will engage in antisocial behaviour during their teenage years. Consequently, many young people will interact with the police. When young people speak to police, they are read the Child/Young Persons Rights Caution (the Youth Caution) which informs them of the rights they are entitled to (legal rights), such as choosing to stay silent and speaking with a lawyer. However, many young people have an incomplete understanding of their rights as the Youth Caution does not support complete understanding. An explanation for this incomplete understanding is the language within the Youth Caution is too complex for young people. The current study sought to address this issue by creating and piloting a revised youth caution which aimed to be simpler and easier for young people to understand. Three research questions were addressed in this study: 1) What was young people’s level of understanding of their legal rights? 2) Would the revised youth caution improve the level of legal rights understanding? 3) Would understanding of legal rights increase with age? To answer these questions, young people (aged 10-18 years) were recruited from schools and the community (n = 101). Their legal rights understanding levels were then assessed, based on hearing either the standard or the revised youth caution. The results in relation to the research questions showed participants’ legal rights understanding was incomplete, the revised youth caution did not improve understanding across any aspects of legal rights understanding and understanding increased with age. These results suggest simplifying the language within the Youth Caution is not sufficient to support young people’s understanding, and legislation could offer further support, such as requiring a lawyer to be present as the default option when young people are speaking to the police. 2020-08-26T22:18:39Z Effect of repeated MDMA exposure on rat brain and behaviour Effect of repeated MDMA exposure on rat brain and behaviour van de Wetering, Ross Rationale. ±3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘ecstasy’) is a popular recreational drug of abuse. Like other drugs of abuse, a proportion of users develop symptoms that are characteristic of a Substance Use Disorder (SUD). The behavioural and neurobiological consequences of repeated misuse of MDMA are not well understood, however. Objectives. The purpose of the present thesis was to investigate behaviourally relevant neuroadaptations that develop with repeated MDMA exposure in laboratory rats. Methods. First, the effect of chronic, long-access (6 hour) self-administration of MDMA on the accumulation of the transcription factor, ΔFosB, in the nucleus accumbens (core, shell), dorsal striatum (dorsomedial, dorsolateral, ventromedial, ventrolateral), prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate, prelimbic, infralimbic, orbitofrontal), amygdala (central, basolateral), ventral tegmental area (anterior, posterior), and raphe (dorsal, median) was measured using immunohistochemistry. Second, the behavioural relevance of these findings was determined by examining the effect of bi-lateral intra-striatal (nucleus accumbens, dorsomedial striatum, dorsolateral striatum) microinjections of MDMA (200 μg/1 μL/side) on the expression of behavioural sensitisation following two days of withdrawal from a regimen of repeated, systemic MDMA exposure (10 mg/kg/day, i.p., for 5 days). Third, a procedure was developed to examine neurochemical correlates of sensitised MDMA-produced behaviour (0, 5, 10 mg/kg, i.p.) following the same regimen of repeated MDMA exposure. Samples were collected from the medial striatum using in vivo microdialysis and the extracellular concentrations of serotonin, dopamine, MDMA, and their metabolites were quantified using liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry. Lastly, a unique untargeted metabolomics procedure was developed to further analyse these microdialysis samples and to identify novel or unexpected metabolites that were relevant to the sensitised behavioural response produced by MDMA. Results. MDMA self-administration produced region-dependant increases in ΔFosB. Significant increases in ΔFosB were observed in the nucleus accumbens core, the medial areas of the dorsal striatum, as well as all areas of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Small, but significant increases were also observed in the dorsal raphe. Increases were observed in the nucleus accumbens shell and the posterior tail of the ventral tegmental area, but these increases were not significant following statistical correction for multiple comparisons. Acute exposure to MDMA increased locomotor activity only when the drug was infused into the nucleus accumbens. Following repeated systemic exposure, behavioural sensitisation was expressed when MDMA was infused into both the nucleus accumbens or the dorsomedial striatum, but not the dorsolateral striatum. Analysis of microdialysates from the medial striatum indicated that behavioural sensitisation was accompanied by small increases in baseline levels of extracellular serotonin and decreased MDMA-produced increases in serotonin, but these changes were not statistically significant. Behavioural sensitisation was also accompanied by increased extracellular concentrations of dopamine at baseline and following acute MDMA exposure, but these data were not statistically analysed due to small sample sizes. MDMA-produced extracellular concentrations of MDMA did not change with repeated exposure. Untargeted metabolomics revealed potential changes in MDMA and dopamine metabolism that might be relevant to the sensitised behavioural response. Conclusions. The findings of the current research suggest that repeated MDMA exposure results in many of the same neuroadaptations that result from repeated exposure to other drugs of abuse. These included increased ΔFosB expression in many brain regions that are relevant to addiction, such as the nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum, and prefrontal cortex. Dopaminergic mechanisms also appeared to be influenced and were associated with sensitised MDMA-produced behaviour. Surprisingly, serotonergic mechanisms were not significantly impacted by repeated MDMA exposure under the current conditions. Some of the procedures developed in this thesis are unique and may be of value for future research investigating the neurochemical underpinnings of addictive behaviour or other disease states. 2020-08-24T03:15:44Z Exploring Attrition and Completion in a Community Situated Family Violence Intervention Programme Exploring Attrition and Completion in a Community Situated Family Violence Intervention Programme Frost, Anjela This thesis aims to explore the factors associated with attrition and completion for a New Zealand based community situated family violence intervention programme. It takes a mixed methods approach across two studies. Study one quantitatively investigated the attrition rate of the programme, and factors that predict this attrition. It used survival analysis techniques to analyse data files collected during the assessment phase of the programme. An attrition rate of 46% was identified, which is slightly higher than the average rate of attrition across family violence prevention programmes internationally. Ethnicity was the only variable found to predict attrition. Study two qualitatively explored the experiences of men who completed the intervention programme. Men were interviewed to provide insights into the facilitators and barriers to programme completion. Thematic analysis identified three themes of overcoming barriers to engagement and attendance; motivating factors for engagement; and the importance of active participation in facilitating healing. Aspects of the programme that could be strengthened to improve the engagement and attendance of future participants are discussed alongside the wider implications for family violence prevention practice and policy. 2020-08-24T01:44:34Z When Genetic and Environmental Factors Meet in Modelling Autism When Genetic and Environmental Factors Meet in Modelling Autism Pettie, Michaela Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterised by deficits in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction and repetitive behaviours (APA, 2013). The aetiology of ASD is mostly unknown, with continued research identifying a multitude of genetic and non-genetic factors. However, it is the interaction between environmental factors and the genetic background of an individual which leads to the development of ASD. There is an urgent need for improved animal models of ASD to further our understanding of the aetiology and particularly its pathophysiology, as this will aid in the development of much needed pharmaceutical treatments to alleviate the impact of adverse symptoms for individuals with ASD. Current animal models of ASD examine the genetic (e.g. serotonin transporter knock out rats) or the environmental (e.g. prenatal exposure to Valproate) contributions to the disorder, and very rarely a combination of the two. This thesis aimed to improve the Valproate (VPA) induced ASD animal model with a genetic × environmental interaction approach, as well as optimising chronic administration of the VPA to pregnant rats. To this aim, a non-invasive method of delivering VPA was used, which allowed genetically normal rats to voluntarily consume VPA throughout pregnancy. The prenatal exposure to VPA led to ASD-like behaviours in the offspring (communication delays, increased social behaviour, and social aversion). Next, rats with a genetic deficit in SERT (SERT+/-) exposed to VPA throughout gestation, with an optimised administration method using gelatine pellets, which allowed for voluntary non-invasive consumption, and a more accurate administration of increased VPA doses. Overall, the chronic prenatal exposure to VPA in SERT+/- rats led to a mild ASD-like phenotype, with rats exhibiting communication delays, abnormal play behaviour, disrupted social preference, and to some extent increased anxiety-like behaviour. The brains of the adult offspring were examined for neuronal changes in the GABA interneurons in brain regions associated with social behaviour (amygdala and hippocampus). However, no significant effects of prenatal VPA exposure, genotype, or sex were found. Thus, the variations GABAergic system is unlikely to underlie the earlier identified behavioural alterations. Ultimately, this thesis has furthered the VPA induced ASD animal model with a genetic × environmental interaction approach, as well as optimising the chronic administration method for pregnant rats. 2020-08-17T02:07:07Z Learning to Expect the Predictable: The Role of Expectation in the Cognitive Control of Attention Learning to Expect the Predictable: The Role of Expectation in the Cognitive Control of Attention Botes, Andre Some of the visual world is relevant to our goals and needs. Much more is not. A problem we face frequently in day-to-day living is that we are distracted by what is not relevant to our goals at the cost of attention towards what is. Emotional stimuli in particular have been shown to be very effective distractors, out-competing task-relevant stimuli for our attentional resources (Carretié, 2014; Pessoa, 2005; Pourtois et al., 2013). How often emotional distractors occur can alter our ability to ignore them and remain task focussed (Grimshaw et al., 2018; Schmidts et al., 2020). The Dual Mechanisms of Control framework (Braver et al., 2007; Braver, 2012) suggests that, because we can expect upcoming distractors when they occur frequently, we can effectively avoid distraction through proactive control; the use of effortful preparatory cognitive control strategies. That said, when distractors are frequent, we also become more experienced with them, and resolving the attentional conflict they create. The present investigation spanned two experiments assessing whether expectation of upcoming distractors would elicit proactive control while holding the experience of previous distractors constant. In Experiment 1 participants performed a simple perceptual task at fixation while neutral or negative task irrelevant images appeared peripherally on 25% of trials, either predictably in sequence (every fourth trial) or randomly. Expectation of distraction did not improve participants’ ability to avoid emotional distraction. A paradoxical expectation effect was also found wherein distraction was increased rather than decreased when distractors occurred predictably. In Experiment 2 distractors appeared either predictably (every fourth trial), on a random 25% of trials, or on a random 75% of trials. However, neutral and emotional images were now presented at fixation with the perceptual task presented above and below. Greater distractor frequency led to lower distraction and expectation of upcoming distractors again did not improve control, although a paradoxical increase in distraction was not replicated. Findings indicate that expectation of upcoming distractors alone is not sufficient to drive individuals to implement proactive control. Rather, distractor frequency is suggested to drive proactive control through implicit changes in top-down control settings based on experience. While the processes behind experience-driven proactive control are unclear, conflict adaptation and selection history are discussed as possible mechanisms of experience driven proactive control. Critically, present findings also indicate that emotional stimuli may present a unique challenge to our ability to control our attention. 2020-08-12T04:04:42Z Parent-Adolescent Reminiscing and Youth Psychopathology: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Investigation Parent-Adolescent Reminiscing and Youth Psychopathology: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Investigation Dewhirst, Mary Parent-child conversations about past experiences—reminiscing—are key in children’s growing emotional competency and their psychological well-being (Salmon & Reese, 2016). Very little research, however, has investigated the relationship between parent-adolescent reminiscing conversations and adolescent psychological adjustment, which is particularly important because adolescence is a period of heightened risk for the development of rumination and internalising disorders, especially anxiety and depression (Miller-Slough & Dunsmore, 2016). This thesis extended the literature on reminiscing in three ways. First, we examined different qualities of mother-adolescent reminiscing and their relationships to psychological outcomes during the period of middle adolescence. Second, we investigated the associations between mother-adolescent reminiscing qualities and youth rumination and internalising symptoms (anxiety and depression), cross-sectionally and longitudinally to help disentangle the direction of the associations. Finally, we applied dyadic methods of coding and statistical analyses in a novel approach that modelled the transactional nature of reminiscing conversations and their associations with youth psychological outcomes. In Study 1 we tested the discriminant and convergent validity of a dyadic coding scheme, for use on parent-adolescent conversations about past events. The aim of Study 1 was to establish the methodological foundations for examining parent-adolescent reminiscing conversations in a way that lends itself to dyadic analysis. To do this, two coding schemes (a traditional reminiscing scheme and a dyadic scheme) were applied to a community sample of 67 mother-adolescent dyad and their conversations about a past shared conflict event. Consistent with our predictions, parent-adolescent reminiscing qualities that extended the conversation and promoted highly detailed narratives were correlated with supportive interpersonal processes that endorsed co-construction and collaboration during the discussion. In contrast, qualities that discontinued the conversation were correlated with unsupportive interpersonal processes that promoted avoidance/disengagement and repetitive problem engagement. Next, we applied the dyadic coding scheme to assess the transactional relationships between parent-adolescent reminiscing qualities and youth rumination and internalising symptoms. In Study 2 we tested the cross-sectional (Study 2a) and longitudinal (Study 2b) relationships between parent-adolescent reminiscing qualities and youth rumination, anxiety, and depression. Using the same sample of 67 mother-adolescent dyads in Study 1, transcripts of the past conflict discussions were coded dyadically for unsupportive and supportive mother and adolescent reminiscing qualities. Self-report measures of rumination, anxiety, and depression were also collected from mothers and adolescents, respectively. The adolescents then completed the same self-report measures at a follow-up time-point one year later. Overall, dyadic analyses found no significant associations between mother-adolescent reminiscing qualities and youth rumination or depression, cross-sectionally or longitudinally. We did, however, find a bi-directional relationship between unsupportive mother-adolescent reminiscing qualities and heightened anxiety symptoms cross-sectionally. The concurrent findings suggest that mothers and adolescents are mutually reinforcing youth anxiety symptoms, in part, through the promotion of emotional avoidance. Furthermore, exploratory moderation findings, indicated a significant buffering effect of youth engagement in supportive conversational qualities during reminiscing about past negative events with their mothers, and lower levels of youth anxiety over time. These findings have implications for practice and theory. First, in terms of clinical intervention, the research refines our understanding of interpersonal factors related to youth anxiety during middle adolescence, in particular the role of the parent-adolescent reminiscing conversations. Second, the current research highlights the importance of adopting interpersonal methods when studying parent-adolescent interactions as a way to accurately model and test the inherently interpersonal nature of reminiscing. 2020-08-09T23:53:07Z Rainbow experiences of accessing mental health support in Aotearoa New Zealand: A community-based mixed methods study Rainbow experiences of accessing mental health support in Aotearoa New Zealand: A community-based mixed methods study Fraser, Gloria While we know that rainbow people in Aotearoa New Zealand (that is, people of diverse sexualities, genders, and sex characteristics) experience high rates of adverse mental health outcomes, we know much less about the extent to which Aotearoa’s rainbow community members are receiving the mental health support they need. To address this gap I used mixed methods and a reflexive community-based approach to extend current understandings of rainbow mental health support experiences, and to explore how the provision of mental health care can be improved for rainbow people in New Zealand. I first conducted interviews with 34 rainbow community young adults about their experiences of accessing mental health support. My thematic analysis showed that rainbow people across New Zealand faced significant structural barriers to accessing mental health support. Participants understood mental health settings as embedded within a heteronormative and cisnormative societal context, rather than as a safe place outside this context. This, together with a widespread silence from mental health professionals around rainbow identity, meant that participants actively negotiated coming out in mental health settings. Participants shared a variety of perspectives as to whether it should be standard practice for mental health professionals to ask about rainbow identities, but agreed on a number of subtle acts that could communicate a professional or service is rainbow-friendly. Knowledge about sexuality, gender, and sex characteristic diversity, together with clinical skills of empathy, validation, and affirmation, were described as key components for the provision of effective mental health support. I conducted a second thematic analysis of data from a subset of the initial interviews, in which 13 participants discussed their experiences of accessing gender-affirming healthcare. Participants reported a lack of funding for gender-affirming healthcare in New Zealand, and described its provision a “postcode lottery”; the care available was largely dependent on the region participants were living in. Mental health assessments for accessing gender-affirming care were often described as tests of whether participants were “really” transgender, and participants discussed the need to express their gender in a particular way in order to access the healthcare they needed. Thematic analyses of interview data informed the development of an online survey about rainbow peoples’ experiences of accessing mental health support and gender-affirming healthcare in New Zealand (n = 1575). Survey results closely reflected interview findings, indicating that rainbow people have mixed experiences in New Zealand’s mental health settings, and that accessing gender-affirming healthcare is a lengthy and convoluted process. Finally, interview and survey data were used to develop a resource for mental health professionals, to guide their work with rainbow clients. I sought and incorporated feedback from key stakeholders (n = 108) during resource development. I then distributed the resource to mental health professionals around New Zealand, both in print and online. Overall, my research shows that widespread knowledge gaps compromise the ability of New Zealand’s mental health professionals to provide culturally competent support to rainbow clients. Knowledge from this thesis can be used to increase awareness of rainbow community members’ mental health support needs, and to inform mental health professionals’ training and self-reflection around sexuality, gender, and sex characteristic diversity. 2020-07-30T21:24:12Z Cultural Models of the Self and Environmentalism: A Cross-cultural and Experimental Investigation Cultural Models of the Self and Environmentalism: A Cross-cultural and Experimental Investigation Duff, Hamish Previous research suggests human–nature relations are influenced by human–human relations, particularly those related to the inclusion of others in self. Individuals who construe the self as more interdependent from others are more likely to protect nature than those who construe the self as more independent from others. We conducted cross-cultural and experimental studies to examine this proposition systematically using a recently developed seven-dimension model of self-construal. Study 1 (N = 7,279, k = 55) confirmed that those who saw themselves as more connected and committed to others were more likely to endorse environmental protectionism. Multilevel moderation analysis indicated that the association between commitment to others and environmental protection was stronger in societies that express greater difference to others and have greater self-expression, commitment to others, environmental performance, and societal development. However, experimentally priming interdependent versus independent self-construals in Study 2 (N = 419) did not increase participants’ connectedness with nature, but nature connectedness mediated the relationships between connection to others and pro-environmental attitudes. Results indicate that inclusion of others in self translates into inclusion of nature in self and environmental protection but inducing this effect may be challenging. 2020-07-16T21:10:06Z Chivalry vs. Patriarchy: Exploring the Psychological Mechanisms of Physical Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Chivalry vs. Patriarchy: Exploring the Psychological Mechanisms of Physical Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) A'Court, Ara Two leading theories propose different reasons for men’s and women’s intimate partner violence (IPV). The gendered theory proposes that society’s patriarchal norms of male dominance and female subordination cause men’s IPV towards women. From this perspective, violence against ‘wives’ is condoned by society, and women only perpetrate IPV in self-defence against men’s primary violence. Conversely, the chivalrous theory of IPV explains women’s IPV perpetration in terms of society’s chivalrous norms, which protect women from male violence and emboldens women to physically assault male partners. From this perspective, women’s violence is not considered harmful to men. As gendered theory and chivalrous theory both reference stereotyped gender attitudes (sexism) towards women, I used the ambivalent sexism inventory (ASI) to test the competing theories efficacy in explaining IPV perpetration by heterosexual men and women. The ASI conceptualises sexist attitudes towards women as comprised of two parts: hostile sexism (reflecting the hostility towards women outlined by gendered theory), and benevolent sexism (reflecting the benevolence towards women outlined by chivalrous theory). Gendered theory states that society condones violence towards women. Thus, men’s attitudes approving of male-perpetrated IPV should mediate the relationship between men’s hostile sexism and IPV, if gendered theory predictions are correct. Alternatively, chivalrous theory poses that society does not approve of violence towards women. Thus, attitudes disapproving of men’s IPV against women and approving of women’s IPV towards men should mediate the relationship between benevolent sexism and IPV if chivalrous theory is correct. I hypothesized men’s increased hostile sexism would predict men’s increased IPV perpetration through increased approval of IPV against women, and men’s increased benevolent sexism would predict men’s decreased IPV perpetration through decreased approval of IPV against women. Further, I hypothesised that women’s increased hostile sexism would predict women’s increased IPV perpetration through increased approval of IPV against men, and women’s benevolent sexism would predict increased IPV perpetration through increased approval of IPV against men. North American men and women (N = 688) filled out an online questionnaire measuring experiences of IPV as victims and/or perpetrators, approval of male and female IPV perpetration, and hostile and benevolent sexism. Multi-group structural equation modelling tested the extent to which positive attitudes toward intimate partner violence mediated the association between sexism and IPV perpetration for men and for women. Results found that, for both men and women, increased hostile sexism predicted greater IPV perpetration through greater approval of men’s IPV against women. Furthermore, increased benevolent sexism predicted women’s increased IPV perpetration through increased approval of men’s IPV against women. Men’s increased benevolent sexism did not predict men’s lower IPV perpetration or disapproval of IPV against women. However, men’s and women’s ambivalent sexism also predicted greater approval of women’s IPV towards men. Results did not fully support patriarchal or chivalrous predictions, instead aligning well with ambivalent sexism theory which posits a more inclusive and holistic understanding of the relationship between sexism and IPV perpetration. Reducing all forms of sexism and men’s and women’s positive attitudes toward the use of IPV are identified as important targets for IPV treatment and prevention. 2020-07-14T23:45:33Z Under what circumstances does autobiographical memory enhance self-control? Under what circumstances does autobiographical memory enhance self-control? Duff, Nicky Self-control is an important skill because it helps us regulate many of our behaviours, such as how much we eat and drink. Limiting our intake of food and drink is sometimes difficult to do, however. One explanation for why self-control can be difficult is because the value for good health is discounted because it’s delayed, whereas the reward of food and drink are immediate. This is known as delay discounting: larger, future rewards (e.g. saving for a future holiday) decrease in value with the increase in delay and thus people sometimes pick a smaller, sooner reward instead (e.g. needless shopping now). Using a delay discounting paradigm, this study examined whether autobiographical memories can enhance self-control. Study 1 was a replication study and found that cuing participants to retrieve positive, episodic memories enhanced self-control. This effect was only evident in one out of two delay discounting measures used, however. Building on these findings, Study 2 and 3 investigated whether the amount of episodic detail in specific autobiographical memories and a positive self-concept contribute to the effect of autobiographical memory enhancing self-control. The amount of episodic detail recalled was not related to self-control and results about a positive self-concept were inconclusive. Unexpectedly Study 3 also yielded a non-significant result for positive, episodic memory enhancing self-control. Participants in Study 3 were, however, significantly more tired than participants in Study 1, raising the possibility that they were less engaged in the task. This pattern of findings suggests that the effect of autobiographical memory on self-control is fragile, and is possibly influenced by factors such as participant fatigue. Potential reasons for the fragile effect and inconclusive results, and a potential way forward are also discussed. 2020-07-10T03:18:53Z What is Mental Disorder? Developing an Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Psychopathology What is Mental Disorder? Developing an Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Psychopathology Nielsen, Kristopher What we take mental disorder to be has implications for how researchers classify, explain, and treat mental disorders. It also shapes how the public treat those who are experiencing mental disorder. This is the often-underemphasized task of conceptualization, which sits at the foundation of psychopathology research. In this thesis I consider the nature of mental disorder through the lens of a growing perspective known as embodied enactivism. Embodied enactivism is a philosophical position on human functioning that holds the mind to be: embodied (non-cartesian, and constituted by both brain and body), embedded (richly influenced by the physical and social environment across development), and enactive (meaning and experience arise through the precarious organisms’ interactions with the world). After overviewing a selection of current conceptual positions – present either as independent conceptual frameworks or within our classification systems – I move to presenting my own conceptual framework of mental disorder grounded in an embodied, embedded, and enactive view. Some implications of this framework for the task of classification are explored, and a meta-methodological framework for developing explanations of psychopathology is developed. It is shown that the concept of mental disorder developed: moves beyond the internalist bias of many current concepts, recognizes the normative nature of disorder, encourages consideration of cultural and individual variance, does not unduly prioritize brain-level explanations of human behaviour, and can sit comfortably within a wholly natural world view. 2020-07-09T01:24:46Z Controlling The Monster: Exploring Constructions Of Women And Their Bodies In Endometriosis Apps Controlling The Monster: Exploring Constructions Of Women And Their Bodies In Endometriosis Apps Quigan, Hannah People globally increasingly use digital applications (apps) to manage their health and health conditions. In particular, women commonly use apps to understand and manage female reproductive issues. Some apps target women with endometriosis, a common but poorly understood condition primarily affecting women. The aim of the current research was to explore how endometriosis apps constructed endometriosis and people with endometriosis, how people with endometriosis were positioned, and the potential implications of this positioning for app users. Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) was used to systematically examine dominant meanings produced by visual and linguistic features (i.e. colour, imagery, text and interactive app functionality) of five endometriosis apps from the USA, New Zealand and Singapore. Results demonstrated that apps drew on biomedical and biological discourses to construct endometriosis as a complex and confusing disease of the female reproductive body. This positioned biomedical and natural health professionals as knowledgeable experts about endometriosis while minimising women’s experiential knowledge of their bodies. Apps drew on intersecting postfeminist, neoliberal and healthist discourses to construct women with endometriosis as responsible for self-tracking many physical, emotional and behavioural experiences. Self-tracking was constructed as generating data that was meaningfully interpreted by app algorithms and experts to help women understand and manage their endometriosis. Dominant management recommendations (i.e. biomedical interventions; lifestyle changes) aligned with hegemonic ideals of traditional and neoliberal femininity. These findings align with previous feminist research findings that mainstream endometriosis discourse reflects androcentric biases in medical knowledge and that health apps targeting women often reinforce neoliberal and postfeminist ideals. Therefore, dominant discourses about endometriosis and female biology that pathologise women’s bodies and behaviours limit the potential for apps to offer women empowered and agentic subject positions. 2020-06-19T02:08:21Z Exploring Male Students’ Lived Experiences of Intimate Partner Abuse from a Female Partner and Help-seeking Exploring Male Students’ Lived Experiences of Intimate Partner Abuse from a Female Partner and Help-seeking Scotts-Bahle, Jakob This research investigated how male university students who have experienced abuse from a female intimate partner made sense of this abuse and their help seeking experiences. Students who indicated having experienced some form of Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) were identified through a screening questionnaire and invited to take part in this study. In-depth interviews with seven students were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. This analysis identified two themes related to the men’s experiences of IPA and help seeking. The first theme of stuck in the abusive relationship comprised four subthemes, each representing a barrier the men faced which kept them in an abusive relationship and prevented them from acting to end the abuse or from seeking help. These barriers were 1) the emotional investment the men had in the relationship, 2) living in an all-encompassing controlling environment, 3) their sense of responsibility to shoulder the burdens of the relationship, and 4) their understanding of abuse in relationships. The second theme moving on from the abuse described the process of overcoming and moving past these experiences. It comprised three subthemes: 1) how the men overcame the barriers and began moving on, 2) the slow process of supported recovery and learning, and 3) the existence of ongoing impacts related to the abuse. These findings add to the growing body of literature on IPA which has found that men can be the victims of abuse which can be serious, have lasting impacts, and for which they have difficulty seeking and receiving help. The need for policies and services which can overcome the barriers men face and that address their needs are discussed. This is the first qualitative research looking at men’s IPA victimisation with a student sample and future research is needed which looks at this phenomenon with students across countries and cultural groups and in relationships in which IPA was bidirectional. 2020-06-16T23:36:05Z Classifying Intimate Partner Violence: A Functional Typology Classifying Intimate Partner Violence: A Functional Typology Wride, Annabelle A neglect of theoretical development has impaired psychological explanations for intimate partner violence (IPV), which in turn has hindered effective interventions for people who perpetrate IPV. This thesis addresses this problem by applying recent perspectives on classification to examine whether typologies of IPV facilitate useful explanations of these behaviours, and proposes an alternative strategy for classifying IPV. First, the role of classification is discussed, in terms of the theoretical requirements typologies should fulfil, and with specific reference to the classification of offending behaviour. Second, two of the most influential typologies of IPV – Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart’s (1994), and Johnson’s (1995, 2006) typologies – are critically analysed according to their conceptual problems. Third, a preliminary alternative approach to classifying IPV is proposed, in response to recent theoretical developments that suggest a focus on the function of IPV behaviours is required. This Motivational Systems Typology classifies individuals who have perpetrated IPV based on their motivations, and its capacity for facilitating explanations of IPV is demonstrated through an exemplar. Finally, the implications of this typology for understandings of IPV and classification are discussed. 2020-06-11T02:44:39Z Cooperative gender beliefs and cost-benefit trade-offs of gender inequality Cooperative gender beliefs and cost-benefit trade-offs of gender inequality Deak, Chris K. Cooperative gender beliefs are characterizations of women, men and heterosexual relationships that focus on positive aspects of traditional traits and roles, and heterosexual interdependency, but ultimately rationalize gender inequality. Approaches to cooperative gender beliefs vary by discipline, resulting in different theories and terminology. Terms such as benevolent sexism, gender-specific-meritocracy, and traditional gender beliefs refer to similar clusters of beliefs that are associated with gender inequalities. By specifying the different types, functions, and levels of cooperative gender beliefs, this thesis provides a systematic study that investigates why people would adopt beliefs that perpetuate harmful gender inequalities. This line of study tests evidence for the perspective that cooperative gender beliefs manage trade-offs between the costs and the benefits of living in societies with unequal gender relations. I conceptualize different types of gender beliefs as cooperative, and investigate the extent to which they are linked with trade-offs involved in inequality at the individual level, such as doing unfair amounts of housework, and the societal level, such as being relatively less impacted by gender inequalities. I present three empirical studies. Study 1 explores different types of cooperative gender beliefs and how they are linked to gendered divisions of labour. Study 2 investigates evidence for an evolutionarily informed theory that cooperative gender beliefs function to increase reproductive benefits by assessing residual change in individuals’ fertility rate over two years; and a socio-structural theory that cooperative gender beliefs arise to justify the inequalities encompassed in heterosexual parenthood. Finally, Study 3 distinguishes cooperative gender beliefs endorsed by individuals vs. cooperative gender beliefs endorsed by societies more broadly to understand how these beliefs palliate feelings of injustice, thereby alleviating the negative effects of inequalities on individuals’ subjective wellbeing. Together these studies advance our understanding of how cooperative gender beliefs justify gender inequalities and thus function to offset some of the harm that inequality causes women. 2020-06-10T22:46:48Z Comparison of Methamphetamine and MDMA Extended Access Self-administration: Acquisition, Maintenance, and Response Patterns Comparison of Methamphetamine and MDMA Extended Access Self-administration: Acquisition, Maintenance, and Response Patterns Maan, Alex Rationale. 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine are two amphetamine derivatives with contrasting pharmacological profiles. Therefore, self- administration profiles might be expected to reflect these differences. Objectives. This study compared the latency and proportion to acquire self-administration, maintenance of self-administration, and within-session response patterns. Methods. Rats were given extended access (8-hour daily sessions) to either methamphetamine, MDMA or vehicle self-administration over a period of 10 consecutive days. A criterion based on the performance of the vehicle control group was used to determine acquisition of reliable MDMA and methamphetamine self-administration. In conjunction, for MDMA self-administration the infusion dose was halved for each rat that achieved a total of 85mg/kg for the remaining sessions. Temporal patterns of responding were assessed using hourly data of the first day of self-administration, the day following acquisition, and the final day of self-administration. Results. A greater proportion of rats in the methamphetamine group acquired self- administration and self-administration was acquired with a shorter latency compared to the MDMA group. Responding maintained by methamphetamine on day one was high. By the third day a pattern developed that was maintained throughout testing. The greatest proportion of responding occurring within the first hour of each daily test session. A progressive escalation of intake was also observed within the methamphetamine group. Responding maintained by MDMA was low on the first day, but by day 5 responding had increased with most of the responding within the session occurring during the first three hours. On day 10 the greatest amount of responding occurred during the first hour. No escalation of intake as a function of test day was observed for MDMA self-administration. 2020-06-09T23:16:26Z Managing Calls to Mauri Ora: Medical Reception in Action Managing Calls to Mauri Ora: Medical Reception in Action Grattan, Fiona Often a patient’s first contact with their health service is through a medical receptionist. Literature has framed medical receptionists as gate-keepers, and few studies have examined what they actually do when they answer incoming calls by studying recordings of them. The current thesis asks how receptionists managed calls to Mauri Ora, a student health service, to deliver what the callers were asking for. The findings present evidence that receptionists are skilled and supportive in their interactions with patients. Following discursive psychology and conversation analysis as theoretical and methodological frameworks this thesis examined naturally occurring social interactions to discover how joint understanding and coordinated action was accomplished. Eighteen (N=18) calls between receptionists and patients were recorded, transcribed and examined in detail for what happened in each call and how receptionists worked to deliver what the callers were asking for. Callers ring with a broad range of different problems. The analysis documents how receptionists showed that they understood what callers wanted, and the ways they worked to progress solutions. The examination of requests for doctors’ appointments were of particular interest because of their very limited availability and the triage process for getting one. By establishing with the caller the conditions under which they could see a doctor, including if it was an urgent problem, receptionists opened the door to the health care being sought. A difficult matter for receptionists is asking for and responding to health-related information because they have no medical training. An additional aspect of the analysis demonstrated that receptionists only asked for medical information as a record for triage referral, and when it had not previously been disclosed. Far from casting medical receptionists as gate-keepers withholding help, the current thesis demonstrates their orientation towards granting the requests of callers and doing what they can to facilitate access to health care. Practical applications for the training and practice of medical receptionists are considered as well as future research, and the ethical constraints of this kind of work. 2020-06-09T22:07:03Z Role of Ambivalent Sexism on Approval of Violence and Intention to Intervene in Media Campaigns Designed to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence Role of Ambivalent Sexism on Approval of Violence and Intention to Intervene in Media Campaigns Designed to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence Heine, Nathan This study aimed to investigate the effect of manipulating actor gender and relationship status in violence prevention campaign posters upon the relationship between ambivalent sexism and 1) approval of intimate partner violence (IPV), 2) intention to intervene as a bystander, and 3) understanding of IPV. The bystander literature was used to inform the design of the posters. The study employed a between-subjects design where participants (N=421) completed an online survey where they had to view one of four different poster conditions which displayed a victim telling two friends about how they were assaulted the previous night. Poster conditions were varied on the gender of the victim and perpetrator (male or female) and on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (stranger or intimate partner). The participants completed the Conflict Tactics Scale – 2 and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory before viewing the posters. After viewing the posters participants then completed the Bystander Attitudes Scale, Beliefs about Relationship Aggression Scale and an Understanding of IPV scale. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that there were no significant moderating roles of relationship status, victim gender, or participant gender on the relationship between ambivalent sexism and approval of violence, intention to intervene, or understanding of IPV. The study concluded that a multifaceted approach is needed to reduce IPV effectively beyond the use of media campaign posters alone. 2020-06-09T03:17:55Z The Effects of Cultural Competence Feedback on Intercultural Anxiety, Attitudes toward, and Willingness to Engage with International Students The Effects of Cultural Competence Feedback on Intercultural Anxiety, Attitudes toward, and Willingness to Engage with International Students Zenoni, Natalia The study examined the effects of cultural competency feedback on domestic and international students’ intercultural anxiety, attitudes toward, and willingness to engage with international students. One hundred and sixty-one students (96 domestic, 65 internationals) completed a test of cultural competency and were randomly assigned to receive positive (top 25%) or negative (bottom 25%) fictitious feedback on their performance. Participants then completed measures of intercultural anxiety, attitudes toward international students, and self-reported willingness to engage with international students. Finally, students accepted or declined an invitation to learn more about participating in a buddy programme for international students at Victoria University of Wellington. It was hypothesized that those receiving negative performance feedback would have higher levels of intercultural anxiety and that this anxiety would partially mediate the effects of performance feedback on attitudes toward and willingness to engage with international students. It was also hypothesized that the effects of intercultural anxiety on attitudes and willingness to engage would be stronger for domestic, compared to international students. Preliminary analyses indicated that the performance feedback did not affect intercultural anxiety; although the manipulation checks showed that the participants could accurately describe their performance feedback, overall, students did not find the feedback credible. Controlling for age, gender, and previous intercultural contact, hierarchical regression analyses were performed to predict attitudes toward international students and willingness to engage (both self-reported and behavioural measures). The results revealed that beyond the control variables, intercultural anxiety was the only significant predictor of self-reported willingness to engage with international students. Performance feedback, student status (domestic/international), intercultural anxiety, and the interaction between student status and intercultural anxiety failed to predict attitudes toward international students and agreement to be contacted about the buddy programme. The implications of the presented findings are discussed, as well as limitations and future research directions advised. Keywords: Cultural Competence, Intercultural Anxiety, Education, International Students 2020-06-05T05:00:50Z The effect of episodic future thinking on delay discounting The effect of episodic future thinking on delay discounting Olsen, Rebecca Delay discounting refers to the fact that rewards lose their value if they are delayed. Excessive delay discounting is associated with various health-related problems such as over-eating and substance abuse. One phenomenon shown to reduce delay discounting is Episodic Future Thinking (EFT; imagining personal future events). Across multiple experiments and a meta-analysis, the current thesis examined the reliability of the effect of EFT on delay discounting and also sought to clarify the components of EFT that are necessary to reduce delay discounting. Experiment 1 replicated the EFT effect using a common titrating-amount procedure, and the meta-analysis based on 40 independent studies confirmed that EFT has a reliable, medium-sized effect on delay discounting. The meta-analysis also assessed the robustness of the EFT effect across various methodological features and participant characteristics. A multiple meta-regression revealed that the between-study variability in the size of the EFT effect was accounted for by study design and type of discounting measure. Within-subjects design studies had significantly smaller effect sizes than between-subjects design studies. Studies that used k as a discounting rate measure had significantly smaller effect sizes than studies that used area under the discounting curve or other atheoretical discounting measures. The size of the EFT effect was robust across different participant characteristics and ages, suggesting that EFT may be utilized as an effective intervention for a variety of age groups and impulsive behaviors. Experiments 2A, 2B and 2C assessed the suitability of an alternative and briefer delay discounting procedure (in which participants simply report their indifference points) for subsequent EFT experiments. The report indifference points procedure produced a high percentage of invalid data, a finding that was replicated across all three experiments. We therefore continued to use the well-established titrating-amount procedure in subsequent studies. Experiment 3A found that episodic past thinking (imagining personal past events) and semantic future thinking (estimating what a person could buy with the larger, delayed amount) had no effect on discounting, indicating that both episodic thinking and future thinking are necessary components of the EFT effect. Experiment 3A results also indicated that financial relevance alone is not sufficient to reducing discounting. Experiment 3B found that the future events also need to be personally relevant to reduce discounting, and that participants perceived EFT to reduce their discounting by primarily making the larger, delayed reward more valuable. We also showed that demand characteristics, where participants change their behavior to conform to the researcher’s expectations, are an unlikely explanation for the EFT effects found in Experiments 3A and 3B. Further research is warranted to form a better understanding of the mechanism(s) through which EFT reduces delay discounting. 2020-06-05T02:59:01Z Correctional Rehabilitation and Human Functioning: An Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Approach Correctional Rehabilitation and Human Functioning: An Embodied, Embedded, and Enactive Approach Dent, Harry In order for correctional rehabilitation practices to be maximally effective, they should be grounded in well-developed psychological theory about the causes, development, and nature of crime. This thesis argues that these theories of crime should be based in an underlying perspective of human functioning, or how people work at a fundamental level. I argue that this level of theory has been neglected in theories of crime, as demonstrated through an evaluation of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model of rehabilitation, which currently stands as the most popular and widely used rehabilitation framework throughout much of the world. This perspective is understood to implicitly present a view of functioning which is reward-oriented, multifactorial, norm-based, and modular, resulting in limited explanatory value and diminished treatment efficacy. I then suggest an alternative model of functioning as being embodied, embedded, and enactive (3e). 3e places an emphasis on the individual as an embodied whole, in an adaptive relationship with their physical and social environment. 3e prioritises the affective experience and agency of the individual, with a commitment to viewing the person as a functional whole drawing on comprehensive multilevel explanations. I outline how this perspective could be used to inform the explanation of crime, before applying the model to an exemplar to demonstrate the potential treatment utility of a 3e approach to correctional rehabilitation, as opposed to an RNR approach. 2020-06-05T02:37:26Z The Consequences of not Acting on Personally and Socially Important Value-Expressive Behaviours on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Wellbeing The Consequences of not Acting on Personally and Socially Important Value-Expressive Behaviours on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Wellbeing Chrystal, Megan Wellbeing is thought to decrease when one’s actions do not align with one’s values. This study refined a previous experimental method to investigate how perceived failure to live up to expectations of value-expressive behaviours may affect eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing. One hundred and ninety-nine students considered their own past value-expressive behaviours in a survey designed to induce a discrepancy or “gap” between reported and ideal behaviour. We tested whether the importance of value-expressive behaviours—and whether this importance was based on personal or social ideals—would affect the perception of behavioural discrepancies and wellbeing. Results showed that being asked about more important behaviours predicted a greater perceived behavioural gap and less hedonic wellbeing. Whether this importance was based on personal values or social desirability did not differentially predict perceived behavioural gap or wellbeing, challenging the focus that some therapy models place on personal value expression to improve wellbeing. The perceived behavioural gap did not mediate a relationship between experimental condition and wellbeing, suggesting that other variables may play a role in the relationship between values, behaviour, and wellbeing. Further exploratory tests, limitations, and theoretical implications are discussed. 2020-06-05T01:35:51Z Dance for the dead: Belief, anxiety, and social cohesion in the Japanese Bon Festival Dance for the dead: Belief, anxiety, and social cohesion in the Japanese Bon Festival Irving, Briar This thesis aimed to investigate the role of belief in reducing anxiety and increasing social cohesion outcomes of collective ritual. To accomplish this, we developed a belief scale specific to the Japanese Bon Festival, based on ethnographic research and focus groups. We also present a modern ethnographic account of the Bon Festival, one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Japan. Belief in the spiritual background on the Bon Festival did not seem to have an effect on the anxiety and social cohesion outcomes of participation in the ritual. This suggests that the existence of meaning is enough and belief in it is not important for gaining these benefits. 2020-05-27T01:30:22Z The role of the serotonin reuptake transporter on cytoskeletal drebrin A expression in dendritic spines: Implications for neuropsychiatric disorders The role of the serotonin reuptake transporter on cytoskeletal drebrin A expression in dendritic spines: Implications for neuropsychiatric disorders Chaji, Daniel Knockout of the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) in murine animals has been shown to model various neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance use disorder. Moreover, evidence suggests that abnormalities in glutamatergic synapses at the level of dendritic spines may be involved in the aetiology of these disorders. This thesis investigated the extent to which the SERT knockout model adequately parallels dendritic spine abnormalities associated with these disorders. This investigation focused on an oft-neglected F-actin binding protein highly-localised to dendritic spines, drebrin A, because any changes to dendritic spines would result in changes to drebrin expression, alongside more common markers for assessing synaptic activity, PSD95 and synaptophysin. The frontal cortex was assessed across the three SERT knockout genotypes at a pre-weaning timepoint and at early adulthood. Results indicated a pattern towards reduced expression for drebrin, PSD95 and synaptophysin at the mRNA level, as well as reduced synaptophysin expression at the protein level, at the pre-weaning stage among SERT knockout animals. No synaptic abnormalities were observed at early adulthood. These abnormalities during development were mirrored by a substantial reduction in dendritic spine density on SERT knockout mature cortical neurons in vitro. The recently developed and highly-sensitive in situ hybridization method for assessing mRNA expression in tissue, RNAscope®, was also optimised for drebrin mRNA. Altogether, the results suggested that serotonergic activity influences dendritic spine density and synaptic marker expression insofar as the serotonin system acts as a neuromodulator of the glutamate system, which coincides with the peri- and post- natal development period. These effects seemed to result in aberrations to glutamatergic neurotransmission and dendritic spine activity, which may be contribute to the mechanisms involved in neuropsychiatric disorder pathophysiology. Finally, a model involving activation of the 5-HT2A receptor to partly explain the findings in this thesis, is proposed. 2020-05-21T04:34:06Z Fear Deciding Fate: How Fear Influences Moral Decision-Making Fear Deciding Fate: How Fear Influences Moral Decision-Making Strojny, Sophia Moral dilemmas require individuals to make a life-altering choice. Due to the severity of the choice, we argue that there is a degree of fear in moral decision-making. We aimed to see how prevailing fears in each individual predicts moral decision-making habits. We looked into the emotional and physical divisions of fear to deem which dimension of fear is more dominant in each participant. Then analysed these results against reported deontological or utilitarian moral inclinations to see if higher reports of fear impact moral decision-making. Additionally, we included two secondary variables that are most prevalent in fear research (gender and thinking styles) as well as the impact of burden on moral choice. We found that our research was supported; fear tendencies are linked to individual behaviours and burden of moral decisions was influenced by what we fear and affected moral choices. 2020-05-08T01:45:03Z Beyond dynamic risk factors: Towards a comprehensive explanation of offending Beyond dynamic risk factors: Towards a comprehensive explanation of offending Heffernan, Roxanne The current conceptualisation of dynamic risk factors (DRF) for criminal offending is problematic. There have been significant conceptual issues highlighted in this domain, however, until recently addressing these has not been a priority for researchers. Instead, research has predominantly focused on the success of DRF in predicting reoffending and the effectiveness of treatment programmes that target these factors. DRF are typically defined as aspects of individuals and their environments that are associated with an increased likelihood of reoffending, and they are widely considered ‘plausible causes’ of criminal behaviour. It is acknowledged that this definition encompasses a wide range of individual characteristics, social processes, behaviours, and environmental features, and that these vary in their ability to explain and predict offending. The more recent interest in features that reduce risk has prompted similar discussions about the concept of protective factors (PF). Given the frequent use of, and interest in, these foundational concepts it is timely to investigate them in depth, and to address two key issues. First, both DRF and PF are broad category labels that encompass a diverse (and largely unspecified) range of psychological and contextual features and processes. Second, without a clear understanding of what exactly these constructs are, it is difficult to effectively link them to correctional research and practice. I will begin this thesis by setting out the problems with the reliance on DRF to explain offending. I will do this by exploring recent empirical findings concerning their relationship with recidivism and outlining numerous conceptual problems which make DRF poor candidates for causal explanation. I will then suggest a shift in focus, from these crime correlates to human nature and agency, and argue that this perspective is essential in explaining any behaviour. I will present a preliminary model based on agency and demonstrate the utility of this perspective in reconceptualising DRF as aspects of goal-directed behaviour. Next, I will develop a framework for continuing this theoretical research and adding depth to theories of agency. Finally, I will discuss the implications of agency theories for forensic interventions, including their integration with widely used rehabilitation models. I will conclude with an evaluation of the approaches developed throughout this thesis and make some suggestions for future research. This research holds promise in directing the field away from the otherwise inevitable theoretical ‘dead end’. 2020-05-04T21:28:57Z