In a social environment composed mostly of people with typical hearing, deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children experience social interactions differently from their typically hearing (TH) peers,... Show moreIn a social environment composed mostly of people with typical hearing, deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children experience social interactions differently from their typically hearing (TH) peers, which could guide them towards different patterns for processing other people’s emotions. This thesis aimed to unravel whether hearing status affects how children encode, interpret, and react to others’ emotions in a social context, and whether their responses are associated with psychosocial functioning, using a variety of measures that included eye tracking, pupillometry, behavioral tasks, parent reports, and longitudinal follow-up. DHH children’s skills for perceiving others’ basic emotions were on par with their TH peers. Improved emotional functioning was associated with improved psychosocial functioning to a similar degree in DHH and TH children alike. Yet, DHH children still faced difficulties when they had to process an emotion with adequate knowledge about social rules and causes of emotions. Moreover, DHH children used a visual cue-based encoding strategy to compensate for ambiguous or unavailable information in social situations, and recruited more cognitive resources to process unfamiliar emotional expressions. The findings underscore the need to look into possible qualitative differences between typical and atypical development. These individual differences reflect compensatory strategies to support daily living, or signal a need for support in a certain domain. Show less
Previous research has provided evidence for the link between psychological processes and psychophysiological health outcomes. Psychological interventions, such as face-to-face or online cognitive... Show morePrevious research has provided evidence for the link between psychological processes and psychophysiological health outcomes. Psychological interventions, such as face-to-face or online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and serious games aimed at improving health, have shown promising results in promoting health outcomes. Few studies so far, however, have examined whether Internet-based CBT combined with serious gaming elements is effective in modulating health outcomes. Moreover, studies often did not incorporate psychophysiological or immunological challenges in order to gain insight into physiological responses to real-life challenges after psychological interventions. The overall aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a psychological intervention on self-reported and physiological health outcomes in response to immune and psychophysiological challenges. Show less
Much of the previous work investigating the impact of honor on conflict management has focused on how people endorsing honor values respond to possibly offensive interactions. Despite the... Show moreMuch of the previous work investigating the impact of honor on conflict management has focused on how people endorsing honor values respond to possibly offensive interactions. Despite the accumulation of this research, it is yet unclear why people endorsing the ideal of honor respond more fiercely after being offended. Moreover, hardly any systematic attempts have been undertaken to identify ways in which these negative ramifications of offensive encounters can be prevented or reduced. The discoveries made in the context of this dissertation paint a more balanced picture of the effect of honor concern on conflict management and inform us on possible avenues of effective conflict intervention. Show less
Morality is of particular importance to people: People want to be considered moral and want to belong to moral groups. Consequently, morality judgments have the potential to motivate individuals to... Show moreMorality is of particular importance to people: People want to be considered moral and want to belong to moral groups. Consequently, morality judgments have the potential to motivate individuals to behave in ways that are considered to be ‘good’. In the current dissertation, I examined the impact of intragroup morality judgments on group members’ motivational responses, and compared those to competence judgments as an alternative domain of evaluation. In three empirical chapters, I investigated the impact of morality (vs. competence) judgments from different perspectives, namely judgments of 1) group member’s own prior behavior, 2) another group member’s behavior, as well as 3) the behavior of a prospective group member. The central hypothesis was that intragroup morality judgments generally impact more strongly on group members’ motivational responses than competence judgments. The results demonstrated that the motivational force of morality largely pertains to immorality. Judgments of immorality elicit a range of motivational responses in group members, such as negative affect, lowered perceived coping abilities, a cardiovascular pattern indicative of threat rather than challenge, and a greater inclination towards social exclusion. In conclusion, morality judgments—generally more so than competence judgments—impact on group members’ striving to be a ‘good’ group member. Show less
The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was developed in the early 1980s to measure an adult’s attachment representation. Since then, it has been applied in more than 100 studies. This thesis aimed to... Show moreThe Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was developed in the early 1980s to measure an adult’s attachment representation. Since then, it has been applied in more than 100 studies. This thesis aimed to shed light on some of the potentials and limitations of the AAI. We found that coherence, which is an important concept in attachment interviews, is not defined similarly by attachment experts, linguists, and non-experts. Therefore, it seems that a measure for coherence cannot make the AAI more easily accessible for non-attachment experts. Secondly, we showed that the attachment representations of adopted adolescents were related (1) to their own autonomy behaviors and mothers’ relatedness behaviors during a discussion task, (2) to the adolescents’ emotional investment in others, and (3) to the adolescents’ perceived support from others. Intelligence and perceived temperament were not associated with the adolescents’ attachment representation. These results support the validity of the AAI when assessed with (adopted) adolescents. Finally, we revealed that the AAI differentiates between adolescents with divergent physiological responses (interbeat interval reactivity) to attachment relevant situations: dismissing adolescents showed less physiological reactivity during the AAI than secure adolescents, while they appeared to be more stressed during a discussion task with their mothers. Show less
