Browsing by Author "Watson, David"
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Item Academic procrastination: the pattern and correlates of behavioural postponement(2006) Powell, Russell A.; Howell, Andrew J.; Watson, David; Buro, KarenUsing a series of computer-based assignments, we examined whether students’ submission patterns revealed a hyperbolic pattern of temporal discounting, such that few assignments are submitted far ahead of the deadline and submission of assignments accelerates at an increasing rate as the deadline becomes imminent. We further examined whether variables related to self-regulation – namely, self-reported procrastination, implementation intentions, say-do correspondence, and perceived academic control – correlated with behavioural postponement. Results revealed strong behavioural evidence of temporal discounting, especially among those who identified themselves as procrastinators. Among the self-regulation measures, only say-do correspondence consistently correlated with procrastination.Item Cosmic awe, self-esteem, and materialism: the effects of awe and self-esteem on materialist values and beliefs(2020) McCurdy, Emmett; Watson, DavidExperiencing awe (a self transcendent shift in perspective) has been shown to increase generosity, spirituality, and prosociality, reduce tribalism, and reduce inclination towards conspicuous consumption. The present research aims to investigate the effects of experiencing awe on individuals’ endorsement of materialistic values and beliefs through an online experimental design. It is hypothesized that induction of awe will result in decreased endorsement of materialism, as the self-transcendental nature of the experience minimizes self-focused goals and encourages greater prosocial and achievement motivations.Item Escape theory and materialism: an experimental paradigm for self-blame(2017) Radetzki, Phillip A.; Watson, DavidEscape theory proposes a six-step process in which materialists’ forthcoming self-awareness reveals a general dissatisfaction with life, thereby stimulating a pursuit toward the attainment of tangible objects as a form of compensation. Although there is sufficient evidence supporting the overall plausibility of escape theory, Donnelly and colleagues acknowledge that further research regarding specific steps would enhance its strength. Moreover, a significant portion of findings on materialism are correlational, thereby making research utilizing experimental paradigms of particular value. The present study will investigate escape theory’s second step, self-blame, with an experimental design. The participant pool (n=300) will consist of undergraduate students with materialistic orientations. As a cover story, participants will be presented two unrelated studies regarding perceptions of interpersonal conflict and the impact of website design on the psychology of the online shopper. In the first portion, participants will be randomly assigned to a neutral condition or a condition designed to induce self-blame. Both conditions involve exposure to a vignette with a filler questionnaire. In the second portion, participants will explore a fictitious online store and purchase desired items. There will be 30 categories of product. Each category will contain three versions of the product corresponding to different levels of materialistic value. Within a materialistic population, those primed to experience self-blame are predicted to demonstrate significant bias toward products high in materialistic value. If the hypothesis is supported, the proposed study will add experimental evidence for the causal role of self-blame in the maladaptive attitude toward wealth and material objects.Item The HEXACO model of personality: factors related to gossip & friendship(2022) Watson, DavidIn this study, the relationship between gossip, friendship, and the HEXACO model of personality was investigated in a sample of 419 undergraduate participants with three different gossip questionnaires. The results confirmed the hypothesis that emotionality mediates the relationship between friendship and gossip with intimate friendship. With personality and gossip, honesty-humility was the strongest correlate of gossip in a negative direction. The HEXACO facet of sentimentality was found to be a significant indirect mediator of the gossip-friendship relationship rather than the withdrawal facet. With regard to motivation and the tendency to gossip, the subscale-level predictors had a negative relationship with sincerity and fairness. With gossip functions, greed avoidance, sincerity, and modesty were the negatively related predictors. In addition, some sex differences were noted in the relationship between friendship and gossip. Overall gossip scale scores, and the social information and physical appearance gossip subscale scores were correlated with friendship intimacy with females. Achievement gossip was negatively related to friendship intimacy with males. The information function and social motive to gossip were associated with male friendship intimacy. The findings add to the understanding of the relationship between friendship and gossip in terms of personality factors, different elements of gossip, and aspects of friendship. These findings could be used to help individuals deepen the understanding of their friendships and enhance the quality and level of intimacy in these relationships. Particularly useful are the findings that sentimentality rather than withdrawal was related to friendship and gossip.Item Materialism: temporal balance, mindfulness and savoring(2019) Watson, DavidThe current research investigated mindfulness, savoring and temporal balance and how they are related to temporal perspective (TP) in materialistic individuals in a sample of 404 University students. Recent research on materialism and TP has found that highly materialistic individuals are more likely to have a past-negative or present fatalistic perspective rather than a balanced temporal perspective which is considered the most adaptive. Given these findings, it was hypothesized that materialism is negatively related to mindfulness and savoring, which involve having a clear focus on the present moment. It was also hypothesized that materialism is positively associated with the unbalanced types of TP, the “reminiscer”, “futurist” and “time restrictive” and that materialism is associated with deviation from the balanced time perspective (DBTP). In addition, it was hypothesized that mindfulness and savoring mediate the relationship between DBTP and materialism. The results are consistent with these hypotheses as mindfulness was negatively related to materialism and savoring the moment was related to lower levels of materialism. Materialism was also associated with higher DBTP scores and the “reminiscer” and “futurist” unbalanced temporal styles. Mindfulness, savoring the moment and anticipation-savoring were found to be mediators in the DBTP and materialism relationship.Item Neuroticism versus emotionality as mediators of the negative relationship between materialism and well-being(2021) Watson, DavidThe purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between, neuroticism, emotionality well-being and materialism. A series of mediation analyses were conducted with data obtained from a set of questionnaires completed by University students. The results indicated that neuroticism and emotionality were mediators in the well-being-materialism relationship. However, this relationship is dependent upon whether neuroticism or emotionality is measured as the three neuroticism measures utilized were significant mediators whereas the HEXACO emotionality scale was not. A facet-level analysis was conducted with the IPIP-NEO facets of volatility and withdrawal and with the HEXACO facets of sentimentality/dependence and withdrawal. In either case, withdrawal was a significant mediator in the materialism well-being relationship, whereas volatility or sentimentality/dependence was not. The results highlight the differences between neuroticism and HEXACO emotionality and add additional insight into the relationship between materialism and lower well-being. These findings suggest possible methods of decreasing materialistic tendencies and increasing subjective well-being.Item Parasocial relationships and materialism in the media: the moderating role of motivation(2023) Woods, Emily; Watson, DavidThe literature has identified a positive relationship between materialism and social media intensity, as well as between materialism and celebrity worship. However, the literature on the relationship between materialism and parasocial relationships needs to be more thorough. Parasocial relationships are characterized by the one-sided online relationship audience members experience with media influencers, and materialism is when individuals hold values that prioritize image, popularity, making a lot of money, and having a lot of possessions. Previous studies have identified how materialism is related to the processes engaged in during extensive media consumption, as well as the attitudes involved in the increase in materialism as a function of celebrity worship, particularly envy. This study is aimed at expanding on a recently developed social comparison framework and determining whether the differing attitudes consumers hold regarding the fortunes-of-influencers (FOI) and their differing motivations behind media usage (process and social) are related to parasocial relationship intensity (PSI) and resulting materialistic outcomes. We will employ a correlational analysis using a sample of MacEwan first year students, the majority of which aged 18-24, who report frequent activity on social media, assessing the relationship between social comparison engagement, social media processes, FOI, PSI, and materialistic outcomes. The results and conclusion will be reported at a later date once the data has been collected.Item Psychological flexibility, non-attachment and materialism(2023) Watson, David; Howell, Andrew J.Psychological flexibility, or the ability to flexibly respond to psychological events, may be associated with peoples' preferences for material versus experiential purchases, their attachment to objects and experiences, and their motivation for non-material purchases. The present research tested predictions that greater psychological flexibility and lesser psychological inflexibility are associated with lower materialism and non-attachment (Study 1) and with a greater preference for, and internal motivation toward, experiential versus material purchases (Study 2). Study 1 (N = 298 undergraduates) revealed relationships between psychological inflexibility, high materialism, and attachment, and between psychological flexibility, low materialism, and non-attachment. Non-attachment was a meditator in the relationships between both flexibility and inflexibility and materialism. Study 2 (N = 299 undergraduates) revealed that psychological flexibility was correlated with both experiential buying and autonomous reasons for experiential buying, whereas inflexibility was related to controlled and amotivated reasons for experiential buying. We discuss the research and practice implications of the current findings.Item Self-compassion, the ‘quiet ego’ and materialism(2018) Watson, DavidThe research is an investigation of self-compassion and materialism. Self-compassion is when an individual has a caring, non-judgmental view of the self. This quality has been related to lower depression, less negative emotion and higher psychological health (Neff, 2003). Materialism has been consistently associated with low subjective well-being and unhappiness. A related concept is that of the ‘quiet ego’, which is a less competitive, less self-centered individual with more concern with connecting with others and with personal growth (Wayment et al., 2015). Therefore, it is hypothesized that highly materialistic individuals will be lower in self-compassion and have a fear of compassion from others and towards others and that self-compassion and fears of compassion will mediate the relationship between materialism and low subjective well-being. As materialistic individuals are more likely to be competitive and individualistic, it is hypothesized that the ‘quiet ego’ will be negatively related to materialism. These hypotheses were investigated using a set of questionnaires with 423 undergraduate participants. The results indicated a relationship between materialism and fear of compassion for others and of responding to the compassion of others. Materialism was also negatively related to the ‘quiet ego’ and related constructs such as: mindfulness, satisfaction with life and generativity. Self-compassion, fears of compassion and the quiet-ego were also found to mediate the relationship between materialism and measures of well-being. The results are consistent with several theoretical explanations for the development of materialism. It is possible that increasing self-compassion, reducing fears of compassion and ‘ego-quieting’ procedures could be developed as methods of reducing materialistic tendencies.Item Situational materialism: an extension and replication(2023) Watson, David; Schmaltz, RodneyMaterialistic thoughts have been associated with poorer life-satisfaction, increased incidence of depression, and lowered self-control. Invoking materialistic thoughts seem to impact health behaviours, such as consuming unhealthy snacks. Kim (2013) found that when materialistic thoughts are activated, participants are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours, such as increasing consumption of candy. Kim proposed that the mechanism for this behaviour is that materialistic thoughts lower self-control, which then leads to an increase in consumption of unhealthy food. In the current study, the role of envy on self-control, using a similar experimental paradigm as Kim was investigated. Over the course of three studies, replication of the finding that inducing materialistic thoughts has an impact on eating behaviour was unfounded as none of the differences between experimental conditions were significant. Possible explanations for this failure to replicate are presented.Item The thinking person’s music: heavy metal and the need for cognition(2021) Schmaltz, Rodney; Watson, David; Johnson, AdrianPast research indicates that music preference is correlated with the need for cognition (NFC). Specifically, heavy metal fans have been found to score lower on NFC than fans of other genres. In this study, a large sample of music fans completed measures of NFC well as the Short Dark Triad scale, which measures Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy. Contrary to previous findings, fans of heavy metal scored significantly higher on NFC than fans of other genres. Consistent with previous research, fans of “problem music” (i.e., heavy metal and rap) scored higher on the Dark Triad. As the original work on NFC and music preference was conducted over 30 years ago, we speculate that a change in the style of heavy metal may correlate with a change in the need for cognition.Item Well-being, temporal orientation, and the dual nature of materialism(2020) Watson, DavidThe present research examined the dual nature of the materialistic personality in terms of temporal perspective, subjective well-being, and materialism. The dual-nature model hypothesizes an anxious “mouse” type and a more flamboyant “peacock” type of materialist. Previous research has found a relationship between materialism and past-negative and present fatalistic temporal orientation. This study extended this research by examining the future-negative perspective and its relationship to materialism and well-being. It was hypothesized that the two types of materialists would have different temporal profiles. In addition, it was predicted that a future-negative perspective would mediate the relationship between materialism and well-being as was previously found with past-negative temporal orientation. The results indicated higher dark-future, future-negative, and past-negative scores with the “mouse” type materialists and higher present hedonistic scores in the “peacock” type materialists. Mediation analysis showed an indirect effect of a future-negative perspective in the relationship between materialism and well-being.