Department of Psychology

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/12

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How self-esteem and narcissism differentially relate to high and(un)stable feelings of status and inclusion
(2020) Giacomin, Miranda; Benson, Alex J.
Objective: We tested how self-esteem and grandiose narcissism are associated with people's level and instability of status and inclusion. Method: In Studies 1 and 2, we used latent profile analysis (Study 1, N = 989; Study 2, N = 470, 111 teams) to examine how people felt about their level and instability of status and inclusion. In Study 3, we used daily diary reports (N = 287, 1,286 daily observations) to track people's level and instability of status and inclusion. Results: Higher levels of status and inclusion did not always correspond to more stable beliefs about one's social standing. Self-esteem predicted higher and more stable feelings of status and inclusion. Although narcissistic admiration also predicted higher levels of status and inclusion, we found mixed evidence regarding its link to the instability of such feelings. Narcissistic rivalry, however, predicted more unstable feelings of status and inclusion. Conclusions: By modeling the heterogeneity of status and inclusion feelings across subgroups (Studies 1 and 2) and documenting the degree of instability people experience regarding such feelings (Study 3), these results provide insight into how self-esteem and narcissism relate to the level and instability of status and inclusion.
Narcissistic individuals exhibit poor recognition memory
(2021) Giacomin, Miranda; Brinton, Christopher; Rule, Nicholas O.
Here, we examine face memory among individuals who are self-focused and care little about others' needs: grandiose narcissists. Given narcissistic individuals' excessive self-focus and tendency to disregard the needs of others, they may struggle to recognize faces and their surrounding environment. Indeed, narcissistic individuals demonstrated worse recognition memory than non-narcissistic individuals in recognition memory tests for faces (Studies 1 [N = 332] and 2 [N = 261]). This difference also occurred for nonsocial stimuli (i.e., objects, houses, cars), suggesting a broad recognition deficit (Study 3A [N = 178], 3B [N = 203], 3C [N = 274]). Narcissistic individuals' excessive self-focus predicted this memory deficit (Study 4 [N = 187]). Grandiose narcissism may therefore influence visual recognition memory, highlighting the potential for future research linking personality and cognitive performance.
Gender stereotypes explain different mental prototypes of male and female leaders
(2022) Giacomin, Miranda; Tskhay, Konstantin O.; Rule, Nicholas O.
Previous research has demonstrated that social stereotypes associated with women's gender can preclude them from leadership positions. It remains unclear whether these stereotypes affect how people perceive male and female leaders, however. To examine people's stereotypes, we extracted their mental representations of male and female leaders and typical men/women (referred to as nonleaders) using reverse correlation. We then asked perceivers to rate these prototypes’ apparent leadership ability and traits related to power and warmth across contexts that represented typically masculine, feminine, or neutral domains. Leaders in a feminine context appeared more leaderlike than nonleaders, but as equally leaderlike in neutral and masculine contexts. Moreover, female leader faces appeared more powerful than female nonleader faces but male leader and nonleader faces appeared equally powerful. Male leaders were perceived as warmer than male nonleaders, however, whereas female leaders and nonleaders were perceived as equally warm. Thus, people’s gender, social stereotypes, and the context in which leaders are judged influence how people conceive of male and female leaders, with counterstereotypical attributes distinguishing leaders within their gender.
An analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) with machine learning
(2024) Emery, Jesse; Phan, Nhi; Jime, Isra; Cobzas, Dana; Hassall, Cameron
Our capstone project was done in collaboration with Dr. Cameron Hassall from the Psychology department at MacEwan University. Our data was based on one of Dr. Hassall’s papers on “Task-level value affects trial-level reward processing” (Hassal, C, 2022), where he wanted to determine if the Anterior Cingulate Cortex was responsible or involved in decision making. To determine this, a task sequence was carried out 427 times using 12 participants over a 52 minute period. While the participants completed these tasks, brain activity was being measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). For our project, the goal was to train a machine learning model to accurately classify an EEG event after training on past events. In greater detail, we focus on the brain signal when the participant hit the left or right button in response to the stimulus which are colored shapes.
Research Recast(ed): S2E16 - Assessment and management of high-risk offenders with Dr. Sandy Jung and Detective Greg Kitura
(2023) Miskiman, Megan; Schabert, Reinette; Jung, Sandy; Kitura, Greg
On today’s episode, Dr. Sandy Jung of MacEwan’s Psychology Department and Detective Greg Kitura of Edmonton Police Services Behavioural Assessment Unit discuss their collaborative research and work on the risk assessment of sexual and intimate partner violent perpetrators.
Research recast(ed): Following up with Dr. Trevor Hamilton
(2022) Ekelund, Brittany; Cave, Dylan; Hamilton, Trevor
Today we follow up with Dr. Trevor Hamilton, and we talk about some of the sides of science we don’t always get to see. We will talk about the process of getting published and the trials and tribulations that can happen along the way. We learn how rejection isn’t always a bad thing and how science flourishes and grows under scrutiny. We also see what Trevor is currently up to - which is a lot! So if you want to check in on Trevor’s past and present work, please visit his website at www.trevorhamiltonlab.com.
Research recast(ed): MacEwan celebrates month of scholarship - Dr. Christopher Striemer
(2022) Ekelund, Brittany; Cave, Dylan; Striemer, Christopher
Today we get brainy as we dive into neuroscience with Dr. Chris Striemer, an associate professor in MacEwan’s psychology department, whose focus is - broadly speaking - on how the brain controls various aspects of attention, perception and movement. We will talk about the cerebellum, spatial neglect, attention bias and how the brain adapts after injury - not to mention how prisms can help. You can find some fun bonus content on our Instagram as we don a pair of prisms and see how our own brains adapt.
Striking gold: navigating the education massification maze for work readiness
(2024) Enstroem, Rickard; Schmaltz, Rodney
Purpose This study investigates the impact of large-scale teaching in higher education on students’ preparedness for the workforce within the context of evolving labour market demands, the expansion of higher education and the application of high-impact teaching strategies. It synthesizes perspectives on employer work readiness, the challenges and opportunities of large-scale teaching and strategies for fostering a dynamic academia-industry feedback loop. This multifaceted approach ensures the relevance of curricula and graduates’ preparedness while addressing the skills gap through practical recommendations for aligning teaching methodologies with employer expectations. Design/methodology/approach The research methodically examines the multifaceted challenges and opportunities inherent in large-scale teaching. It focuses on sustaining student engagement, maintaining educational quality, personalizing learning experiences and cultivating essential soft skills in extensive student cohorts. Findings This study highlights the critical role of transversal skills in work readiness. It also uncovers that despite its challenges, large-scale teaching presents unique opportunities. The diversity of large student groups mirrors modern workplace complexities, and technological tools aid in personalizing learning experiences. Approaches like peer networking, innovative teaching methods, real-world simulations and collaborative resource utilization enrich education. The importance of experiential learning for augmenting large-scale teaching in honing soft skills is emphasized. Originality/value This manuscript contributes to the discourse on large-scale teaching, aligning it with employer expectations and the dynamic requirements of the job market. It offers a nuanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities this educational approach presents, providing insights for crafting engaging and effective learning experiences in large cohorts. The study uniquely integrates experiential learning, co-creation in education and industry-academia feedback loops, underscoring their importance in enhancing student work readiness in large-scale teaching.
Prism adaptation speeds reach initiation in the direction of the prism after-effect
(2017) Striemer, Christopher; Borza, Carley A.
Damage to the temporal-parietal cortex in the right hemisphere often leads to spatial neglect – a disorder in which patients are unable to attend to sensory input from their contralesional (left) side. Neglect has been associated with both attentional and premotor deficits. That is, in addition to having difficulty with attending to the left side, patients are often slower to initiate leftward vs. rightward movements (i.e., directional hypokinesia). Previous research has indicated that a brief period of adaptation to rightward shifting prisms can reduce symptoms of neglect by adjusting the patient’s movements leftward, towards the neglected field. Although prism adaptation has been shown to reduce spatial attention deficits in patients with neglect, very little work has examined the effects of prisms on premotor symptoms. In the current study, we examined this in healthy individuals using leftward shifting prisms to induce a rightward shift in the egocentric reference frame, similar to neglect patients prior to prism adaptation. Specifically, we examined the speed with which healthy participants initiated leftward and rightward reaches (without visual feedback) prior to and following adaptation to either 17° leftward (n=16) or 17° rightward (n=15) shifting prisms. Our results indicated that, following adaptation, participants were significantly faster to initiate reaches towards targets located in the direction opposite the prism shift. That is, participants were faster to initiate reaches to right targets following leftward prism adaptation, and were faster to initiate reaches to left targets following rightward prism adaptation. Overall these results are consistent with the idea that prism adaptation can influence the speed with which a reach can be planned toward a target in the direction opposite the prism shift, possibly through altering activity in neural circuits involved in reach planning.
Direction of visual shift and hand congruency enhance spatial realignment during visuomotor adaptation
(2023) Striemer, Christopher; Morrill, Adam
Although prism adaptation has been studied extensively for over 100 years to better understand how the motor system adapts to sensory perturbations, very few studies have systematically studied how the combination of the hand used to adapt, and the direction of visual shift, might influence adaptation. Given that sensory inputs and motor outputs from the same side are processed (at least initially) in the same hemisphere, we wondered whether there might be differences in how people adapt when the hand used and the direction of visual shift were congruent (e.g., adapting to rightward shifting prisms with the right hand),compared to incongruent (e.g., adapting to rightward shifting prisms with the left hand). In Experiment 1we re-analyzed a previously published dataset (Striemer, Enns, & Whitwell, 2019)in which healthy adults (n=17) adapted to 17° leftward or rightward optically displacing prisms using their left or right hand (tested in separate sessions, counterbalanced). Our results revealed a “congruency effect” such that adaptation aftereffects were significantly larger for reaches performed without visual feedback (i.e., straight-ahead pointing) when the direction of prism shift and the hand used were congruent, compared to incongruent. We replicated this same congruency effect in Experiment 2 in a new group of participants(n=25). We suggest that a better understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the congruency effect will allow researchers to build more precise models of visuomotor learning, and may lead to the development of more effective applications of prism adaptation for the treatment of attentional disorders following brain damage.
Left cerebellar lesions may be associated with an increase in spatial neglect-like symptoms
(2023) Verbitsky, Ryan; Anderson, Britt; Danckert, James; Dukelow, Sean; Striemer, Christopher
Each cerebellar hemisphere projects to the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. Previous research suggests a lateralization of cognitive functions in the cerebellum that mirrors the cerebral cortex, with attention/visuospatial functions represented in the left cerebellar hemisphere, and language functions in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Although there is good evidence supporting the role of the right cerebellum with language functions, the evidence supporting the notion that attention and visuospatial functions are left lateralized is less clear. Given that spatial neglect is one of the most common disorders arising from right cortical damage, we reasoned that damage to the left cerebellum would result in increased spatial neglect-like symptoms, without necessarily leading to an official diagnosis of spatial neglect. To examine this disconnection hypothesis, we analyzed neglect screening data (line bisection, cancellation, figure copying) from 20 patients with isolated unilateral cerebellar stroke. Results indicated that left cerebellar patients (n=9) missed significantly more targets on the left side of cancellation tasks compared to a normative sample. No significant effects were observed for right cerebellar patients (n=11). A lesion overlap analysis indicated that Crus II (78% overlap), and lobules VII and IX (66% overlap) were the regions most commonly damaged in left cerebellar patients. Our results are consistent with the notion that the left cerebellum may be important for attention and visuospatial functions. Given the poor prognosis typically associated with neglect, we suggest that screening for neglect symptoms, and visuospatial deficits more generally, may be important for tailoring rehabilitative efforts to help maximize recovery in cerebellar patients.
Assessment and recovery of visually guided reaching deficits following cerebellar stroke
(2023) Robles, Chella M.; Anderson, Britt; Dukelow, Sean P.; Striemer, Christopher
The cerebellum is known to play an important role in the coordination and timing of limb movements. The present study focused on how reach kinematics are affected by cerebellar lesions to quantify both the presence of motor impairment, and recovery of motor function over time. In the current study, 12 patients with isolated cerebellar stroke completed clinical measures of cognitive and motor function, as well as a visually guided reaching (VGR) task using the Kinarm exoskeleton at baseline (~2 weeks), as well as 6, 12, and 24-weeks post-stroke. During the VGR task, patients made unassisted reaches with visual feedback from a central ‘start’ position to one of eight targets arranged in a circle. At baseline, 6/12 patients were impaired across several parameters of the VGR task compared to a Kinarm normative sample (n=307), revealing deficits in both feed-forward and feedback control. The only clinical measures that consistently demonstrated impairment were the Purdue Pegboard Task (PPT; 9/12 patients) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (6/11 patients). Overall, patients who were impaired at baseline showed significant recovery by the 24-week follow-up for both VGR and the PPT. A lesion overlap analysis indicated that the regions most commonly damaged in 5/12 patients (42% overlap) were lobule IX and Crus II of the right cerebellum. A lesion subtraction analysis comparing patients who were impaired (n=6) vs. unimpaired (n=6) on the VGR task at baseline showed that the region most commonly damaged in impaired patients was lobule VIII of the right cerebellum (40% overlap). Our results lend further support to the notion that the cerebellum is involved in both feedforward and feedback control during reaching, and that cerebellar patients tend to recover relatively quickly overall. In addition, we argue that future research should study the effects of cerebellar damage on visuomotor control from a perception-action theoretical framework to better understand how the cerebellum works with the dorsal stream to control visually guided action.
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.
COVID-19 anxiety and its relation to anxiety-related disorder symptoms and mechanisms
(2024) Byam, Layton; Penney, Alexander
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the mental health of individuals, particularly in the area of anxiety-related disorders. Anxiety regarding COVID-19 has been associated with health anxiety, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. Additionally, COVID-19 anxiety has been associated with anxiety sensitivity, disgust, maladaptive metacognitions, and intolerance of uncertainty. While researchers have established that anxiety disorders and anxiety-related mechanisms were associated with COVID-19 anxiety, which specific anxiety-related symptoms and mechanisms are primarily associated with COVID-19 anxiety needs to be more extensively explored. The current study sought to further this area by examining which particular anxiety related disorder symptoms and mechanisms were uniquely associated with COVID-19 anxiety. A non-clinical sample of 593 Canadian undergraduate participants (Mage = 21.13 years; 67.7 % female) completed this cross-sectional study between September 2020 and February 2021. Participants completed online questionaries assessing anxiety-related disorder symptoms and mechanisms in addition to multiple scales of COVID-19 anxiety. When examining symptoms, health anxiety (prs = 0.17–0.29) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (prs = 0.16–0.35) symptoms had the strongest unique associations with COVID-19 anxiety. Among the anxiety-related mechanisms, disgust sensitivity (prs = 0.14–0.16) and health anxiety-specific intolerance of uncertainty (prs = 0.12–0.30) had the strongest unique associations with COVID-19 anxiety. Individuals experiencing these disorders and anxiety-related mechanisms may be at a heightened vulnerability to experiencing heightened anxiety during future pandemics. Mental health professionals should discuss COVID-19 anxiety with individuals experiencing health anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. Lastly, the study highlights the significance of considering a variety of specific anxiety-related disorder symptoms and mechanisms when working to understand pandemic anxiety.
Situational materialism: an extension and replication
(2023) Watson, David; Schmaltz, Rodney
Materialistic 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.
Research recast(ed): S1E3 - A conversation with Dr. Trevor Hamilton
(2021-09) Ekelund, Brittany; Cave, Dylan; Hamilton, Trevor
Today we go under the sea and get a crash course in Zebrafish with Dr. Trevor Hamilton, a neuroscientist and psychologist at MacEwan University. With a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Alberta and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from McGill University, Trevor has a broad body of research involving Zebrafish, and how different substances and pharmacological compounds, like LSD or alcohol, modifies their behaviour. A visiting scholar from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego, Dr. Hamilton has also been studying the effects of increasing acidification of the oceans on fish behaviour.
Carotenoid availability and tradeoffs in female convict cichlids, a reverse sexually-dichromatic fish
(2020) Earley, Ryan L.; Anderson, Caleb; Moscicki, Michele; Norton, Benjamin B.; Brown, Alexandria C.; Clotfelter, Ethan D.
Carotenoid pigments have myriad functions in fish, including coloration and immunity. The “carotenoid trade-off hypothesis” posits that dietary limitation of carotenoids imposes constraints on animals to allocate to one function at the expense of another. This hypothesis rarely has been tested in fish. We quantified tissue carotenoids in breeding and non-breeding female convict cichlids in Lake Xiloá, Nicaragua. This species is reverse sexually dichromatic such that females possess carotenoid-based coloration that males lack. We also collected algae samples near nest sites to assess carotenoid availability, recorded water depth, and examined cichlids’ behavioral interactions with pair mates, conspecifics, heterospecific competitors, and predators. Each of these, we predicted, would mediate potential carotenoid trade-offs. We found that non-breeding females had significantly higher levels of carotenoids in their integument, liver, and gonads compared to breeding fish. We found that algae and total carotenoids declined with depth across our study transects at 9, 11, 13, and 15 m, but the concentration of carotenoids (ng carotenoid g−1 algae, or algal quality) did not vary with depth. Furthermore, relationships among carotenoid concentrations of the three tissue types did not vary with depth, and female color status (orange or not) was not affected by behavioral interactions with other community members, reproductive status, or water depth. Our results support previous studies showing that carotenoid pigmentation may serve a signal function that facilitates the establishment of non-breeding females within the breeding population. Our study also uncovered no evidence indicating that carotenoids are limiting in the diet of breeding female convict cichlids.
Canadian undergraduates’ perspectives on medical assistance in dying (MAiD): a quantitative study
(2022) Hawrelak, Erin; Harper, Lori; Reddon, John R.; Powell, Russell A.
Background and Objectives: In 2016, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) became legal in Canada for those suffering a grievous and untreatable medical condition. Currently, it is not available to minors or to those with an untreatable mental illness, although it is likely the scope of MAiD will be widened to include persons with severe and untreatable mental illnesses. However, little is known about the factors predicting acceptance or rejection of MAiD for persons with either a grievous medical condition or an untreatable mental illness. Methods: A survey was administered to 438 undergraduate students to examine factors associated with their acceptance or rejection of MAiD. The survey included four different scenarios: a young or old person with an untreatable medical condition, and a young or old person with an untreatable mental illness. Demographic questions (age, sex, religion, etc), personality measures, and an attitude towards euthanasia scale were also administered, as well as questions assessing participants’ general understanding of MAiD and their life experiences with death and suicide. Results/Conclusion: Overall, most of the Canadian undergraduate participants accepted MAiD for both terminally ill and mentally ill patients; however, different variables, such as age, religion, and ethnicity, predicted the acceptance or rejection of MAiD for each scenario.
The HEXACO model of personality: factors related to gossip & friendship
(2022) Watson, David
In 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.
A juggler's manifesto: elevating creativity to stay productive amid uncertainty
(2023) Enstroem, Rickard; Schmaltz, Rodney
Purpose The Industry 4.0 environment is characterized by fast data, vertically and horizontally interconnected systems, and human–machine interfaces. In the middle stands the manager, whose sustained performance is critical to the organization's success. Business disturbances—such as supply chain disruptions during the pandemic—can quickly test the manager's resiliency. While creativity and flexibility are critical for success in these situations, these skills are often not promoted directly. This paper will discuss strategies for enhancing managers' creativity and resiliency and give suggestions for improving professional development training and post-secondary business education. Design/methodology/approach A synthesis of the literature in business and psychology provides a foundation for creating a conceptual model incorporating strategies to promote managerial creativity and resiliency. While the model focuses on managerial performance under adverse conditions, the tenets of the model also apply during times of relative stability. Findings Findings based on a synthesis of the literature on creativity in business and psychology provide the foundation for a conceptual model to identify potential elements in training and curriculum design to further managers' creativity and resiliency. This model recommends clear, actionable training and program-level curriculum design suggestions for improved managerial performance. Originality/value This paper identifies a conceptual model to enhance managerial creativity leading to increased resiliency through professional development programs and suggestions for educators in post-secondary business education. This model provides tools for managers to deal with adverse and rapidly changing conditions flexibly, promoting employee productivity and satisfaction.

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