Humans are social beings, which means interpersonal relationships are important contributors to our psychological health. Our health and behavior is manifested through a dynamic cycle of interacting factors: environmental, personal, and behavioral. Contributing to this interaction, interpersonal relationships provide benefits such as increased social support and decreased loneliness. The care and attention of relationship partners are communicated in multiple ways, one of which is interpersonal touch. Although touch can communicate positive feelings and support, it can also be used negatively in certain contexts. Unwanted or forced touch occurs when an individual experiences sexual or physical trauma. Experiencing this type of trauma often results in negative psychological consequences. Exactly how sexual or physical trauma—both of which involve unwanted touch—might influence an individual’s attitudes towards touch is important to explore. If an individual feels negatively about interpersonal touch due to previous experience of trauma, this might negatively influence the amount of current touch with a partner, and also the survivor’s psychological well-being.

In the current study, I proposed that previous occurrence of sexual or physical trauma would predict both decreased frequency of touch in a current intimate relationship and poorer individual well-being, and that these relations would be explained by negative touch attitudes. Results supported these hypotheses, suggesting that lingering negative touch attitudes following trauma could be an underlying mechanism affecting social and individual functioning. As seen in our model, these attitudes fully mediated the effects between previous sexual or physical trauma and individual well-being, as well as frequency of touch. This understanding can help provide further insight into the repercussions of trauma and the underlying mechanisms attributing to continued negative effects.

Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by a diminished ability to identify and describe feelings, as well as an inability to distinguish physical symptoms associated with emotional arousal. Alexithymia is elevated in both patients with epilepsy (a neurologically-based seizure disorder) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES; a psychological condition mimicking epilepsy); however, different neuropsychological processes may underlie this deficit in the two groups. To expand on previous research considering factors contributing to alexithymia in these populations, we examined the extent to which scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) were predicted by performance on measures of executive and language functioning. We studied 138 PNES and 150 epilepsy patients with video-EEG confirmed diagnoses. Neuropsychological tests were administered to assess executive functioning (interference scores of the Stroop Color-Word Test and Part B of the Trail Making Test) and language functioning (Animals, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Boston Naming Test). Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that the relationships between disparate neuropsychological domains and alexithymia were not moderated by diagnosis of PNES or epilepsy. Multiple regression analyses within each group demonstrated that phonemic verbal fluency and response inhibition were significant predictors of alexithymia in epilepsy. Thus, alexithymia may reflect impairments in language and aspects of executive functioning in both PNES and epilepsy.

Performance on working memory (WM) and fluid intelligence tasks (gF) is often highly correlated. However, recent research by Shipstead, Harrison, & Engle (2016) has suggested that dissociable cognitive processes underlie performance on WM and gF tasks, such that WM task performance is contingent upon maintenance of relevant information while gF task performance is contingent upon disengaging from irrelevant information so that updating can occur. The aim of the current study was to test the proposal that the dopamine gating system, a neurological mechanism underlying information encoding and updating, is a plausible mechanism underlying the abilities identified by Shipstead and colleagues that are separately unique to WM and gF. Sixty-three participants completed a task that measured ability to maintain and update information, and is neurologically known to reflect functionality of the dopamine gating system during updating performance. The results indicate that individual differences in updating performance are predicted by gF, but not by WM. This suggests that the ability to disengage from irrelevant information is facilitated by distinct processes in the dopamine gating system, and is a distinguishing component of gF.

Background: When studying how humans regulate their affect, it is important to recognize that affect regulation does not occur in a vacuum. As humans are an inherently social species, affect plays a crucial evolutionary role in social behavior, and social behavior likewise assumes an important role in affect and affect regulation. Emotion researchers are increasingly interested the specific ways people help to regulate and dysregulate one another’s affect, though experimental examinations of the extant models and theory are relatively few. This thesis presents a broad theoretical framework for social affect regulation between close others, considering the role of attachment theory and its developmental foundations for social affect regulation in adulthood. Affectionate and responsive touch is considered a major mechanism of regulatory benefit between people, both developmentally and in adulthood, and is the focus of the present investigation. Method: A total sample of 231 heterosexual married couples were recruited from the community. Participants were assigned to engage in affectionate touch or sit quietly, and/or engage in positive conversation prior to a stress task. Physiological data was collected continuously across the experiment. Hypotheses: Phasic respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was used to index the degree of regulatory engagement during the stressor for those who did and did not touch. It was hypothesized that touch would reduce stress appraisal and thus the need for regulatory engagement. This effect was predicted to be greater for those more anxiously attached while increasing the need for regulatory engagement in those more avoidantly attached. Secondarily, partner effects of attachment on sympathetic activation via pre-ejection period (PEP) change were tested. It was predicted that both attachment dimensions would predict a decrease in partner PEP change in the touch condition, with avoidant attachment having the strongest effect. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for nonindependence in dyadic observations. The first set of hypotheses were not supported, while the second set were partially supported. Wives’ avoidance significantly predicted husbands’ PEP change, but in the positive direction. This effect also significantly increased in the touch condition. Theoretical considerations and limitations are discussed.

Affiliative touch, such as physical affection between relationship partners, activates neural systems associated with reward, relaxation, and attachment. Co-sleeping is a common practice among romantic partners, and the social context of sleep is linked to well-being. The effect of touch during sleep, however, remains largely untested. As a first study, 210 married couples were asked how much they generally touched during sleep and how important it was for them to touch during sleep. I hypothesized that perceptions of more spousal touch during sleep, as well as greater importance placed on that touch, would be associated with better quality of sleep. Given the strong links between touch and attachment, and previous findings of poor sleep associated with attachment anxiety, these effects were expected to be greatest among spouses higher in attachment anxiety (who might benefit most from a sense of security arising from touch). Separate regression analyses were run for husbands and wives, controlling for affective symptoms of depression (which were significant predictors of poor sleep for both spouses). For both spouses, higher reports of amount and importance of touch during sleep predicted better quality of sleep. For wives, the predicted interaction was significant, but in the opposite direction: Reported amount and importance of spousal touch during sleep was positively related to sleep quality only among those with lower attachment anxiety, whereas it was unrelated among those with higher attachment anxiety. Higher attachment anxiety also was related to worse sleep among wives, but not husbands. It may be the case that wives who are lowest in attachment anxiety may feel more comfortable when being touched by their partners. As a result, they may touch more often, place more importance on touch, and be more likely to experience rewards of touch such as better sleep quality. The findings lend support to the idea that social touch can serve a regulatory function, even during sleep.

Lucid dreaming occurs in those who become aware they are dreaming, while still in the dreaming state. Although lucid dreaming has been studied with respect to personality characteristics and as a learned cognitive skill to enhance well-being via processes such as mindfulness, less research has been conducted on relationships between lucid dreaming and emotion. I collected self-reports from a college sample of 262 participants to examine the relationships between lucidity experienced in dreams and emotion regulation, dispositional positive emotions, interoceptive awareness, and mindfulness. Pearson correlations revealed that greater lucidity experienced within dreams was significantly related to more positive emotions, greater interoceptive awareness, and greater mindfulness; however, lucidity was not related to emotion regulation. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that greater lucidity experienced within dreams predicted more dispositional positive emotions above and beyond emotion regulation and interoceptive awareness. It is important to note that these relationships were tested across people who self-identified as lucid dreamers as well as those who identified as non-lucid dreamers. Overall, lucidity may be beneficial for anyone who recalls his or her dreams, in that higher lucidity was associated with more positive affect during waking. Positive emotions experienced during waking also may translate into greater awareness during dreaming.

The value of safe sex may be discounted based on contextual factors associated with an opportunity for sex. College students (n = 75) in a within-subjects study selected hypothetical sexual partners from a set of pictures and classified them based on attractiveness and estimated chance of having an STI. In the sexual delay discounting (SDD) task, participants rated their likelihood (0 – 100%) of waiting for some period of time (e.g., 3 hours) to have protected sex with their selected partners, when they could have immediate sex without protection. In the sexual probability discounting (SPD) task, participants rated their likelihood of having protected sex if the opportunity was uncertain (e.g., 50%), when they could have unprotected sex for sure (100%). All participants included in the final analyses were aware of and had a positive attitude towards protection against STIs as they indicated preference for immediate (or certain) protected sex. Results show that participants’ willingness to have safe sex systematically decreased as the delay to and odds against having safe sex increased. However, these discounting patterns were observed only in some partner conditions but not others, showing that preference for delayed (or uncertain) safe sex was altered by perceived attractiveness and STI risk of sexual partners. Moreover, the hyperbolic discounting model provided good to acceptable fit to the delay and probability discounting data in most-wanted and least-STI conditions. Gender differences in devaluation of safe sex were also found.

This study was designed to investigate whether workplace positivity of full-time workers was related to health ratings. Positivity was conceptualized by a high rating of perceived work-performance, and work-engagement as defined by the Utrecht Work-Engagement Scale, including vigor, dedication, and absorption (Schaufeli, & Bakker, 2004). Health was measured utilizing the RAND SF-36 health survey including the eight subscales: overall, general health, physical and social functioning, emotional well-being, role limitations due to physical health or emotional problems, energy or fatigue, and bodily pain. All measures were collected simultaneously. It was predicted that perceived work-performance and all measures of work-engagement are positively associated with the aforementioned health ratings. Multiple regression analyses revealed that higher (positive) perception of work-performance and vigor were positively related to health ratings. Absorption was negatively related to health ratings. Dedication was only negatively related to physical functioning. These findings suggest that not all measures of positivity in the workplace are related to better health. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The present study examined daily survey data collected from married couples over the course roughly 14 days. I investigated the relationships of the morning quality ratings of three distinct spousal interactions conversation (physical affection, and sexual activity) reported in mornings on later-day positive and negative affect, as well as next-day intensity of negative somatic symptoms (e.g. headaches, dizziness, aches and pains). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to estimate path models for both husbands and wives. Direct and indirect effects were observed. Results showed that quality of conversation and physical affection increased later-day positive mood for both husbands and wives; however, positive quality activity increased later-day positive affect for wives only. Quality of sexual activity decreased later-day negative affect for wives only. Less later-day negative affect decreased next-day intensity of symptoms for both husbands and wives. Lastly, quality of sexual activity decreased later-day negative affect, which decreased next-day somatic symptoms for wives. This was the only significant indirect effect. Implications are that high marital quality is important for maintaining psychological health for both spouses, and physical health, particularly for wives.

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), is a conversion disorder thought to be linked to unresolved emotional distress. While some studies suggest that PNES patients do not attribute their somatic symptoms to severe psychological experiences (Stone, Binzer, & Sharpe, 2004; LaFrance & Barry, 2005), it is unclear what PNES patients do think causes their seizures, and the psychological consequences of those attributions. The aim of the present study was to investigate PNES patients' attributions for their seizures, and to determine how these attributions relate to stress and emotion regulation. It was hypothesized that participants who attribute their seizures to something (i.e., have an explanation for their seizures) will have lower perceived stress and less difficulty with emotion regulation than those who are unsure of the cause of their seizures. Twenty-four PNES participants completed a questionnaire assessing seizure diagnosis, characteristics of seizure impact, perceived stress, psychological symptoms, emotion regulation, attributions for seizures, and coping resources. Contrary to the hypothesis, having an explanation for seizures, rather than being “unsure” of seizure cause, was related to greater perceived stress. While it would seem that attributing unpredictable seizure events to a cause would lower perceived stress and emotion regulation difficulty, this study indicates that an attribution to an unknown cause may be more beneficial for the individual.