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Background: A growing body of research has documented negative effects of sexualization in the media on individuals’ self-objectification. This research is predominantly built on studies examining traditional media, such as magazines and television, and young female samples. Furthermore, longitudinal studies are scarce, and research is missing studying mediators of the relationship. The first aim of the present PhD thesis was to investigate the relations between the use of sexualized interactive media and social media and self-objectification. The second aim of this work was to examine the presumed processes within understudied samples, such as males and females beyond college age, thus investigating the moderating roles of age and gender. The third aim was to shed light on possible mediators of the relation between sexualized media and self-objectification.
Method: The research aims were addressed within the scope of four studies. In an experiment, women’s self-objectification and body satisfaction was measured after playing a video game with a sexualized vs. a nonsexualized character that was either personalized or generic. The second study investigated the cross-sectional link between sexualized television use and self-objectification and consideration of cosmetic surgery in a sample of women across a broad age spectrum, examining the role of age in the relations. The third study looked at the cross-sectional link between male and female sexualized images on Instagram and their associations with self-objectification among a sample of male and female adolescents. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, the fourth study examined sexualized video game and Instagram use as predictors of adolescents’ self-objectification. Path models were conceptualized for the second, third and fourth study, in which media use predicted body surveillance via appearance comparisons (Study 4), thin-ideal internalization (Study 2, 3, 4), muscular-ideal internalization (Study 3, 4), and valuing appearance (all studies).
Results: The results of the experimental study revealed no effect of sexualized video game characters on women’s self-objectification and body satisfaction. No moderating effect of personalization emerged. Sexualized television use was associated to consideration of cosmetic surgery via body surveillance and valuing appearance for women of all ages in Study 2, while no moderating effect of age was found. Study 3 revealed that seeing sexualized male images on Instagram was indirectly associated with higher body surveillance via muscular-ideal internalization for boys and girls. Sexualized female images were indirectly linked to higher body surveillance via thin-ideal internalization and valuing appearance over competence only for girls. The longitudinal analysis of Study 4 showed no moderating effect of gender: For boys and girls, sexualized video game use at T1 predicted body surveillance at T2 via appearance comparisons, thin-ideal internalization and valuing appearance over competence. Furthermore, the use of sexualized Instagram images at T1 predicted body surveillance at T2 via valuing appearance.
Conclusion: The findings show that sexualization in the media is linked to self-objectification among a variety of media formats and within diverse groups of people. While the longitudinal study indicates that sexualized media predict self-objectification over time, the experimental null findings warrant caution regarding this temporal order. The results demonstrate that several mediating variables might be involved in this link. Possible implications for research and practice, such as intervention programs and policy-making, are discussed.
During sentence reading the eyes quickly jump from word to word to sample visual information with the high acuity of the fovea. Lexical properties of the currently fixated word are known to affect the duration of the fixation, reflecting an interaction of word processing with oculomotor planning. While low level properties of words in the parafovea can likewise affect the current fixation duration, results concerning the influence of lexical properties have been ambiguous (Drieghe, Rayner, & Pollatsek, 2008; Kliegl, Nuthmann, & Engbert, 2006). Experimental investigations of such lexical parafoveal-on-foveal effects using the boundary paradigm have instead shown, that lexical properties of parafoveal previews affect fixation durations on the upcoming target words (Risse & Kliegl, 2014). However, the results were potentially confounded with effects of preview validity.
The notion of parafoveal processing of lexical information challenges extant models of eye movements during reading. Models containing serial word processing assumptions have trouble explaining such effects, as they usually couple successful word processing to saccade planning, resulting in skipping of the parafoveal word. Although models with parallel word processing are less restricted, in the SWIFT model (Engbert, Longtin, & Kliegl, 2002) only processing of the foveal word can directly influence the saccade latency.
Here we combine the results of a boundary experiment (Chapter 2) with a predictive modeling approach using the SWIFT model, where we explore mechanisms of parafoveal inhibition in a simulation study (Chapter 4). We construct a likelihood function for the SWIFT model (Chapter 3) and utilize the experimental data in a Bayesian approach to parameter estimation (Chapter 3 & 4).
The experimental results show a substantial effect of parafoveal preview frequency on fixation durations on the target word, which can be clearly distinguished from the effect of preview validity. Using the eye movement data from the participants, we demonstrate the feasibility of the Bayesian approach even for a small set of estimated parameters, by comparing summary statistics of experimental and simulated data. Finally, we can show that the SWIFT model can account for the lexical preview effects, when a mechanism for parafoveal inhibition is added. The effects of preview validity were modeled best, when processing dependent saccade cancellation was added for invalid trials. In the simulation study only the control condition of the experiment was used for parameter estimation, allowing for cross validation. Simultaneously the number of free parameters was increased. High correlations of summary statistics demonstrate the capabilities of the parameter estimation approach. Taken together, the results advocate for a better integration of experimental data into computational modeling via parameter estimation.
Detecting and categorizing particular entities in the environment are important visual tasks that humans have had to solve at various points in our evolutionary time. The question arises whether characteristics of entities that were of ecological significance for humans play a particular role during the development of visual categorization.
The current project addressed this question by investigating the effects of developing visual abilities, visual properties and ecological significance on categorization early in life. Our stimuli were monochromatic photographs of structure-like assemblies and surfaces taken from three categories: vegetation, non-living natural elements, and artifacts. A set of computational and rated visual properties were assessed for these stimuli. Three empirical studies applied coherent research concepts and methods in young children and adults, comprising (a) two card-sorting tasks with preschool children (age: 4.1-6.1 years) and adults (age: 18-50 years) which assessed classification and similarity judgments, (b) a gaze contingent eye-tracking search task which investigated the impact of visual properties and category membership on 8-month-olds' ability to segregate visual structure. Because eye-tracking with infants still provides challenges, a methodological study (c) assessed the effect of infant eye-tracking procedures on data quality with 8- to 12-month-old infants and adults.
In the categorization tasks we found that category membership and visual properties impacted the performance of all participant groups. Sensitivity to the respective categories varied between tasks and over the age groups. For example, artifact images hindered infants' visual search but were classified best by adults, whereas sensitivity to vegetation was highest during similarity judgments. Overall, preschool children relied less on visual properties than adults, but some properties (e.g., rated depth, shading) were drawn upon similarly strong. In children and infants, depth predicted task performance stronger than shape-related properties. Moreover, children and infants were sensitive to variations in the complexity of low-level visual statistics. These results suggest that classification of visual structures, and attention to particular visual properties is affected by the functional or ecological significance these categories and properties may have for each of the respective age groups.
Based on this, the project highlights the importance of further developmental research on visual categorization with naturalistic, structure-like stimuli. As intended with the current work, this would allow important links between developmental and adult research.
Learning to read in German
(2021)
In the present dissertation, the development of eye movement behavior and the perceptual span of German beginning readers was investigated in Grades 1 to 3 (Study 1) and longitudinally within a one-year time interval (Study 2), as well as in relation to intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation (Study 3). The presented results are intended to fill the gap of only sparse information on young readers’ eye movements and completely missing information on German young readers’ perceptual span and its development. On the other hand, reading motivation data have been scrutinized with respect to reciprocal effects on reading comprehension but not with respect to more immediate, basic cognitive processing (e.g., word decoding) that is indicated by different eye movement measures. Based on a longitudinal study design, children in Grades 1–3 participated in a moving window reading experiment with eye movement recordings in two successive years. All children were participants of a larger longitudinal study on intrapersonal developmental risk factors in childhood and adolescence (PIER study). Motivation data and other psychometric reading data were collected during individual inquiries and tests at school. Data analyses were realized in three separate studies that focused on different but related aspects of reading and perceptual span development. Study 1 presents the first cross-sectional report on the perceptual span of beginning German readers. The focus was on reading rate changes in Grades 1 to 3 and on the issue of the onset of the perceptual span development and its dependence on basic foveal reading processes. Study 2 presents a successor of Study 1 providing first longitudinal data of the perceptual span in elementary school children. It also includes information on the stability of observed and predicted reading rates and perceptual span sizes and introduces a new measure of the perceptual span based on nonlinear mixed-effects models. Another issue addressed in this study is the longitudinal between-group comparison of slower and faster readers which refers to the detection of developmental patterns. Study 3 includes longitudinal reading motivation data and investigates the relation between different eye movement measures including perceptual span and intrinsic as well as extrinsic reading motivation. In Study 1, a decelerated increase in reading rate was observed between Grades 1 to 3. Grade effects were also reported for saccade length, refixation probability, and different fixation duration measures. With higher grade, mean saccade length increased, whereas refixation probability, first-fixation duration, gaze duration, and total reading time decreased. Perceptual span development was indicated by an increase in window size effects with grade level. Grade level differences with respect to window size effects were stronger between Grades 2 and 3 than between Grades 1 and 2. These results were replicated longitudinally in Study 2. Again, perceptual span size significantly changed between Grades 2 and 3, but not between Grades 1 and 2 or Grades 3 and 4. Observed and predicted reading rates were found to be highly stable after first grade, whereas stability of perceptual span was only moderate for all grade levels. Group differences between slower and faster readers in Year 1 remained observable in Year 2 showing a pattern of stable achievement differences rather than a compensatory pattern. Between Grades 2 and 3, between-group differences in reading rate even increased resulting in a Matthew effect. A similar effect was observed for perceptual span development between Grades 3 and 4. Finally, in Study 3, significant relations between beginning readers’ eye movements and their reading motivation were observed. In both years of measurement, higher intrinsic reading motivation was related to more skilled eye movement patterns as indicated by short fixations, longer saccades, and higher reading rates. In Year 2, intrinsic reading motivation was also significantly and negatively correlated with refixation probability. These correlational patterns were confirmed in cross-sectional linear models controlling for grade level and reading amount and including both reading motivation measures, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. While there were significant positive relations between intrinsic reading motivation and word decoding as indicated by the above stated eye movement measures, extrinsic reading motivation only predicted variance in eye movements in Year 2 (significant for fixation durations and reading rate), with a consistently opposite pattern of effects as compared to intrinsic reading motivation. Finally, longitudinal effects of Year 1 intrinsic reading motivation on Year 2 word decoding were observed for gaze duration, total reading time, refixation probability, and perceptual span within cross-lagged panel models. These effects were reciprocal because all eye movement measures significantly predicted variance in intrinsic reading motivation. Extrinsic reading motivation in Year 1 did not affect any eye movement measure in Year 2, and vice versa, except for a significant, negative relation with perceptual span. Concluding, the present dissertation demonstrates that largest gains in reading development in terms of eye movement changes are observable between Grades 1 and 2. Together with the observed pattern of stable differences between slower and faster readers and a widening achievement gap between Grades 2 and 3 for reading rate, these results underline the importance of the first year(s) of formal reading instruction. The development of the perceptual span lags behind as it is most apparent between Grades 2 and 3. This suggests that efficient parafoveal processing presupposes a certain degree of foveal reading proficiency (e.g., word decoding). Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that intrinsic reading motivation—but not extrinsic motivation—effectively supports the development of skilled reading.
In modern times of evolving globalization and continuous technological developments, organizations are required to respond to ever-changing demands. Therefore, to be successful in today’s highly uncertain environments, organizations need employees to actively search for opportunities, anticipate challenges, and act ahead. In other words, employee proactivity in the workplace represents a highly valuable resource in nowadays organizations. Empirical studies conducted as part of this thesis advance the research on the outcomes of proactivity from the individual perspective. The main contribution of this thesis pertains to revealing several important individual and contextual conditions under which engaging in proactivity will have negative and positive effects on employees’ well-being and their consequent behaviours, as well as shedding light on the unique psychological mechanisms through which these effects unfold. From a practical standpoint, this research underscores the importance of creating work environments that support employees’ autonomous motivation for proactivity and urge organizations and managers to be mindful about the pressures they place on employees to be proactive at work. Besides, this thesis stimulates research efforts aimed at further extending our knowledge of when and how individual proactive behaviours at work will do more good than harm for those who enact them.
Many children struggle with reading for comprehension. Reading is a complex cognitive task depending on various sub-tasks, such as word decoding and building connections across sentences. The task of connecting sentences is guided by referential expressions. References, such as anaphoric noun phrases (Minky/the cat) or pronouns (Minky/she), signal to the reader how the protagonists of adjacent sentences are connected. Readers construct a coherent mental model of the text by resolving these references. Personal pronouns (he/she) in particular need to be resolved towards an appropriate antecedent before they can be fully understood. Pronoun resolution therefore is vital for successful text comprehension. The present thesis investigated children’s resolution of personal pronouns during natural reading as a possible source of reading comprehension difficulty. Three eye tracking studies investigated whether children aged 8-9 (Grade 3-4) resolve pronouns online during reading and how the varying information around the pronoun region influences children’s eye movement behavior.
The first study investigated whether children prefer a pronoun over a noun phrase when the antecedent is highly accessible. Children read three-sentence stories that introduced a protagonist (Mia) in the first sentence and a reference to this protagonist in one of the following sentences using either a repeated name (Mia) or a pronoun (she). For proficient readers, it was repeatedly shown that there is a preference for a pronoun over the name in these contexts, i.e., when the antecedent is salient. The first study tested the repeated name penalty effect in children using eye tracking. It was hypothesized that in contrast to proficient readers, the fluency of children’s reading processing profits from an overlapping word form (i.e., the repeated noun phrase) compared to a pronoun. This is because overlapping word forms allow for direct mapping, whereas pronouns have to be resolved towards their antecedent first.
The second study investigated children’s online processing of pronominal gender in a mismatch paradigm. Children read sentences in which the pronoun either was a gender-match to the antecedent or a gender-mismatch. Reading skill and reading fluency were also tested and related to children’s ability to detect a mismatching pronoun during reading.
The third study investigated the online processing of gender information on the pronoun and whether disambiguating gender information improves the accuracy of pronoun comprehension. Offline comprehension accuracy, that is the comprehension of the pronoun, was related to children’s online eye movement behavior. This study was conducted in a semi-longitudinal paradigm: 70 children were tested in Grade 3 (age 8) and again in Grade 4 (age 9) to investigate effects of age and reading skill on pronoun processing and comprehension.
The results of this thesis clearly show that children aged 8-9, when they are in the second half of primary school, struggle with the comprehension of pronouns in reading tasks. The responses to pronoun comprehension questions revealed that children have difficulties with the comprehension of a pronoun in the absence of a disambiguating gender cue, that is when they have to apply context information. When there is a gender cue to disambiguate the pronoun, children’s accuracy improves significantly. This is true for children in Grade 3, but also in Grade 4, albeit their overall resolution accuracy slightly improves with age.
The results from the analyses of eye movements suggest that the discourse accessibility of an antecedent does play a role in children’s processing of pronouns and repeated names. The repetition of a name does not facilitate children’s reading processing like it was anticipated. Similar to adults, children showed a penalty effect for the repeated name where a pronoun is expected. However, this does not mean that children’s processing of pronouns is always adult-like. The results from eye movement analyses in the pronoun region during sentence reading revealed significant individual differences related to children’s individual reading skill and reading fluency.
The results from the mismatch study revealed that reading fluency is associated with children’s detection of incongruent pronouns. All children had longer gaze durations at mismatching than matching pronouns, but only fluent readers among the children followed this up with a regression out of the pronoun region. This was interpreted as an attempt to gain processing time and “repair” the inconsistency. Reading fluency was therefore associated with detection of the mismatch, while less fluent readers did not see any mismatch between pronoun and antecedent. The eye movement pattern of the “detectors” is more adult-like and was interpreted as reflecting successful monitoring and attempted pronoun resolution.
Children differ considerably in their reading comprehension skill. The results of this thesis show that only skilled readers among the children use gender information online for pronoun resolution. They took more time to read the pronoun when there was disambiguating gender information that was useful to resolve the pronoun, in contrast to the less skilled readers. Age was a less important factor in pronoun resolution processes and comprehension than were reading skill and reading fluency. Taken together, this suggests that the good readers direct cognitive resources towards pronoun resolution when the pronoun can be resolved, which is a successful comprehension strategy. Moreover, there was evidence that reading skill is a relevant factor in this task but not age.
The contribution of the present thesis is a depiction of the specific eye movement patterns that are related to successful and unsuccessful attempts at pronoun resolution in children. Eye movement behavior in the pronoun area is related to children’s reading skill and fluency. The results of this thesis suggest that many children do not resolve pronouns spontaneously during sentence reading, which is likely detrimental to their reading comprehension in more complex reading materials. The present thesis informs our understanding of the challenge that pronoun resolution poses for beginning readers, and gives new impulses for the study of higher-order reading processes in children’s natural reading.
Mental health problems are highly prevalent worldwide. Fortunately, psychotherapy has proven highly effective in the treatment of a number of mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety disorders. In contrast, psychotherapy training as is practised currently cannot be considered evidence-based. Thus, there is much room for improvement. The integration of simulated patients (SPs) into psychotherapy training and research is on the rise. SPs originate from the medical education and have, in a number of studies, been demonstrated to contribute to effective learning environments. Nevertheless, there has been voiced criticism regarding the authenticity of SP portrayals, but few studies have examined this to date.
Based on these considerations, this dissertation explores SPs’ authenticity while portraying a mental disorder, depression. Altogether, the present cumulative dissertation consists of three empirical papers. At the time of printing, Paper I and Paper III have been accepted for publication, and Paper II is under review after a minor revision.
First, Paper I develops and validates an observer-based rating-scale to assess SP authenticity in psychotherapeutic contexts. Based on the preliminary findings, it can be concluded that the Authenticity of Patient Demonstrations scale is a reliable and valid tool that can be used for recruiting, training, and evaluating the authenticity of SPs.
Second, Paper II tests whether student SPs are perceived as more authentic after they receive an in-depth role-script compared to those SPs who only receive basic information on the patient case. To test this assumption, a randomised controlled study design was implemented and the hypothesis could be confirmed. As a consequence, when engaging SPs, an in-depth role-script with details, e.g. on nonverbal behaviour and feelings of the patient, should be provided.
Third, Paper III demonstrates that psychotherapy trainees cannot distinguish between trained SPs and real patients and therefore suggests that, with proper training, SPs are a promising training method for psychotherapy.
Altogether, the dissertation shows that SPs can be trained to portray a depressive patient authentically and thus delivers promising evidence for the further dissemination of SPs.