@phdthesis{Epstude2005,
  author    = {Epstude, Kai},
  title     = {What you get is what you see? Comparisons influence the social induction of affect},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-14961},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {The present research is concerned with the topic of socially induced affect. In previous research the focus was mainly on affective convergence. A prominent topic in that context was "emotional contagion" (Hatfield, Cacioppo, \& Rapson, 1994). Affective divergence has been also been found. However, its influence on the theoretical debate remained weak. Besides research on emotions also social comparison research attended to the topic. In order to explain affective divergence and convergence an integrative model based on social comparison processes is proposed here. Based on the selective accessibility model (Mussweiler, 2003) it is assumed that affective convergence can be seen as assimilation to a comparison standard (the observed model). Therefore, the basic assumption is that a comparison between an observer and the model takes place. Affective divergence corresponds to an affective contrast from that standard. Which of these two phenomena occurs depends on the type of comparison processes that took place. Six experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1 it was shown that comparisons intensify the social induction of affect. The influence of the comparison focus was studied in Experiments 2 and 3. If the perceiver searches for similarities between the self and the model, affective convergence occurs. If differences are searched for, affective divergence is found. The latter is mainly found under special circumstances, e.g. if the model belongs to another social group (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1-3 it was shown comparisons influence the social induction of affect. In Experiment 4-6 the underlying processes were explored. The selective accessibility model (Mussweiler, 2003) attributes a central role to the selective activation of self-knowledge in order to explain judgmental assimilation and contrast. In Experiments 4 and 5 the role of the self was explored more thoroughly. Evidence for socially induced affect (affective convergence) has only been found when the self has been previously activated. When the self was not activated no such effect was found. The assumption that the activation of specific self-knowledge is the basis for socially induced affect was tested in Experiment 5. Results supported the assumption. The present experiments give rise to the assumption that social comparisons are a key element in the social induction of affect. Affective convergence and divergence are explained and processes for the affect induction are defined. The findings also have implications for research on automatic behaviour and especially to explain automatic contrast. In addition implications for social comparison research can be derived.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Hoefling2008,
  author    = {H{\"o}fling, Atilla},
  title     = {Beggars cannot be choosers - The influence of food deprivation on food related disgust},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-34609},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2008},
  abstract  = {The main goals of the present thesis were to investigate how food deprivation influences food related disgust and to identify mental mechanisms that might underlie alterations in food related disgust. For this purpose, 9 studies were conducted that employed direct and indirect measures of attitudes, biological measures of affect as well as measures of real eating behavior and food choice, and compared responses of deprived and non deprived subjects on each of these measures. Spontaneous facial reactions were assessed via EMG and revealed that food deprived subjects showed weaker disgust reactions than satiated participants when being confronted with photographs of disgusting foods. Interestingly, deprived and non deprived subjects evaluated disgusting foods equally negative on a conscious level of information processing, indicating that food deprivation has the potential to attenuate food related disgust irrespective of conscious evaluations. Furthermore, it was found that food deprived participants readily consumed disgust related foods ("genetically modified foods"), while satiated participants rejected those foods. Again, no difference emerged between deprived and non deprived subjects in respect to their conscious evaluations of genetically modified foods (that were negative in both experimental groups). The dissociation between conscious evaluations and actual eating behavior that was observed amongst food deprived participants resembles the dissociation between conscious evaluations and facial reactions, thereby corroborating the assumption that alterations in food related disgust might directly influence eating behavior without changing conscious evaluations of foods. The assumption that a shift in automatic attitudes towards disgusting foods might be responsible for these effects received only partial support. That is, there was only a non significant tendency for food deprived subjects to evaluate disgusting foods more positive than satiated subjects on an automatic level of information processing. Instead, the results of the present thesis suggest that food deprived subjects exhibit a stronger motivation than satiated subjects to approach disgusting foods immediately. More precisely, food deprived participants exhibited strong approach motivational tendencies towards both, palatable and disgusting foods in an "Approach- Avoidance Task" whereas satiated participants only approached palatable (but not disgusting) foods on an automatic level of information processing. Moreover, food deprivation seems to change the subjective weighting of hedonic and functional food attributes in the context of more elaborated decisions about which foods to pick for consumption and which foods to reject. It was found that individual taste preferences were of minor importance for food deprived subjects but very important for satiated subjects when actually choosing between several food alternatives. In contrast, functional food attributes (e.g., immediate availability of a given food, large portion size) were more important selection criteria for food deprived subjects than for satiated subjects. Thus, food deprived participants were less picky than satiated participants, but showed a clear preference for those food alternatives that were functional in ending a state of food deprivation quickly - even if this meant choosing a food that was not considered tasty. Taken together, the present thesis shows that physiological need states (e.g., food deprivation) are tightly linked to the affective and motivational processing of need relevant cues. This link is so strong that food deprivation even modulates affective and motivational reactions as well as eating behavior and choice behavior towards disgusting (but need relevant) foods.},
  subject      = {Ekel},
  language  = {en}
}