Browsing by Author "Han, Hyemin"
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Item Associations between psychopathic traits and brain activity during instructed false responding(Elsevier, 2017) Glenn, Andrea L.; Han, Hyemin; Yang, Yaling; Raine, Adrian; Schug, Robert A.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Children's Hospital Los Angeles; University of Pennsylvania; California State University System; California State University Long BeachLying is one of the characteristic features of psychopathy, and has been recognized in clinical and diagnostic descriptions of the disorder, yet individuals with psychopathic traits have been found to have reduced neural activity in many of the brain regions that are important for lying. In this study, we examine brain activity in sixteen individuals with varying degrees of psychopathic traits during a task in which they are instructed to falsify information or tell the truth about autobiographical and non-autobiographical facts, some of which was related to criminal behavior. We found that psychopathic traits were primarily associated with increased activity in the anterior cingulate, various regions of the prefrontal cortex, insula, angular gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobe when participants falsified information of any type. Associations tended to be stronger when participants falsified information about criminal behaviors. Although this study was conducted in a small sample of individuals and the task used has limited ecological validity, these findings support a growing body of literature suggesting that in some contexts, individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits may demonstrate heightened levels of brain activity.Item Attainable and Relevant Moral Exemplars Are More Effective than Extraordinary Exemplars in Promoting Voluntary Service Engagement(Frontiers, 2017) Han, Hyemin; Kim, Jeongmin; Jeong, Changwoo; Cohen, Geoffrey L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Seoul National University (SNU); Stanford UniversityThe present study aimed to develop effective moral educational interventions based on social psychology by using stories of moral exemplars. We tested whether motivation to engage in voluntary service as a form of moral behavior was better promoted by attainable and relevant exemplars or by unattainable and irrelevant exemplars. First, experiment 1, conducted in a lab, showed that stories of attainable exemplars more effectively promoted voluntary service activity engagement among undergraduate students compared with stories of unattainable exemplars and non-moral stories. Second, experiment 2, a middle school classroom-level experiment with a quasi-experimental design, demonstrated that peer exemplars, who are perceived to be attainable and relevant to students, better promoted service engagement compared with historic figures in moral education classes.Item Comparing the use of cinematherapy and bibliotherapy to teach character education: a quasi-experimental study(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Davis, Amy Pike; Burnham, Joy J.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaCharacter education, an educational construct which emphasizes educational strategies and targets the specific moral development needs of children (Berkowitz & Bier, 2007), is often taught in the school setting through direct instruction by the school counselor using simple tools such as books and movies. However, there is absence of literature comparing the effectiveness of these tools for providing character education. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the effectiveness of bibliotherapy (using books in counseling) and cinematherapy (using movies in counseling) on third grade students’ understanding of character education. Third grade students at four schools were randomly assigned by classroom to one of three groups: intervention with books, intervention with movies, or the control. School counselors at four elementary schools presented six classroom guidance lessons focusing on the six character traits of Character Counts! (2017): caring, citizenship, fairness, kindness, respect, and responsibility. The students’ understanding of these character traits was assessed with a pre- and post-intervention test using a researcher developed instrument, Understanding Character Traits Survey (UCTS; Davis, 2017). The psychometric properties of the instrument were investigated using the Rasch model. Rasch model indices of item difficulty, person locations, along with item and person fit statistics were investigated. The researcher-developed instrument exhibited acceptable psychometric properties in the sample examined in this study. Results of the data collected from students’ pre- and post-intervention tests indicate that all groups improved their understanding of character traits over time regardless of intervention group. Therefore, classroom guidance lessons using bibliotherapy and cinematherapy were not supported as mediators in the students’ understanding of character education traits based on pre- and post-test results. There was a statistically significant change in scores between the pre-test and post-test indicating that time was a factor in students’ understanding of character. This study highlighted the value of time on students’ understanding of character and will serve to contribute to future research on character education, bibliotherapy, and cinematherapy and their roles in classroom guidance lessons.Item Comparison of Team Sport Athlete's and Individual Sport Athlete's Moral Identity and Antisocial/Prosocial Behavior in Sports(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Hanle, Leah; Walker, David; Han, Hyemin; University of Alabama TuscaloosaIn this acknowledgement, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all the people who have contributed in different ways to the success of this work. Thanks to the members of my committee, Dr. Wind, Dr. Scofield, and Dr. Han. I appreciate the thought-provoking impulses and the expertise. Special thanks to my supervisor Dr. Walker for his critical and helpful suggestions throughout the entire thesis process. I highly appreciate the freedom he gave me in choosing the subject and the path of my research. Prior to the degree, I had no experience in research; - he was very understanding and patient and guided me through the different steps of the project. I would also like to thank my family and friends as they always encouraged me and never made me doubt the overall project. To Jamie - thank you for your tremendous support not only throughout the whole project but especially in the beginning of the writing process. I am very grateful for your emotional support as well as your professional insight and experience that you offered with no hesitation. Finally, to my parents for showing their love and support, for always being there and offering me an open ear when needed, thank you! If I had to take one thing away from this – never doubt!Item Coping with Ostracism: a Neuroscientific Investigation of Mindset and Autistic Characteristics(University of Alabama Libraries, 2023) Nelson, Cailee Morgan; Morett, Laura MOstracism, or the perception of being ignored by others, is an aversive behavior that is universal to the human species. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk for ostracism over their lifetime. As ostracism can lead to enduring negative mental health outcomes, it is important to understand how individuals, especially autistic individuals, cope with these negative feelings. To better understand what influences coping responses to ostracism, this dissertation sought to develop and evaluate a new social and emotional mindset scale, examine how autistic characteristics and social and emotional mindset influence immediate behavioral and neural responses to ostracism, and investigate how immediate responses to ostracism, autistic characteristics, and social and emotional mindset influence later coping responses to ostracism. For the development of the social and emotional mindset scale, 413 adult participants completed the revised Social and Emotional Mindset Scale. Psychometric analyses revealed a simple, unidimensional structure. However, further examination of item level data found a mismatch between item and person locations indicating that the scale may not accurately identify differences between the two types of social and emotional mindset. Fifty separate adult participants completed a battery of survey measures that evaluated autistic characteristics and social and emotional mindset, a task that manipulated ostracism, and another task that measured delayed coping responses. Overall, results indicated that ostracism significantly increases self-reported reflexive feelings of distress but not distress as measured by brain activation. Additionally, results suggest that immediate feelings of distress may moderate the effect social and emotional mindset have on later coping responses to ostracism. Collectively, these studies did not provide evidence for connections to autistic characteristics but did provide initial evidence that differences in social and emotional mindset could influence coping responses to ostracism. Taken together with previous research that has demonstrated improved outcomes from interventions that emphasize incremental implicit theories of mindset, the present findings can better inform future studies that examine social and emotional mindset in social and emotional learning programs or interventions to help individuals remain resilient in the face of ostracism.Item Cross-language validation of COVID-19 Compliance Scale in 28 languages(Cambridge University Press, 2023) Blackburn, Angelique M.; Han, Hyemin; Gallegos, Aranza; Texas A&M International University; University of Alabama TuscaloosaAlthough compliance scales have been used to assess compliance with health guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19, no scale known to us has shown content validity regarding global guidelines and reliability across an international sample. We assessed the validity and reliability of a Compliance Scale developed by a group of over 150 international researchers. Exploratory factor analysis determined reliable items on the English version. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the reliability of the six-item scale and convergent validity was found. After invariance testing and alignment, we employed a novel R code to run a Monte Carlo simulation for alignment validation. This scale can be employed to measure compliance across multiple languages, and our alignment validation method can be conducted with future cross-language surveys.Item Cultural effect on dispositional and intergroup empathy: comparison of iranians, americans, and bicultural iranians(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020-07) Yaghoubi Jami, Parvaneh; Walker, David Ian; Thoma, Stephen J.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaDecades of research makes clear that people’s cultural background and group identity make a substantial impact on their empathic responsiveness. Our current understanding of empathic perceptions and reactions in a group of people, called biculturals, is limited. The majority of the research is correlational focusing on the connection between a set of limited factors and empathy. Moreover, there is growing evidence showing that being “bicultural” is more than having a set of correlational factors. This study argues that the concept of “bicultural” should be addressed as a naturalistic phenomenon requiring naturalistic experiments to have a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors. Accordingly, researching on psychological concepts such as empathy among biculturals would be a naturalistic experiment that allows researchers to test different theories regarding the studied phenomenon. This study used a mixed-method research design approach with a greater emphasis on quantitative strands. To address the purpose of this study, participants’ dispositional empathy as well as cultural orientation and sensitivity toward other cultures was measured through self-reported questionnaires. Drawing from the existing studies on the interplay between culture and empathy (e.g., Cheon et al., 2011; Yoon, 2014), participants’ empathic reactions toward observing an individual in painful and non-painful situations from ingroup and outgroup cultures was also explored. Additionally, this study explored how Americans and Iranians, two nations that have been represented as threat by their respective governments, viewed each other with a particular focus on the most dramatic incidents in the political relationships between these countries (Shahghasemi, 2017). Findings from the present study suggest that cultural orientation significantly affects empathic responsiveness. However, the relationship is dependent on the component of culture as well as on different components of empathy in different settings. Moreover, unlike their government and previous studies (Gerges, 1997), both nations had a positive viewpoint about each other and did not perceive each other as enemies. There was no sign of schadenfreude, the opposite of empathy (Cikara, Bruneau & Saxe, 2011), as all participants believed the two incidents should have not happened and they tried to be empathic toward observing other people in pain regardless of the person’s nationality. It seems the new generations in both populations, are developing their own viewpoint in which they try not to mirror the image created by their government (Johnston Conover, Mingst, & Sigelman, 1980).Item Do Histories of Painful Life Experiences Affect the Expression of Empathy Among Young Adults? An Electroencephalography Study(Frontiers, 2021) Jami, Parvaneh Yaghoubi; Han, Hyemin; Thoma, Stephen J.; Mansouri, Behzad; Houser, Rick; University of Alabama TuscaloosaPrevious research suggests that prior experience of pain affects the expression of empathy. However, most of these studies attended to physical pain despite evidence indicating that other forms of pain may also affect brain activity and emotional states in similar ways. To address this limitation, we compared empathic responses of 33 participants, some of whom had experienced a personal loss, across three conditions: observing strangers in physical pain, psychological pain, and a non-painful condition. We also examined the effect of presence of prior painful experience on empathic reactions. In addition, we examined the stimulation type, prior experience, and ERPs in the early Late Positive Potential (300-550 ms), late Late Positive Potential (550-800 ms), and very late Late Positive Potential (VLLPP; 800-1,050 ms) time windows. Behavioral data indicated that participants who had personally experienced a loss scored significantly higher on perspective taking in the psychological-pain condition. ERP results also indicated significantly lower intensity in Fp2, an electrode in the prefrontal region, within VLLPP time window for participants experiencing a loss in the psychological-pain condition. The results of both behavioral and ERP analysis indicated that prior experience of psychological pain is related to cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy. The implication of these findings for research on empathy, for the study of psychological pain, and the moderating influence of prior painful experiences are discussed.Item The effects of secondary stressors, social identity, and social support on perceived stress and resilience: Findings from the COVID-19 pandemic(Elsevier, 2023) Ntontis, Evangelos; Blackburn, Angelique M.; Han, Hyemin; Stoeckli, Sabrina; Milfont, Taciano L.; Tuominen, Jarno; Griffin, Siobhan M.; Ikizer, Gozde; Jeftic, Alma; Chrona, Stavroula; Nasheedha, Aishath; Liutsko, Liudmila; Vestergren, Sara; Open University - UK; Texas A&M International University; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; University of Bern; University of Zurich; University of Waikato; University of Turku; University of Limerick; TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji University; International Christian University; University of Sussex; ISGlobal; Lomonosov Moscow State University; Keele UniversityPrimary stressors are direct outcomes of extreme events (e.g., viruses, floodwater) whereas secondary stressors stem from pre-disaster life circumstances and societal arrangements (e.g., illness, problematic pre-disaster pol-icies) or from inefficient responses to the extreme event. Secondary stressors can cause significant long-term damage to people affected but are also tractable and amenable to change. In this study we explored the asso-ciation between secondary stressors, social identity processes, social support, and perceived stress and resilience. Pre-registered analyses of data from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey Round II (N = 14,600; 43 countries) show that secondary stressors are positively associated with perceived stress and negatively associated with resilience, even when controlling for the effects of primary stressors. Being a woman or having lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher exposure to secondary stressors, higher perceived stress, and lower resilience. Importantly, social identification is positively associated with expected support and with increased resilience and lower perceived stress. However, neither gender, SES, or social identification moderated the relationship be-tween secondary stressors and perceived stress and resilience. In conclusion, systemic reforms and the avail-ability of social support are paramount to reducing the effects of secondary stressors.Item Evaluating Alternative Correction Methods for Multiple Comparison in Functional Neuroimaging Research(MDPI, 2019) Han, Hyemin; Glenn, Andrea L.; Dawson, Kelsie J.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaA significant challenge for fMRI research is statistically controlling for false positives without omitting true effects. Although a number of traditional methods for multiple comparison correction exist, several alternative tools have been developed that do not rely on strict parametric assumptions, but instead implement alternative methods to correct for multiple comparisons. In this study, we evaluated three of these methods, Statistical non-Parametric Mapping (SnPM), 3DClustSim, and Threshold Free Cluster Enhancement (TFCE), by examining which method produced the most consistent outcomes even when spatially-autocorrelated noise was added to the original images. We assessed the false alarm rate and hit rate of each method after noise was applied to the original images.Item Examining Moral Identity from Multiple Perspectives in Order to Promote its Development(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Dawson, Kelsie; Han, Hyemin; University of Alabama TuscaloosaMoral identity is generally defined as considering moral values important to an individual’s overall sense of self. It has received much attention in the field for being significant for helping to promote moral behavior. Because of this, the current dissertation conducted three studies to explore different aspects related to moral identity. Study 1 applied Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model to longitudinal data from the Civic Purpose Project in order to investigate the best predictors for moral identity two years after Time 1. Results showed that ethnic identity was the most significant predictor, along with school climate and school and neighborhood support. Study 2 investigated the best model for predicting beyond-the-self (BTS) motivation using moral identity and empathic traits. Results showed moral identity symbolization and perspective taking were the most significant predictors, along with moral identity internalization and empathic concern. Finally, Study 3 conducted a reanalysis of fMRI data in order to investigate the neural correlates of selfhood when responding to various moral violations. Results showed that the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex differently interacted with brain areas such as supplementary motor area, hippocampus, and fusiform gyrus depending on intentionality and type of violation. Implications for promoting development of moral identity and moral behavior are discussed.Item Exclusion of Youth with Down Syndrome: Effects of Age, Moral Reasoning, and Past Experience(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Reardanz, Jenna Leeann; Conners, Frances A.; McDonald, Kristina L.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaSocial exclusion can be detrimental to those who experience it (Killen, 1991). Experiences of exclusion can increase the likelihood of later internalizing and externalizing issues (Masten, Eisenberger et al., 2009; Denham, et al., 2017). Research among typically developing (TD) children and adolescents suggests that there is a curvilinear trend of exclusion, in that exclusion peaks during early adolescence (Malti, Strohmeier, & Killen, 2015; Damon, 1977; 1983). Additionally, research suggests that as youth get older they tend to use more morally based reasoning when deciding if they are going to include or exclude a peer (Smentana, et al., 2012; Wainryb, et al., 2005; Smentana, 2013). Past research has primarily focused on the exclusion of a TD peer, instead of a peer with a disability. A few seminal studies have demonstrated that those with a disability may be at a higher risk to be excluded when compared to TD peers (Gasser, Malti, & Buholzer, 2012). Additionally, past research suggests that positive past experiences may increase the likelihood to include a peer with a disability (Armstrong, et al., 2016; Nowicki, 2006). The current study found the expected curvilinear trend of excluding others, especially when the excluded peer had Down syndrome (DS), as well as the expected impact of both disability type and situation on rates of exclusion. Linear trends of moral reasoning with age were found in specific disability and situation interactions. However, the relationship between past experience and moral reasoning with exclusion was not substantiated.Item Exploring the association between compliance with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and big five traits with Bayesian generalized linear model(Pergamon, 2021) Han, Hyemin; University of Alabama TuscaloosaResearch has examined the association between people's compliance with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and personality traits. However, previous studies were conducted with relatively small-size datasets and employed frequentist analysis that does not allow data-driven model exploration. To address the limitations, a large-scale international dataset, COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset, was explored with Bayesian generalized linear model that enables identification of the best regression model. The best regression models predicting participants' compliance with Big Five traits were explored. The findings demonstrated first, all Big Five traits, except extroversion, were positively associated with compliance with general measures and distancing. Second, neuroticism, extroversion, and agreeableness were positively associated with the perceived cost of complying with the measures while conscientiousness showed negative association. The findings and the implications of the present study were discussed.Item Foundations and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior Development Across Preschool Years: Empathy, Personality, and Creativity(University of Alabama Libraries, 2023) Gungordu, Nahide; Hernandez-Reif, Maria; Walker, DavidProsocial behavior is defined as actions intended to benefit others regardless of potential gains the person performing the actions or behaviors may receive. Prosocial creativity is a new term in the literature and is described as an ability to produce a solution for solving someone's problem in an effective, original, and convenient way. The internalization of prosocial tendencies in early childhood plays a key role in outcomes across the life span, such as influencing social adjustment, peer acceptance, emotional stability, academic achievement, improved attendance, and physical and psychological health. But the mechanisms that underlie young children's prosocial tendencies are unknown. This study investigated predictors of prosocial decision making and prosocial creativity in preschool-age children and examined the links between young children's personality, creativity, empathy, moral development, and prosocial behavior. Participants were 3- to 5-year-old children in English-speaking populations around the world (N=122, mainly USA). The children individually participated in the study via a videotelephony software program through which they completed a creativity game and a series of standardized picture-based assessments to measure their empathy, moral development, prosocial decision making, and prosocial creativity. Parents also reported on their children's prosocial behavior, empathy, and personality. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression to explore the predictors of prosocial decision making and ordinal logistic regression to examine the predictors of prosocial creativity. To examine differences between study variables, a series of MANOVAs and ANOVAs were also conducted. Finally, Pearson correlations and path analyses were performed to explore direct and indirect relationships between variables. Results indicated that (1) children's age, creativity, and cognitive empathy played an important role in prosocial decision making and prosocial creativity, (2) older children and children with higher empathy made more mature moral judgments, (3) affective empathy, cognitive empathy, prosocial behavior, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were all positively related to each other, and (5) affective empathy mediated prosocial behavior and cognitive empathy. To sum up, the preschool years are important in the development of various elements of morality, empathy, creativity, and personality. These elements are likely to construct the foundation for children's prosocial behavior development across 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds.Item How are moral foundations associated with empathic traits and moral identity?(Springer, 2023) Dawson, Kelsie J.; Han, Hyemin; Choi, YeEun Rachel; University of Alabama TuscaloosaWe examined the relationship between moral foundations, empathic traits, and moral identity using an online survey via Mechanical Turk. In order to determine how moral foundations contribute to empathic traits and moral identity, we performed classical correlation analysis as well as Bayesian correlation analysis, Bayesian ANCOVA, and Bayesian regression analysis. Results showed that individualizing foundations (harm/care, fairness/reciprocity) and binding foundations (ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, purity/sanctity) had various different relationships with empathic traits. In addition, the individualizing versus binding foundations showed somewhat reverse relationships with internalization and symbolization of moral identity. This suggests that moral foundations can contribute to further understanding of empathic traits and moral identity and how they relate to moral behavior in reality. We discuss the implications of these results for moral educators when starting to teach students about moral issues.Item The Influence of Aging on the Neural Correlates of Judgments of Learning(University of Alabama Libraries, 2022) Erwin, Hillary; McDonough, Ian; University of Alabama TuscaloosaMetamemory monitoring refers to the awareness of one’s own knowledge and memory abilities. A common way to measure monitoring is to have individuals predict their current learning state via metamemory judgments such as judgments of learning (JOLs). JOLs are subjective ratings regarding whether information will be remembered later. Prior research in young adults (YAs) suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in making JOLs. Although older adults (OAs) often show spared monitoring via JOLs, they might be able to maintain this ability by recruiting additional brain regions to compensate for alterations in the mPFC. Alternatively, OAs might have preserved monitoring because their neural correlates remain intact. YA and OA participants made JOLs on a 1-3 scale (Likely, Maybe, Unlikely) after viewing picture pairs during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning. We tested the extent that brain activity differed in OAs compared to YAs in the mPFC using region of interest analyses in prefrontal brain regions, which are often invoked as key sites for neural compensation. Behaviorally, no age differences were found, consistent with the sparing of metamemory in older age. However, OAs showed increased brain activity when compared to YAs for the accurate > inaccurate and maybe > inaccurate contrasts in the middle frontal gyrus. This supports the notion that additional regions besides the mPFC are recruited by OAs when making encoding-based metamemory judgments, which could be indicative of compensatory mechanisms.Item Influence of Physical Education Teachers' and Sport Pedagogy Faculty Members' Occupational Socialization(University of Alabama Libraries, 2024) Baek, Seungsoo; Curtner-Smith, MatthewThe purpose of the first study was to determine the impact of occupational socialization on eight South Korean teachers' interpretation and delivery of the Hanaro Teaching (HT) model. Data were collected through five qualitative techniques. The teachers interpreted and delivered the HT model in four different ways. These were the full and full+ versions of the model, watered down, and taking a cafeteria approach. The organizational socialization phase was key in shaping how the teachers delivered the model. The study indicates that specific training in undergraduate physical education teacher education (PETE) could lead to more teachers employing the full and full+ versions of the model. The purpose of the second study was to describe the influence of secondary organizational socialization on six mid-career faculty members' (FMs) provision of PETE. Data were gathered with four qualitative techniques and were reduced to themes through analytic induction and constant comparison. FMs provided two forms of PETE that were hybrids of the critical-inquiry, traditional/craft, personalistic, and behavioristic orientations to teacher education. Cultures and conditions were mainly negative and unfavorable, which undermined FMs to provide PETE as they intended. FMs dealt with adverse cultures and conditions by attempting to strategically redefine them or by strategically complying with them. The findings of the study may help change the culture and conditions in which sport pedagogy FMs for the better. The purpose of the third study was to describe the impact of secondary organizational socialization on six late-career FMs' delivery of PETE. Data were collected through four qualitative techniques and were reduced to themes by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. FMs delivered three distinct forms of PETE that were hybrids of the behavioristic, traditional/craft, personalistic, and critical-inquiry orientations to teacher education. While their university cultures were largely positive, the conditions in which FMs worked were mainly unfavorable and impeded their delivery of PETE. FMs employed a number of tactics in an attempt to strategically redefine their workplaces for the better. These findings may be a catalyst for change in terms of inspiring other FMs to fight back when they face adverse conditions.Item An inquiry into cognitive and motivational mechanisms between perceived similarity and information processing(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Tortoriello, Gregory Kenneth; Hart, William P.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaSocial-cognitive perspectives suggest that ingroup perceived similarity between a message recipient and communicator stimulates systematic (e.g., more effortful) information processing of the message, which is posited to occur through implicitly-conferred ingroup benefits (e.g., expecting/perceiving greater ease of processing messages with ingroup members). Yet, effects of perceived similarity on information processing have not been empirically tested in the context of learning, nor have their presumed underlying processes. I proposed a conceptual model postulating that a salient shared social identity will activate greater perceived similarity between the processor of information and authors of the respective information which, in turn, will enhance information processing via cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Specifically, I tested whether a shared social identity enhances learning serially via a) perceived similarity, b) cognitive synergy between the processor and authors (perceptions encompassing ease of processing and cognitive connection with one’s partner), and c) effort. College participants completed sample reading comprehension sections of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). Passages for each reading comprehension task were purported to be written by “experts” who have mastery of an esoteric topic. Experts were perceived to be either similar or dissimilar to the participant based on information processing (learning) styles. After making shared social identity salient, participants rated their perceptions (presumed cognitive and motivational mechanisms) vis-à-vis the expert and task both before and after the reading comprehension tasks. Results failed to support a direct relationship between shared social identity and learning. But, supporting the hypothesized mediational sequence, a shared social identity predicted greater perceived similarity which, in turn, predicted greater learning serially via perceived (i.e., post-assessment) cognitive synergy and effort. Interestingly, inconsistent mediation manifested with pre-assessment mediators in the model, namely that the effect of shared social identity on learning was accentuated via perceived similarity but also inhibited via expected cognitive synergy. Findings have both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the complexities of a salient shared social identity on how people process information.Item A method to adjust a prior distribution in Bayesian second-level fMRI analysis(PeerJ, 2021) Han, Hyemin; University of Alabama TuscaloosaPrevious research has shown the potential value of Bayesian methods in fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) analysis. For instance, the results from Bayes factor-applied second-level fMRI analysis showed a higher hit rate compared with frequentist second-level fMRI analysis, suggesting greater sensitivity. Although the method reported more positives as a result of the higher sensitivity, it was able to maintain a reasonable level of selectivity in term of the false positive rate. Moreover, employment of the multiple comparison correction method to update the default prior distribution significantly improved the performance of Bayesian second-level fMRI analysis. However, previous studies have utilized the default prior distribution and did not consider the nature of each individual study. Thus, in the present study, a method to adjust the Cauchy prior distribution based on a priori information, which can be acquired from the results of relevant previous studies, was proposed and tested. A Cauchy prior distribution was adjusted based on the contrast, noise strength, and proportion of true positives that were estimated from a meta-analysis of relevant previous studies. In the present study, both the simulated images and real contrast images from two previous studies were used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The results showed that the employment of the prior adjustment method resulted in improved performance of Bayesian second-level fMRI analysis.Item Moral growth mindset is associated with change in voluntary service engagement(PLOS, 2018) Han, Hyemin; Choi, Youn-Jeng; Dawson, Kelsie J.; Jeong, Changwoo; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Seoul National University (SNU)Incremental implicit theories are associated with a belief regarding it is possible to improve one's intelligence or ability through efforts. Previous studies have demonstrated that incremental implicit theories contributed to better academic achievement and positive youth development. Our study aimed to examine whether incremental implicit theories of morality significantly influenced change in students' engagement in voluntary service activities. In our study, 54 Korean college students for Study 1 and 180 Korean 8th graders for Study 2 were recruited to conduct two two-wave studies. We surveyed participants' implicit theories of morality and participation in voluntary service activities. The effect of implicit theories of morality on change in service engagement was analyzed through regression analysis. In Study 1, the moral growth mindset significantly moderated longitudinal change in service engagement. In Study 2, the moral growth mindset significantly influenced engagement in art-related activities, while it significantly moderated change in engagement in youth-related activities.