Psychology collection
The Department of Psychology offers some of the most popular and highly-rated undergraduate courses at Otago. It provides excellent preparation of students for careers in research and the profession of Psychology. Students from the postgraduate programme have achieved national and international recognition and awards and a number have gone on to positions in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, UK and the USA.
For further information go to the Department of Psychology.
Recent Deposits
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Neural basis of categorisation in a 30-million-year-old feathered reptilian dinosaur
Categorisation is a cognitive ability to group individual stimuli into different categorical groups based on their common features. The categorisation ability is not limited to human and non-human primates. Evidence ... -
Physiological Arousal, Information Processing, Performance and Expertise in Expected and Unexpected Abnormal Flight Events: An Empirical Investigation.
Aviation accident reports indicate that preventable incidents are developing into tragedies with pilots responding incorrectly to well-trained events e.g. engine failures. Recent research suggests that startle (an autonomic ... -
Comprehension of hazard warning labels for consumer products
A significant public health concern is posed by people’s inadequate comprehension of warning labels on hazardous products, such as potting mix. Inhaling or touching potting mix can lead to the development of Legionnaire’s ... -
Patterns of aggression in New Zealand children
Social aggression is a covert form of aggression, used to damage the self-esteem and/ or status of another. Previous research has shown that girls tend to utilize this form of aggression more often than physical aggression. ... -
Reversal theory and flow : toward an integrated framework of optimal experiences in adventure activities
Although adventurous pursuits are gaining popularity, many leading theoretical paradigms within the adventure literature (e.g., the Adventure Experience Paradigm) lack predictive power and depth. Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi, ... -
The effect of poverty on cognitive function: Does a reminder of financial hardship affect subsequent decision-making?
The conditions of poverty are thought to change the way people process information and make decisions. Past research has shown when low-income participants are reminded of their financial situation they perform worse on ... -
Parental impact on child prejudice in New Zealand
Research to date has shown mixed results that prejudice against out-group individuals may be explained through parent and child relationships and the attitudes held within. Some theorists suggest that children develop ... -
‘Healthy’ individuals’ perceptions of type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause and management: A ‘think-aloud,’ mixed-methods study.
It is important to understand what people believe about diabetes because increasing lifespans have led to an increase in the prevalence of chronic health conditions (CHCs) such as this disease. The growing importance of ... -
Intergroup Behaviour: The Relationship Between Increased Belonging and Positive Ingroup Evaluations
This thesis assesses the relationship between belonging and intergroup evaluations. To this end three studies were conducted. In each study New Zealanders evaluated ingroup (i.e., New Zealanders) and outgroup members (i.e., ... -
Precursors for schizophrenia : are schizotaxia and schizotypy related?
Meehl's (1962, 1989, 1990b) schizotypy and Tsuang et al.'s (1999b, 2000a, 2000b) schizotaxia are fundamentally different notions of the schizophrenia precursor. Both represent a categorical precursor but differ in the ... -
Sailing and self-esteem: the effect of a ten day developmental voyage at sea on the multidimensional self-concept
This study sought to empirically assess the widely held assumption that developmental voyages at sea serve to enhance self-esteem. One hundred and fifty eight, 15 to 18 year olds completed measures of global and domain ... -
The Role of Death Salience in the Relationships Among Trauma, Religiosity, and Wellbeing.
The present study tested whether the relationship between trauma and religious change, and the subsequent effect of this change on wellbeing, depends on whether the trauma involves death. Using a large and population-rep ... -
Children’s Perceptions of Dentistry: Giving Children a Voice about their Dental Care
Historically, little weight has been given to children’s opinions about their healthcare, however, as research takes a more cooperative approach, the need has arisen for suitable techniques that help young children communicate ... -
Interviewer's questions, children's responses : assessments of children who may have been abused
The current thesis is based on interviews conducted with twenty-six 3- to 8-year old children who were assessed regarding concerns that they may have been abused. Eightyeight transcripts of the children undergoing a ... -
Characterisation of peptides from within the secreted amyloid precursor protein alpha as potential therapeutics in Alzheimer's disease
Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a transmembrane protein that is cleaved by specific proteases to produce a variety of peptides and larger protein products that contribute to the development, maintenance and plasticity ... -
Fluoxetine treatment and its effect on the behaviour of MIA rats
Prenatal immune insults have been shown to increase the offspring’s risk of developing schizophrenia. Based on this knowledge, a maternal immune activation (MIA) rat model of the disorder has been developed, where pregnant ... -
Congenital Mirror Movements and the Impact on the Somatosensory System
Congenital mirror movements (CMM) is a rare neurological condition in which affected individuals have difficulty with performing solely unimanual movements; the opposite hand symmetrically mimics the actions of the volitional ... -
Narrating transgressions in adolescence: a longitudinal study
The relationship between parent-child elaborative reminiscing and children’s socioemotional development is well-established (see Salmon & Reese, 2016 for a review). In particular, a previous longitudinal study trained ... -
Tumor Necrosis Factor α mediated Heterodendritic Metaplasticity in Rats and Alzheimer’s mice
Long-term potentiation (LTP) is an activity-dependent long-lasting increase in the efficacy of synaptic transmission. LTP is vital for learning and memory and must be regulated to keep synaptic strength within a dynamic ... -
A tale of autobiographical memory development: New Zealand style
Autobiographical memories are for specific, personal past events that are of significance to an individual (Nelson, 1993). The social interaction model of autobiographical memory proposes that children begin learning about ...