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Social Brains, Social Bodies: Investigating the Role of Personality in Embodied Emotion

dc.contributor.advisorPark, Sohee
dc.contributor.authorBlain, Scott D.
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-30T19:56:46Z
dc.date.available2016-04-30T19:56:46Z
dc.date.issued2016-04-07
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1803/7560
dc.descriptionThis thesis explores the impact of personality and sub-clinical symptomatology on individuals' experience of embodied emotion. First, the impact of latent liability for Autism and Schizophrenia on gait perception is investigated. Then, an overarching construct of alexithymia is introduced, as a possible mediating mechanism. Finally, results of a body mapping task are utilized to explore the connections between self and other experience of embodied emotion. Implications include reforming the way we think about emotion as related to the body, across the span of human individual difference (both neurotypical and clinical), as well as clarifying and forwarding the use of trans-diagnostic socioemotional traits.en_US
dc.description.abstractAccurate emotion perception is essential for adaptive social functioning. Abnormal emotion perception and associated social impairments are core features of neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and autism. Such deficits extend to healthy individuals who share latent liability for these conditions, such as those with elevated schizotypal or autistic traits. Although much is known about emotion perception deficits in the schizophrenia- and autism- spectrum, underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. One proposed mediating mechanism is alexithymia, a difficulty labeling and describing feelings. In turn, alexithymia is associated with abnormal interoception and experience of embodied emotion. The goal of the current study was to examine alexithymia’s contribution in the impact of schizotypal and autistic traits on embodied emotion, as assessed by an emotion perception task that asks participants to discriminate emotions from the gait of polygonal avatar walkers and a visual body mapping task that asks participants to map emotions onto an outline of a body. Results indicated negative correlations between low-threshold emotion perception via gait and autism-spectrum quotient (ρ = -0.23, p < 0.05), as well as positive schizotypy (ρ = -0.28, p = 0.01) but not alexithymia. Decreased emotion perception was associated with decreased report of embodied emotion, on the body mapping task. The study also replicated previously demonstrated correlations between alexithymia, schizotypy, and autism-spectrum quotient (p < 0.05), serving as further validation of the AQ-10 item version. In summary, the current study further clarifies our understanding of emotion perception in the extended phenotypes of autism- and schizophrenia-spectrum, while also indicating connections between interpersonal and intrapersonal embodied emotion.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Sohee Parken_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherVanderbilt Universityen_US
dc.subjectEmotionen_US
dc.subjectSocial Cognitionen_US
dc.subjectPersonalityen_US
dc.subjectAutismen_US
dc.subjectSchizophreniaen_US
dc.subjectEmbodimenten_US
dc.subject.lcshSocial perceptionen_US
dc.subject.lcshAutism spectrum disordersen_US
dc.subject.lcshSchizophreniaen_US
dc.subject.lcshEmotions and cognitionen_US
dc.subject.lcshAlexithymiaen_US
dc.titleSocial Brains, Social Bodies: Investigating the Role of Personality in Embodied Emotionen_US
dc.title.alternativeRole of personality in embodied emotionen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.collegePeabody Collegeen_US
dc.description.schoolVanderbilt Universityen_US
dc.description.departmentPsychology and Human Developmenten_US


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