PhD Oral Exam - Parisa Sepehri, Psychology

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

Functional approaches to emotion posit that different emotions serve adaptive functions by facilitating distinct motivational processes in response to situational demands. The Discrete Emotion Theory of Affective Aging provides a lifespan developmental framework for examining the age-related fluctuations in the adaptive value of discrete emotions across older adulthood. With increasingly stressful life circumstances, approach-oriented persistence related to some emotions (i.e., excitement, anger) may become relatively maladaptive, while acceptance and goal disengagement motivations related to other emotions (i.e., calmness, sadness) become paramount. This dissertation sought to examine the differential consequences of motivationally contrasting positive and negative emotions on well-being, physical health, and optimism, and to examine both the effects of emotion intensity and variability. Finally, this dissertation sought to investigate the moderating roles of perceived control.

Using a week-long daily diary study from 169 older adults, Study 1 investigated the effects of calmness and excitement intensity (between- and within-person) and variability on well-being and physical health outcomes within the context of daily stressors, and examined the moderating role of perceived control. Results from hierarchical and linear regression models suggested that calmness intensity was associated with better well-being and physical health on both the between- and within-person levels, whereas between-person excitement intensity was associated with poorer outcomes for older adults with low control perceptions. The results further suggest that consistent, compared to variable, calmness was associated with adaptive outcomes, particularly for older adults with low perceived control. By contrast, excitement variability was largely unrelated to well-being and health, except for a positive association with depressive symptoms among adults with low control.

Study 2 explored the associations of within-person fluctuations of anger and sadness intensity with optimism declines using 6-year longitudinal data from 146 older adults. The second study builds on the first study by examining the moderating role of perceived control, as well as the moderating role of anger and sadness variability on the respective emotion intensity. The results demonstrated that higher-than-usual within-person anger intensity, but not sadness, was associated with greater declines in optimism among older adults. Inconsistent anger variability, as well as high perceived control, buffered the negative effects of anger intensity on optimism declines, whereas older adults with consistent anger variability and low perceived control experienced marked optimism declines in response to increased anger. Notably, sadness did not show the same relations and showed non-significant relations with optimism declines.

This dissertation integrates theory and research from the fields of emotion, lifespan development, personality, and evolutionary psychiatry, and contributes to the literature on emotions. Study 1 (DOI: 10.1037/emo0001535) is published in Emotion. Study 2 has received a revise-and-resubmit decision from the Journal of Personality.