Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Pregnancy leads to volumetric reductions in brain regions involved in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. These volumetric reductions appear to be an expression of the woman’s brain preparing itself for...Show morePregnancy leads to volumetric reductions in brain regions involved in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. These volumetric reductions appear to be an expression of the woman’s brain preparing itself for motherhood and caregiving. Yet, how pregnancy affects ToM abilities is still largely unknown. The present study investigated how pregnancy affects ToM in primiparous women (i.e., woman who is bearing a first offspring) and whether these changes are predictive of maternal sensitivity. ToM abilities, as assessed through total accuracy scores on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET), were not enhanced at post-pregnancy, compared to pre-pregnancy (H1). Neither did we observe a stronger enhancement in RMET child format performance compared to RMET-adult performance over the course of pregnancy (H2). Moreover, changes in ToM abilities across pregnancy was not a significant predictor of maternal sensitivity at one year postpartum (H3). In conclusion, ToM abilities, as assessed via RMET, did not change over de course of pregnancy. We speculated that the incongruence between our hypotheses and results could potentially be attributed to suboptimal operationalization of ToM abilities. For future studies it may be relevant to include ToM measures that focus more directly on the affective aspect of ToM.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Studies investigating motives for social networking site (SNS) use amongst people with eating disorder (ED) symptoms are scarce. There is some evidence that readiness to change may be a factor...Show moreStudies investigating motives for social networking site (SNS) use amongst people with eating disorder (ED) symptoms are scarce. There is some evidence that readiness to change may be a factor related to SNS use patterns in this population. The aim was to investigate the relationships between SNS use, motives behind SNS use, and readiness to change, as well as ED psychopathology. Participants were recruited from ED recovery websites; 103 provided complete data. As hypothesized, ED symptom severity was inversely associated with readiness to change. However, contrary to expectations, SNS use was not associated with ED symptom severity. The results of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that if an individual feels less capable of overcoming their dysfunctional cognitions/behaviors about their body/eating, they are more likely to be motivated to use SNSs for the purpose of impressing others and reputation management. The clinical implication is that high Studies investigating motives for social networking site (SNS) use amongst people with eating disorder (ED) symptoms are scarce. There is some evidence that readiness to change may be a factor related to SNS use patterns in this population. The aim was to investigate the relationships between SNS use, motives behind SNS use, and readiness to change, as well as ED psychopathology. Participants were recruited from ED recovery websites; 103 provided complete data. As hypothesized, ED symptom severity was inversely associated with readiness to change. However, contrary to expectations, SNS use was not associated with ED symptom severity. The results of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that if an individual feels less capable of overcoming their dysfunctional cognitions/behaviors about their body/eating, they are more likely to be motivated to use SNSs for the purpose of impressing others and reputation management. The clinical implication is that high amounts of SNS use may not necessarily be harmful for people with EDs or recovering from EDs, whereas using SNSs for the purposes of impression management could potentially be related to being less ready to recover.Show less
