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ASSESSING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF BELIEF STRENGTH:
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS AND ROLE IN BEHAVIOR
by
Jared Edward Reser
________________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PSYCHOLOGY)
May 2012
Copyright 2012 Jared Edward Reser
Object Description
| Title | Assessing the psychological correlates of belief strength: contributing factors and role in behavior |
| Author | Reser, Jared Edward |
| Author email | reser@usc.edu;jared@jaredreser.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Psychology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-03-28 |
| Date submitted | 2012-04-26 |
| Date approved | 2012-04-26 |
| Restricted until | 2012-04-26 |
| Date published | 2012-04-26 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Walsh, David A. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Wood, Justin N. Read, Stephen J. McClure, William O. |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the psychological foundations of personal belief by conducting a review of classical and contemporary thought about belief, by hypothesizing about ways to conceptualize belief and by presenting new evidence about belief from empirical studies. Two studies measured the contributions of various constructs to belief strength in an effort to examine the determinants and functions of personal belief. Study 1 collected data from over 250 child-parent pairs regarding how beliefs are formulated. Participants rated their strength of belief in statements relative to the following determinants: the importance of substantiating evidence, the perceived logic inherent in a belief, the importance to self-identity, the influence of parents, the social community and authority figures. Study 1 found that strength of certainty can be best predicted by one’s estimate of their family member’s belief, the quality of empirical evidence that the person can offer to support the belief, and the perceived importance of the belief to their sense of self-identity. Study 2 investigated whether people's weight management beliefs predicted diet and exercise behaviors and whether these behaviors in turn predicted BMI. These expected results were strongly supported by the data gathered from 996 participants, who responded to a questionnaire, reporting their height, weight, beliefs about various aspects of weight management, and personal weight-management behaviors, including exercise activities and eating habits. Overall, 40% of the variance in BMI within our sample, including 49% of the variance in BMI in individuals older than 25, could be predicted by a combination of health beliefs and their associated eating and exercise behavior. |
| Keyword | psychology; belief; certainty; brain; neuroscience; idea; thought; thinking; cognitive neuroscience; working memory; consciousness; believe; delusions; evolution; epistemology; philosophy; unconscious; self-identity; persuasion; attitude; health beliefs; BMI; exercise; diet; multiple regression; correlation; polyassociativity; prefrontal cortex; questionnaire; parents; community; empirical evidence; exercise behavior |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Reser, Jared Edward |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-ReserJared-662.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | ASSESSING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF BELIEF STRENGTH: CONTRIBUTING FACTORS AND ROLE IN BEHAVIOR by Jared Edward Reser ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PSYCHOLOGY) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Jared Edward Reser |
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