Psychology Student Conference

Background: The proposed research is based on feelings of depression and anxiety severity levels during the current global pandemic (Coronavirus, 2020). The NHS (2020) found that the ‘isolation periods’ caused individuals to have ‘low moods’; experiencing feelings of fatigue and emptiness. As COVID-19 was a new and unfamiliar infection to all, it was of interest to investigate whether participant’s mental health is deteriorating as a result of the “lockdown” measures that had to be imposed.

Aims: Depression and anxiety severity levels will be measured before COVID-19 (February 2020) and after the second national lockdown and subsequent implementation of the ‘Tier System’ for different locations across the UK (Post-October 2020). Time, gender differences (Male and Female) and regional location (Northern Ireland or England) will be measured in relation to depression and anxiety severity levels.

Sample: There was a total of 150 participants consisting of individuals living in England (Tier Two and Three) or Northern Ireland and were either male or female. There were 75 participants in each regional category.

Methods: A three-way mixed ANOVA design was conducted to analyse the research. Participants had to complete a subject-specific 4-point Likert scale questionnaire; integrating the Personal Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7).

Results: It was found that there were no gender differences between depression and anxiety and no gender differences in relation between the two-time frames. Furthermore, there was not as significant difference between region/time and depression, but there was a significant interaction between region/time and anxiety.

Conclusions: The found interactions provide a good basis to understand how depression and anxiety are affected by COVID-19 across different genders and regions. The research paper will use the results to provide implications for future studies.

Background: Rates of cheating in higher education are very high (e.g., Lim & See, 2001). The motivations behind cheating therefore need to be better understood to create interventions to reduce academic misconduct, and Siegrist’s (1996) effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model and Adams’ (1965) Equity theory both offer explanations for why students may cheat.

Aims: To determine whether university students are more likely to cheat when there is an ERI compared to no ERI (Siegrist, 1996); and when there is a participant-peer inequity compared to equity (Adams, 1965). The ERI model and Equity theory were then compared to establish which theory best explains cheating intentions.

Sample: Participants were recruited online via Sona and social media, resulting in a sample of nineteen current university students with an average age of around 21 years.

Methods: A quantitative online questionnaire asked participants to read various scenarios outlining an assessment task and rate how likely they would be to cheat in each situation.

Results: An ERI significantly increased the likelihood of cheating, whereas peer input/outcome ratios did not influence the probability of cheating. A Bayes factor showed that the effort-reward imbalance model was better than Equity theory at explaining students’ cheating intentions.

Conclusions: Contrasting previous research (e.g., MacGregor & Stuebs, 2012), peers did not influence participants’ likelihood of cheating – instead, participants were more likely to cheat if they perceived the reward not to be worth the effort. This suggests that maintaining an effort-reward balance is the salient factor in reducing cheating likelihood.

Background: Psychological resilience is an important factor in athletes to become successful (Galli & Vealey, 2008). After facing adversities such as rejection, injury and other demands the ability to persist and bounce back is apparent (Fletcher & Stark, 2012). Professional dancers face similar issues as well as body image and social comparisons (Stark & Newton 2014; Mennesson, 2009). However, there is limited findings on the exploration of adversities and resilience in professional dancers.

Aims: To explore psychological resilience in professional dancers by identifying the resilient qualities that have been developed throughout their professional career to date.

Sample: Ten participants (five male, five female, mean age of 24.6 years) met the following criteria: over 18, worked at least 2 years in the dance industry, had either formal dance qualifications or received training with a dance company and the means to carry out Zoom interviews.

Methods: One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore personal experiences and the development of resilience. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to make sense of the participants’ experiences through an idiographic approach (Smith et al., 2009). 

Results: Findings identified mental toughness, passion, coping strategies and personal mastery as key resilient qualities. This was consistent within participants, but also meant something different to each individual.

Conclusions: Psychological resilience is seen to be important for professional dancers, as it’s a key aspect to bounce back in an industry that is highly competitive. Awareness and support are needed to aid dancers in a sport that has athletic and aesthetic expectations.

Background: University students have historically been found to suffer with higher-than-average levels of anxiety, and depression. To date the effects of COVID-19, a relatively new pandemic, have not been researched within the student population. Therefore, leaving the question of whether the COVID-19 isolation guidelines, has affected university student’s mental health, open to investigation. 

Aims: The aim of this study was to fulfil a literature gap within the UK, by assessing university student’s mental health, and its possible association with the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sample: In total 56 participants took part within this study, with a mean age of 23, 5 participants were not students, and 51 were currently in university education. Furthermore, 46 participants identified as female, and 10 identified as male.

Methods: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all data collected within this study was done so remotely, via online platforms. Pervious questionnaires were used within this study, including the GAD-7, Zung’s Self-rating Depression Scale, the Differential Loneliness Scale, and the Big Five Inventory. 

Results: The results of this study found that the participants self-ratings of how strictly they adhered to government guidelines significantly affected, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and personality.

Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant negative effects on student’s mental wellbeing. Future research is required to understand what preventative measures would be of most benefit within this field, to reduce these high levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness amongst students.

Background: Students have been identified as a high-risk population for poor mental wellbeing. Students’ mental wellbeing has become the focus of many studies, exploring how to improve wellbeing through self-care, which has been shown to alleviate such problems.

Aims: This study aims to measure mental wellbeing in students, before and after they participate in ecotherapy and/or gratitude journaling. The difference in the efficacy of both interventions will be compared to explore which intervention is most effective.

Sample: The final sample consists of a total of 44 university students over the age of 18.

Methods: Participants completed the PERMA-Profiler to measure baseline levels of mental wellbeing and were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (gratitude journaling and ecotherapy) or the control group (ecotherapy alone). Integrity questionnaires were emailed to participants one week after the initial questionnaire was completed to assess how they felt towards their intervention. One week after this, participants were emailed a link to the same questionnaire to assess whether the intervention had improved their mental wellbeing. The results were statistically analysed using repeated measures ANOVAs.

Results: A significant difference in both overall wellbeing and health between time points one (pre-intervention) and two (post-intervention) was found in both groups. Participants in the experimental group exhibited a greater increase in mental wellbeing than those in the control group.

Conclusions: Ecotherapy was shown to be more effective when done with gratitude journaling than when completed alone. This could advise future research exploring methods for improving students’ mental wellbeing.

Background: Recent research suggested that the pace by which people have been radicalised and drawn into extreme religious and political ideologies has accelerated, particularly with the growth of social media and online forums (Cottee & Cunliffe, 2020), which have afforded more opportunities for extremists to spread their harmful ideologies.   

Aims: This study aims to investigate whether greater use of social media sites (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and 4chan) influences peoples’ extreme religious and political views. 

Method: Quantitative data was collated using Qualtrics (linked to social media), which is free, and first year students were recruited on the LJMU SONA. The dataset included 165 participants (which is based on an estimated medium effect size and 9 predictors (The 7 IVs plus age and gender) that will be entered in a regression model (Green, 1991). The power calculation indicated 165 participants would be required for 80% power. Anyone aged 18 and above living in the UK were eligible to participate. The following hypotheses have been formulated:

1. Greater use of social media will be associated with more extreme religious views.
2. Use of anonymous social media sites will be the strongest predictor of extreme religious views.
3. People who use social media sites more have more extreme political views.
4. Greater use of anonymous social media sites will be associated with more extreme political beliefs. 

Results: The findings of this study report a weak negative significant correlation between time spent on Twitter and extreme religious and political views.  

Conclusion: The findings indicated a statistically non-significant interaction between time spent on social media and peoples’ extreme political and religious views, meaning the findings of this study contradict the original hypotheses.

Background: Evidence suggests social touch during infancy can promote healthy development. These beneficial effects may be mediated by activation of C-tactile afferents (CTs); nerve fibres optimally activated by the sensations experienced during a human caress. Research has established that those deprived of social touch during critical developmental stages can suffer deleterious consequences. These effects are seen to impact cognitive, physiological, psychological and social function into adulthood. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if childhood adversity, specifically deprivation of touch, influences CT-activating social touch responses in adulthood. A secondary hypothesis was that socially relevant human strokes would be more pleasant than robotic strokes. It was hypothesised that care-leavers, with an expected increase in childhood adversity and touch deprivation, would display significantly different social touch responses compared to non-care leavers. Method: Participants received stroking touch optimal and non-optimal for CT activation, delivered using a gloved hand and a robotic device. Vicarious touch responses were also obtained by asking participants to rate video clips of CT-optimal and non-optimal stroking touch. Sample: This current study compared N=14 care leavers to N=32 non-care-leavers of mixed gender, aged 18-30. Results: Results indicated that childhood care did not have a significant effect on CT preference scores or touch perception. Nevertheless, significant support was provided for the social touch hypothesis as gloved-hand stroking was preferred over a robotic stroke. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the intrinsic need for human touch. Further investigation is required to determine the true effect of touch deprivation in development.

Background: Immense pressure from the media to be slim means less than half of Eating Disorder (ED) sufferers are ever classed as cured of their illness. Recent evidence has suggested that dampened internal signals in those suffering with ED’s affects their multi-sensory integration and understanding this can be used as the basis for future treatments. Aims. Establishing whether vision of the body increases our tactile sensitivity, or causes illusory responses during a complex process that is multi-sensory integration in healthy participants at different levels of risk for developing an ED. Sample & Method. 20 healthy participants were recruited aged between 19-62 (M= 24 years, SD= 11.63) and took part in an SSDT experiment, during which participants are required to detect near-threshold tactile stimulation at their fingertip during a simultaneous presentation of a light flash next to their fingertip. Hit rates (HR) and false alarms’ (FA) responses were recorded under two conditions: Vision or No-Vision of the hand. Self-Report Questionnaires scores about eating habits were also collected. Results. We found more HR when the light was present compared to absent, and most HR when there was vision of the hand in light trials. FA were increased in light trials but less when there was vision of the hand compared to no vision of the hand and a significant correlation was found between hit rates in the no vision, no light condition and the EDI-3 composite risk score. Conclusions. Participants relied on visual stimuli, even non-informative, to increase their ability to detect the vibration suggesting that vision is used to enhance tactile sensitivity. It was also concluded that those more at risk of an ED are less able to detect touch stimuli in the absence of accompanying visual stimuli because of blunted internal signals.

Background: Most research has focussed on the effect of self-concept constructs on Academic performance, without taking into account students’ attitudes towards their institution. Therefore, the researcher developed this study in the context of Social Cognitive theory and Relationship Quality with constructs associated with Academic Achievement. Aims. The aim was to investigate the association of self-concept constructs with academic performance, and to examine the quality of relationship students build with their institution. Sample. Participants (N=124) were opportunistically sampled university students and were comprised of male (n=14), female (n =81) and individuals who preferred not to state their gender (n =29). Method. A cross sectional design was used to examine the relationship between the predictor variables (Previous relationship quality, Self-esteem, General self-efficacy, Academic self-efficacy, Flourishing and Approach and Avoidance temperament) and the outcome variables, Satisfaction with Life, Relationship Quality and Academic Achievement. Results. Correlational analysis found that Academic self-efficacy, Flourishing, General self-efficacy and Approach temperament were all associated with Relationship Quality. In a hierarchical regression analysis, Academic self-efficacy only remained a robust and unique predictor of Academic performance, explaining 26% of the variance. Conclusions. These relationships are suggestive of the pathways and processes that augment achievement and support relationships.

Background: Circles of Support and accountability, a successful community reintegrative approach only became apparent in the UK from 2002, the lack of comprehension on attitudes has remained an important question, despite the level of known circle effectiveness. Previous studies have presented different factors like age and profession that influence attitudes. Aims. With extension to previous research, the present study examines student attitudes on restorative justice with a deepened analysis of possible factors that could influence this like gender and subject school. Its hypothesised that evidence of restorative justice will decrease negative attitudes, with females and forensic psychology students holding less punitive views. Method. Using the Community Attitudes towards Sex Offender scale as a valid measure, students were recruited from different subject schools and electronically given either a circle CATSO or a plain CATSO. Higher scores presented from the CATSO will represent views that are more punitive. Sample. A sample of 122 participants were used for the study, n=62 (plain CATSO), n= 60 (circle CATS0), n=63 (forensic psychology subject field), n=59 (other subject field). n=92 (females) n=30 (males). Results. Preliminary analyses show little to no effect on predicted factors influencing attitudes towards sex offenders and restorative justice. The interaction effect for both gender and subject school was not significantly significant. Similarly, the themes within the CATSO presented no significant difference between the circle and plain CATSO. Conclusions. The findings suggest that knowledge on restorative justice may not influence stereotypes towards sex offenders. As students’ may lack in-depth understanding of this recent complexity

At first glance, people make spontaneous judgments and attribute traits based on their facial features and emotional expressions. Further research suggests that Autism affects perception and judgments, although this is widely contradicted. Therefore, the current study investigated how our perception in the level of happiness and femininity in emotionally ‘neutral’ faces can effect judgment of believability. It also determined whether these effects were different, depending on whether an individual is high or low in autistic traits. A sample of (N=99) participants, both male and female over the age of 18 were recruited online by SONA and Facebook. Participants were randomly presented with eight emotionally neutral female faces, varying in happiness and femininity. Each face was also accompanied by a randomly allocated vignette, which participants were asked to read. Participants judged the believability of the face in relation to the vignette and rated this on a 10-point Likert scale. Finally, they completed a short 10-item version of the AQ to assess their level of sociability. The main findings revealed that the level of happiness and femininity effect believability, while autistic traits had no effect on believability.

Work and test performance have already been noted to be affected by stress and anxiety in both psychological and educational literature. However, instruments to prevent and manage these norms are few. This study reviews the validity of a current cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) self-help based intervention, “Strategies to Tackle Exam Pressure and Stress” (STEPS), among secondary school students currently preparing for exams. This will be a longitudinal study with discussion of whether stress and anxiety management can alter test performance. Participants have given feedback on the intervention and noted any transferable, key skills that were gained during the intervention. The objectives are to test the validity of the current CBT, self-help based intervention “STEPS”, amongst individuals taking exams; To discuss whether there are any particular participants characteristics (e.g. gender) that alter the management of stress during the intervention; To find out the key elements that helped during stressful circumstances, if any, and note any transferable skills. The new intervention will be contributing to the field by providing an instrument for practitioners to use and explore upon.

Background: Domestic violence in the UK will affect more than 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men in their lifetime (W-Fowler, 2017) but the UK seem to struggle with crimes where the perpetrator and the victim know one another, as with domestic violence cases (Cretney & Davis, 2002).

Aims: In the current study, the main aim was to examine mock juror’s decisions on a domestic violence case where gender and ethnicity of the defendant was manipulated.

Method: 153 participants were recruited through volunteer sampling which involved posting the questionnaire on social networking site, Facebook. Participants completed the online questionnaire to assess their decisions on sentencing, guiltiness of defendant and confidence in their decision using three questions that were answered after reading a short scenario of a fictional domestic violence case.

Results: Results showed that there was no significant interaction between gender and ethnicity of defendant, neither combined nor separate, and decisions made by the mock jurors. However, mean scores showed that some ethnic groups would receive harsher sentences and be scored as guiltier than others which suggests some racial bias can be present but not enough to reach statistical significance.

Conclusion: These findings expand our understanding that compared to America, our criminal justice system is potentially less gender and racially biased than other countries providing supporting evidence for the strengths associated with possible juror’s in this country.

Background: Attachment theory was proposed by Bowlby (1969) and is the theory that individuals create mental representations of themselves and others based on their childhood experiences with caregivers. The role of childhood attachment in domestic violence was first noticeable when it was observed that domestic violence offenders were often excessively dependent on romantic partners but incapable of instigating and maintaining supportive partnership (Buttell, Muldoon & Carney, 2005). The urgency to research this topic is highlighted by the fact that it is a social problem which not only affects the physical, mental and emotional health of victims, but also that of perpetrators (National Institute of Justice, 2000).

Aims: The purpose of this study was to repeat and expand upon previous studies but with a qualitative approach, as the majority of previous research has been done quantitatively. The aims were to establish if there is a significant link between childhood attachment and domestic violence, and if so, in what way.

Methods: An opportunity sample was used to recruit three domestic violence offenders from HMP Altcourse. Each offender was interviewed on a one-to-one basis using The Adult Attachment Interview Protocol (George, Kaplan & Main, 1985). The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1997).

Results: The predominant theme that was discovered was stress-vulnerability from unhealthy attachments. Inappropriate parenting methods meant that these individuals did not learn effective and healthy coping mechanisms in childhood and instead developed low self-esteem. Therefore, when faced with traumatic and difficult situations they resorted to violence.

Conclusions: It can be concluded that not all insecurely attached individuals will commit domestic violence in adulthood: it is only when these individuals are faced with traumatic experiences that the risk of domestic violence is heightened. Research of this type should aid the development of effective interventions for offenders of this type.

Background: Various research has explored the effects of Lego Based Therapy (LBT) (LeGoff, 2004) on social interaction in children with ASD using self-report measures. A shortage in research has been conducted using a mixed design. In addition, lack of research has been conducted on the effects of LBT on anxiety in children with ASD. These will be explored in this research.

Aims: Exploring the effects of Lego based therapy on social interaction and anxiety levels in children with ASD. Sample: 7 children were recruited, between the ages of 5-10, requirement of ASD diagnosis and assigned to Lego interventions previously to the research project. All participants were male. Methods: Mixed method design used, involving both self-report measures and observational methods. Two questionnaires used; Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Spence Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Both administered before and after the intervention. Observational methods were conducted at three separate times, using a self-made tally chart (see appendix 1).

Results: Paired T-test was conducted to compare the results in both questionnaires between Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). Results showed that T1 (P>.05) and T2 (P>.05) were non-significant. A Repeated Measures ANOVA revealed that there was a significant effect on anxious behaviour observed (F(2,6)=6.94, P<.05). In addition, 5 of the 7 subsections of social interaction also showed that there was a significant effect.

Conclusions: LBT has a positive impact on both social interaction and anxious behaviours observed. Although self-report measures concluded non-significant the length of the study may have impacted this. Also, Reliability of both self-report measures and observer bias is in question. Further research is needed in the area.

Rationale: Literature regarding male victims of female perpetrated sexual abuse and rape is generally scarce, reflecting inaccurate statistics, reporting rates and stereotypical attitudes. Gender differences in attitudes have been defined however, there is a gap in the literature concerning age differences. It is theorised that gender role conflict can result in collective societal attitude patterns, which can be detrimental to the victim.

Hypotheses: The current study predicted the following:

1. Male participants will have significantly more negative attitudes in comparison to female participants.
2. Older participants (40-70 years old) will have significantly more negative attitudes than younger participants (18-30 years old).
3. Older males will have significantly higher negative attitude scores compared to the other three conditions.

Methodology: Age and gender were manipulated within the current study to measure differences in attitudes towards male sexual assault and rape with a female perpetrator. The participants were split into four sub groups based on their age and gender, therefore the study was deemed a 2x2 between-participant design. Two published scales were altered and merged together, resulting in an online questionnaire. A 2x2 independent ANOVA analysis methodology was used to analyse attitude scores.

Findings: Older participants and male participants had significantly more negative attitudes compared to the other two groups. Older male participants displayed the most negative attitudes however this effect was deemed statistically insignificant. The current study successfully highlighted the influence of age and gender on stereotypical attitudes towards female perpetrated sexual abuse with an adult male victim. Implications for further research are discussed.

Background: Coping strategies are often associated with therapeutic emotional therapy or social support from peers (Dwyer & Cummings, 2001). In this study coping strategies are measured by personality traits and stress perception. Previous research highlighted that heightened stress perception can have a beneficial effect on academic success rather than a hindrance. However, high level of stress can have a hindering effect on the welfare of students.

Aims: The aim for the study is to compare students from different schools situated in either John Moores or University of Liverpool on their academic achievement (UCAS points) and whether the five types of personality and stress perception have affected the coping styles implemented during their academic studies.

Sample: University students (n=93) were recruited from either Liverpool John Moores or University of Liverpool from various schools found within the universities.

Method: Online questionnaire, consisting of the IPIP and PSS, was made available via email, SONA or personal contacts.

Results: Perceived stress was found to be a statistically significant predictor in academic success. Students who had a lower stress perception gained higher UCAS points in A-levels. One out of the five personally predictors also had a statistically significant relationship with academic success.

Conclusions: Findings supported the findings on how stress perception can be a positive effect upon grades, in terms of UCAS points. Personality scores can both be either a positive or hindering trait upon academic success, however, the sample within this study only deviated from the previous research with the trait of neuroticism.

Background: The sense of touch has long since been implicated in social interactions, as has its importance during development - both in utero and in early life. What is less appreciated is that there are two touch systems – a fast one and a slow one. The former is the one we all know about as it is our conscious ‘sense of touch ‘. However, it is the slow one that is of interest here. The fast touch system serves a discriminative function, which requires rapid processing to respond to being touched or touching an object whereas the slow touch system provides affective or emotional information, responding preferentially to low force stroking touch; typically experienced as pleasant. The slow touch nerves are known as C-Tactile are thought to be central to the development and functionality of the social brain and social interactions.

Aims: To examine whether female endocrine state at various times of the menstrual cycle will affect perceived pleasantness ratings reflected by the anatomical distribution of CT nerve fibres. Methods: Female participants (18-35) were recruited to view a series of video clips shown to participants of “receivers” being touched by “a toucher” to obtain third-party ratings.

Results: The data supported previous research about the anatomical distribution of CTs and their velocity tuning. There are no observable changes in response to pleasant touch across the menstrual cycle. Future research could establish whether the reward value of affective touch changed during pregnancy.

Background: Research investigating punitive attitudes has neglected to focus on individual factors which may lie behind such attitudes (Palasinski and Shortland, 2016). Furthermore, punitive attitudes are generally explored in a more general outlook towards crime in general, without specifically looking at sexual offences (Roger and Davies, 2007; King and Roberts, 2017). Research has also highlighted that members of the public hold different attitudes to different categories of sexual offences, as well as holding less negative attitudes towards female sexual offenders (Gakhal and Brown, 2011; Harper and Hogue, 2016). Finally, public attitudes seem to have had more influence over legislators than empirical evidence (Leftly, 2014).

Aims: The purpose of this study is to explore individual factors which may be involved in predicting punitive attitudes towards specific male and female sexual offenders.

Design/methodology: Participants were aged 18+ male participants and female (29 male and 85 females, N= 114) from the United Kingdom completed the anonymous online questionnaire. Participants were recruited using an opportunity sample though online methods, such as Facebook, Twitter, Liverpool John Moores SONA systems and email. A standard multiple regression test was used to generate data.

Findings: The data from this study found significant relationships between: right wing authoritarianism and punitive attitudes towards male child sexual offenders, male animal sexual offenders, female animal sexual offenders and female sexual exhibitionism; sensation seeking and both male and female animal sexual offenders; gender and female sexual exhibitionism, with males eliciting more punitive attitudes.

Conclusions: Some individual factors are predictors of more punitive attitudes towards sexual offences. However, more research should be conducting looking at a wider range of predictor factors that could include social and environmental influences.

Background: Modern improvements have contributed to the growth of social media and have influenced the way it is used. Previous research indicated that frequent use of social media, technology-related attitudes, and dependence on technology would predict symptoms of depression and anxiety in young adults.

Aim: To examine the association between social media use and symptoms of anxiety and depression in young adults, and to examine the association between these symptoms and attitudes to social media. It was predicted that greater use of social media would have a positive association with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that positive attitudes towards social media would also be correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Sample: A sample of 100 participants (38 males and 62 females) participated in an online survey.

Method: Levels of anxiety and depression were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983), and social media use and attitudes were assessed using selected sub-scales from the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (Rosen, Whaling, Carrier & Rokkum, 2013).

Results: Findings showed that positive attitudes towards social media use and technology, and preference for task switching, were the two variables related to anxiety, whereas, preference for task switching was found to be the only predictor variable significantly related with depressive symptoms. Multiple regression analysis showed that preference for task switching was the marginally stronger predictor of anxiety in young adults.

Conclusion: Implications for understanding the relationship between psychological symptoms and attitudes towards social media are discussed.

Background: The concept of vicarious pain has been explored in numerous ways. Previous research has shown how people often feel vicarious pain sensations in response to observing or imagining others in pain. However, research has frequently resorted to using video clips, questionnaires, and sometimes rely on the imagination of a participant to obtain vicarious pain reports.
Method: The current study aimed to explore the effect of static painful images containing blood and also without blood for the same scenario to examine whether the presence of blood had an effect on the pain ratings. 30 participants (aged 18 to 34) were recruited and were first required to fill out the Empathy for Pain Scale developed by Guimarra et al. (2015), followed by a short computer task in which they rated how much pain they felt when looking at a painful image and how much pain they believed the person in the image felt on a scale of 0 to 9 (0= no pain at all, 9= most pain imaginable).
Results: Participants rated the images as more painful for themselves regardless of whether blood was present or not. However, there was a relatively small difference in vicarious pain ratings when blood was present in both the self and other conditions.
Conclusion: The current study further clarified the existence of vicarious pain and suggested that the presence of blood will increase pain ratings in both the person observing and the level of pain they believe the other person to be experiencing.

Background: Approximately, 400 in every 100,000 people self-harm in the UK, the highest rate compared to any other country in Europe (Horrocks, House & Owens, 2002). In 2015/16 self-harm was the fifth top reason for children contacting ChildLine, with 18,471 counselling sessions being devoted to these contacts (NSPCC, 2016). Individuals who self-harm often experience pervasive negative attitudes and stigma which stems from a lack of understanding (Young Minds, 2010). ‘Negative social attitudes and responses towards those with a mental illness powerfully affects their social experiences and often underpin social rejection and isolation’ (Link and Phelan, 2004 cited in Morgan et al., 2007, pp. 479).
Aims: The study investigates the role of social media, gender, knowledge and empathy and their relative importance for predicting attitudes towards people who engage in deliberate self-harm (DSH). Further, it looks to examine the differences between individuals who have personal experience with self-harm in comparison to people who have no personal experience.
Sample: All participants in the study were students studying an undergraduate degree, 154 were recruited in total through opportunity sampling (29 males, 115 female). Students had to be aged 18 and over and their participation was voluntary.
Method: An online questionnaire was distributed using social media (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) and an anonymous link sent via email. The questionnaire took approximately 15 minutes to complete and included various subscales including: A demographic questionnaire, Empathic Concern Scale (EC), Attitudes Towards Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ), Semantic Differential Attitude Scale (SD) and a Knowledge Scale. Self-harm engagement, knowing somebody who self-harms and social media engagement were measured using single items.
Results: Overall, there was a main effect for self-harm engagement and attitudes, with individuals who engaged in self-harm showing a more favourable attitude towards DSH. There was no main effect for knowing somebody who engages in self-harm and no interaction effect between the two. The multiple regressions highlighted that knowledge was the strongest predictor of attitudes towards DSH followed by gender. Social media and empathy did not significantly predict attitudes.
Conclusions: The analysis clearly demonstrates that gender and knowledge are important factors to consider when investigating attitudes. Therefore, educating people and improving knowledge of self-harm may be a valuable tool to tackle the stigma associated with DSH. This could potentially remove one of the barriers to help to seek (Klineberg, Kelly, Stansfeld & Bhui, 2013).

Previous literature has shown that a longer Quiet Eye (QE) duration is associated with higher accuracy in aiming tasks, it has been found that it can be affected by both irrelevant attentional stimuli and anxiety. This study will examine the effect of anxiety and attention on QE and the resulting performance from the basketball free throws completed by the participant. It was predicated that the increase in anxiety and the introduction of a dual task would influence the duration of QE and their performance in the free throws. Attention and anxiety was manipulated in order to examine what effect this had on QE duration, participants took part in all four conditions. Results showed that the successful free throws had a longer mean QE duration than unsuccessful ones, the highest performing condition was the Low Attention, High anxiety condition which was also the group with the longest mean QE duration. The results coincided with current research that presents success in aiming tasks being aided by a longer duration of QE, however the high anxiety condition performing better than the lower anxiety condition contradicts some existing research. Future research should look towards seeing whether QE durations are different in an actual match and whether it can be applied to shooting in game as well as free throws. The results from this study do display QE as being a detrimental factor in the success of increased accuracy in aiming tasks, specifically free throws in basketball.

Specific learning difficulties are relatively overlooked compared to individual disorders such as dyslexia, the problem with this is that if specific learning difficulties are left un-diagnosed, children in younger years of schooling can become disruptive and withdraw from the classroom, and at a higher level of education, exclusions and dropouts are common. The role of the teacher in identifying and ensuring specific learning difficulties are dealt with is crucial, especially in the emerging inclusive environment that education is trying to adopt. The aim of this research was to investigate the general attitudes and knowledge that teachers’ hold of specific learning difficulties, and examine the potential factors that may enhance or impair these attitudes and knowledge. A sample of 93 teachers and student teachers in the North West of England took two questionnaires measuring these variables. It was found that teachers who had recently qualified (teaching 0-5 years) had more positive attitudes toward SpLd’s than teachers who had been teaching for 6+ years, and significant difference were observed with teaching who had been teaching for 12+ years. Although differences were observed between gender and school type (private or public) these variables were not found to significantly influence the scores of attitudes or knowledge questionnaires. Therefore, it can be concluded from this research that the most significant variable in predicting attitudes and knowledge toward specific learning difficulties is related to the length of service/ how long ago teachers’ qualified to teach.

Background: The present study examined the effect of victim gender and participant gender as it is known to have an influence on victim blaming and rape myth endorsement. Most studies included an American sample, therefore the present study used a UK sample to consider the effect of victim and participant gender on perceptions of rape.
Method: A 2 x 2 independent groups design was conducted on 158 students and non-students. There were four conditions: the male rape scenario (33 males/40 females) and the female rape scenario (42 males/43 females). Each participant had to read a rape scenario where the only difference was the gender of the victim and complete three questionnaires: Victim Blame Attribution Scale, Rape Supportive Attributive Scale and Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale.
Results: Victim gender had a significant effect as males were more likely to blame the victim (Males: M = 7.44/Females: M = 5.78) and males were more likely to endorse rape myths (Males: M = 43.93/Females = 37.81). Male victims were blamed significantly more for their attack compared to female victims (Males: M = 7.48/Females = 5.79) however rape myths were significantly more likely to be endorsed when the victim was female (Females: M = 40.96/Males: M = 40.24). Finally, there was an interaction between victim gender and participant gender on victim blame.
Conclusion: The current findings were in line with American research as males were more likely to blame the victim and endorse rape myths. Male victims were more likely to be blamed, however, the UK sample were more likely to endorse rape myths when a female victim was concerned which suggests different attitudes are given to victims depending on their gender.

Background: Literature research indicates that student expectations of their personal tutors greatly differs from the staff perspective of their role. Student satisfaction is an area which always receives lower grading from students, indicating it is important to assess whether these expectations are realistic and can be met by staff, as this may be a significant factor in assessing and improving feedback for overall student satisfaction. Clarification of the role of personal tutor through improved communication potentially lends itself to creating a balance between student satisfaction whereby their needs are being met, and staff satisfaction potentially enabling them to work comfortably within the limitations and boundaries of their role, without additional work stresses which may influence their interactions with students. Aims: To explore whether psychology students at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) felt their needs and expectations were being met by their personal tutors. Additionally considering whether their personal tutor’s professional qualification of “psychologist” is influential in how students communicate with them when dealing with personal issues.
Sample: Twelve psychology students aged 18 years and over were recruited through direct contact in person and via emails. This was opportunity sampling, so the participants were randomly selected, although most were known to the researcher.
Method: Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were carried out and recordings of each were transcribed. Thematic analysis was then used to explore experiences and interactions students had with their personal tutors. Several stages of coding were carried out to produce nine superordinate codes.
Results: Nine superordinate codes were developed around the data, with the main focus being on areas relating to student interactions and their needs. These codes were: boundaries and limitations, services and communication, previous personal tutors and perceived differences, suggestions, psychology and personal tutors, expectations and assumptions, feedback and interactions, services.
Conclusion: Participants in this study provided mixed responses whether their needs were being met or not. The main themes analysed suggest that needs and expectations of students varied according to their levels of need and the methods of communication. In this study the focus was on psychology student perceptions, but additionally research could be carried out exploring staff perceptions of the current personal tutoring policy and its effectiveness in relation to psychology students. Having some of their needs met by a tutor who they feel is approachable, allows students to explore their options for sign posting and referrals to other support services.

There is currently a lack of research focused on the specific experiences held by groups of marginalized athletes (Agergaard & Ryba, 2014; Green, 2011). Therefore, the need to examine psychosocial barriers faced by professional female footballers when migrating is high (Stambulova & Johnson, 2014). After conducting a semi-structured interview with one professional female footballer, thematic analysis revealed fifteen psychosocial barriers. These centred on individual, social, cultural and organisational barriers faced pre and post-migration to the UK. Specifically, transition to professional athlete, homesickness, temporal/proximal contact distance from established social support in home country, language, lack of familiar food and lack of professional support were key concepts that were explored chronologically across migratory phases. As presupposed, there is a distinct lack of professional support available for professional female footballers when they move to the UK. Specifically, the study examined and extended literature by providing information on barriers faced by such individuals in a British context. It now becomes important to generate and extend culturally informed support structures and theory to facilitate adaptation for professional female footballers, so to improve wellbeing and performance. This will not only develop the individual and club but also the female profession at a more efficient rate.

Background: Past research suggests that individual who engage in media-multitasking on a regular basis display deficits in various aspects of their executive function (Ophir et al, 2009), have reduced levels of sustained attention (Cain & Mitroff, 2011) and exhibit poorer abilities in their academic achievements (Junco & Cotton, 2012) whilst displaying greater levels sensation seeking (Jeong & Fishbein, 2007;). However literature focuses primarily on adolescents and adults, limiting knowledge in regard to pre-adolescent children.
Aim: The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between Media-Multitasking, Executive Function, Sustained Attention and Academic Achievement in pre-adolescent children.
Method: Thirty-three pre-adolescent children aged between eight and eleven were recruited from a local school, various measures were conducted in order to acquire overall levels of media-multitasking, inhibition, task-switching, sensation seeking and sustained attention. In addition, Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) results and attendance records were obtained in order to assess whether these were associated factors.
Results: The results from the data collected indicate that there were no relationships between the variables. Pre-adolescent children’s media-multitasking levels did not have the expected relationship with overall levels of executive function, sustained attention, sensation seeking and/or academic achievement.
Conclusion: Whilst the current research did not discover relationships between the variables, this could be due to many methodological differences from previous research such as age, research design and choice of measures. Future research should look to utilise objective measures and a continuum of media multitasking scores, whilst also investigating a wider span of age ranges.

Background: Eyewitnesses will inevitably experience emotion in response to a criminal event which can have an impact on the accuracy of their eye witness testimony. Research has been conducted to determine the effects of emotion on the accuracy of an eye witness recall and has considered the role gender plays in eyewitnesses’ recall of criminal events. However, previous research is inconsistent.
Aims: The aim of the research was to discover whether an eye witness’s memory accuracy is influenced by the emotions they experience prior to observing a criminal event. Also, it was examined whether gender has an impact on the accuracy of memory recall of the criminal event.
Sample: Participants were obtained through an opportunity sample resulting in 54 university students; 27 female and 27 male. All participants were over the age of 18 (mean age = 22.59, SD = 5.05).
Method: After reading the participant information sheet and signing the consent form, participants completed a visual analogue scale (VAS) to measure their mood. Participants emotion was manipulated by either viewing a positive, negative or neutral video. They completed the VAS again before watching CCTV footage of a crime whereby a questionnaire was used to measure the accuracy of eyewitness recall. Finally, participants completed the last VAS. The two independent variables (IV) were emotion and gender. The dependent variable (DV) was the accuracy of recall from participants.
Results: The results were analysed using a 2x3 independent ANOVA. They showed that memory scores in the negative condition were higher than in the neutral condition. However, there was no difference in the memory scores between the positive and neutral conditions. Additionally, females were less accurate in recall of the arousing event than males.
Conclusion: Negative emotion improved an eye witness’s recall in comparison to positive and neutral emotion, and males appear to be more reliable eye witnesses than females. This can have implications in the understanding of factors effecting eye witness testimonies.

Background: Literature shows that decisions within court are not conclusively made based on factual information. The consequence of these findings is the undermining the due process principle of innocent until proven guilty and a defendant’s right to a fair trial. As countless appearance related factors could influence judgments made within court, anonymity has frequently been proposed as the antidote.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain clarification of the effect defendant anonymity has on matters of guilt and punishment when regarding physical appearance stereotypes. In 2010 Endean reported to Parliament that there was little or no direct empirical evidence to investigate this proposed affect and her report showed Governmental interest but the need for specific research for implementation. As no response from the field has been found, this study begins the process of filling this gap within the literature.
Approach: An experimental independent between groups design was employed using questionnaires given to level 4 and 5 students studying Criminal Justice at Liverpool John Moores University. Defendants were either presented as Anonymous, Stereotypically or Atypically criminal and a one-way multivariate analysis of variance was utilised to compare the Perceived Guilt and Deserved Punishment of these three levels of the independent variable.
Findings: No statistical significance was found between Perceived Guilt or Deserved Punishment, based on the variations in the Presented Defendant. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This study seeks to uncover the attitudes and perceptions of rehabilitation following acquired brain injuries, in adults, following use of grounded theory. Bigler (1990) explains ABI as the impairment of normal brain functions that occur after birth of the individual. Research and literature have been criticized for neglecting subjective views on acquired brain injury and rehabilitation, however, with those that do address it focus has been on one stage rather than gathering an overall view. Three participants with acquired brain injuries, at the end of rehabilitation programmes were recruited; and semi-structured interviews were conducted, being analysed using a grounded theory approach. The main findings show that there are five main themes that influence attitudes and perceptions towards rehabilitation, which can be seen to alter depending on progression through rehabilitation programme. The key themes identified are: understanding of injury; experiences of rehabilitation; motivation; self-esteem; normality. These influence formations of attitudes and perceptions, and can be seen to interlink with each other. However, these subjective views are remembered to be personal to the individual; just as each brain injury is different (Bigler (1990) explains ABI as the impairment of normal brain functions, so weight of influence of a particular theme varies.

Background: Satisfaction with life in older people is massively under-researched. To address this gap, the present study aims to specify what influences a person’s state of happiness in relation to attitudes towards money, amount of social and physical activities and a person’s religiosity and beliefs.
Sample: Sixty participants were recruited by approaching the co-workers of a major UK retailer’s local branch, 30 male and 30 female.
Methods: This quantitative research study follows a correlational design. It used regression analyses to try to predict wellbeing from attitudes to money, engagement in social and physical activity, and religiosity.
Results: The most significant predictor of well-being was physical and social activity. Interestingly, the second most influential was a person’s attitude towards money. However, this variable predicted wellbeing negatively; revealing that as a person’s value and importance for money in their life increases, their satisfaction with life score decreases. Religiosity did not predict a person’s well-being. Separate models were computed for men and women, revealing some differences in the strength of predictors.
Conclusions: The evidence from the present study provides a basis for how an older adult could increase their overall state of well-being. For example, from the data provided, it is obvious to suggest involvement in physical activity could increase someone’s happiness/subjective well-being.

The concept of body image has been explored in a myriad of populations, and yet there is a paucity of research pertaining to body image in blind and visually impaired adults. The current research wishes to address this void using qualitative methods, exploring the experiences of adults with congenital blindness in relation to body image and appearance related topics via semi-structured interviews. Through purposive sampling from Bradbury Fields in Liverpool and the Manchester RNIB, 3 females and 1 male volunteered to participate in hour-long telephone interviews. All participants had congenital blindness, and were between 28 and 54 years of age. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to explore salient themes within interview transcripts, and four super-ordinate themes emerged: The Body and Image as the ‘Self’; Sources of Construed Bodily Importance; Potential Barriers Resulting from Congenital Blindness; and Adaptive Methods in the Absence of Visual Feedback. These themes are closely linked via eight sub-ordinate themes including Weight Concerns and Internalisation of Thin Ideals, Embodiment and Functionality, which will be explored in depth. This research wishes to highlight the ways in which body image experiences are altered in those without prior vision, including experiences of body image dissatisfaction and the requirement for further investigation.

Background: Excessive searching for medical information online has been found to exacerbate health anxiety (HA). Previous research has found a relationship between personality traits typically characterized by high anxiety, and poor self-perception of health.
Aims: This study investigated whether participants with high HA would have poorer self-perception of health than low health-anxious participants, and whether health-related internet searching (HRIS) would decrease participants’ self-perception of health.
Sample: 34 female LJMU students between the ages of 18-25 were recruited after their completion of a pre-screen questionnaire.
Method: A 2X2 mixed design was used. 17 participants from the highest (18>=) and lowest (11<=) anxiety score quartiles of a pre-screen questionnaire (Salkovskis et al, 2002) completed a face health judgment task (FHJT) (Mirams et al, 2014) which assessed their self-perception of health. After this, participants researched common medical symptoms online for 15 minutes, and then completed the FHJT for a second time.
Results: No significant differences were found between self-perception of health in high and low health anxious participants, and no significant reductions in participants’ self-perception of health were found in the FHJT after HRIS.
Conclusions: Further research in this particular area is necessary in order to further develop knowledge around cyberchondria.

Background: Odour-induced memories are often described more vividly and are more emotionally weighted than those of other modalities.
Aims: The present study examined whether olfactory-induced positive autobiographical memory retrieved using personally significant scents could buffer participants from induction of a negative affective state.
Method: 20 participants were recruited and split into two groups. In the control condition participants were exposed to a rose odour and those in the experimental condition to a perfume that they had previously identified as being personally significant. Subjective affective state was measured before and after a negative image viewing task using the PANAS scale (Watson, Clark, and Tellegen, 1988). Heart rate was measured throughout the test session. It was hypothesised that participants in the fragrance condition would have a lower heart rate during the task and report lower negative affective scores than those in the control group.
Results: This small scale study did not find evidence to support the hypothesis that smelling a personally significant scent was associated with lower negative affect or heart rate whilst viewing negative emotional images.
Conclusion: Suggestions are made for future studies, including investigating the impact of significant smells by utilising a larger sample size and by inducing negative affective state using alternative techniques such as social anxiety paradigms.

Background: With around 60-70% of offenders suffering from some form of personality disorder (Ministry of Justice, 2011) and the Howard League (2011) suggesting prison is not the answer for those suffering with a mental illness, there is room for research into what is the best form of punishment for such offenders.
Aim: The aim of this study is to discover opinions on which is the best approach to punishment, retributive or reductivist theory, with an emphasis on violent offenders with anti-social and borderline personality disorders.
Method: Six participants with various experiences and career paths within the Criminal Justice System were chosen by the researcher; semi-structured interviews were carried out and then analysed using grounded theory analysis. Open codes were then generated followed by axial codes resulting in the creation of superordinate categories and finally an overriding theme.
Analysis: Upon analysis of the data seven superordinate categories were created: Support, Offence, Rehabilitation, Punishment, Individual Needs, Personality Disorder Offender and Society. From this the central theory was developed; Circumstantial. The findings of this research are evaluated and a model around the theory included.
Discussion: The results of the research are conversed with reference to relevant research. Implications and limitations are presented and a possible area for future research mentioned.

Recent evidence is progressively linking mobile phone use with various aspects of well-being, particularly in young adults. The present study aims to expand upon current literature regarding mobile phone use affecting every-day life, by investigating whether prolonged use of a mobile before bed time has an effect on physical activity, sleep quality and satisfaction with life. Furthermore, the Locus of Control concept will be integrated as a main predictor of the extent to which individual’s use their phones at inopportune times such as before bed. 50 participants completed a questionnaire, including; general questions about age and location, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Bergen Insomnia Scale, Locus of Control Measure and Mobile Use before Bed. Results showed that overall, mobile phone use before bed had a significant effect on physical activity and sleep quality but not for satisfaction with life. When the locus of control concept was included, results were significant for all variables including mobile phone use before bed and satisfaction with life. These results indicate that individuals with an external locus of control have less control over environmental influences and are more likely to use their phones at inopportune times such as before bed.

Background: With the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, plus others such as Instagram, more and more teenage girls are logging on and creating accounts, sometimes when they’re younger than the minimum age requirement which is usually 13. The government also conducted its own research and the rates of reported eating disorders and self-harm cases have been on the rise in the last 10 years – this can be attributed to the growing popularity of social networking sites and the anonymity options available to some users; because of known statistics, only females were asked due to the higher volume of females with eating disorders.
Method: A questionnaire using the Likert scale was created to assess various factors for the 50 female participants, such as; time spent on social networks, what social networks were being used, whether participants had ever come across images designed to encourage unhealthy habits, whether their diet or lifestyle had changed because of these, and safety precautions for families.
Results: The study found that 63% of females had been affected by the “thinspo” images they had seen and at least 40% had self-harmed in the past because of how these images made them feel. It was also interesting to see the percentage of people who thought a computer used by a family should be kept in a family room such as the living room, around 80% of participants thought this – although teenagers may not think it’s fair, it protects them from being able to search for media that could cause psychological damage.
Conclusions: Social networking sites are a fun way to communicate with our friends and family whom we do not see often, but it’s also important to remember the dangers they pose too – teenagers are vulnerable individuals while their bodies are growing and changing, and the influences that can be found online, from not only my results but the articles I’ve read to put my dissertation together, an alarming rate of people have been and continue to be affected.

Background: The transition into primary school is a critical time in a young person’s life, introducing a number of cognitive and social demands that some children find challenging (Hughes, 2015). Recent research highlights the importance of these two individual factors as separate indicators of predicting a successful school transition, and how this can potentially effect children throughout their educational experience.
Aims: To establish the relative importance of children’s pre-school social experience, knowledge on school entry and cognitive abilities to achieve a successful transition into school.
Sample: The sample included 52 children (52% male) aged between 4 and 5 years old, recruited from three different local primary schools across Liverpool.
Methods: The children completed three different individual tasks including; the head-toes-knees-shoulders (HTKS) task, Smarties task and the Tower of London task. The transition into primary school was measured using a questionnaire completed by the children’s parents. School readiness was measured using The Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI) teacher rating scale. A baseline academic assessment was carried out by the primary schools providing a mathematics score and a communication, language and literacy score for each child upon entering school.
Results: Multiple regression showed the HTKS task testing children’s individual inhibitory control, working memory and self-regulation was the strongest indictor of successful school transition.
Conclusions: Self-regulation is a key skill for successful transition to school, reasons for this are discussed.

Previous research has investigated the effects of recreational drinking on memory function and confirmed detrimental effects of alcohol on both cognitive functioning, and brain structure. Moreover, research suggests that student populations are an at-risk group for heavy alcohol use. Heavy alcohol use is a risk factor for obesity, poor-diet and depression in present and later life, raising health concerns about alcohol consumption that are not directly related to the pharmacological effects. The current study aims to investigate the effects of heavy social drinking on working memory, body mass composition, nutritional intake and mood. Thirty-four participants were assigned to heavy and light alcohol use based on a median split of their AUDIT score. Data was entered in to SPSS and a MANOVA was used to determine group differences in nutritional intake, cognitive functioning, bodily measurements and mood. The findings show that heavy alcohol use had a significant effect on cognitive performance and mood, with heavy drinkers performing worse than light drinkers. No significant differences were found in nutritional intake and bodily measurements. The study concludes that heavy alcohol use has detrimental effects on cognitive performance and mood that are related to alcohol’s pharmacological effects and not food intake. In light of the present findings, it is important to educate young people about the potential dangers of heavy social drinking.

Background: Achievement stakes in higher levels of education have rarely been more important. Personality traits and students’ beliefs drive academic behaviours salient to academic performance (AP). However, research suggests that these remain malleable during late adolescence and early adulthood. A greater understanding of the relative importance of non-intellective factors, at different educational stages, may provide useful interventions particularly during intra-phase transition.

Aims: Between group differences in, and relative importance of, factors that inform academic study strategies employed by university (US) and school (SS) students are examined. These include academic self-efficacy (ASE) and test anxiety (TA).

Sample: N = 100 SS (98% females; 2% male) and 100 US (81% female; 19% male) were recruited by convenience sampling during three prearranged data collection sessions. Appropriate ethical considerations and approvals were sought and granted.

Method: Five validated self-report measures were used to test the five factor model of personality, ASE, academic conscientiousness, implicit theories of intelligence and TA. Data were analysed to understand important relationships and differences.

Results: A number of constructs known to be important in AP are strongly endorsed. Both groups supported ASE; and conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism from the five factor model of personality. These were differentially expressed with US supporting openness and SS endorsing conscientiousness more strongly, highlighting important associations with educational experience. Path analysis supports ASE as an important mediator of personality factors, particularly conscientiousness and openness, on TA. Unsurprisingly, neuroticism had a negative direct association with TA.

Conclusion: The current study supports previously identified non-intellective academic behaviours and strategies considered important to optimal AP. Findings are discussed in relation to the relevant academic stages. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Background: Participation in further education is increasing for students with learning difficulties (LD) (Cook et al., 2015). However, for many their transition is not always a pleasant experience (Dixon & Tanner, 2013). For students with LD, the progression from secondary school to college can be met with great uncertainties and in some cases can lead to young adults not being in education, employment or training (NEET).

Objective: To explore the experiences of students with LD in their transition from a secondary school environment to college with reference to their expectations, needs, quality of life and wellbeing.

Sample: A purposeful sample of 13 students, 2 female and 11 males, aged 15-16 with LD participated in this study.

Design: Using a grounded theory approach, semi-structured interviews were used to gather data.

Outcomes: Valuable insights into students’ transitional experiences were explored in this study. Two central categories emerged and these included: students’ ‘motivations to remain in college’ and ‘barriers to students progressing with education’. These two central categories are bound together by the theme ‘individual differences’ that has a significant influence on how the sub-categories are perceived. Sub-categories include institutional infrastructure, friendships, professional support, desire to prove themselves, perceptions of college (compared to the reality), ability to travel independently and the students’ disability itself. These findings can be useful to identify factors that facilitate successful transition periods in the future.

Background: National Curriculum data and a number of research studies highlight the existence of a gender gap in primary school children’s writing performance, and it is proposed that this difference is predicted by spelling ability. The way in which boys and girls use differing spelling strategies during writing may help to explain and further our understanding of the gender gap. Aims: To investigate possible gender differences in spelling strategies used during connected writing. Sample: N = 29 Year 5 children aged from 9 years and 5 months to 10 years 4 months from 2 schools in Merseyside participated in this research.

Methods: Using an experimental between subjects design, boys and girls completed a range of standardised spelling, writing and cognitive assessments.

Results: The data provides support for a gender differences, favouring females, in writing and partially in spelling. Boys were also found to make significantly more phonological spelling errors during connected writing but not when writing single words.

Conclusions: The use of verbal working memory and the ‘inner-voice’ during the process of writing may force a phonological spelling strategy in boys, but not in girls; which may ultimately affect their writing performance.

Maths anxiety is a phenomenon which has been shown to occur in some people when attempting to perform mathematics. Research has generally shown that those with a higher maths anxiety also have lower mathematic competence and perform worse in math-related areas. It has been hypothesised that this is due to components of working memory being impaired and being unable to function correctly. The aim of this study will be to test whether the phonological loop is responsible for the impairment in mathematic performance due to maths anxiety. The study used N = 22 students as sources of data, who were split into a high and low maths anxiety group. Three verbal working memory span tests were applied, along with the Single Item Maths Anxiety rating scale and a GCSE level maths test. Results showed that there was a difference between groups for the phonological loop capacity and mathematic performance, but there was no relationship between these two differences. From this we can conclude that another variable that is affected by maths anxiety is responsible for the lower mathematic competence displayed.

Background: Video games are one of the fastest growing forms of media, and for a game to appeal to consumers it is vital for early tutorial levels to be engaging. There is limited research into what makes an effective tutorial, with both observational and experiential learning methods being viable options. Similarly, for a video game to be engaging, it must be presented at the optimal difficulty – too easy and it is it boring, too difficult and it is frustrating, either way the player quickly loses interest. This research attempts to investigate the factors that contribute to an effective video game tutorial, specifically tutorial presentation style and perceived game difficulty.

Sampling and methods: An opportunity sample of N = 30 individuals (12 female; median age 20; 10 non-gamers, 11 low-gamers and 9 high-gamers) participated in the study. Participants were allocated into one of four experimental conditions: easy-video, hard-video, easy-audio and hard-audio. Those in the video conditions watched a five-minute tutorial video on how to survive in the wilderness survival video game, “Don’t Starve”, whereas those in the audio conditions listened to the same tutorial whilst playing the game themselves. Following this, participants played “Don’t Starve” for 15 minutes whilst completing a set of tasks, with perceived difficulty manipulated by lengthening or shortening the in-game day. Gameplay was recorded using screen capture software. Data were collected through structured observation of the participants’ game footage on three parameters – quantity of food collected, number of deaths and score, as calculated by the game.

Results: An independent-measures MANOVA revealed no significant main effect for tutorial presentation style: (F(3,24) = .842, p>.05, Wilks λ = .905) or perceived game difficulty: (F(3,24) = .299, p>.05, Wilks λ = .964), with multiple ANOVAs also showing no significant effect on in-game score, quantity of food collected or number of in-game deaths.

Conclusions: These results indicate tutorial presentation style does not affect learning in video games, and therefore observational and experiential learning are equally valid methods to use within complex video games. Furthermore, contrary to the literature, the results suggest perceived difficulty does not affect learning within video games. Implications are discussed.

Mindful breathing meditation is a central component to mindfulness-based practices, in which individuals focus their attention towards their respiration whilst allowing thoughts to enter their mind non-judgmentally. Previous research has identified that this technique can prevent stress-related memory impairments, heighten and sustain attention, and reduce anxiety in stressful situations. It is also well-documented that relaxing and self-selected ‘positive’ music can reduce negative emotions and prevent stress-induced increases. Studies into the implications of music assisted mindful breathing meditation inductions on well-being, have generated mixed findings that this study aims to clarify. N = 42 volunteers were evenly distributed into 3 conditions based on self-reported trait measures of emotional regulation, stress and mindfulness. All three groups were subjected to a mindful breathing meditation exercise, whilst listening to either ‘Positive’, ‘Negative’, or ‘No Music’. Participants were measured for self-reported state anxiety and mindfulness before and after the exercise, whilst heart rate was measured before and during. Results showed that Positive Music did not significantly enhance the stress-reduction effects of the meditation any more than No Music, although these 2 groups showed a marginally significantly greater decrease of stress than the Negative Music group. The music did not have an effect on state mindfulness as there was a similar, non-significant increase across all 3 groups. There was no effect on heart rate. Findings indicate that there is a possibility that positive music can enhance the stress-reduction effects of mindful breathing meditation, whilst negative music appears to neutralise this effect. Further research into this technique is discussed.

Taking part in physical activity appears to directly impact overall wellbeing, as past studies have found that by including some physical activity into one’s daily routine, wellbeing levels improve. The statistics also show that wellbeing seems to worsen between the ages 18-25, and this warrants further investigation (McAuley & Rudolph, 2010). The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of physical activity on overall wellbeing. The objective is to bridge the gap between the understanding of the biological and psychological experience that individuals have when taking part in physical activity. This study intends to do so by analysing the effect of higher and lower levels of physical activity on such variables as self-esteem, productivity and emotional response. A grounded theory approach was adopted using semi-structured interviews with N = 8 participants aged 18-25 from Liverpool John Moores University. The results revealed that higher levels of physical activity have a positive effect on overall wellbeing. Moreover sedentary behaviours appeared to have a negative effect on overall wellbeing. An unexpected finding was some forms of sedentary behaviour appeared to have similar positive effects on overall wellbeing. This study’s findings are restricted due to the target population only being within the age range of 18 to 25, therefore they can only be applied to this demographic.

To some extent, all individuals are in pursuit of happiness throughout their lives. Positive psychology interventions aim to improve wellbeing and positive feelings by provoking individuals to change their thought processes and behaviour in order to experience happiness. Research shows the valuable effects of increased wellbeing include increased productivity, positive mood and feelings of self-esteem; as wellbeing affects every aspect of life from physical health to relationships and careers. The current study presented a novel suggestion to test the efficacy of motivational quotations as an intervention to increase subjective wellbeing scores on two wellbeing scales, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (Diener et al., 2009). A convenience sample of N = 48 participants aged between 18 and 25 were recruited to take part, of which 28 fully completed the study. Participants completed the web-based questionnaire containing the two wellbeing scales three times per week for four weeks. Additionally, in the second and third week they also received a pre-selected motivational quotation by email to read, which acted as the intervention phase. The results indicated there was no significant effect on the scores for the SWLS or the SPANE during the intervention phase and therefore no improvement on subjective wellbeing. The results found may be due to resource constraint issues experienced in regard to sample size and length of the study. Further research and development is needed in order to fully explore this new idea of motivational quotes as an intervention.