Date of Award

6-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Psychological Science

Program

Psychological Science (MS)

First Advisor/Chairperson

Mounia Ziat

Abstract

This research investigated how emotional images affects tactile saltation. More specifically, we combined visual faces with three different emotions: angry, sad and happy with a tactile illusion known as the cutaneous rabbit effect (CRE) that was delivered on participants’ shoulder at different durations. Because some of the faces were political figures, we assessed participant’s political affiliation using Political Typology Quiz. Participants rated their emotional response using the self-assessment manikin (SAM), a three dimensional scale that measures valence, arousal and dominance. For the valence dimension, our results indicate that participants found it less pleasant to see likeable faces sad than any other figure. Data also showed that it was the least pleasant for participants to see a hateful public face when they were angry. Political affiliation and the duration of the CRE both affected the arousal dimension suggesting that liberals seems more concerned by fictional and public figures than political ones while conservatives seems to be more affected by angry faces of political figures when the tactile duration is the longest. Finally, for the dominance dimension, it was found that likeable figures made participants feel more in control of the situation and that dislikeable figures made participants feel controlled.

Access Type

Open Access

Download

Share

COinS