Models of depression suggest that depression, which is characterized by sad mood, should confer a recall advantage for negative stimuli, including stressful life events. The current study examined the effects of mood congruent recall on the quantity and accuracy of recall of negative life events. Forty-two college students received a negative or positive mood induction and then listened to narratives of 11 negative life events which mapped onto a well-known life events checklist measure. One week later, participants returned to the lab, received the same mood induction, and were asked to recall the narratives in open-ended recall and when using the life events checklist as a memory measure. There were no significant group differences on numerous measures of quantity and accuracy of recall including false memories. These results suggest that negative mood does not confer a recall advantage nor disadvantage for narratives of negative life events. Possible implications for depression and recall of negative life events are discussed.

The current study examined the effects of combinations of state and trait anxiety on a source monitoring eyewitness memory task. Sixty-nine participants either received an anxious mood induction to induce high state anxiety or a neutral mood induction and also responded to a questionnaire that assessed anxiety. Participants were divided into 4 groups (high state, high trait; high state, low trait; low trait, high state; low trait, low state) based on their assigned induction condition and their responses to the anxiety questionnaire. All participants then received a source monitoring task in which they watched a forensically relevant video and received misinformation about the contents of the video via reading a questionnaire. After filler tasks and a positive mood induction which ensured that the anxiety wore off, all participants completed a source monitoring task. Participants who received the anxious mood induction responded more accurately to the source monitoring questions, particularly those about the video. Trait anxiety enhanced this effect somewhat. There were no significant differences in the tendency to incorporate misinformation presented in the questionnaire into memory, but some types of source misattributions were more likely in participants with high trait anxiety.

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This study examined the impact of state anxiety (current emotional state) and trait anxiety (predisposition) on a source monitoring task. The unique question asked in this study was whether highly anxious people who are distressed following a stressful to-be-remembered event are better at source monitoring. Seventy-two undergraduates completed a measure of anxiety and then either received an anxious mood (n = 36) or mood stabilizing (n = 36) induction before viewing to-be-source monitored material. Participants then completed a source identification task in which they were asked to identify the source of the to-be-source monitored information. Participants high in state anxiety were more accurate on the source identification task. The main effect of trait anxiety and the state-trait anxiety interaction were nonsignificant. Neither state nor trait anxiety impacted accuracy on misleading information items presented within the source identification task.

This study examined how mothers (N = 24) socialized emotions in their 7-to 10-year-old children during conversations about past positive and negative events. Mothers completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) to rate the extent to which they experienced negative and positive affect. Conversations were coded for content, themes, mothers' and children's narrative strategies, life lessons, and statements that foster selfesteem. These patterns are discussed across mothers and children. Mothers and their children were collaborative in their discussions of past emotional events. That is, they tended to emphasize similar narrative processes during their conversations, regardless of emotional valence. Conversations also were coded for mothers' approach of emotions and event details, which then were correlated with mothers' affect levels. There were no significant findings for happy conversations. Mothers with higher (i.e., a little) negative affect tended to socialize their children to be less detail-focused when discussing past negative events. Maternal affect was only related to mothers' amount of speaking during happy conversations, with mothers with higher positive affect using fewer conversational exchanges. Overall, the strategies that mothers in this dissertation used during the conversations with their children tend to enhance children's social competence development (e.g., modeling, coaching, reacting; Denham, 1998). The children in this dissertation displayed skills that are associated with success in multiple socioemotional domains (e.g., identify and discuss causes and consequences for their and others' emotions; Fivush, Reese, & Haden, 2006). These data were collected as part of a faculty member's ongoing project. EMOTION SOCIALIZATION VIA MOTHER-CHILD CONVERSATIONS iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many individuals I would like to acknowledge for their guidance and support. Without them, I would not be where I am today. First, I would like to express my infinite love and appreciation for my parents and for my friends from home, in graduate school, and on internship. Your wisdom, words of encouragement, hugs, and humor kept me going when times were difficult. You reminded me of the light at the end of the tunnel and motivated me to reach my ultimate professional goal. I would also like to thank my committee chair and members, Drs.