The purpose of this study is to explore whether asking participants to visualise a secure attachment figure or a neutral event leads to differences in self-reported felt security or depressed mood. Furthermore, the investigators aim to explore whether it is possible to keep a secure prime activated over 3 days via text message visualisation tasks.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
100
College Keep
Southampton, Hants, United Kingdom
Depressed Mood 1
Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.
Time frame: Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (immediately after lab primes)
Felt Security 1
To find out whether the experimental manipulation was successful, participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.
Time frame: Felt security will be measured on day 7 of the study (after initial lab primes)
Depressed Mood 2
Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.
Time frame: Depressed mood will be measured on day 7 of the study (after 3 days of text primes)
Depressed Mood 3
Depressed mood will be measured using the depression and anxiety items from the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr, \& Droppleman, 1992), which equates to 24 items out of the original 65 on the POMS. Respondents use a 5-point Likert-type scale (0=Not at all, 4=Extremely) to rate the extent to which they have experienced various mood states over the past week. This questionnaire takes 5 minutes to complete.
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Time frame: Depressed mood will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after the last text prime).
Felt Security 2
Participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.
Time frame: Felt security will be measured on day 10 of the study (after 3 days of text primes)
Felt Security 3
To find out whether the experimental manipulation was successful, participants will complete a 16-item measure of Felt Security (Luke, Carnelley, \& Sedikides, 2012). This scale consists of ten words relating to feelings of security, comfort and safety (e.g., loved, protected). Participants rate the extent to which the person or scenario in the visualisation task made them feel secure, by rating each item using a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=not at all, 6=very much). This measure takes 3 minutes to complete.
Time frame: Felt security will be measured on day 11 of the study (24 hours after last text prime)