Date of Award
2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Psychology
Supervisor
Dr. John Paul Minda
Abstract
The regulatory fit-cognitive flexibility hypothesis posits that being in a state of regulatory fit increases cognitive flexibility and that this flexibility is advantageous for category learning when flexibility helps subjects to find a rule. This hypothesis was explored using a nonlinearly separable category set. A promotion (sensitivity to gains) or a prevention focus (sensitivity to losses) was induced; subjects performed the task with either a gains or losses reward structure, creating two conditions of regulatory fit (promotion/gain, prevention/loss) and two conditions of regulatory mismatch (promotion/loss, prevention/gain). It was predicted that subjects in the fit conditions would show more accurate performance than subjects in the mismatch conditions due to increased cognitive flexibility. A mild regulatory fit advantage was found in the gains but not the losses version of the task in Experiment 1 and in Experiment 2 effects of regulatory fit were not apparent. Explanations for the mixed findings are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Nadler, Ruby T.D., "THE EFFECT OF REGULATORY FIT ON THE LEARNING OF NONLINEARLY SEPARABLE CATEGORIES" (2008). Digitized Theses. 4405.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4405