Honors Thesis Archive

Author	Tracy R. Butler
Title	Hemispheric Lateralization of Emotion, Sociotropy, and Autonomy: Effects of an Acheivement and Interpersonal Experience on Drawing Placement and Affect in College Students
Department	Psychology
Advisor	Jo Wilson
Year	2006
Honors	University Honors
Publication	To be published in Neuropsychologia as: Human Emotion and Hemispheric Lateralization: Evidence from Emotionally-Valenced Drawings by Adults by Tracy R. Butler, Christopher Olson, and Josephine F. Wilson
Full Text	View Thesis (81 KB) At the author's request, an electronic copy of this thesis is only available to on-campus users.
Abstract	This experiment measured the effect of winning or losing a game and subsequent exposure to a positive or negative interpersonal script on drawing placement and affect in 84 college students. The personality traits of sociotropy and autonomy were measured, as were levels of depression. The results showed that winners moved their drawings toward the right side of the paper, and losers moved their drawings toward the left side of the paper. This data supports the Valence Hypothesis for hemispheric lateralization of emotion. Also, winners experienced more positive affect and losers experienced significantly more negative affect after the game and reading the interpersonal script. Regression analyses revealed that for winners, high levels of individualistic achievement predicted increased positive affect after winning a game.