UC Merced

Mental abstraction is a process of information reduction. Higher levels of mental abstraction are associated with a broadened-perspective, whereas lower levels of mental abstraction are associated with a narrowed-perspective. Recent work has linked mood to levels of mental abstraction, providing a potential link to stress (which is characterized as a negative mood state). However, there have not been any studies investigating a potential link between stress and mental abstraction. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation was to explore the potential link between stress and mental abstraction. Three research questions were addressed in this dissertation: 1) Does stress affect average levels of mental abstraction? 2) Can the relationship between stress and mental abstraction be explained by negative mood? and 3) Can the relationship between stress and mental abstraction be explained by cardiovascular reactivity to stress? To address these research questions, an experimental design was developed. Participants were randomly assigned to either a stress or no-stress condition. Exposure to the laboratory stressor led to higher levels of mental abstraction, suggesting that stress may lead to a preference for more abstract stimuli. Each chapter of this dissertation is a standalone study detailing different components of this dissertation. Therefore, some of the descriptions about the methodology may seem to repeat. Chapter 2 explains the development of the control procedure. Chapter 3 focuses on the primary purpose of the dissertation, which is to examine the relationship between stress and mental abstraction. Chapter 4 then recommends future methodological directions for evaluating the stress response and how it relates to outcomes variables.