Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts

Major

Psychology

Date of Defense

4-15-2024

Graduate Advisor

Sandra Langeslag, Ph.D.

Committee

Carissa Philippi, Ph.D.

Michael Griffin, Ph.D.

Abstract

People who are in love seem to be addicted to their beloved. People who are in love have attentional biases for the beloved and people who are addicted have attentional biases for the substance they are using. This raises the question of how similar craving and attention are for the beloved and an addictive substance. However, there are no studies that directly compared craving and attention to the beloved and addictive stimuli. The aims of the current research were to directly compare subjective emotional experiences, sustained motivated attention, and early automatic attention for the beloved and vape stimuli, in people who are both in love and vape. Participants (N = 11) were over 21 years old, in love with someone who did not vape, and vaped at least once a day. Self-reported levels of craving and valence (but not arousal) were significantly stronger for the beloved compared to vaping strangers and neutral strangers. In addition, sustained motivated attention, indicated by the late positive potential (LPP), was significantly larger for the beloved when compared to vaping and neutral strangers. Similarly, early automatic attention, indicated by an early posterior negativity (EPN), was present for the beloved compared to the vaping strangers. Subjective emotional experiences, sustained attention, and automatic attention are stronger for the beloved when compared to an addictive substance, which may mean that romantic love is even more intense than vaping addiction.

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