College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Term of Award

Spring 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Michael Nielsen

Committee Member 1

Lawrence Locker

Committee Member 2

Jeffery Klibert

Abstract

In the last quarter of the 21st century, apocalyptic beliefs emerged in scholarly and lay representations notably doubling over the last decade. With nearly forty percent of United States citizen reporting this belief, unfulfilled questions arose: What drives discrepancies in beliefs of an imminent end of the world? Additionally, what drives beliefs in the need to prepare for an end of the world? These individual questions were examined together in this study using Construal Level Theory (CLT) and Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) in an attempt to identify how psychological mechanisms are significantly affecting the fluctuations, in these self-reported beliefs. A 2 (Construal Levels: High Level vs. Low Level) x 2 (Regulatory Focus: Prevention Focus vs. Promotion Focus) between-subjects design was utilized to study Imminent apocalyptic beliefs (IAB) and Doomsday prepping beliefs (DPB) differences while controlling for covariates. Participants were located in Southeastern United States and performed an online based survey. Results from the omnibus MANCOVA did not produce statistically significant main and interactive effects which supported us retaining the null hypotheses. However, theoretically relevant trends were also observed in the data. Limitations to the design and the data collected along with future recommendations are discussed.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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