Why are some people with neurological illness more resilient than others?

The current qualitative study was designed to evaluate the coping strategies of people living with a chronic progressive neurological illness and their carers. The neurological illnesses were Huntington's disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. Participants included 15 people who showed high levels of adjustment and 15 who showed low levels of adjustment. Participants were selected from an earlier study, to ensure that they satisfied the inclusion criteria for the current study. Interviews were completed to determine the strategies used to cope with the demands of the illness. Participants who demonstrated good adjustment were more likely to draw on social support to provide them with the resources to deal with the illness. In contrast, those who evidenced poor adjustment were more likely to draw on external supports to complete tasks for them. The implications of these findings for people with chronic neurological illnesses and their families are discussed.     

Why do people self-harm?

The accuracy of perceptions about self-harm that are presented in the psychological and psychiatric literature was assessed with a sample of self-harmers. A list of 20 statements containing ten myths and ten accurate statements about self-harm behaviour was incorporated into an internet-based questionnaire. Respondents (n?=?243) rated their extent of agreement with each statement. Factor analysis confirmed the a priori classification of statements as being accurate. Only one item, regarding the relationship of self-harm to previous sexual abuse, did not confirm a priori classification; this statement was considered by self-harmers to be an accurate perception of self-harm. It was concluded that this questionnaire could be a useful aid for group-work training with professionals who are involved in working with people who engage in self-harm.     

Why would people want to travel more with automated cars?

The use of automated vehicles (AVs) may enable drivers to focus on non-driving related activities while travelling and reduce the unwanted efforts of the driving task. This is expected to make using a car more attractive, or at least less unpleasant compared to manually driven vehicles. Consequently, the number and length of car trips may increase. The aim of this study was to identify the main contributors to travelling more by AV.We analysed the L3Pilot project’s pilot site questionnaire data from 359 respondents who had ridden in a conditionally automated car (SAE level 3) either as a driver or as a passenger. The questionnaire queried the respondents’ user experience with the automated driving function, current barriers of travelling by car, previous experience with advanced driving assistance systems, and general priorities in travelling. The answers to these questions were used to predict willingness to travel more or longer trips by AV, and to use AVs on currently undertaken trips. The most predictive subset of variables was identified using Bayesian cumulative ordinal regression with a shrinkage prior (regularised horseshoe).The current study found that conditionally automated cars have a substantial potential to increase travelling by car once they become available. Willingness to perform leisure activities during automated driving, experienced usefulness of the system, and unmet travel needs, which AVs could address by making travelling easier, were the main contributors to expecting to travel more by AV. For using AVs on current trips, leisure activities, trust in AVs, satisfaction with the system, and traffic jams as barriers to current car use were important contributors. In other words, perceived usefulness motivated travelling more by AV and using AVs on current trips, but also other factors were important for using them on current trips. This suggests that one way to limit the growth of traffic with private AVs could be to address currently unmet travel needs with alternative, more sustainable travel modes.     

Why do people behave immorally when drunk?

Alcohol intoxication is a major source of antisocial behavior in our society, strongly implicated in various forms of interpersonal aggression. Yet, moral philosophers have paid surprisingly little attention to the literature on alcohol and its effects. In part, this is because philosophers who have adopted a more empirically informed approach to moral psychology have gravitated toward moral sentimentalism, while the literature on alcohol intoxication fits very poorly with the sentimentalist account. Most contemporary research on the psychological effects of alcohol is focused upon variants of the “disinhibition” theory, which suggests that alcohol does not provoke any specific affect, it merely weakens executive control. This research, we argue, lends support to a deontic moral psychology, which identifies our ability to suppress behavioral impulses as a central feature of moral agency.     

Why are some people more knowledgeable than others? A longitudinal study of knowledge acquisition

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of knowledge acquisition within a real-world domain-basketball. The study employed a longitudinal design and involved two sessions, with approximately 2.5 months between sessions. Session 1 occurred near the beginning of the men's college basketball season, and Session 2 occurred after the season. There was an indirect effect of interest in basketball on new basketball knowledge, via exposure to domain-relevant information. In addition, prior basketball knowledge had a strong effect on new basketball knowledge distinct from an influence through basketball exposure. This finding suggests that prior knowledge may provide a framework into which new knowledge can be integrated. By contrast, there was no effect of fluid intelligence on new basketball knowledge. Although somewhat surprising given evidence that this aspect of intelligence may play a role in the acquisition of certain types of knowledge, this finding accords with the view that knowledge is a major determinant of various aspects of cognitive functioning, including learning.     

Why do people rideshare? An experimental study

Enabled by mobile technologies and fueled by the economic downturn, ridesharing has emerged in recent years as a private transportation facet of the shared economy. Our study investigates the motives for participation in situated ridesharing. We propose a theoretical model that includes economic benefits, time benefits, transportation anxiety, trust, and reciprocity either as direct antecedents of ridesharing participation intention, or mediated through attitude towards ridesharing. We conduct a scenario-based survey, with 300 participants. Our findings indicate that, in situations where transportation anxiety is high (e.g. construction on the road), if people can trust the ridesharing service providers and participants, in the presence of economic and time benefits, they will have a strong intention to participate in ridesharing.     

Why do people remain in abusive relationships?

Increasingly ministers and pastoral counselors are being consulted by people who are in abusive relationships. Consequently, it is important for all ministers and pastoral counselors to develop both an intellectual and an emotional appreciation for the complexities involved in remaining in, or leaving, abusive relationships. This article discusses six basic reasons why people choose to remain in abusive relationships, and concludes with three pastoral implications for ministers who counsel people in such relationships.     

Why are some obsessions more upsetting than others?

Little is known about why certain obsessional thoughts are more upsetting than others for people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Obsessional thought content often seems arbitrary to sufferers. The current study examined three possible reasons why particular thoughts would be especially upsetting for individuals, based on suggestions put forth by cognitive theories of obsessional thoughts. Twenty-eight individuals with a principal diagnosis of OCD completed questionnaires and interviews at two different periods of time on (1) their most upsetting current obsession and (2) their least upsetting current obsession. Results suggested that more upsetting obsessions were evaluated as more meaningful or significant than less upsetting obsessions, and more upsetting obsessions contradicted valued aspects of the self to a greater degree. All examples of current obsessions, both most and least upsetting, arose in the context of life concerns or issues. Results support cognitive theories in that the strength and nature of appraisal appears to be linked with the distress associated with a thought, and more upsetting thoughts are those that have implications for a person's sense of self.     

Are students with disabilities suspended more frequently than otherwise similar students without disabilities?

Students with disabilities (SWD) have been reported to be disproportionately suspended from U.S. schools and so more likely to experience the “school-to-prison pipeline” through suspension's associations with lower academic achievement, dropout, juvenile delinquency, and adult criminality. Yet few studies have estimated SWD's risk of more frequent suspension while simultaneously controlling for potential confounds. Negative binomial regression modeling of suspension count data from a nationally representative and longitudinal sample (N = 6,740) indicated that males, those from lower resourced families, and students attending more economically segregated schools were more frequently suspended. On average, students who are Black received about 1.6 times as many suspensions by the end of 8th grade as otherwise similar White students. In contrast, having a disability by 1st grade was not a risk factor for more frequent suspension by the end of 8th grade while simultaneously accounting for other risk factors (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, family SES, prior history of externalizing problem behaviors, being from a English-speaking household, school-level economic composition). Students with specific disability conditions (e.g., emotional disturbances, speech or language impairments) were not at increased risk for more frequent suspension. Students with disabilities who are Black, Hispanic, or of other race/ethnicity were not more frequently suspended than SWD who are White.     

Is avoidant personality disorder more than just social avoidance?

Although social avoidance is a defining feature of avoidant personality disorder (APD), some theorists posit that APD is characterized by a broader pattern of avoidance that extends beyond social situations. This paper describes a series of four studies that examined the different types of nonsocial avoidance hypothesized to characterize APD in three undergraduate student samples and a clinical sample of adults with APD. Overall, the findings revealed low to moderate associations between APD and emotional and novelty avoidance, as well as avoidance of various nonsocial events. The results provide support for contemporary models of APD.     

Why do men have higher expectancy than women?

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that sex differences in expected academic achievement could be explained by corresponding differences in perceived intellectual ability, and to explore the relationship between perceived ability and the sex role related traits of instrumentality and expressiveness. Results showed sex differences both in expectancy and perceived ability. When perceived ability was controlled, sex no longer related to expectancy. A small correlation was found between expectancy and a measure of instrumentality. The latter variable correlated substantially with perceived ability. A measure of expressiveness was unrelated both to expectancy and perceived ability. Path analysis gave results consistent with the hypotheses that men have higher perceived ability than women because men think of themselves as more instrumental than women do, and that instrumentality determines expectancy indirectly through its relationship to perceived ability.     

Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function.

Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, Ss who received positive personality feedback reported less anxiety in response to a video about death than did neutral feedback Ss. In Studies 2 and 3, it was hypothesized that increasing self-esteem would reduce anxiety among individuals anticipating painful shock. Consistent with this hypothesis, both success and positive personality feedback reduced Ss' physiological arousal in response to subsequent threat of shock. Thus, converging evidence of an anxiety-buffering function of self-esteem was obtained.     

Why do people like bicycling? Modeling affect toward bicycling

Studies show that the way an individual feels about bicycling – the degree to which they like bicycling – is an important predictor of whether or not they bicycle. But why do some people like bicycling and others don’t? This study explores factors that may influence an individual’s liking of bicycling, or more formally, their bicycling affect. We analyze a rich dataset from a cross-sectional survey of residents of six small U.S. cities using an ordered logit model. Results show that bicycling behavior has the strongest association with liking bicycling, with bicycling constraints following as the second most important factor. Individual cognitions, including perceptions and normative beliefs, also play important roles in predicting bicycling affect. Individual measures of the physical environment do not correlate with liking of bicycling, but the perception that biking to various destinations is safe does. Social environment factors influence liking of bicycling as well. Longitudinal research is needed to better understand the reciprocal relationship between bicycling affect and bicycling behavior as well as the effect over time of factors such as the physical environment. Nevertheless, this study offers an initial understanding of the potential determinants of bicycling affect that provides a starting point for further research as well as direction for the development of policies for getting more people on bicycles.     

Why do people change in therapy? A preliminary study

Why do people change in therapy? A preliminary study. This work represents the beginning of a new way to study the processes that can explain the therapeutic change. The method used is the observation and analysis of therapeutic sessions directly recorded and developed inside a behavioural approach. The category system tries to carry out a functional analysis of the therapist-client interaction which enables the identification of learning processes that work in clinical setting and explain success in therapy. Outcomes are provisional but show the utility of this initial trend of investigation to the comprehension of clinical phenomenon. Conclusions also emphasize the importance of associative learning processes on the therapeutic change.     

Predictors of time to remission from depression in primary care patients: do some people benefit more from positive life change than others?

The authors examined the role of personality, social support, and coping strategies and their interaction with positive life change (PLC) in influencing time to remission from depression in 86 depressed primary care patients (69% women, mean age = 36.6 years), who were followed for 3.5 years. Diagnostic information was obtained by the Present State Examination (J. K. Wing, J. Cooper, & N. Sartorius, 1974), and life change by the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (G. W. Brown & T. O. Harris, 1978). The association of PLC and other predictors with the time to remission was studied by means of Cox regression. PLC reduced time to remission in women, but not in men. Other predictors that expedited remission were low severity of premorbid difficulties, high self-esteem, and a tension-reducing coping style. Neuroticism modified the effect of PLC in that the remission forward bringing effect of PLC was stronger for highly neurotic people. The results suggests that women and psychologically vulnerable persons benefit most from PLC.     

Why do some men misperceive women's sexual intentions more frequently than others do? An application of the confluence model

Although many researchers have documented men's tendency to misperceive women's friendliness as a sign of sexual interest, few have examined individual differences in men's attitudes and past experiences that might predict their likelihood of making these types of misjudgments. We applied an expanded version of Malamuth, Sockloskie, Koss, and Tanaka's (1991) Confluence model to predict frequency of misperception of women's sexual intent with a sample of 356 male college students. Using structural equation modeling, hostile masculinity, impersonal sex, and drinking in dating and sexual situations predicted men's frequency of misperception. Furthermore, the more risk factors men possessed, the more times they misperceived women's sexual intentions. Suggestions are made for theory development and future research incorporating situational as well as personality measures in longitudinal studies.     

Why do they do it? Differences in high-intensity exercise-affect between those with higher and lower intensity preference and tolerance

Evidence suggests high-intensity exercise results in a more negative affective response when compared to moderate- or low-intensity exercise. However, a large number of individuals continue participating in high-intensity exercise, in spite of these supposed declines in affective state.PurposeDetermine whether trait differences influence variability in exercise-affect for those with higher versus lower exercise intensity preference and/or tolerance, and determine the mediating relationship between traits, exercise behavior, and affective states.MethodsUndergraduates (N = 245, 20.3 ± 1.7 yrs, BMI = 23.7 ± 3.8, 60.8% female, 82% regular exercisers) completed the Preference for and Tolerance of the Intensity of Exercise Questionnaire. They then completed a 15-min high-intensity body-weight circuit (HIC), a walk, and a reading condition, where valence (via Feeling Scale), perceived physiological activation (via Felt Arousal Scale), and ratings of perceived exertion were taken prior to, every 3-min during, and 20-min post (P20) condition, while activity enjoyment was assessed immediately post.ResultsMultivariate ANOVAs revealed significant differences (p_s < 0.05) in valence between those with high versus low intensity preferences during HIC at minutes 3 (d = 0.615), 6 (d = 0.772), 9 (d = 0.659), 12 (d = 0.625), 15 (d = 0.632), and at P20 (d = 0.554), and for enjoyment following HIC (d = 0.545), but not for walking or reading conditions.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the intensity-preference trait influences how an individual feels during high-intensity exercise, but has less influence on affect during moderate/lower intensity activities. These differences may be predictive of whether an individual will continue high-intensity exercise programming.     

Why do people give? The role of identity in giving

Why do people give to others? One principal driver involves one's identity: who one is and how they view themselves. The degree to which identities are malleable, involve a readiness to act, and help make sense of the world have significant implications determining whether and how much people give. Drawing on the Identity-Based Motivation model (IBM; Oyserman, D. (2009). Identity-based motivation: Implications for action-readiness, procedural-readiness, and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19.), we provide a tripartite framework to help advance the research on the psychology of giving.     

Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review

Terror management theory (TMT; J. Greenberg, T. Pyszczynski, & S. Solomon, 1986) posits that people are motivated to pursue positive self-evaluations because self-esteem provides a buffer against the omnipresent potential for anxiety engendered by the uniquely human awareness of mortality. Empirical evidence relevant to the theory is reviewed showing that high levels of self-esteem reduce anxiety and anxiety-related defensive behavior, reminders of one's mortality increase self-esteem striving and defense of self-esteem against threats in a variety of domains, high levels of self-esteem eliminate the effect of reminders of mortality on both self-esteem striving and the accessibility of death-related thoughts, and convincing people of the existence of an afterlife eliminates the effect of mortality salience on self-esteem striving. TMT is compared with other explanations for why people need self-esteem, and a critique of the most prominent of these, sociometer theory, is provided.