Relational antecedents of appraised problem-focused coping potential and its associated emotions

The present study examined a relational model of appraisal that specifies the situational and dispositional antecedents of appraised problem-focused coping potential, itself a hypothesised antecedent of the emotions of hope/challenge and resignation. The hypothesised relational antecedents of this appraisal were tested in a quasi-experiment in which individuals varying in self-perceived and objectively assessed math ability attempted to solve math problems on which difficulty was manipulated. Findings for the critical test problem largely conformed to predictions: Under difficult conditions, but not easy ones, increasing math ability was generally associated with elevated appraisals of problem-focused coping potential, increased hope/challenge, reduced resignation, and increased likelihood of solving the problem. However, problem-focused coping potential, hope/challenge, and the likelihood of solving the problem were all lower, and resignation was higher, for the highest ability participants, than would be predicted from their ability levels. Comparable findings were not observed for appraisals of emotion-focused coping potential or its theoretically associated emotion of anxiety, providing evidence of discriminant validity for the examined model. The results of a mediational analysis supported the hypothesis that the effects of the quasi-experimental design on hope/challenge and resignation were mediated by their effects on appraised problem-focused coping potential, lending support to the proposition that appraisals play a causal role in emotion elicitation.     

Engagement and arousal: optimism's effects during a brief stressor

Optimism is usually associated with better psychological and physiological adjustment to stressors, but some contradictory findings exist. The purpose of this study was to investigate how optimism could result in negative immunological changes following difficult stressors. Because optimists are likely to see positive outcomes as attainable, they may invest greater effort to achieve their goals. It is proposed that such engagement would be more physiologically demanding when pursuing difficult goals. Participants (N = 54) worked on 11 difficult or insoluble anagrams. Optimism when combined with high self-awareness increased time spent working on the anagrams and skin conductance and salivary cortisol during the recovery period. The results support the notion that the increased engagement that arises from optimism may lead to short-term physiological costs.     

Discrepancy-plus-search processes in prospective memory retrieval

In the present study, we investigated the processes underlying prospective memory (PM) retrieval, focusing specifically on two possible spontaneous processes: discrepancy-plus-search and familiarity. Discrepancy was elicited by orthogonally manipulating the processing difficulties of the PM targets and the nontargets. Participants performed a PM task while solving anagrams with two levels of difficulty (easy or difficult). Assuming that the ease of processing easy anagrams would heighten a sense of familiarity, the familiarity view predicted better PM performance with easy anagrams as the PM targets. In contrast, the discrepancy-plus-search view predicted higher PM performance for the PM targets that were anagrams whose difficulty level mismatched that of the surrounding nontargets, as compared to PM targets whose difficulty matched that of the surrounding nontargets. This prediction was based on the idea that mismatching rather than matching difficulty levels would create discrepancy, thereby signaling significance for the target. Participants were more likely to perform the PM task for PM targets that were discrepant, supporting the discrepancy-plus-search view.     

Transitioning from recruit to officer: An investigation of how stress appraisal and coping influence work engagement

This study investigated stress, coping, and work engagement among Portuguese police officers while undergoing academy training and then 1 year later, when on duty. It was hypothesized that stress appraisal and coping preferences predicted engagement. Additionally, in order to test a full cross‐lagged prediction model, it was hypothesized that stress, coping, and engagement in recruits predicted these variables later when working as police officers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Results suggest that coping and stress appraisals do not seem to be strong predictors of work engagement among recruits and police officers on duty. With the exception of self‐blame, that seems to be a strong predictor of work engagement among police officers on duty. These results highlight the need to investigate other potential variables such as working conditions that may better explain work engagement. Considering the positive influence of engagement on health, wellbeing, and performance of police recruits and officers future applied and theoretical implications are discussed.     

When the Going Gets Tough: The “Why” of Goal Striving Matters

No prior research has examined how motivation for goal striving influences persistence in the face of increasing goal difficulty. This research examined the role of self‐reported (Study 1) and primed (Study 2) autonomous and controlled motives in predicting objectively assessed persistence during the pursuit of an increasingly difficult goal. In Study 1, 100 British athletes (64 males; M_age = 19.89 years, SD_age = 2.43) pursued a goal of increasing difficulty on a cycle ergometer. In Study 2, 90 British athletes (43 males; M_age = 19.63 years, SD_age = 1.14) engaged in the same task, but their motivation was primed by asking them to observe a video of an actor describing her or his involvement in an unrelated study. In Study 1, self‐reported autonomous goal motives predicted goal persistence via challenge appraisals and task‐based coping. In contrast, controlled goal motives predicted threat appraisals and disengagement coping, which, in turn, was a negative predictor of persistence. In Study 2, primed autonomous (compared to controlled) goal motives predicted greater persistence, positive affect, and future interest for task engagement. The findings underscore the importance of autonomous motivation for behavioral investment in the face of increased goal difficulty.     

The Effect of Challenge and Threat Appraisals Under Evaluative Presence

Four studies were conducted to examine whether cognitive appraisals, manipulated through task instructions, would moderate social‐facilitation effects. In Study 1, participants in the challenge condition performed better on a mental arithmetic task when the experimenter was present. Conversely, participants in the threat condition performed worse when the experimenter was present. Study 2 extended these findings across 2 math tasks that varied in degree of difficulty. The pattern of performance data failed to support prior drive theories and provided support for a unique contribution of cognitive appraisals in explaining social‐facilitation effects. Study 3 validated the appraisal manipulations by using multiple measures of cognitive appraisals. Finally, Study 4 offered increased validity by replicating the performance data using an anagram task.     

Patterns of emotion-specific appraisal,coping, and cardiovascular reactivity during an ongoing emotional episode

The authors examined emotion-specific patterns of appraisal, coping, and cardiovascular reactivity during real ongoing emotional episodes. In this study, 109 participants performed a neutral opinion-expression task, where a confederate elicited anger, shame, or pride using verbal and nonverbal behavior. The authors assessed cognitive appraisals, emotional reactions, coping, outcomes (state self-esteem and outcome satisfaction), and cardiovascular reactivity. Results indicated substantial and theoretically consistent differences between the 3 emotions (and differences from a nonemotion condition) for cognitive appraisals, self-reported coping, behavioral coping, self-esteem, and cardiovascular reactivity. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for emotion theory and for psychological and physical health. Overall, the results suggest that researchers can study emotion-related issues using authentic emotional reactions.     

Emotions in cognitive conflicts are not aversive but are task specific

It has been suggested that cognitive conflicts require effortful processing and, therefore, are aversive (Botvinick, 2007). In the present study, we compared conflicts emerging from the inhibition of a predominant response tendency in a go/no-go task with those between incompatible response activations in a Simon task in a within-subjects design, using the same type of stimuli. Whereas no-go trials elicited reduced skin conductance and pupillometric responses, but prolonged corrugator muscle activity, as compared with go trials, incompatible and compatible Simon trials were indistinguishable with respect to these parameters. Furthermore, the conflictsensitive N2 components of the event-related brain potential were similar in amplitude, but showed significantly different scalp distributions, indicating dissociable neural generator systems. The present findings suggest the involvement of different emotional and cognitive processes in both types of cognitive conflicts—none being aversive, however. In addition, the N2 findings call into question claims of common monitoring systems for all kinds of cognitive conflicts.     

Anagram solving: Does effort have an effect?

The purpose of these studies was to explore the role of effort in remembering anagrams and their solutions. In Experiment 1, we compared the effects on memory of copying words, typing them as solutions for easy anagrams, or typing them as solutions for difficult anagrams. Solving anagrams involved more effort than did simply typing words, as indexed by response time. However, this effort facilitated recall for solutions to easy anagrams but not for solutions to difficult anagrams. In Experiment 2, we compared memory for anagrams and their solutions using a frequency-judgment task. Memory for solutions was better than memory for anagrams, and this difference was not affected by anagram difficulty. The results of these studies have implications for our understanding of the role of effort in remembering.     

Parent and teacher effects on academic coping and classroom engagement: Testing a motivational model

Little is known about the contextual antecedents and consequences of children’s academic coping. One hundred and eighty-three-sixth grade students participated in a study that examined a process model whereby children’s perceptions of parent and teacher behaviors were associated with children’s coping strategies through children’s appraisals of failure. It also examined whether these coping strategies were then associated with students’ classroom engagement. Results revealed that parent autonomy support was indirectly associated with defensive coping through its effects on children’s appraisals of failure. There was also some support that cognitive appraisals, particularly threat appraisals were indirectly associated with child reported engagement through coping, suggesting that coping appraisals impact children’s engagement and participation in the classroom through their effects on coping behavior/strategy use. The findings underscore the importance of parent autonomy support for children’s appraisals of failure, coping, and engagement.     

Are the sources of interest the same for everyone? Using multilevel mixture models to explore individual differences in appraisal structures

How does personality influence the relationship between appraisals and emotions? Recent research suggests individual differences in appraisal structures: people may differ in an emotion's appraisal pattern. We explored individual differences in interest's appraisal structure, assessed as the within-person covariance of appraisals with interest. People viewed images of abstract visual art and provided ratings of interest and of interest's appraisals (novelty–complexity and coping potential) for each picture. A multilevel mixture model found two between-person classes that reflected distinct within-person appraisal styles. For people in the larger class (68%), the novelty–complexity appraisal had a stronger effect on interest; for people in the smaller class (32%), the coping potential appraisal had a stronger effect. People in the larger class were significantly higher in appetitive traits related to novelty seeking (e.g., sensation seeking, openness to experience, and trait curiosity), suggesting that the appraisal classes have substantive meaning. We conclude by discussing the value of within-person mixture models for the study of personality and appraisal.     

Coping Effectiveness: A Path Analysis of Self-Efficacy,Control, Coping,and Performance in Sport Competitions1

We examined a model of coping effectiveness based on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress and coping theory and Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. Female athletes (n= 178) aged 16 to 28 were studied over two rounds of a sport event. Path analysis (LISREL VI) revealed that higher levels of self-efficacy and control appraisals were associated with better performance. As expected, performance and performance satisfaction in Round 1 influenced appraisals and coping during the second performance. In addition, control appraisal was associated with disengagement coping, and both engagement and disengagement coping were related to performance and performance satisfaction. Self-efficacy mediated the performance/control relationship for Round 1, but not the performance satisfaction relationship.     

Appraisal components,core relational themes,and the emotions

Abstract

This study experimentally tests the contributions of specific appraisals, considered at both molecular (appraisal components) and molar (core relational themes) levels of analysis, to the experience of four emotions (anger, guilt, fear/anxiety, and sadness) using a two-stage directed imagery task. In Stage 1, subjects imagined themselves in scenarios designed to evoke appraisals hypothesised to produce either anger or sadness. In Stage 2, the scenarios unfolded in time to produce a second manipulation designed to systematically evoke the appraisals hypothesised to produce each of the four emotions under study. The results provided substantial support for the theoretically specified appraisal-emotion relationships for anger, guilt, and fear/ anxiety. However, support for the predictions for sadness was weaker, partially due to ineffective manipulation of the relevant appraisals. Implications for the further development and testing of emotion theory are discussed.     

Stress appraisals influence athletic performance and psychophysiological response during 16.1 km cycling time trials

ObjectivesWe examined how stress appraisals were associated with emotions, coping behaviours, as well as subjective and objective measures of performance.DesignProspective field- and laboratory-based studies.MethodsIn Study 1, 192 athletes completed process-oriented psychometrics pertaining to the aforementioned constructs throughout a sporting competition. Study 2 utilised an experimental design to assess the causal influence of stress appraisals on performance, cortisol, and psychological variables. Thirty gender-matched athletes were randomly assigned to either a stress appraisal (e.g., challenge, threat, benefit, or harm/loss) or the control group. Participants completed three 16.1 km cycling time trials (TT) on a cycle ergometer, with their appropriate stress appraisal engendered via falsified performance feedback throughout the final TT. Salivary cortisol samples and psychometrics (e.g., appraisals, emotions, and coping) were collected before and after each TT.ResultsThe results of Study 1 revealed a sequential link between challenge stress appraisals and perceived goal attainment via pleasant emotions and task-oriented coping behaviours. Threat stress appraisals inversely related to goal attainment via unpleasant emotions and both distraction- and disengagement-oriented coping. In Study 2, no significant psychophysiological or performance differences were found across genders. The temporal orientation of stress appraisals influenced objective cycling TT performance. Benefit and harm/loss stress appraisals significantly facilitated or inhibited performance, respectively. Cortisol spikes were observed in the stress appraisal group’s threat, challenge, and benefit, with a decline detected within the harm/loss group. Whilst the process of winning is physiologically stressful, the fear of defeat may be more stressful than losing itself.ConclusionStress appraisals influence subjective and objective performance, as well as neuroendocrine and psychological responses to stress.     

Exploring coping reactions to work‐stress: Application of an appraisal theory

Previous research has focused on influences of coping on emotional and behavioural outcomes. Less is known about why people cope in the way they do. Drawing on an appraisal theory of emotion, it was expected that secondary appraisal components would be related to coping. Information on appraisal components, emotions, and coping in relation to a recent work stressor was provided by 107 female nurses. Appraisals were associated with coping in theoretically interpretable ways (e.g. active coping and behavioural disengagement with optimistic and pessimistic appraisals of problem‐focused coping potential, respectively). The study highlighted emotion theory as useful for exploring possible coping antecedents in a conceptually integrated way.     

Theoretical note: When is a coping strategy not a coping strategy?

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of differentiating between cognitive coping behaviors and appraisal processes. Although these can be separated in theory, and experimental procedures can manipulate appraisals independantly of coping, it is difficult to separate these constructs in naturalistic studies on appraisal and coping responses to real life stressors. The ability to separate these constructs requires knowledge of an individual's precise motivation, an age-old stumbling block in psychological research. It is proposed that, at least in naturalistic studies on stress, appraisal and coping, perhaps the best that can be achieved is to record a particular behavior and report it as such, without attempting to guess at the motivation underlying it.     

What is interesting? Exploring the appraisal structure of interest

Relative to other emotions, interest is poorly understood. On the basis of theories of appraisal process and structure, it was predicted that interest consists of appraisals of novelty (factors related to unfamiliarity and complexity) and appraisals of coping potential (the ability to understand the new, complex thing). Four experiments, using in vivo rather than retrospective methods, supported this appraisal structure. The findings were general across measured and manipulated appraisals, interesting stimuli (random polygons, visual art, poetry), and measures of interest (self-reports, forced-choice, behavioral measures). Furthermore, the appraisal structure was specific to interest (it did not predict enjoyment, a related positive emotion), and appraisals predicted interest beyond relevant traits (curiosity, openness). The appraisal perspective offers a powerful way of construing the causes of interest.     

Prediction of stress appraisals from mastery,extraversion, neuroticism,and general appraisal tendencies

Several personality dimensions (mastery, extraversion, and neuroticism) and a new General Appraisal Measure were used to predict stress appraisals made by college students in specific situations. Using multiple-regression techniques, mastery and general appraisal tendencies predicted appraisals for an intellectual task. Path analysis supported a structural model with general appraisal tendencies as a mediator between mastery and specific appraisal. In the second study mastery, extraversion, neuroticism, and general appraisal tendencies predicted appraisals for an academic stressor. Path analysis again supported the mediational nature of general appraisal tendencies from personality variables to specific appraisal. We discuss a potential causal mechanism between personality dimensions and appraisal patterns.     

Challenge versus threat effects on the goal–performance relationship

This study tested the situational effects of goals and stress on the performance of complex tasks and on adaptation to change in the task. Difficult goals often exceed the individual's resources and thus create stress. However, stress may be appraised as either challenge or threat. Challenge is experienced when there is an opportunity for self-growth with available coping strategies, whereas threat is experienced when the situation is perceived as leading to failure with no available strategies to cope with it. We hypothesized that participants who appraised the situation as a challenge would perform better and adapt better to changes under difficult goal conditions, as compared with general goals or strategy goals. By contrast, threat appraisals would be better addressed by strategy goals rather than difficult goals. One hundred and fifty five students performed a task, which required their making predictions concerning the value of 120 companies' stocks based on three manipulated cues. We used a three by three by two factorial design in which goals, stress, and change (as a repeated factor) were varied to test the hypotheses. Results supported the main hypotheses and demonstrated that the same level of goal difficulty may lead to high or low performance and adaptation to change depending on the appraisal of the situation as challenging or threatening. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are further discussed.     

The Effect of User Control on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing of Pictures

This paper explores psychology related to the moment that control is exercised during interactions with media. What is the difference in the thoughtful and emotional engagement of viewers with the content presented between reacting to media versus controlling its onset? Subjects viewed pictures on a computer as part of a 2 (control) × 2 (picture type) × 16 (repetitions) × 2 (order) within-subjects experiment (N = 22). In one condition, subjects controlled the picture onset with a computer mouse. In the other condition, the computer controlled the picture onset. Heart rate and skin conductance were collected as indicators of the automatic attention and arousal elicited by each manipulation of control. Results showed that subjects exhibited a cardiac orienting response when the computer controlled the onset of emotional pictures. Subjects failed to orient when they had control over picture onset. Physiological arousal, as measured by skin conductance, was higher when subjects had control over picture onset. Subjects gave higher subjective ratings on valence and arousal for pictures that were presented by the computer. These results are discussed in relation to current assumptions about interactive media and audience activity.