The use of implementation intentions and the decision balance sheet in promoting exercise behaviour

Although increasing exercise and fitness has often been associated with positive health outcomes, infrequent exercise participation has remained a problem. Since two distinct motivational and volitional phases to goal pursuit have been proposed, a combined motivational (decision balance sheet, DBS) and volitional (implementation intentions) intervention was predicted to be more effective in increasing exercise behaviour than a control or either strategy alone. A total of 86 students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions, and were all asked to try to exercise two more times a week than they currently did, over a four week period. Their fitness levels were measured through fitness tests conducted pre- and post-intervention. A priori orthogonal contrasts indicated that the experimental strategies produced a greater increase in exercise frequency and total time spent exercising per week and accordingly showed greater fitness improvements than the control group. Moreover, the volitional groups taken together produced greater increase in time spent exercising and a marginally greater improvement in frequency than the DBS alone. The combined intervention led to improvements in fitness and marginal increases in frequency over the implementation intention alone group. It is proposed that for the combined group the DBS may have aided recall of the implementation intention or increased commitment to it, as remembering and then acting on the plan, in the stated place and time, mediated the implementation intention–behaviour relationship. The combined intervention produced the greatest fitness improvements, indicating that this strategy can lead to important health benefits.     

Experiencing malevolent voices is associated with attentional dysfunction in psychotic patients

Inattention in people with schizophrenia is common. However, there has been little research on the association between inattention and auditory hallucinations. The aim of the study was to investigate how inattention is affected by beliefs about voices as benevolent and malevolent and perceived control of voices. A total of 31 patients who experienced auditory hallucinations and who met the criteria for schizophrenia or other psychosis completed the attention subscale of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and the Connors’ Continuous Performance Test II (CCPT‐II). The revised Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire (BAVQ‐R) was used to assess malevolent and benevolent beliefs about voices, and severity of auditory hallucinations (the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales; PSYRATS) was used to assess perceived control of voices and frequency of voices. Levels of depression (the Beck Depression Inventory; BDI), anxiety (the Beck Anxiety Inventory; BAI), severity of overall psychiatric symptoms (the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; BPRS), and severity of negative symptoms (SANS) were assessed to control for their potential confounding effects. The relations between the variables were explored with correlations and multiple hierarchical regression analyses. The results indicated that more malevolent, but not more benevolent, beliefs about voices predicted lower levels of attention, independently of general psychiatric symptoms and various other psychotic symptoms such as frequency of and perceived control of voices. These findings suggest an important relationship between malevolent beliefs about voices and levels of inattention. The possible impact of changing beliefs about voices to improve attentional functioning is discussed.     

Validation of the Poisoning Severity Score (PSS) in suicidal behavior by self‐poisoning

Intentional self‐poisoning is the leading method of suicidal behavior leading to medical attention worldwide. The medical severity of self‐poisoning events has major treatment, prognostic, and medico‐legal implications, yet measures of severity are limited. The Poisoning Severity Score (PSS) is a widely used scale but validation data are limited, particularly in the study of suicidal behavior per se. The sample was a consecutive series of intentional self‐poisoning patients aged 13 to 65 treated at a large university medical center (n = 673). PSS scores, with a range 0 (none) to 4 (death), were calculated along with other structured clinical data and analyzed in a series of linear regressions adjusted for age and sex. Higher PSS scores were consistently associated with greater medical morbidity and more intensive acute medical treatments, and nearly all effect sizes were large. Results support the validity of the PSS in hospital‐treated self‐poisoning patients.     

The role of psychosocial processes in explaining the gradient between socioeconomic status and health

The gradient between socioeconomic status (SES) and health is well established: Many measures of health show that health increases as SES increases. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. Behavioral, cognitive, and affective tendencies that develop in response to the greater psychosocial stress encountered in low-SES environments may partially mediate the impact of SES on health. Although these tendencies might be helpful for coping in the short term, over time they may contribute to the development of allostatic load, which increases vulnerability to disease. Debate remains regarding the direction of causation between SES and health, the impact of income inequality, the interaction of SES with race-ethnicity and gender, and the effects of SES over the life course.     

Distinguishing Perceptions of Control From Self-Efficacy: Predicting Consumption of a Low-Fat Diet Using the Theory of Planned Behavior1

The aims of the present study are fourfold: to apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to eating a low-fat diet; to consider differences between self-efficacy and perceived control over behavior (PCB); to examine self-identity as a potential addition to the model; and to identify beliefs which may provide useful targets for interventions. Findings support the efficacy of the TPB as a predictor of low-fat diet. Evidence for the distinction between self-efficacy and PCB was provided by principal components analysis, patterns in prediction of intention, and the control beliefs associated with the two constructs. Self-identity was found to independently predict intention and may prove a useful addition to the TPB. Finally, specific beliefs distinguished intenders from nonintenders, providing potential targets for health interventions. The findings are discussed in the context of previous TPB research and the need for multimethod assessments of behavior.     

Associative interaction: joint control of key pecking by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships

The joint control of rate of key pecking in pigeons by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships was studied in the context of a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement. Food presentation was always associated with one component and extinction with the other. The stimulus-reinforcer relationship was manipulated by varying the relative durations of the two components. In the food-presentation component, a fixed rate of reinforcement, independent of rate of responding, was generated by a schedule referred to as “T*”. One aspect of the response-reinforcer relationship, contiguity, was manipulated by varying the percentage of delayed reinforcers. With the multiple T* extinction schedule, stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships could be varied independently of one another. Rate of key pecking was sensitive to manipulations of both relationships. However, significant differential effects due to either the stimulus-reinforcer or response-reinforcer relationship were obtained only when the other relationship was weak: stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships interacted in the joint control of responding.     

Clinical utility of the WISC-R and the French Pictorial Test of Intelligence with native American primary grade children

Cultural bias and the clinical utility of the WISC-R and French Pictorial Test of Intelligence were evaluated using scores of 22 male and 22 female Navajo primary grade children. There were no significant differences in performance on either test according to sex. As expected, the Verbal IQ and Full Scale IQ of the WISC-R and the Deviation IQ of the French provided significantly depressed estimates of ability. A prorated Performance IQ might be the least depressed measure of potential among these children.     

Human-resource professionals' perceptions of organizational politics as a function of experience, organizational size, and perceived independence

The author examined human-resource professionals' occupation-related and general work experience, socialization from participation in professional activities, organizational size, and perceived independence as predictors of perceptions of organizational politics (POPS). Results varied with the author's use of the overall POPS scale (K. M. Kacmar & G. R. Ferris, 1991) vs. a more specific subscale that measured perceptions related to such issues as pay- and promotion-related politics. It was most notable that work experience appeared to have an inverse relationship with POPS among human-resource professionals in the area of pay and promotions. The author discussed results in relation to the implications and directions for future research.     

THE EFFECTS OF VIEWING SAME-GENDER PHOTOGRAPHIC MODELS ON BODY-ESTEEM

This study was designed to investigate the effects of viewing samegender photographic models on women and men's body-esteem. Women and men completed body-esteem scales before and after viewing pictures of same-gender photographic models (experimental group) or landscapes (control group). Women scored significantly lower than men on the body-esteem scale [F(1, 90) = 58.5, p < .001]. Women [F(1, 90) = 8.70, p < .05] and men [F(1, 90) = 4.17, p < .05] in the experimental group showed a significant decrease in body-esteem after seeing the photographs and the controls showed no significant change [women F(1, 90) = 0.57; men F(1, 90) = 0.00]. Results suggest that upward comparisons are made by women and men when viewing attractive same-gender models.     

Attributions,Cognitions, and Coping Styles: Teleworkers' Reactions to Work-Related Problems1

Based on the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and Lazarus and Launier's (1978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress, the present study sought to examine teleworkers' reactions to their work-related problems. The role of attributions about the sources, and cognitions about the consesquences, of these problems in promoting positive adaptation was addressed. In particular, it was predicted that teleworkers who made optimistic attributions and cognitions would be more likely to employ problem-focused coping strategies and, as a result, report more positive psychological and job-related outcomes. Based on a survey sample of 192 teleworkers, the results indicated that a tendency to engage in self-blame was related to the use of emotion-focused coping strategies. In turn, there was evidence linking emotion-focused coping strategies to negative outcomes and problem-focused coping strategies to positive outcomes. The results are discussed in relation to attributional approaches to stress which highlight the importance of cognitions about the consequences of negative events. Finally, implications for the training of teleworkers are presented.