The effects of counting blessings on subjective well-being: a gratitude intervention in a Spanish sample

This study examined a gratitude intervention repeating Emmons and McCullough study (2003) in a Spanish sample, Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (gratitude, hassles and any event) and kept daily records during 2 weeks of gratitude, affect, quality of relationships, physical and subjective well-being. We added design features to assess the intervention long-term impact (follow-up measures), and to improve the design control (pre-treatment measures). Following the cited authors' analysis, i.e., comparing groups only in the post-test, we replicated their results, finding differences in positive affect and gratitude between the gratitude condition and the hassles condition. However, when including both the pre and the follow-up measures in the analysis, results were replicated only partially, as the difference in gratitude disappeared. Moreover, the difference in positive affect between groups in the post-test seemed to be influenced mainly by a decrease in positive affect in the hassles group. Post-test differences between groups in positive affect disappeared in the follow-up. Gratitude interventions may have an effect on well-being, but we consider other methods to promote gratitude besides gratitude journals should be tested.     

People's Perceptions of Women's and Men's Worry about Life Issues: Worrying about Love, Accomplishment, or Money?

The study was designed to examine people's perceptions of women's and men's worry about life issues and self-perceptions of worry. Some undergraduates (n = 498) rated typical women's or men's worry, and others (n = 396) rated significant others' worry based on the Worry Domain Questionnaire (Tallis, Eysenck, & Mathews, 1992). As expected, participants perceived women as worrying more than men do about relationships, when they rated typical or significant others. As well, they rated typical men as worrying more than typical women about achievement and finances. Participants who rated significant others' worry also rated their own worry and parallel findings were expected. However, women tended to report more worry about achievement than men did. Overall, the findings indicate that the better people know their targets, the less likely they are to perceive their worry in gender stereotypical terms. This article is partially based on Wendy-Jo Wood's Master's thesis.     

Communication Counseling as Part of a Treatment Plan for Depression

It has been estimated that 1 in 4 persons will experience a depressive episode over his or her lifetime (G. Gintner, 2001). The author discusses various etiologies of depression, interpersonal factors related to depression, and research on various communication‐focused counseling interventions. The author maintains that published literature supports a communication‐skills‐centered approach to alleviating the symptoms of depression and recommends that professional counselors assert their ability to provide their clients with effective and healthy treatment for depression.     

Definitions of Multicultural Competence: Frontline Human Service Providers' Perspective

In this qualitative study, the authors explored definitions of multicultural competence given by 99 frontline human service providers. The providers had no formal training in counseling but served in a helping role. Seven thematic definitions emerged: color blindness, client focused, acknowledgment of cultural differences, textbook consistent, resource driven, skills‐based, and self‐integrated. Implications for multicultural competence are discussed. En este estudio cualitativo, los autores exploraron las definiciones de competencia multicultural ofrecidas por 99 proveedores de servicios humanos de primera línea. Los proveedores no tenían una formación oficial en consejería, pero actuaban en roles de ayuda. Surgieron como resultado siete definiciones temáticas: indiferente al color, enfocada hacia el cliente, reconocimiento de diferencias culturales, libro de texto, guiada por los recursos, habilidades y autointegrada. Se discuten las implicaciones para la competencia multicultural.     

Say-do correspondence to improve disruptive behaviors in adults with Down's syndrome

The most acknowledged strategies for the treatment of disruptive behaviours are those that are based on direct contingency management. Other procedures allow the therapist, or educational agent, not to be present in the context in which the behavioural change has to take place: the say-do correspondence training procedures, which have proven effective across behaviours and populations. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence of the effectiveness of such procedures with populations presenting developmental disabilities. This study describes the implementation of say-do correspondence training to modify 5 disruptive behaviours present in 5 adult subjects diagnosed with Down's syndrome, showing very positive results. The advantages of using say-do correspondence training procedures in developmental disabilities are discussed.     

Development of eye-movement control

Cognitive control of behavior continues to improve through adolescence in parallel with important brain maturational processes including synaptic pruning and myelination, which allow for efficient neuronal computations and the functional integration of widely distributed circuitries supporting top-down control of behavior. This is also a time when psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, emerge reflecting a particularly vulnerability to impairments in development during adolescence. Oculomotor studies provide a unique neuroscientific approach to make precise associations between cognitive control and brain circuitry during development that can inform us of impaired systems in psychopathology. In this review, we first describe the development of pursuit, fixation, and visually-guided saccadic eye movements, which collectively indicate early maturation of basic sensorimotor processes supporting reflexive, exogenously-driven eye movements. We then describe the literature on the development of the cognitive control of eye movements as reflected in the ability to inhibit a prepotent eye movement in the antisaccade task, as well as making an eye movement guided by on-line spatial information in working memory in the oculomotor delayed response task. Results indicate that the ability to make eye movements in a voluntary fashion driven by endogenous plans shows a protracted development into adolescence. Characterizing the transition through adolescence to adult-level cognitive control of behavior can inform models aimed at understanding the neurodevelopmental basis of psychiatric disorders.     

Psychosocial Perspectives on Pregnancy: Prenatal Maternal Stress and Coping

Pregnancy is a momentous life event experienced by most women that involves biomedical and psychosocial changes that are potentially stressful. High levels of maternal stress in pregnancy contribute to adverse fetal, infant, child, and adult outcomes, including cognitive, emotional, neurodevelopmental, and physical health effects. This article discusses definition, measurement, and effects of stress in pregnancy and describes current research questions such as whether the timing or pattern of prenatal stress accentuates its effects and whether prenatal stress accounts for ethnic disparities in adverse birth outcomes in the United States. We review research on the ways that women cope with prenatal stress and research examining associations of coping with maternal emotional state, health, and birth outcomes. Additionally, we describe important factors that improve women's psychosocial adaptation to pregnancy, their health, and their birth outcomes, specifically trait optimism, social support, and physical activity, and we emphasize interventions that utilize these factors.     

Emergent Values and the Experience of Aging

This study examined the role of values or guiding principles emerging from the life histories and reflections of 111 older adults as predictors of the experience of aging. Participants completed a detailed life history interview in which they described themselves on 10 major life dimensions. They also completed standardized questionnaires of well-being, personality traits, and intolerance of uncertainty. Participants expressed a mix of prosocial and self-interest values in their interviews. Multiple regression analyses indicated that social support and intolerance of uncertainty positively predicted the extent of values articulated in the interviews. Better quality of aging was predicted positively by extent of emergent values and greater well-being and negatively by age. The results indicate that an examination of values provides a unique contribution to the understanding of the experience of aging.     

How much was your shopping basket? Working memory processes in total basket price estimation

Although much attention has been paid to recall of a single price, research is lacking in understanding the process of how consumers estimate the total price of a shopping basket. Drawing on research on numeric cognition, memory processes, and mental accounting, we show in five studies that the accuracy of total price estimation as well as the timing of such estimation is systematically influenced by several factors. We find that the length (in syllables) of the prices in the basket and the attention that consumers pay to the prices influence the accuracy of the calculation of the total basket price. Furthermore, our studies also show that the timing of the calculation is influenced by the nature of the items in the basket (i.e., unrelated vs. complementary items).     

How need for cognition and perceived control are differentially linked to emotional outcomes in the transition to retirement

This study contrasts how need for cognition and perceived control relate to positive and negative affect in 351 adults experiencing the transition to retirement (age range 44–79 years, M = 60). Structural equation modeling was used to identify significant pathways between exogenous variables of conscientiousness, openness, and education to need for cognition, and between neuroticism and health to perceived control. Need for cognition and perceived control emerged as separate and distinct forms of motivation, contributing to positive and negative affect in this model through differing patterns and to different degrees. Mediators between need for cognition and positive affect were frequency of cognitive activity and problem-focus coping. Perceived control had direct effects on positive and negative affect and indirect effects through cognitive activity on positive affect. The model helps to explain some of the psychological mechanisms instrumental in successful adaptation to change in adulthood. The dispositional motivation of need for cognition is described as a character strength with unique predictive value for older adults.