Understanding emotional responses to breast/ovarian cancer genetic risk assessment: an applied test of a cognitive theory of emotion

This study explored whether Smith and Lazarus' (1990, 1993) cognitive theory of emotion could predict emotional responses to an emotionally ambiguous real-life situation. Questionnaire data were collected from 145 women upon referral for cancer genetic risk assessment. These indicated a mixed emotional reaction of both positive and negative emotions to the assessment. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the hypothesised models explained between 20% and 33% of the variance of anxiety, hope and gratitude scores, but only 10% of the variance for challenge scores. For the previously unmodelled emotion of relief, 31% of the variance was explained by appraisals and core relational themes. The findings help explain why emotional responses to cancer genetic risk assessment vary and suggest that improving the accuracy of individuals' beliefs and expectations about the assessment process may help subsequent adaptation to risk information.     

Go or no‐go? Developmental improvements in the efficiency of response inhibition in mid‐childhood

This experiment used a modified go/no‐go paradigm to investigate the processes by which response inhibition becomes more efficient during mid‐childhood. The novel task, which measured trials on which a response was initiated but not completed, was sensitive to developmental changes in response inhibition. The effect of inducing time pressure by narrowing allowable response time was also examined. While increasing time pressure did not reduce the inhibitory demands of the task for either age group, older children (aged 9 to 11 years) were able to inhibit their responses at an earlier stage of movement than younger children (aged 5 to 7 years). This shows that as children get older they become more efficient at controlling their behaviour which drives developmental improvements in response inhibition.     

The role of computer‐aided psychotherapy within an NHS CBT specialist service

To date, the feasibility of computer‐aided psychotherapy as an intervention has only been recognised in primary care practice. The present study sought to evaluate the impact of ‘Beating the Blues’ (BtB), an established computerised cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT) self‐help programme for the management of anxiety and depression, within an NHS CBT specialist healthcare centre. Of the 555 service users who used BtB as part of routine care, with follow‐up assessment at six to eight weeks, 71% completed all eight sessions. Statistically significant differences on the Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were found in completer and intention‐to‐treat analyses; 50% of completers achieved reliable change on the BDI‐II and approximately 25% of completers achieved reliable and clinically significant change on both measures. Outcomes were benchmarked against outcomes in studies of routine face‐to‐face CBT. These findings provide evidence that BtB may be of value to service users in secondary mental healthcare centres, alleviating current burdens on public health and therapeutic resources. Future research directions should include examining which factors influence individuals’ decisions to try computer‐aided psychotherapy, which individuals are best suited to using these interventions, and why some users drop out prior to programme completion.     

Is Optimism Always Best?: Future Outlooks and Preparedness

ABSTRACT— Although people generally appear optimistic about the future, they shift from optimism under certain circumstances. Drawing from a recent review of the literature, we describe how both optimism and shifts from optimism serve the common goal of preparedness, which includes a readiness to deal with setbacks and a readiness to take advantage of opportunities. Shifts from optimism occur in response to available information and to the possibility that things may not turn out as hoped. People tend to shift from optimism when feedback is anticipated in the near future, when the outcome is important, when negative outcomes are easily imagined, and when the outcomes are uncontrollable. In addition, people with low self-esteem shift from optimism more readily than do people with high self-esteem. Finally, both optimism and shifts from optimism have unique benefits in terms of preparedness.     

Influences of grasp selection in typically developing children

When reaching towards an object, adults favour grasps which, following the intended action, end in a comfortable position even when this requires them to start in an uncomfortable position (the end-state-comfort effect). However, this strategy is not consistently used by children who instead seem to favour a minimal pre-contact rotation of the hand, even when this results in an uncomfortable end position. In terms of multiple movements, the strategies used for grip selection are unclear; adults may still grasp for end-state-comfort given their propensity to plan to the end of a movement; however, children who are less able to concatenate movement may tend to start-state-comfort movements. The current study considered grip selection in children ranging from 4 to 12 years and in a group of adults. Participants were asked to rotate a disc so that an arrow pointed towards a specific target(s), the number of sequences in a movement was increased from one to three. Planning for end-state-comfort was seen in all participants and a clear developmental trajectory was identified whereby the relative comfort of an end position could be directly predicted by age in months. Adults and 10–12-year-olds favoured an end-state-comfort strategy whereas the younger children gave equal weighting to end-state-comfort, start-state-comfort and no initial rotation strategies. All groups were able to end a movement comfortably when it was composed of three steps; however, the proportion of movements relying on an end-state-comfort strategy decreased as sequence length increase whereas the proportion of start-state-comfort and no initial rotation strategies increased. The current data support the concept that a mechanism for planning grasps may be based on motor experience.     

Qualitative research in psychology: Attitudes of psychology students and academic staff

Qualitative research is experiencing a resurgence within the field of psychology. This study aimed to explore the range of attitudes towards qualitative research in psychology held by students and academics, using the model of attitudes by Eagly and Chaiken as a framework. Twenty‐one psychology students and academics were interviewed about their attitudes towards qualitative research. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. While qualitative research was described as inherent to the psychology profession and useful for generating rich data, some participants felt that this approach was not well respected or considered as legitimate as quantitative methods. Reflecting common misperceptions about qualitative research, participants also expressed concerns that qualitative research was too subjective and had limited generalisability. Furthermore, some participants felt that they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to conduct qualitative research. Large investments in time and resources were identified as barriers to undertaking qualitative research. Identifying attitudes towards qualitative research provides a basis for future work in dispelling myths, promoting attitudinal change and increasing both the use and teaching of qualitative approaches in psychology.     

Human Capabilities and the Ethics of Debt

The Journal of Value Inquiry -     

Parsing the relations between SES and stress reactivity: examining individual differences in neonatal stress response

In an effort to further delineate the reported relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and stress reactivity in children, associations between three domains of perinatal risk: socio-demographic, obstetrical complications, and maternal psychological factors during the perinatal period, and cortisol and behavioral reactivity were examined in 100 healthy African American neonates whose families resided in low-income environments. Behavioral and cortisol response to a heel stick and the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) was measured within the first 2 days of life. Significant associations were found between socio-demographic risk, obstetrical complications, and maternal psychological factors and neonatal behavior and cortisol in the context of the NBAS; few significant associations were found in the context of the heel stick. Greater magnitude of perinatal risk was associated with both higher and lower than average neonatal stress reactivity. The results provide preliminary data on the types of perinatal experiences that may have significant effects on stress reactivity in humans, especially in the context of families living in poverty. Application of these data to the hypothesis that prenatal stress results in programming of the fetal/neonatal stress response system is discussed.     

Blushing during social interactions in people with a fear of blushing

Changes in facial blood flow were investigated during an introductory conversation, delivering a speech, and listening to the speech afterwards in 16 people with a fear of blushing and 16 controls. It was hypothesized that fear of blushing would be associated with high ratings of self-reported blushing intensity and embarrassment during the tasks, and with persistence of the blushing reaction between tasks. Embarrassment and self-reported blushing intensity were greater in the fear-of-blushing group than in controls throughout the experiment. Increases in facial blood flow were similar in the two groups during each of the tasks. However, blushing dissipated more slowly after each task in the fear-of-blushing group than in controls, resulting in an incremental increase in facial blood flow over the course of the experiment. The slow recovery after an episode of blushing might result in physiological or social cues that help to maintain a fear of blushing.