The Effect of Mindfulness on Heart Rate Control

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that mindful attention to change regarding heart rate (HR) would result in greater control over HR. Experimental groups monitored the changing or stable nature of HR, respectively. All participants’ HR slowed during the decrease phase. Participants whose attention was directed to the stable nature of HR performed the worst on the increase phase of the HR control task. These results suggest that mindfulness, instantiated here as attention to variability, is a means to increasing control.

Utilizing a Creative Task to Assess Langerian Mindfulness

Despite the growing interest in mindfulness and its demonstrated benefits, there are concerns about the reliance on subjective assessment tools. This study focused on the measurement of Langerian mindfulness, which refers to the active process of noticing new things and flexibly responding to the current context. Some of its key features overlap with the construct of creativity, which can be used to create a direct assessment for central components of mindfulness. The aim is to start a discussion in the field about how a direct creativity-based tool to current subjective measures might best be used.     

Attachment style,partner communication,and physical well‐being among couples coping with cancer

Attachment styles may influence interpersonal strategies used to cope with stress. We examined links between attachment style, communicative behaviors, and physical well‐being among 166 couples coping with cancer. Results of actor–partner interdependence mediation models indicated that insecure attachment styles were associated with greater self‐report of two different and seemingly contradictory communicative behaviors (disclosure and holding back), which in turn were associated with poorer physical well‐being. These effects were intrapersonal for both patients and spouses, with the exception of anxious attachment and holding back for spouses. They were also interpersonal in that spouse insecure attachment was associated with poorer patient physical well‐being through spouse communication (greater holding back and disclosure). Couple‐based communication interventions to support adjustment should consider attachment style.     

Mind-set matters: exercise and the placebo effect

In a study testing whether the relationship between exercise and health is moderated by one's mind-set, 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels were measured on physiological health variables affected by exercise. Those in the informed condition were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle. Examples of how their work was exercise were provided. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect.     

Mindfulness and self-acceptance

The present article will focus on the cognitive theory of mindfulness and its importance in achieving unconditional self-acceptance. The goal of the mindful perspective is to increase cognitive flexibility and to thereby increase behavioral flexibility and the ability to adapt to one’s current environment in a meaningful manner. Empirical evidence spanning four decades attests to the beneficial effects of a mindful vs. mindless perspective. The article will focus on the following aspects of mindfulness as they apply to self-acceptance: the importance of authenticity, the tyranny of evaluation, the benefits of mistakes, the mindlessness of social comparison, the trap of rigid categories, and the acceptance of self as a mindful choice. The article concludes with a number of mindfulness applications geared toward enhancing self-acceptance.     

Economic Predictors of Differences in Interview Faking Between Countries: Economic Inequality Matters,Not the State of Economy

Many companies recruit employees from different parts of the globe, and faking behavior by potential employees is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It seems that applicants from some countries are more prone to faking compared to others, but the reasons for these differences are largely unexplored. This study relates country-level economic variables to faking behavior in hiring processes. In a cross-national study across 20 countries, participants (N = 3,839) reported their faking behavior in their last job interview. This study used the random response technique (RRT) to ensure participants’ anonymity and to foster honest answers regarding faking behavior. Results indicate that general economic indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP] and unemployment rate) show negligible correlations with faking across the countries, whereas economic inequality is positively related to the extent of applicant faking to a substantial extent. These findings imply that people are sensitive to inequality within countries and that inequality relates to faking, because inequality might actuate other psychological processes (e.g., envy) which in turn increase the probability for unethical behavior in many forms.     

Dear Computer,Teach Me Manners: Testing Virtual Employment Interview Training

Expanding research on employment interview training, this study introduces virtual employment interview (VI) training with focus on nonverbal behavior. In VI training, participants took part in a simulated interview with a virtual character. Simultaneously, the computer analyzed participants’ nonverbal behavior and provided real‐time feedback for it. The control group received parallel interview training. Following training, participants took part in mock interviews, where interviewers rated participants’ nonverbal behavior, and interview performance. Analyses revealed (a) that participants of VI training showed better interview performance, (b) that this effect was mediated by nonverbal behavior, and (c) that VI training has a positive influence on interview anxiety. These results have important practical implications for applicants, career counseling centers, and organizations.     

The descent of cognitive development

A constructivist theory of the evolution of cognitive development is proposed. Seven propositions are posed plus supporting evidence. Constructing fundamental physical and logicomathematical conceptual universals underlies the development of cognition in primate phylogeny, ontogeny and history. Nevertheless, diverging onset and offset ages, velocity, extent, sequencing and organization mark the evolution of cognitive development in primate phylogeny. Thus, the evolution is heterochronic, not simply recapitulatory. Converging origins followed by diverging development of primates' conceptual constructions insures species‐specific cognitive specializations. Some specializations (e.g. recursive classifying) evolved in great ape development but not in monkey development; while others (e.g. hierarchically integrated classifying) evolved in human development only. Human enculturation and language (symbolic) rearing fosters quantitative but not qualitative progress in most of chimpanzees’ developing cognition. Heterochronic evolution provided humans with the widest and most synchronic ontogenetic window of opportunity for progressive cognitive development. The descendant cognitive development – humans’ precocial, integrated and extended intellectual constructions – bridges the evolution and history of ideas.     

A SCATTER PLOT FOR IDENTIFYING STIMULUS CONTROL OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR

Line graphs that average response frequency over long periods obscure the major rate changes that indicate sources of behavioral control. A scatter plot can make patterns of responding identifiable and, in turn, suggest environmental features that occasion undesirable behavior. Use of scatter diagrams is illustrated in three cases.