Cognitive biases and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in children: examining the role of maternal cognitive bias and child age

Objective: Multiple cognitive biases associated with adult obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were tested in a clinical sample of children (ages 7-11) and adolescents (12-17) and their mothers. This study examined (a) the associations between child cognitive biases and OCD severity, (b) maternal cognitive biases and child OCD severity, and (c) maternal cognitive bias and child cognitive bias. It was hypothesized that age would significantly moderate these relationships, with stronger associations with OCD severity for cognitive bias in adolescents (relative to children), and maternal cognitive bias in younger children (relative to adolescents). Method: Forty-six children and adolescents diagnosed with OCD and their mothers completed questionnaires assessing responsibility bias, thought-action fusion (TAF), thought suppression, and metacognitive beliefs. OCD symptoms were assessed using structured diagnostic interviews and semistructured symptom interviews. Results: As predicted, age significantly moderated associations between (a) child cognitive variables and OCD severity-specifically between child responsibility and child metacognition, which were associated with OCD severity for adolescents only; (b) maternal cognitive biases and child OCD severity-specifically for maternal responsibility and thought suppression, which were significantly and positively associated with child OCD severity but not adolescent OCD severity; and (c) maternal cognitive biases and child cognitive bias-such that significant associations were evident only in the younger child sample, and only between maternal TAF self and metacognition, with child suppression and child TAF moral, respectively. Conclusion: Maternal cognitive biases are more consistently linked to greater OCD severity among younger children, whereas personal cognitive biases are associated with greater OCD symptoms in adolescents. Treatments for pediatric OCD are likely to be improved by age-specific considerations for the role of maternal and child cognitive biases associated with OCD.     

Independent contributions of the central executive, intelligence, and in-class attentive behavior to developmental change in the strategies used to solve addition problems

Children's (N=275) use of retrieval, decomposition (e.g., 7=4+3 and thus 6+7=6+4+3), and counting to solve additional problems was longitudinally assessed from first grade to fourth grade, and intelligence, working memory, and in-class attentive behavior was assessed in one or several grades. The goal was to assess the relation between capacity of the central executive component of working memory, controlling for intelligence and in-class attentive behavior, and grade-related changes in children's use of these strategies. The predictor on intercept effects from multilevel models revealed that children with higher central executive capacity correctly retrieved more facts and used the most sophisticated counting procedure more frequently and accurately than their lower capacity peers at the beginning of first grade, but the predictor on slope effects indicated that this advantage disappeared (retrieval) or declined in importance (counting) from first grade to fourth grade. The predictor on slope effects also revealed that from first grade to fourth grade, children with higher capacity adopted the decomposition strategy more quickly than other children. The results remained robust with controls for children's sex, race, school site, speed of encoding Arabic numerals and articulating number words, and mathematics achievement in kindergarten. The results also revealed that intelligence and in-class attentive behavior independently contributed to children's strategy development.     

Competence with fractions predicts gains in mathematics achievement

Competence with fractions predicts later mathematics achievement, but the codevelopmental pattern between fractions knowledge and mathematics achievement is not well understood. We assessed this codevelopment through examination of the cross-lagged relation between a measure of conceptual knowledge of fractions and mathematics achievement in sixth and seventh grades (N = 212). The cross-lagged effects indicated that performance on the sixth grade fractions concepts measure predicted 1-year gains in mathematics achievement (ß = .14, p < .01), controlling for the central executive component of working memory and intelligence, but sixth grade mathematics achievement did not predict gains on the fractions concepts measure (ß = .03, p > .50). In a follow-up assessment, we demonstrated that measures of fluency with computational fractions significantly predicted seventh grade mathematics achievement above and beyond the influence of fluency in computational whole number arithmetic, performance on number fluency and number line tasks, central executive span, and intelligence. Results provide empirical support for the hypothesis that competence with fractions underlies, in part, subsequent gains in mathematics achievement.     

Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion: Evidence for a Positive Feedback Loop between Prosocial Spending and Happiness

We examine whether a positive feedback loop exists between spending money on others (i.e. prosocial spending) and happiness. Participants recalled a previous purchase made for either themselves or someone else and then reported their happiness. Afterward, participants chose whether to spend a monetary windfall on themselves or someone else. Participants assigned to recall a purchase made for someone else reported feeling significantly happier immediately after this recollection; most importantly, the happier participants felt, the more likely they were to choose to spend a windfall on someone else in the near future. Thus, by providing initial evidence for a positive feedback loop between prosocial spending and well-being, these data offer one potential path to sustainable happiness: prosocial spending increases happiness which in turn encourages prosocial spending.     

Job Design and the Employee Innovation Process: The Mediating Role of Learning Strategies

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine whether employee learning strategies is a mechanism through which job design affects the employee innovation process. In particular, we test whether work-based learning strategies mediate the relationship between job design characteristics (job control and problem demand) and key components of the innovation process (idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from a survey of 327 employees in a UK manufacturing organization.

Findings

Structural equation modeling confirmed the mediating role of learning strategies in the relationship between job design and idea generation. The effects of job control on idea generation were mediated by work-based learning strategies and the effects of problem demand on idea generation were partially mediated by work-based learning strategies. Problem demand also had a direct relationship with idea generation and idea promotion. The findings provide support for the general idea that learning is a mechanism thorough which job design affects outcomes.

Implications

The results of the study show practitioners that creating jobs with high control or high problem demand can help to promote the employee innovation process; and that this is partly due to the role that such jobs play in stimulating the use of learning strategies at work.

Originality/Value

This article develops and tests a new theoretical model that explains how learning is a route through which job design influences employee innovation.     

Reducing the Floor Effect in the SF-6D: A Feasibility Study

The SF-6D suffers from a floor effect where for patient groups in severe health a significant number of patients report the lowest level of health possible for some dimensions, meaning the SF-6D cannot capture a deterioration in health for these patients. This paper presents a feasibility study aimed at reducing this floor effect. A modified SF-6D classification system was proposed that incorporated an additional level in each of the physical functioning and role limitations dimensions. The modified classification system was valued by a Portuguese general population sample (n = 140) using the Portuguese SF-6D protocol. A sample of 82 health states were valued and several regression models were estimated to produce preference weights to predict health state values for all states defined by the modified classification system. Estimations at the individual level were performed using 950 health state valuations. Models were analyzed in terms of logical consistency of coefficients, overall fit and predictive ability and were compared to Portuguese SF-6D models. The additional severity levels included in the modified classification system have significant decrements in health state values. These additional severity levels do not significantly impact on the modelled preference weights (the regression coefficients) of other levels across all dimensions. This feasibility study modified the SF-6D to reduce the floor effect. This study presents one option and further research in this area is encouraged.     

Collective interviewing of suspects

When people are interviewed about possible wrongdoing that has been committed in groups, they typically are interviewed separately. Yet, in several settings it would be more intuitive and convenient to interview suspects together. Importantly, such collective interviews could yield verbal cues to deception. This is the first deception experiment to investigate collective interviewing. Twenty-one pairs of truth tellers and 22 pairs of liars were interviewed pair-wise about having had lunch together in a restaurant. Given that truth tellers adopt a “tell it all” strategy in the interviews while, in contrast, liars prefer to keep their stories simple, we predicted that pairs of truth tellers would (i) interrupt and (ii) correct each other more, and would (iii) add more information to each other's answers than pairs of liars. The results supported these hypotheses. Theory-driven interventions to elicit more cues to deception through simultaneous interviewing are discussed.     

Narrative Persuasion,Transportation, and the Role of Need for Cognition in Online Viewing of Fantastical Films

Two studies examine narrative persuasion in the context of fantastical narratives viewed on a computer. In Study 1, participants (N = 160) used a personal computer to watch one of two short films that dealt with a contemporary social issue (privacy or the environment) set in an imaginary future. Neither film resulted in those who viewed it holding stronger story-consistent beliefs. However, viewers of the film about privacy who experienced higher levels of transportation were more likely to possess story-consistent privacy beliefs than those less transported or than viewers of the environmental film. Additionally, higher need for cognition was associated with stronger beliefs and intentions across both films, and viewers of the privacy film who were higher in need for cognition were most likely to endorse story-consistent privacy beliefs, perhaps due to extra cognitive effort demanded by the online delivery mode of the narrative. To explore this, in Study 2 (N = 126), participants were shown the privacy-themed film in either a low or high distraction condition. This successfully manipulated transportation, but in high distraction conditions, transportation was not significantly related to endorsement of story-consistent beliefs.     

Association of Stress Management Skills and Perceived Stress with Physical and Emotional Well-Being Among Advanced Prostrate Cancer Survivors Following Androgen Deprivation Treatment

Advanced prostate cancer (APC) is associated with disruptions that compromise health related quality of life (HRQOL). Treatment often includes androgendeprivation therapy (ADT), which results in a range of side effects (e.g., fatigue, urinary dysfunction) that further impact HRQOL. Despite these challenges, there are limited evaluations of the impact of stress and stress management skills on HRQOL among APC survivors on ADT. This study evaluated relationships among stress, stress management skills, and HRQOL, and it was hypothesized that better stress management skills would relate to greater physical and emotional well-being by mitigating perceived stress levels. Participants (N = 77) were 69.7 years old (SD = 9.8), 18.6 months post-treatment (SD = 17.5), and ethnically diverse (65 % Non-Hispanic White, 13 % Hispanic, 21 % African-American). Measures included the Measure of Current Status for stress management skills, the Perceived Stress Scale for perceived stress, and the Medical Outcomes Study—Short Form (MOS SF-36; physical functioning and emotional well-being subscales) for HRQOL. Direct effects and mediation models were evaluated to determine the relationships between perceived stress, stress management skills, and HRQOL domains, controlling for relevant covariates. Stress management skills and perceived stress were significantly associated with physical functioning (β = .24, p < .05 and β = ?.43, p < .01, respectively) and emotional well-being (β = .35, p < .01 and β = ?.64, p < .01, respectively). Regression analyses supported the hypothesis that reduced perceived stress mediated the relationship between stress management skills and both physical functioning and emotional well-being. These results demonstrate that one way stress management skills may impact HRQOL is by lessening ongoing perceptions of stress.