Distress,wellbeing, and growth amidst COVID-19: Considering the dynamic interplay between positive and negative anticipatory emotions

Although negative anticipatory emotions are typically seen as risk factors for poorer psychological outcomes over COVID-19, emotion theorists suggest that this risk may be attenuated if balanced by the experience of positive emotion. Thus, the current study examined whether interactions between positive and negative anticipatory emotions were concurrently associated with psychological distress and greater personal wellbeing/posttraumatic growth (PTG) at three distinct periods (i.e., pre-lockdown, during lockdown, post-lockdown), and whether associations varied by these three COVID-19 time periods. The study utilizes two large longitudinal Australian samples, surveyed in 2020 prior to, during, and after a strict 4-month lockdown that occurred in Australia. Overall, positive emotions attenuated the adverse psychological outcomes arising from higher levels of negative emotion (i.e., higher psychological distress and lower personal wellbeing). Observed effects varied according to COVID-19 threat exposure. Specifically, the interaction was significantly associated with psychological distress prior to the lockdown for Sample 2, and during the lockdown for both samples. The interaction was significantly associated with wellbeing (Sample 2) prior to, and during, the lockdown but only marginally associated post-lockdown. The interaction, however, was not significantly associated with PTG (Sample 1). The results suggest that it is valuable for future research to consider greater emotional complexity (i.e., mixed emotions) over COVID-19, and other stressors more generally, to encompass a more nuanced understanding of resilience.     

Effects of instructions and reinforcement-feedback on human operant behavior maintained by fixed-interval reinforcement

In three experiments, human subjects were trained on a five-component multiple schedule with different fixed intervals of monetary reinforcement scheduled in the different components. Subjects uninstructed about the fixed-interval schedules manifested high and generally equivalent rates regardless of the particular component. By comparison, subjects given instructions about the schedules showed orderly progressions of rates and temporal patterning as a function of the interreinforcement intervals, particularly when feedback about reinforcement was delivered but also when reinforcement-feedback was withheld. Administration of the instructions-reinforcement combination to subjects who had already developed poorly differentiated behavior, however, did not make their behavior substantially better differentiated. When cost was imposed for responding, both instructed and uninstructed subjects showed low and differentiated rates regardless of their prior histories. It was concluded that instructions can have major influences on the establishment and maintenance of human operant behavior.     

“Center-of-gravity” Tendencies for fixations and flow patterns

Fixation positions were measured for a variety of simple patterns. Generally, the spontaneous fixation tendencies hovered near the “center-of-gravity” of the pattern, providing that the overall dimensions of the figure were less than about 5 deg. “Open” figures such as angles were found to be roughly equivalent to their “enclosed” counterparts, such as triangles. The constraints imposed by the pattern upon the fixation tendencies occur at a level where the binocular inputs are processed. Of further importance was the fact that the fixation points approximate the foci observed in the same patterns when they are seen against a background of visual noise. It is suggested that the two results may be functionally related..     

Stereopsis with opposite contrast contours

The effects of incidental stimuli, defined as visual stimuli not under verbal control, upon a selection task were observed as a function of feedback contingency. Ss judged letter pairs to be valid or invalid completions of preceding letter parts. During the presentation of the letter parts, the response pair or an alternative pair of letters was intermittently presented at a threshold value individually determined for each S. One group of Ss received a light feedback of performance contingent upon responding to the incidental stimuli; whereas a second group received a random noncontingent feedback. The results indicated: (a) both groups responded to the incidental stimuli; (b) feedback contingency had no effect on frequency of responding to the incidental stimuli; (c) frequency of responding to the incidental stimuli remained constant over 32 trials.     

The effects of coding procedure on human information transmission

Three different coding schemes, i.e., transformations between stimuli and responses, were used in a continuous information transmission situation. The stimuli were groups of binary digits and S was required to transform these into verbal equivalents of combinations formed by taking various sets of the English letters. Three codes, one based on communication theory, one based on Miller’s (1956) chunking hypothesis, and a combination of the first two were used. In addition, two levels of stimulus redundancy, zero and 0.5 were used. Time to complete the task and errors were the de-pendent variables. The Ss were run for twelve days. The basic result was that Ss transmitted information at a constant rate regardless of the code or redundancy level used.     

Information and the memory span

Messages differing in number of symbols and symbol information load were presented tachistoscopically to 4 adult Ss. The messages were constructed by random drawing with replacement from an alphabet of 8 black form symbols and an alphabet of 32 colored form symbols. The number of symbols recalled varied as a function of alphabet; however, the information in recall was constant for all conditions. The number of symbols recalled and the information in recall was independent of message length.     

Development of knowledge bases and the reliability of a decision support system for behavioral treatment consultation for persons with mental retardation: The Mental Retardation-Expert

The development of expert and decision support systems requires the collection, organization, codification, and storage of a body of specialized knowledge. The development, using reconstructive methods, of two such knowledge bases, the first containing the current scientific literature and the second containing an expert’s knowledge, is described for an automated decision support system, the Mental Retardation-Expert. This system provides practitioners with assistance in the treatment of aggressive, self-injurious, and destructive behaviors displayed by individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. The average interobserver reliability of the expert knowledge base ranged from 92.5% to 95.0% when calculated across four clinicians’ assessments of 31 abstracted cases.     

Short-term psychodynamic intervention in an urban health clinic: A case report

This paper describes the application of short-term dynamic therapeutic techniques to treat both symptom disturbance and character pathology in an urban mental health clinic. Short-Term dynamic psychotherapy focuses extensively on the subjectivity and inner life of the patient with emphasis on repressed anger, sadness and desire. Methods to overcome patient ambivalence and resistance to psychotherapy are presented. The clinical psychodynamics associated with early life trauma are illustrated with a case of an African-American patient.Acknowledgments for support & critical feedback are expressed to Christine Baker, Ph.D., John Swanson, ACSW, Duncan Walton, Ph.D., and Isabelle Beveridge (Graphics).     

Small Wins: Perceptual Focus,Efficacy, and Cooperation in a Stage-Conjunctive Social Dilemma1

A multi-stage social dilemma was used to explore the notion that focusing on part rather than all of a complex problem would affect self-efficacy and action. In two experiments subjects considered a multi-stage game asking them to invest an initial sum of money in hopes of earning a larger bonus to be paid if provision points were met at all stages (a “stage-conjunctive” task). Results indicated that under most conditions considered, presentation of the whole problem encouraged cooperation. The opposite pattern occurred when group members were asked to complete very demanding stages first. We suggest that these results depend strongly on the stage-conjunctive nature of our task.     

Relationships among defensive styles, cognitive styles, processing styles, and attentional styles of normal adolescents

Cognitive and psychodynamic theorists agree that an individual's personality and behavior are determined by both cognitive and dynamic processes. This study examined the relationship among three cognitive approaches--cognitive style, attentional style, and processing style--and examined their relations to defensive style. Adolescents from Grades 11 and 12 (146 boys, 164 girls) were examined in groups for cognitive style (Group Embedded Figures Test), attentional style (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style), processing style (a sequential/simultaneous processing test battery), and defensive style (Defense Mechanism Inventory). Least squares completely randomized two-way analyses of variance (or analyses of covariance where applicable) were employed to assess the relations among the three cognitive measures and/or between the cognitive measures and defensive style. While most comparisons were nonsignificant, a significant relationship was observed between sequential processing and field-dependence and between simultaneous processing and field-independence. Also, a trend was noted between field-independence and ideational defenses and between field-dependence and repression-based defenses.