Implicit theories of emotion: affective and social outcomes across a major life transition

The authors demonstrate that people differ systematically in their implicit theories of emotion: Some view emotions as fixed (entity theorists), whereas others view emotions as more malleable (incremental theorists). Using a longitudinal and multimethod design, the authors show that implicit theories of emotion, as distinct from intelligence, are linked to both emotional and social adjustment during the transition to college. Before entering college, individuals who held entity (vs. incremental) theories of emotion had lower emotion regulation self-efficacy and made less use of cognitive reappraisal (Part 1). Throughout their first academic term, entity theorists of emotion had less favorable emotion experiences and received decreasing social support from their new friends, as evidenced by weekly diaries (Part 2). By the end of freshman year, entity theorists of emotion had lower well-being, greater depressive symptoms, and lower social adjustment as indicated in both self- and peer-reports (Part 3). The emotional, but not the social, outcomes were partially mediated by individual differences in emotion regulation self-efficacy (Part 4). Together, these studies demonstrate that implicit theories of emotion can have important long-term implications for socioemotional functioning.     

Distribution and Neighborhood Correlates of Sober Living House Locations in Los Angeles

Sober living houses (SLHs) are alcohol and drug‐free living environments for individuals in recovery. The goal of this study was to map the distribution of SLHs in Los Angeles (LA) County, California (N = 260) and examine neighborhood correlates of SLH density. Locations of SLHs were geocoded and linked to tract‐level Census data as well as to publicly available information on alcohol outlets and recovery resources. Neighborhoods with SLHs differed from neighborhoods without them on measures of socioeconomic disadvantage and accessibility of recovery resources. In multivariate, spatially lagged hurdle models stratified by monthly fees charged (less than $1400/month vs. $1400/month or greater), minority composition, and accessibility of treatment were associated with the presence of affordable SLHs. Accessibility of treatment was also associated with the number of affordable SLHs in those neighborhoods. Higher median housing value and accessibility of treatment were associated with whether a neighborhood had high‐cost SLHs, and lower population density was associated with the number of high‐cost SLHs in those neighborhoods. Neighborhood factors are associated with the availability of SLHs, and research is needed to better understand how these factors affect resident outcomes, as well as how SLHs may affect neighborhoods over time.     

Together we cry: Social motives and preferences for group-based sadness

Group-based emotions play an important role in helping people feel that they belong to their group. People are motivated to belong, but does this mean that they actively try to experience group-based emotions to increase their sense of belonging? In this investigation, we propose that people may be motivated to experience even group-based emotions that are typically considered unpleasant to satisfy their need to belong. To test this hypothesis, we examined people's preferences for group-based sadness in the context of the Israeli National Memorial Day. In two correlational (Studies 1a and 1b) and two experimental (Studies 2 and 3) studies, we demonstrate that people with a stronger need to belong have a stronger preference to experience group-based sadness. This effect was mediated by the expectation that experiencing sadness would be socially beneficial (Studies 1 and 2). We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding motivated emotion regulation and intergroup relations.     

Characteristics of patients in routine psycho-oncological care,and changes in outcome variables during and after their treatment

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of clients and interventions in routine psycho-oncological care. The secondary aim was to determine the course of symptomatology during and after the psychological interventions.

Design: During a period of nine months, all clients who sought help in one of the seven psycho-oncological care institutes in the Netherlands were approached to participate in the present study (N = 483). Information was gathered with respect to demographic and medical characteristics, and type and duration of the interventions. In addition, depression, anxiety, well-being, quality of life, fatigue and daily function were determined before interventions and three and nine months later.

Results and conclusions: Compared to the Dutch cancer population, patients in psycho-oncological care were more often young and female. Compared to the general Dutch population, they were highly educated and were more likely to have a partner. Clinical levels of depression, anxiety and/or fatigue were found among 83% of the patients. After three months, only 23% had completed their intervention; this figure was 62% after nine months. Symptoms decreased significantly for all outcome variables. An importance difference with randomised controlled trials is the low session frequency and the long intervention time of patients in clinical care.     

Construction of gender roles in perceived scarce environments – Maintaining masculinity when shopping for fast fashion apparel

Gender refers to ways men and women socialize into the male and female roles that are commonly attributed to them. These roles are continuously (re)constructed within and through our daily activities. Prior literature suggests a need for more research in investigating how men and women construct their identity in various exchange situations and in various cultural settings. This paper explores the situational construction of male and female identities (especially the male one) when shopping for fashion products in environments with strategically created scarcity. The findings of this study suggest that, when shopping for fashion products in scarce environments, men and women tend to exhibit gendered behaviors that are considered more consistent with their traditional gender norms. We find that men, although concerned about their appearance, adhere to urgent buying behavior. This behavior helps men maintain some of their traditional masculine identity. In addition, they do not participate as frequently in the in‐store hoarding and in‐store hiding that are more frequently exhibited by women and that are more consistent with a feminine identity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive and social-communication abilities among young children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) lack biological filters that are part of the natural fertilization process and thus might enable the presence of abnormal genetic materials. Whereas the findings regarding neonatal and neurological risks among ART-conceived children are rather consistent, data regarding cognitive and social-emotional developmental outcomes are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to examine the association between ART and cognitive and social-communication outcomes among pre-school children. The results indicated that the cognitive and social-communicative abilities of the ART-conceived children were similar to those of the spontaneously conceived children; however, according to parental reports, children in the ART group had higher communicative skills and better motor abilities than spontaneously conceived children. These results should be interpreted with caution as we used measures that assess global cognitive abilities that may not be sensitive to more subtle differences of higher cognitive and social-communication abilities in infancy that may become more prominent later in life. Although infertile couples and professionals in the field of ART can be reassures by the current findings, further research is needed as well as follow-up evaluation of this population during school age.     

The value of proactive goal setting and choice in 3‐ to 7‐year‐olds' use of working memory gating strategies in a naturalistic task

Rule‐guided behavior depends on the ability to strategically update and act on content held in working memory. Proactive and reactive control strategies were contrasted across two experiments using an adapted input/output gating paradigm (Neuron, 81, 2014 and 930). Behavioral accuracies of 3‐, 5‐, and 7‐year‐olds were higher when a contextual cue appeared at the beginning of the task (input gating) rather than at the end (output gating). This finding supports prior work in older children, suggesting that children are better when input gating but rely on the more effortful output gating strategy for goal‐oriented action selection (Cognition, 155, 2016 and 8). A manipulation was added to investigate whether children's use of working memory strategies becomes more flexible when task goals are specified internally rather than externally provided by the experimenter. A shift toward more proactive control was observed when children chose the task goal among two alternatives. Scan path analyses of saccadic eye movement indicated that giving children agency and choice over the task goal resulted in less use of a reactive strategy than when the goal was determined by the experimenter.     

It Takes More Than a Good Camera: Which Factors Contribute to Differences Between Face-to-Face Interviews and Videoconference Interviews Regarding Performance Ratings and Interviewee Perceptions?

Due to technological progress, videoconference interviews have become more and more common in personnel selection. Nevertheless, even in recent studies, interviewees received lower performance ratings in videoconference interviews than in face-to-face (FTF) interviews and interviewees held more negative perceptions of these interviews. However, the reasons for these differences are unclear. Therefore, we conducted an experiment with 114 participants to compare FTF and videoconference interviews regarding interview performance and fairness perceptions and we investigated the role of social presence, eye contact, and impression management for these differences. As in other studies, ratings of interviewees’ performance were lower in the videoconference interview. Differences in perceived social presence, perceived eye contact, and impression management contributed to these effects. Furthermore, live ratings of interviewees’ performance were higher than ratings based on recordings. Additionally, videoconference interviews induced more privacy concerns but were perceived as more flexible. Organizations should take the present results into account and should not use both types of interviews in the same selection stage.

     

Beliefs about emotion: implications for avoidance-based emotion regulation and psychological health

People’s beliefs about their ability to control their emotions predict a range of important psychological outcomes. It is not clear, however, whether these beliefs are playing a causal role, and if so, why this might be. In the current research, we tested whether avoidance-based emotion regulation explains the link between beliefs and psychological outcomes. In Study 1 (N?=?112), a perceived lack of control over emotions predicted poorer psychological health outcomes (increased self-reported avoidance, lower well-being, and higher levels of clinical symptoms), and avoidance strategies indirectly explained these links between emotion beliefs and psychological health. In Study 2 (N?=?101), we experimentally manipulated participants’ emotion beliefs by leading participants to believe that they struggled (low regulatory self-efficacy) or did not struggle (high regulatory self-efficacy) with controlling their emotions. Participants in the low regulatory self-efficacy condition reported increased intentions to engage in avoidance strategies over the next month and were more likely to avoid seeking psychological help. When asked if they would participate in follow-up studies, these participants were also more likely to display avoidance-based emotion regulation. These findings provide initial evidence for the causal role of emotion beliefs in avoidance-based emotion regulation, and document their impact on psychological health-related outcomes.