Paradoxes of “creativity”: Examining the creative process through an antenarrative lens

Accounts of the creative process tend to be retrospective and implicitly ground the creative act within the person, the mind, the moment, the idea; in doing so, they often miss the larger sociomaterial qualities that can provide us with important insights about the social relationality and playfulness of the creative process. In this article, we examine the creative process through an antenarrative lens that we consider very useful for theorizing the creative process from a cultural and sociomaterial perspective. More specifically, we argue that ‘having an idea’ is a contextualized and embodied process that can be regarded as an antenarrative of the overall creative process. We also discuss how the paradoxical relation between the formative and sudden manifestations of the creative act can be understood through the notion of play.     

Self‐concept clarity and relationship satisfaction at the dyadic level

Self‐concept clarity is an individual resource that is associated with couple relationship well‐being. In two dyadic studies, the authors investigated whether and how self‐concept clarity has implications for both partners' relationship satisfaction. Study 1 tested and supported the hypothesis that self‐concept clarity concurrently predicts own and partner's relationship satisfaction through couple identity in a sample of 202 dating couples. Study 2 tested and supported the hypothesis that self‐concept clarity predicts longitudinal change in own and partner's relationship satisfaction through positive (i.e., supportive and common) dyadic coping behaviors in a sample of 97 married couples. The findings clarify and expand the benefits of self‐concept clarity for partners' relational well‐being.     

Using Multiple Contexts and Retrieval Cues in Exposure-Based Therapy to Prevent Relapse in Anxiety Disorders

The benefits of exposure-based interventions for anxiety disorders are substantial but not stable for everyone, given that these interventions are often followed by relapse of symptoms. A body of research provides a background on how to add certain strategies in exposure-based therapy to prevent relapse in anxiety disorders. This review summarizes some of these strategies and provides clear-cut clinical implications. Studies that provide support for two types of strategies to prevent relapse have been reviewed—the use of multiple contexts and the use of retrieval cues. The use of multiple contexts reduces context and stimulus specificity of extinction learning during exposure, while the use of retrieval cues enhances memory (re)consolidation and retrieval after exposure. The described strategies to enhance the accessibility and therefore the retrievability of exposure-based learning to prevent relapse in anxiety disorders can be summarized as advice to conduct exposure under variable conditions. This way, the generalizability of what is learned during exposure to the patients’ daily life after treatment improves. Therefore, adding these strategies in the course of exposure-based treatment of anxiety disorders seems beneficial. However, future replications and translational studies are needed to verify ecological validity.     

Gesture as representational action: A paper about function

A great deal of attention has recently been paid to gesture and its effects on thinking and learning. It is well established that the hand movements that accompany speech are an integral part of communication, ubiquitous across cultures, and a unique feature of human behavior. In an attempt to understand this intriguing phenomenon, researchers have focused on pinpointing the mechanisms that underlie gesture production. One proposal––that gesture arises from simulated action (Hostetter & Alibali Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 495–514, 2008)––has opened up discussions about action, gesture, and the relation between the two. However, there is another side to understanding a phenomenon and that is to understand its function. A phenomenon’s function is its purpose rather than its precipitating cause––the why rather than the how. This paper sets forth a theoretical framework for exploring why gesture serves the functions that it does, and reviews where the current literature fits, and fails to fit, this proposal. Our framework proposes that whether or not gesture is simulated action in terms of its mechanism––it is clearly not reducible to action in terms of its function. Most notably, because gestures are abstracted representations and are not actions tied to particular events and objects, they can play a powerful role in thinking and learning beyond the particular, specifically, in supporting generalization and transfer of knowledge.     

Analogous selection processes in declarative and procedural working memory: N-2 list-repetition and task-repetition costs

Working memory (WM) holds and manipulates representations for ongoing cognition. Oberauer (Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 51, 45–100, 2009) distinguishes between two analogous WM sub-systems: a declarative WM which handles the objects of thought, and a procedural WM which handles the representations of (cognitive) actions. Here, we assessed whether analogous effects are observed when participants switch between memory sets (declarative representations) and when they switch between task sets (procedural representations). One mechanism assumed to facilitate switching in procedural WM is the inhibition of previously used, but currently irrelevant task sets, as indexed by n-2 task-repetition costs (Mayr & Keele, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129(1), 4–26, 2000). In this study we tested for an analogous effect in declarative WM. We assessed the evidence for n-2 list-repetition costs across eight experiments in which participants switched between memory lists to perform speeded classifications, mental arithmetic, or a local recognition test. N-2 list-repetition costs were obtained consistently in conditions assumed to increase interference between memory lists, and when lists formed chunks in long-term memory. Further analyses across experiments revealed a substantial contribution of episodic memory to n-2 list-repetition costs, thereby questioning the interpretation of n-2 repetition costs as reflecting inhibition. We reanalyzed the data of eight task-switching experiments, and observed that episodic memory also contributes to n-2 task-repetition costs. Taken together, these results show analogous processing principles in declarative and procedural WM, and question the relevance of inhibitory processes for efficient switching between mental sets.     

Investigating the effectiveness of brief cognitive reappraisal training to reduce fear in adolescents

As adolescent anxiety is common and costly, identifying effective strategies to reduce symptoms is a priority. This study tested whether adolescents could learn to use cognitive reappraisal strategies to attenuate fear during extinction learning. Fifty-seven participants (12–15 years) viewed images of two neutral faces, one which was paired with a fearful expression and shrieking scream (conditioned threat stimulus) and the other that was never paired with the aversive outcome (conditioned safety stimulus) during fear acquisition. Before extinction, participants either received cognitive appraisal training, which explored alternative, benign meanings associated with the scream or a control activity. Self-reported fear ratings in the cognitive reappraisal group were significantly lower to both the conditioned threat and safety stimuli after extinction than the control group. These findings did not characterise fear-potentiated startle data. Potential reasons for the lack of consistency between measures are considered.     

The Dark Side of Heterosexual Romance: Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs Relates to Intimate Partner Violence

Romance and control are often conflated by the media, and individuals may believe that certain controlling or jealous behaviors by men toward women are romantic and can be a sign of love and commitment in heterosexual relationships. The current study explored three types of romantic beliefs among women: endorsement of the ideology of romanticism, highly valuing romantic relationships, and the belief that jealousy is good. The goal was to determine whether these beliefs would be related to finding controlling behaviors romantic as well as to reported experiences of both physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). We surveyed 275 heterosexual-identified women, aged 18 to 50, and measured their endorsement of romantic beliefs, the extent to which they romanticized controlling behavior, and experiences of physical and psychological abuse within their current or most recent romantic relationship. Romantic beliefs were related to romanticizing controlling behaviors, which, in turn, was related to experiences of IPV. There was also a significant indirect relationship between romantic beliefs and experiences of IPV. The data indicate that seemingly positive romantic ideologies can have insidious negative effects. Findings may be useful for clinicians and those who advocate for prevention of IPV as they illustrate a need to refocus traditional ideas of healthy relationships at the societal level.     

Sensory processing sensitivity and its relation to parental bonding, anxiety, and depression

Sensory processing sensitivity is a recently proposed construct referring to a tendency to process a variety of information more strongly and deeply than others. Although some research has found links between sensory processing sensitivity and psychological difficulties, highly sensitive people may not necessarily be predisposed to negative affect, but may be more sensitive to poor parenting. Two hundred thirteen college students were given a measure of sensory processing sensitivity (the HSPS), the parental bonding scale (measuring parental care and over-protection), the trait anxiety scale, and the Beck depression inventory. Sensory processing sensitivity predicted both anxiety and depression above and beyond parental factors, indicating that it may be an independent risk factor. An interaction was found between sensory processing sensitivity and parental care when measuring depression. Highly sensitive people may be particularly sensitive to uncaring parents. Results indicate that sensory processing sensitivity may be a temperamental disposition that interacts meaningfully with environmental factors.     

A Dynamic, Multi-Level Model of Culture: From the Micro Level of the Individual to the Macro Level of a Global Culture

Cet article propose un modèle de la culture à plusieurs niveaux, composé de caractéristiques dynamiques et structurelles qui rendent compte de l’interaction entre les différents niveaux de culture. On commence par présenter un résumé des modèles existants de la culture, puis on poursuit en proposant le modèle de la culture à plusieurs nivaeux. La dimension structurelle représente la construction emboîtée de la culture depuis le niveau le plus extensif d’une culture globale jusqu’à la représentation de la culture au niveau individuel en passant par les cultures nationale, organisationnelle et de groupe. La nature dynamique de la culture évoque les processus descendants et ascendants quand l’un des niveaux culturels entraîne des changements à d’autres niveaux. Plus particulièrement, le modèle soutient que le niveau le plus global de la culture affecte, par l’internédiaire de processus descendants, les changements comportementaux des gens relevant de différentes cultures. Inversement, des changements comportementaux au niveau individuel deviennent, grâce aux processus ascendants, des valeurs et des normes comportementales partagées, modifiant la macroculture. L’article demande que l’om passe de la culture conçue comme une entité stable à la culture perçue comme étant une entité dynamique, et que l’on accorde davantage d’intérêt aux interactions entre les différents niveaux de culture. This paper proposes a multi‐level model of culture, consisting of structural and dynamic characteristics that explain the interplay between various levels of culture. The paper begins with a summary of existing models of culture and continues with the proposed multi‐level model of culture. The structural dimension represents the nested structure of culture from the most macro level of a global culture, through national, organisational and team cultures, and down to the representation of culture at the individual level. The dynamic nature of culture conveys the top‐down–bottom‐up processes where one cultural level affects changes in other levels of culture. Specifically, the model proposes that globalisation, as the macro level of culture, affects, through top‐down processes, behavioral changes of members in various cultures. Reciprocally, behavioral changes at the individual level, through bottom‐up processes, become shared behavioral norms and values, modifying the culture of a macro level entity. The paper calls for a shift in the research focus on culture as stable, to culture as a dynamic entity and for a greater focus on the interplay between different levels of culture.