Trajectory of change in anxiety sensitivity in relation to anxiety,depression, and quality of life among persons living with HIV/AIDS following transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral therapy

ABSTRACT

Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) disproportionately suffer from anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders. Although past work has examined the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, and to a lesser extent anxiety, among PLHIV, little is known regarding potential mechanisms underlying improvement in anxiety/depression among this group. Anxiety sensitivity is a well-established risk/maintenance factor for anxiety and depressive disorders and is hypothesized to play an important role in maintaining anxiety among PLHIV. Past work has identified anxiety sensitivity as a mechanism of action underlying changes in various anxiety domains yet it is unknown whether changes in anxiety sensitivity relate to changes in anxiety symptoms among PLHIV undergoing transdiagnostic CBT for anxiety. The current study sought to examine treatment-related changes in anxiety sensitivity and how the trajectory of change relates to anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as overall quality of life. Individuals (n = 35) with HIV/AIDS and elevated anxiety symptoms received CBT for anxiety. Results indicated that reductions in anxiety sensitivity were significantly related to changes in anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Together, these data suggest that changes in anxiety sensitivity are significantly related to changes in anxiety/depression and quality of life among PLHIV seeking treatment.     

The Emergence of Human Altruism:Preschool Children Develop a Norm for Empathy-based Comforting

ABSTRACT

The study examined whether preschool children conceive of empathy-based comforting as being an obligatory reaction toward others in emotional need. We presented 3- and 5-year-old children with three scenarios in which protagonists showed different reactions toward an agent who has hurt herself. One protagonist reacted antisocially by laughing at the agent, one ignored the agent, and one demonstrated empathy-based comforting. The 3-year-olds only protested against the antisocial protagonist. In contrast, the 5-year-olds protested against the protagonists who either acted antisocially or ignored the needy other while they selectively affirmed the protagonist who showed empathy-based comforting. The findings indicate that a norm for empathy-based comforting develops in the preschool years. Overall, our study demonstrates the emergence of a normative concern with the well-being of others, a central aspect of human altruism.     

Groups, Teams, and Creativity: The Creative Potential of Idea‐generating Groups

On voit apparaitre une nouvelle litte´rature traitant de la cre´ativite´ et de l'innovation dans les groupes et les e´quipes. Bien que de nombreaux facteurs inhibent la cre´ativite´ des groupes, nos investigations et analyses indiquent que l'interaction dans les groupes et e´quipes serait une source fe´conde d'innovations et d'ide´es cre´atives. On pre´sente dans cet article un mode`le the´orique de la cre´ativite´ dans les groupes producteurs d'ide´es et l'impact sur le travail en e´quipe et les recherches a` venir.
There is an emerging literature on group and team creativity and innovation. Although there are many factors that appear to inhibit creativity in groups, our review and analysis suggests that interaction in groups and teams can be an important source of creative ideas and innovations. A theoretical model of creativity in idea‐generating groups is developed and implications for teamwork and future research are presented.     

Children’s prior experiences of their successes and failures modulate belief alignment

ABSTRACT

An ability to flexibly learn from others while at other times relying upon one’s own judgements is an important adaptive human capacity. The present research investigated how others’ epistemic states and prior experience of their own independent ability in a given task modulate young children’s selective learning. In particular, we asked whether 4-year-old children’s judgement concerning the location of a hidden object is modulated both by an informant’s knowledge states and by the absence/presence of a prior experience with a particular task. We found that the children were more likely to align their judgement according to the informant’s verbal report when the informant was knowledgeable than when she was ignorant – but only when they had explicitly experienced their own incapability to accurately guess an object’s location. The findings suggest that 4-year-old children are able to combine their own experience with others’ input to make their judgement.