Self-compassion and verbal performance: Evidence for threat-buffering and implicit self-related thoughts

ABSTRACT

Threats to self-esteem can impair well-being directly, e.g., via negative affect, but also indirectly, by impacting performance in valued domains. The present study examined whether self-compassion buffered individuals’ academic task performance from the effects of a self-esteem threat. In addition, this study tested possible effects of self-compassion on implicitly measured self-related thoughts. Participants (N = 333) were randomly assigned to self-esteem threat or neutral conditions, and then either a self-compassion manipulation or an expressive writing (control) condition before completing a set of GRE analogy items. Threat impaired GRE performance in the expressive writing control condition, but not in the self-compassion condition. Moreover, self-compassion appeared to marginally impact implicit non-evaluative self-thoughts, but did not affect evaluative thoughts or implicit self-esteem. The results of this study suggest that self-compassion has benefits for performance and thereby well-being. Future research should further explore the effects of self-compassion on performance and refine understanding of implicit thoughts as possible mechanisms.     

Episodic representations support early semantic learning: evidence from midazolam induced amnesia

Current controversy exists regarding the role of episodic representations in the formation of long-term semantic memories. Using the drug midazolam to induce temporary amnesia we tested participants' memories for newly learned facts in a semantic cue condition or an episodic and semantic cue condition. Following midazolam administration, memory performance was superior in the episodic and semantic condition, suggesting early semantic learning is supported by episodic representations.     

Creativity and Ethics: The Relationship of Creative and Ethical Problem-Solving

Students of creativity have long been interested in the relationship between creativity and deviant behaviors such as criminality, mental disease, and unethical behavior. In this study we wished to examine the relationship between creative thinking skills and ethical decision-making among scientists. Accordingly, 258 doctoral students in the health, biological, and social sciences were asked to complete a measure of creative processing skills (e.g., problem definition, conceptual combination, idea generation) and a measure of ethical decision-making examining four domains: data management, study conduct, professional practices, and business practices. It was found that ethical decision-making in all four of these areas was related to creative problem-solving processes with late-cycle processes (e.g., idea generation and solution monitoring) proving particularly important. The implications of these findings for understanding the relationship between creative and deviant thought are discussed.     

Developmental Relational Counseling: Applications for Counseling Men

Developmental relational counseling (DRC) is a conceptual model designed to help people gain a deeper awareness of their relational functioning. DRC is informed by relational‐cultural theory and influenced by the Enneagram personality typology and cognitive and narrative theories. This article outlines the DRC model in counseling practice with men. Men involved in counseling services may use this approach to expand their personal awareness and promote mutual understanding in their relationships.     

Monocular discs in the occlusion zones of binocular surfaces do not have quantitative depth--a comparison with Panum's limiting case

Da Vinci stereopsis is defined as apparent depth seen in a monocular object laterally adjacent to a binocular surface in a position consistent with its occlusion by the other eye. It is widely regarded as a new form of quantitative stereopsis because the depth seen is quantitatively related to the lateral separation of the monocular element and the binocular surface (Nakayama and Shimojo 1990 Vision Research 30 1811-1825). This can be predicted on the basis that the more separated the monocular element is from the surface the greater its minimum depth behind the surface would have to be to account for its monocular occlusion. Supporting evidence, however, has used narrow bars as the monocular elements, raising the possibility that quantitative depth as a function of separation could be attributable to Panum's limiting case (double fusion) rather than to a new form of stereopsis. We compared the depth performance of monocular objects fusible with the edge of the surface in the contralateral eye (lines) and non-fusible objects (disks) and found that, although the fusible objects showed highly quantitative depth, the disks did not, appearing behind the surface to the same degree at all separations from it. These findings indicate that, although there is a crude sense of depth for discrete monocular objects placed in a valid position for uniocular occlusion, depth is not quantitative. They also indicate that Panum's limiting case is not, as has sometimes been claimed, itself a case of da Vinci stereopsis since fusibility is a critical factor for seeing quantitative depth in discrete monocular objects relative to a binocular surface.     

Does partisan media make a pawn of mistrust? Institutional trust and preventive COVID-19 health behaviors in a polarized pandemic

In a rapidly developing crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, people are often faced with contradictory or changing information and must determine what sources to trust. Across five time points (N = 5902) we examine how trust in various sources predicts COVID-19 health behaviors. Trust in experts and national news predicted more engagement with most health behaviors from April 2020 to March 2022 and trust in Fox news, which often positioned itself as counter to the mainstream on COVID-19, predicted less engagement. However, we also examined a particular public health behavior (masking) before and after the CDC announcement recommending masks on 3 April 2020 (which reversed earlier expert advice discouraging masks for the general public). Prior to the announcement, trust in experts predicted less mask-wearing while trust in Fox News predicted more. These relationships disappeared in the next 4 days following the announcement and reversed in the 2 years that follow, and emerged for vaccination in the later time points. We also examine how the media trusted by Democrats and Republicans predicts trust in experts and in turn health behaviors. Broadly we consider how the increasingly fragmented epistemic environment has implications for polarization on matters of public health.     

Economic indicators predict changes in college student optimism for life events

This investigation explored the extent to which an economic recession predicted changes in college students' optimism about the length and quality of their futures. In a cross‐sectional design, college students in the United States rated their likelihood of divorcing, being unhappy in their career, and living past age 60, at time points before, during, and in the aftermath of an economic recession (2007–2010). Economic indicators, particularly gas prices, predicted decreased optimism as the indicators worsened. After the recession, however, optimism rebounded. The findings reveal that people's expectations for their personal futures are generally sensitive to the state of the national economy.     

Children's rights and school psychology: Children's right to participation

The Convention on the Rights of the Child detailed an international imperative to fulfilling, protecting, and respecting the rights of every child. In particular, the Convention set out a clear mandate for guaranteeing opportunities for children to be heard on all matters of concern to them. The attainment of these goals involves respecting and valuing children as active participants in the educational process. If fully implemented, the right of children to express views and have them taken seriously, throughout the school environment, would represent one of the most profound transformations in moving towards a culture of respect for children's rights, for their dignity and citizenship, and for their capacities to contribute significantly towards their own well-being. These values and principles are consistent with those of the school psychology profession, thus, school psychologists are encouraged to be at the Center of the process advocating and actualizing the Convention in schools throughout the world.