Value‐related goals and vocational choice: The effect of temporal distance

This field study examines the importance that people assign to value‐related goals in their vocational decisions. We focused on the interactive effects of temporal distance from the vocational decision and the level of abstraction of the goal. Soldiers rated the importance of value‐related goals for their vocational choice following their release from military service. They were presented with value‐driven, abstract, decontextualized goals and with value‐driven, concrete, job‐related goals. For half, vocational choice was temporally close, and for the rest, it was temporally distant. Temporal distance from the vocational decision interacted with the level of abstraction of the goals in predicting their importance: When construed in the abstract, the goals were deemed more important if the vocational decision was distant. When construed concretely, the goals were deemed more important if the vocational decision was proximate.     

Suicide attempts and stressful life events among homeless people in Madrid (Spain)

The article describes a study carried out with a representative sample of homeless people in Madrid (Spain; N = 188). This study aims to corroborate the relationship identified in the literature between stressful life events and suicidal behaviour in a group in a situation of social exclusion, to assess the differences in the number and characteristics of stressful life events experienced by homeless people who are attempters and non‐attempters, and to identify which combination of stressful life events enables discrimination for suicide attempts among homeless people. The results show that 30% of homeless people in Madrid had attempted suicide, and 57.9% of them had done so for the first time when they were homeless. The interviewees are shown to have experienced a large amount of stressful life events, with substantially more stressors experienced by the homeless people who tried to commit suicide, during both their childhood and adolescence and throughout their life. Finally, we found that the combination of 7 stressful life events provided the best possible discrimination between homeless attempters and non‐attempters.     

Frontal theta activation associated with error detection in toddlers: influence of familial socioeconomic status

Error detection is one of the functions of the executive attention network, a brain system involved in executive control that includes the anterior cingulate cortex and other prefrontal regions. Despite the key role of this function in a wide range of life outcomes, very limited research has examined the early development of the network and whether its functional efficacy is related to environmental factors. Electrophysiological studies with adults have shown oscillatory activity in theta (4–7 Hz) range arising from medial frontal cortex that follows the detection of self‐committed or observed errors. In the current study, we designed a novel experimental procedure that involved a familiarization phase with simple three‐pieces puzzles followed by an experimental phase in which toddlers observed the puzzles being formed either correctly or incorrectly. Observation of incorrect configurations produced increased potentials in midline channels and greater power theta activity for both toddlers (n = 56) and adults (n = 14). In addition, socioeconomic status of the family in general, and parental education in particular, contributed to individual differences in the amplitude of the error‐related signal and associated theta power in toddlers, indicating that children raised in lower SES families show poorer activation of the executive attention network. These data demonstrate the influence of environmental factors at the earliest stages of development of the executive attention network. Importantly, the results show that error‐detection EEG signals can be used as neural markers of the initial development of executive attention, which can be of great help for the early detection of risk for developmental disorders involving deficits in this function.     

Internet-based acceptance and commitment therapy for psychological distress experienced by people with hearing problems: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Psychological distress is common among people with hearing problems, but treatments that specifically target this aspect have been almost non-existent. In this pilot randomized controlled trial, an eight-week long Internet-based treatment, informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, was administered to explore the feasibility and efficacy of such a treatment. Included participants were randomized to either treatment (n = 31) or wait-list control (n = 30) condition. All participants were measured prior to randomization and immediately after treatment ended using standardized self-report instruments measuring hearing-related emotional and social adjustment (Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly – S, HHIE-S), quality of life (Quality of Life Inventory, QOLI), and symptoms of depression and anxiety (Patient health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD-7). Linear mixed effects regression analysis using the full intention-to-treat sample demonstrated that the treatment had superior outcomes on the main outcome measure as compared with the control group, Cohen’s d = 0.93, 95% CI [0.24, 1.63]. The benefits of treatment over control were also evident in scores of depression, Cohen’s d = 0.61, 95% CI [0.04, 1.19], and quality of life, Cohen’s d = 0.88, 95% CI [0.14, 1.61]. The results provide preliminary support for Internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy as a potentially effective treatment of psychological symptoms associated with hearing problems.     

Adolescent lifestyle profiles and personal and community competences

Revealing how health-related lifestyle behaviors are associated with competences during adolescence can contribute to understanding the complexity of factors that intervene in adolescents’ health. The objectives of this study were to explore the clustering of different lifestyle behaviors and their connection to personal and community competence. Participants were 795 adolescents who were taking part in the initial assessment of a Spanish community-based intervention program. They were asked to complete four self-report measures: the Lifestyle Questionnaire, the Self-Concept and Social Realization Questionnaire, the Coping Scale for Children and Youth Questionnaire, and the Perceived Community Support Questionnaire. Cluster analysis was then used to discover different patterns of lifestyle behaviors and associate them with sociodemographic and competence factors. The cluster analysis revealed three groups of adolescents: a first group that presented all-round healthy habits, a second group with abusive screen use and a third group with unhealthy habits related to going out at night. These clusters were modulated by age, student status, psychosocial risk status and mothers’ level of education. Further analysis showed higher levels of Self-worth, Task-oriented strategy, Empathy and Community participation in the Healthy group compared to those in the Unhealthy group, whereas the Screen-user group had more Behavioral avoidance than the Healthy group and less Community integration than both of the other groups. The identification of personal and community competences as health-promoting factors associated with adolescents’ lifestyles may help professionals to prioritize certain strengths for best results in intervention programs.     

The Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale: initial examination of its factor structure and correlates among Brazilian adults

The present study conducted a preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of a recently developed Portuguese translation of the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (ACSS; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 2005). A total of 311 Brazilian adults completed the ACSS along with Portuguese translations of measures of actual-ideal body weight discrepancy, body appreciation, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and demographics. Results showed that the Portuguese ACSS reduced to a three-factor solution consisting of the Intrapersonal, Social, and Consider factors uncovered in the original work using the ACSS. Moreover, there were only small sex differences on these subscales. In addition, the Portuguese ACSS showed a good pattern of convergent validity. The availability of the Portuguese ACSS is expected to stimulate more in-depth, quantitative research on attitudes toward cosmetic surgery within the Brazilian context.     

Self-efficacy as a moderator of the planning-behaviour relationship in interventions designed to promote physical activity

Individuals who lack perceived self-efficacy may benefit less from planning interventions because they fail to apply their plans when encountering situations that appear challenging. Thus, self-efficacy may operate as a moderator in relation to the effects of planning interventions on behaviour. This article reports from two experimental studies using cluster randomisation. Study 1 included 58 patients with diabetes who received a face-to-face action planning intervention to improve their physical activity levels. Study 2 targeted the roles of planning and self-efficacy for the maintenance of regular running and for relapse prevention in 187 active individuals over a 2-year period. The email-delivered intervention prompted specific goal setting and facilitated planning to mobilise social support to secure relapse prevention. Results of the two studies were consistent with a moderating effect of self-efficacy in relation to the planning-behaviour relationship. Individuals with high self-efficacy benefited from planning interventions. If a person lacks self-efficacy, planning may not effectively promote physical activity.     

The key to cultural innovation lies in the group dynamic rather than in the individual mind

Vaesen infers unique properties of mind from the appearance of specific cultural innovation--a correlation without causal direction. Shifts in habitat, population density, and group dynamics are the only independently verifiable incentives for changes in cultural practices. The transition from Acheulean to Late Stone Age technologies requires that we consider how population and social dynamics affect cultural innovation and mental function.     

Stigma building blocks: how instruction and experience teach children about rejection by outgroups

Gaining an understanding of intergroup relations and outgroup rejection is an important childhood development. Children learn about rejection by outgroups via their own experiences and external instruction. A comparison of the impact of experience and instruction on first-, third-, and fifth-grade children's evaluations of rejection by outgroups in a minimal-groups paradigm suggests that the relative impact of experience and instruction differs as children age. In Study 1, younger children were more influenced by instruction, and older children were more influenced by what they experienced for themselves. In Study 2, younger children were more influenced by instruction, even when that instruction conflicted with what they experienced; older children were more influenced by their own experiences, even when those experiences contradicted what they were told to expect. These findings suggest that children begin learning about outgroup rejection through instruction but start to rely more on their own experiences as they age.     

Personalized persuasion: tailoring persuasive appeals to recipients' personality traits

Persuasive messages are more effective when they are custom-tailored to reflect the interests and concerns of the intended audience. Much of the message-framing literature has focused on the advantages of using either gain or loss frames, depending on the motivational orientation of the target group. In the current study, we extended this research to examine whether a persuasive appeal's effectiveness can be increased by aligning the message framing with the recipient's personality profile. For a single product, we constructed five advertisements, each designed to target one of the five major trait domains of human personality. In a sample of 324 survey respondents, advertisements were evaluated more positively the more they cohered with participants' dispositional motives. These results suggest that adapting persuasive messages to the personality traits of the target audience can be an effective way of increasing the messages' impact, and highlight the potential value of personality-based communication strategies.