Mental states inside out: Switching costs for emotional and nonemotional sentences that differ in internal and external focus

Mental states—such as thinking, remembering, or feeling angry, happy, or dizzy—have a clear internal component. We feel a certain way when we are in these states. These internal experiences may be simulated when people understand conceptual references to mental states. However, mental states can also be described from an “external” perspective, for example when referring to “smiling.” In those cases, simulation of visible outside features may be more relevant for understanding. In a switching costs paradigm, we presented semantically unrelated sentences describing emotional and nonemotional mental states while manipulating their internal or external focus. The results show that switching costs occur when participants shift between sentences with an internal and an external focus. This suggests that different forms of simulation underlie understanding these sentences. In addition, these effects occurred for emotional and nonemotional mental states, suggesting that they are grounded in a similar way—through the process of simulation.     

An evaluation of the reliability and construct validity of eating disorder measures in White and Black women

Most measures of eating disorder symptoms and risk factors were developed in predominantly White female samples. Yet eating disorders affect individuals of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Black women appear more vulnerable to certain forms of eating pathology, such as binge eating, and less susceptible to other eating disorder symptoms and risk factors, such as body dissatisfaction, compared with their White peers. Despite concern that extant measures do not adequately assess eating concerns among Black women, the construct validity of scores on most of these measures has not been adequately examined within this population. This study included 2,208 Black and White women who completed the following: the Binge Eating Scale (BES), the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), the Eating Disorder Inventory Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness subscales, the Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R), the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Evaluation subscale (MBSRQ-AE), and the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS). Most measures yielded internally consistent scores in both races. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that loadings for some measures, including the EAT-26 and EDDS, were not invariant across groups and thus do not assess equivalent constructs in White and Black women. However, others, including the BULIT-R, BES, OBCS, and MBSRQ-AE, exhibited factorial invariance in both races. Results suggest scores are likely not equivalent across races for several popular measures of eating disorder symptoms and risk factors. Thus, it is recommended that researchers and clinicians obtain additional information regarding racial/cultural factors when using these instruments with Black women.     

Expressive disclosure to improve well-being in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A randomised,controlled trial

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neurological disease associated with progressive paralysis, loss of communicative ability and functional decline. Expressive disclosure may help people with ALS, particularly those who are emotionally or socially inhibited, meet psychological challenges associated with the disease. People with ALS (N?=?48) were randomised to expressive disclosure about their disease or no disclosure. Psychological well-being (affect, depression and quality of life) was assessed pre-intervention and also three and six months later. Results of multi-level models indicated that the group that disclosed thoughts and feelings about ALS had higher well-being than the control group at three months post-intervention, but not six months. Ambivalence over emotional expression (AEE) moderated three-month post-intervention well-being. Those low in AEE had higher well-being than those high in AEE regardless of condition. Those high in AEE, who disclosed, had increased well-being from pre-intervention, whereas controls had decreased well-being from pre-intervention. Expressive disclosure may be helpful for people with ALS, but only those who have difficulty expressing emotions. In addition, the intervention had only temporary effects; the dynamic challenges of ALS progression may mean that the effect of processing thoughts and feelings about the disease in one stage may not generalise to later stages.     

Socioemotional selectivity and psychological health in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and caregivers: a longitudinal,dyadic analysis

Abstract

Objective: Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that as the end of life approaches, goals and resources that provide immediate, hedonic reward become more important than those that provide delayed rewards. This study tested whether these goal domains differentially affected psychological health in the context of marital dyads in which one partner had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a life-limiting disease.

Design: ALS patients (N?=?102) being treated in three multidisciplinary clinics and their spouses (N?=?100) reported their loneliness, financial worry and psychological health every 3 months for up to 18 months.

Main Outcome Measure: Psychological health composite.

Results: In multilevel dyadic models, patients and spouses had similar levels of financial worry and loneliness. Both patients and spouses had worse psychological health with higher loneliness, but only spouses had worse psychological health with higher financial worry. Significant interactions with age and disease severity indicated that older spouses were more affected by loneliness than were younger spouses, and patients with less severe disease were more affected by financial worry than patients with more severe disease.

Conclusion: The results provide good support for socioemotional selectivity theory’s implications for psychological health in a strong test of the theory.     

The Influence of Attentional Style and Risk Perceptions on Intentions to Undergo Prophylactic Oophorectomy Among First-Degree Relatives

This study examined the predictors of women's intentions to undergo prophylactic oophorectomy. Eighty female first-degree relatives (FDRs) of ovarian cancer patients completed a measure of attentional style upon enrollment into a Family Risk Assessment Program. Following participation, measures of cancer risk perceptions, perceived benefits and costs of surgery, and intentions to undergo preventive surgery were obtained. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that a high monitoring attentional style, as well as greater perceived risk of ovarian cancer and greater perceived benefits of the procedure, was associated with greater intentions to undergo prophylactic oophorectomy. In addition, a significant interaction between attentional style and perceived risk revealed that high monitors who felt at increased risk for ovarian cancer were less inclined to undergo surgery, whereas low monitors who perceived themselves to be at increased risk were more inclined to undergo surgery. The implications of the results for the design of counseling interventions are discussed.     

But I Still Feel Guilt: A Test of a Moral Disengagement Propensity Model

ABSTRACT

We explored the impact of moral disengagement on individual experiences of guilt. We modeled three forms of workplace deviance (withdrawal, interpersonal deviance, and work-family deviance) as mediators between the propensity to morally disengage and guilt, and also includes the moderating effects of perceived work hours culture. Data were collected from 226 employees matched with a colleague and spouse. Results demonstrated that moral disengagement released individuals who engaged in interpersonal and work-family deviance from subsequent feelings of guilt, but only reduced feelings of guilt for those who withdrew. We also found an interactive effect of perceived work hours culture on the relationships between moral disengagement propensity and all three forms of deviance. The indirect effect from moral disengagement propensity to guilt through withdrawal was stronger when perceived work hours was high.     

Teacher Perceptions Affect Boys’ and Girls’ Reading Motivation Differently

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and children's reading motivation, with specific attention to gender differences. The reading self-concept, task value, and attitude of 160 fifth and sixth graders were measured. Teachers rated each student's reading comprehension. Results showed that for boys, teacher expectations had no influence on the three constructs of reading motivation measured, whereas for girls, teacher expectations did predict reading self-concept and value of reading. The results provide evidence that the relationship between motivational factors and teacher perceptions is different for boys and girls. The implications for educational practice are addressed.     

Teachers With Linguistically Informed Knowledge of Reading Subskills are Associated with a Matthew Effect in Reading Comprehension for Monolingual and Bilingual Students

A longitudinal investigation determined the growth of reading comprehension from third to fifth grades in a cohort of students who received Language Enrichment (LE), an Orton-Gillingham–based literacy program, during first and second grades. The LE instruction was provided by regular education teachers who received comprehensive training in linguistically informed content pertaining to reading subskills. All students were traditionally instructed in kindergarten, third, fourth, and fifth grades. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) confirmed that mono- and bilingual students had significantly advantaged individual growth in reading comprehension as measured on the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) when their teachers had more experience implementing LE over students whose teachers had less experience implementing LE, or students whose teachers had no LE training. Findings showed a fan-shaped spread in achievement from third to fifth grades for all students in the cohort. The significance of the spread was confirmed by reliable covariance between the initial reading level and the growth in reading across grade levels. This fan-shaped growth pattern is often referred to as a Matthew effect in reading comprehension (Stanovich, 1986 Stanovich, K. E. 1986. Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(4): 360–407. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). These results provide evidence that the Matthew effect may be associated with specific teaching pedagogies, especially early direct implementation of multisensory linguistically informed language arts instruction. LE instruction emphasizes phonemic awareness, symbol–sound correspondences, morphology, and vocabulary to develop phonological decoding strategies, word recognition accuracy, and comprehension of words in text.     

School Uniforms: A Qualitative Analysis of Aims and Accomplishments at Two Christian Schools

Employing rigorous qualitative research methodology, we studied the implementation of two schools' uniform policies. Their primary intents were to eliminate competition, teach young people to dress appropriately, decrease nonacademic distractions, and lower the parental clothing costs. The young people differed with adults regarding whether or not the objectives relating to competition and distractions were met. Both adults and young people agreed that the goal of learning to dress more appropriately was met, yet they differed on how accomplishment was achieved—and also on how they understood appropriate dress. Data from both schools was generally comparable, with four notable differences.     

The effect of controllability and causality on counterfactual thinking

Previous research on counterfactual thoughts about prevention suggests that people tend to focus on enabling rather than causing events and controllable rather than uncontrollable events. Two experiments explore whether counterfactual thinking about enablers is distinct from counterfactual thinking about controllable events. We presented participants with scenarios in which a cause and an enabler contributed to a negative outcome. We systematically manipulated the controllability of the cause and the enabler and asked participants to generate counterfactuals. The results indicate that when only the cause or the enabler is controllable participants undid the controllable event more often. However, when the cause and enabler are matched in controllability participants undid the enabler slightly more often. The findings are discussed in the context of the mental model, functional and judgement dissociation theories as well as previous research on counterfactual thinking. The importance of controllability and possible reasons for the special role of enablers are considered.