Dare to compare: Fact-based versus simulation-based comparison in daily life

We examined the relative frequency of social, counterfactual, past-temporal, and future-temporal comparison in daily life using an experience-sampling method, in which participants were randomly prompted to record thought samples using palmtop computers carried for two weeks. Comparative thought accounted for 12% of all thoughts, and all four comparison types occurred with equivalent frequency. Comparisons may be either fact-based (i.e., based on actuality, as in social and past-temporal comparison) or simulation-based (i.e., based on imagination, as in counterfactual and future-temporal comparison). Because the latter are more “unbounded,” and because greater perceived opportunity invites greater self-improvement, we predicted and found that counterfactual and future-temporal comparison were more likely to be upward (vs. downward) than social and past-temporal comparison. All comparison types focused on approach more than avoidance motives, except for counterfactuals, which showed equivalent focus on both. These findings reveal the prominence of comparative thought in daily life, and underscore the value of an integrative theory that describes social, counterfactual, or temporal comparison using a common theoretical platform.     

Why do narcissists take more risks? Testing the roles of perceived risks and benefits of risky behaviors

Much prior research demonstrates that narcissists take more risks than others, but almost no research has examined what motivates this behavior. The present study tested two potential driving mechanisms of risk-taking by narcissists (i.e., heightened perceptions of benefits and diminished perceptions of risks stemming from risky behaviors) by administering survey measures of narcissism and risk-taking to a sample of 605 undergraduate college students. Contrary to what might be expected, the results suggest that narcissists appreciate the risks associated with risky behaviors just as much as do less narcissistic individuals. Their risk-taking appears to instead be fueled by heightened perceptions of benefits stemming from risky behaviors. These results are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting that narcissists engage in some forms of potentially problematic behaviors, such as risk-taking, because of a surplus of eagerness rather than a deficit of inhibition.     

Reduced approach motivation following nonreward: Extension of the BIS/BAS scales

The current study describes the development and validation of a new subscale to be used with the BIS/BAS scales (Carver & White, 1994). This subscale measures lowered approach motivation following nonreward. Factor analysis of the new subscale was carried out within a sample of 308 University students, test–retest reliability was established within a sample of 62 individuals, and construct validity was explored in a sample of 86 individuals by comparing scores on the new subscale with those on an existing self-report measure of apathy and on a behavioural measure of persistence. Reliability and validity of the new frustrative nonreward responsiveness subscale was found to be adequate within the populations studied. The findings are discussed in relation to theoretical accounts of BAS and BIS sensitivity.     

Response-specific effects of pain observation on motor behavior

How does seeing a painful event happening to someone else influence the observer's own motor system? To address this question, we measured simple reaction times following videos showing noxious or innocuous implements contacting corporeal or noncorporeal objects. Key releases in a go/nogo task were speeded, and key presses slowed, after subjects saw a video of a needle pricking a fingertip. No such effect was seen when the observed hand was replaced by a sponge, nor when the needle was replaced by a cotton bud. These findings demonstrate that pain observation modulates the motor system by speeding withdrawal movements and slowing approach movements of the finger. This illustrates a basic mechanism by which visual information about pain is used to facilitate appropriate behavioral responses.     

Perceived consequences underlying approach goals and avoidance goals in relation to anxiety

Numerous studies have examined anxiety from a cognitive and affective perspective but relatively little research has studied anxiety from a motivational perspective. There are theoretical grounds (e.g., Gray, 1982) for expecting anxiety to be characterised by heightened avoidance motivation, but this motivational bias is not thought to be accompanied by diminished approach motivation. A cross-sectional, mixed model design was used to investigate individuals’ response-variations on personal approach and avoidance goal systems. A convenience sample comprising an anxious group (n = 41) and non-anxious group (n = 33) completed tasks that measured number of self-generated approach goals and avoidance goals, and number of associated positive and negative consequence steps for goals. As predicted, anxious individuals, relative to non-anxious individuals, generated more avoidance goals and more negative consequence steps in response to goal non-attainment (irrespective of goal type) but did not differ on number of approach goals or positive consequence steps in response to goal attainment (irrespective of goal type). The present findings highlight the importance of personal goal systems in understanding the nature of anxiety.     

“We Hardly Ever Talk about It”: Emotional Responsive Attunement in Couples after a Child's Death

Within Western cultural traditions, the idea that parents should talk about the death of their child with each other is deeply rooted. However, across bereaved parent couples there are wide variations in communication about their grief with each other. In this study, we explored the experiences of bereaved couples related to the process of talking and not talking. We used a thematic coding approach to analyze 20 interviews with 26 bereaved parents (11 interviewed as couples, four as individuals). Four main meanings emerged out of our analysis: not talking because of the inadequacy and pointlessness of words in grief, not talking as a way to regulate emotions in daily life, not talking as an expression of a personal, intimate process, and not talking because the partner has the same loss but a different grief process. In addition, we found that the process of talking and not talking can partly be understood as an emotional responsive process on an intrapersonal and interpersonal level. In this process partners search for a bearable distance from their own grief and their partner's, and attune with their relational context. A better understanding of this process is sought in a dialectical approach, emphasizing the value of both talking and not talking in a tense relationship with each other. Implications for clinical work are described.     

End of the line: Line bisection,an unreliable measure of approach and avoidance motivation

Approach motivation leads to greater left hemisphere activation, whereas an avoidant motivational state activates the right hemisphere. Recent research, which served as the basis for the current experiment, suggests line bisection provides a simple measure of approach/avoidance lateralisation. Findings from Experiment 1 indicated that the landmark task was sensitive enough to identify lateral asymmetries evoked by happy and angry faces; however, follow-up experiments failed to replicate this finding. When task instructions were slightly modified or when a mixed design was used, motivation did not influence landmark task performance. The use of images in lieu of faces also failed to produce a significant effect. Importantly, a straight replication of Experiment 1 produced a null result. Line bisection does not appear to be a suitable measure of lateralised approach/avoidance biases, possibly due to the high individual variability inherent in visuospatial biases. Implications for null hypothesis significance testing are also discussed.     

Vers une approche organisationnelle du stress au travail

The aim of this paper is to consider the relationship between the organization of work today installed in many businesses and the growing stress of all categories of employees, and so, with components from literature but also from employees interviews. The organizational approach of stress at work can overcome a reflection traditionally engaged in risk management and psychosocial in the work during the last decade. We will show that several changes in work organization, the end of Fordism, increasing individualization, the distance between the real work and the work required, problems of recognition and penibility at work, have a direct impact on the individual. The company becomes the new place of responses to stress management. We outline new opportunities for understanding the psychosocial risk from a practical and organizational.     

The effectiveness of positive psychology interventions in enhancing positive behaviors and family relationships in Hong Kong: A community-based participatory research project

This paper describes a program of brief, universal, positive psychology-based interventions to increase targeted behaviors that enhance family relationships, developed and delivered to over 1500 participants using a community-based participatory approach. The cluster-randomized design combined interventions based on one of three themes (gratitude, hope, or open-mindedness) in one of two structures (intervention, or intervention with planning). The latter structure supplemented with materials and exercises derived from the Health Action Process Approach model of behavior change. Planning was more effective in increasing attitude and intention to perform behaviors, frequency of the targeted behaviors, and family health and happiness (Cohen’s ds: 0.10–0.16, p < 0.05), particularly in the theme targeting open-mindedness. Qualitative data supported effectiveness. This project was a first effort to develop a large-scale preventive psychological intervention in an understudied culture with the goal of maximizing acceptability and utilization by involving community stakeholders in every stage of the design.