Convergent Evidence for Basic Motivational Dimensions

Subjects (N = 217) rated the attractiveness of 56 general goals and then completed 3 theory-based tests of personality or motivation. Two goal factors—labeled Social-Economic Status and Competitive Achievement—seemed to reflect two broad domains of status-seeking motivation, and two other factors—labeled Growth Orientation and Interpersonal Security—pointed to separate domains of cooperative motivation. Thus, there was confirmation for the widespread assumption of two primary types of interpersonal motivation (solidarity and status) in our culture but also for important distinctions within each type. Canonical and direct correlations with the theoretically-grounded measures strongly supported that interpretation of the factors. Meaningful relationships between factors obtained from the questionnaire and the more rationally-based test scores indicated convergence in mappings of motivational space.     

Work-Induced Changes in Feelings of Mastery

ABSTRACT

Past theory and research indicate that conditions of work can have lasting effects on job incumbents. R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell (1990) Karasek, R. A. and Theorell, T. 1990. Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar], for example, proposed that workers’ feelings of mastery increase with levels of job demands and job control, and that these effects are mediated by the process of active learning. To test these propositions, 657 school teachers completed scales assessing job demands, control, active learning, and mastery on 2 occasions, 8 months apart. As hypothesized, job control predicted change in mastery, an effect that was mediated by active learning. Job demands had a weaker effect on change in mastery. The demands–mastery relationship was moderated by job control, so that under conditions of high control, but not low control, increasing job demands were associated with gains in mastery. The findings partially support R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell's (1990) predictions regarding the main, interactive, and mediated effects of job conditions on employee mastery.     

Sit-to-stand movement in children: A longitudinal study based on kinematics data

Although the ability to stand from a seated posture is relevant for clinical practice, there are few studies investigating the process of acquisition and refinement of the motor components involved in sit-to-stand movement (STS) in children. Therefore, this longitudinal study aims to describe kinematic characteristics of the STS movement in children from 12 to 18 months, and also to investigate the relationship between changes in STS movement and childrens’ daily-life mobility. Ten healthy children were evaluated at 12,13,14,15 and 18 months of age. A motion analysis system was used to measure total duration of STS movement and angular movements of each joint, and frequencies of successful and unsupported STS were obtained. The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory was used to assess childrens’ daily-life mobility. Results showed that children tend to increase the frequency of successful trials over the months by reducing the total duration and decreasing peak ankle dorsiflexion and trunk flexion during STS. Children also started to stand up from chair with decreased trunk flexion angle among ages. At the end of the STS, we observed decreases in trunk flexion and knee flexion over age. Furthermore, kinematic characteristics that reflect improvements in STS movement are related to better performance of functional skills and decreased level of assistance provided by the caregiver in daily-life mobility of younger children. However, the strength of these associations decreases from 14 months of age onwards.     

Cognitive biases and alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood: The moderating role of gender,attentional control and inhibitory control

The present study investigated the cross-sectional associations between cognitive biases (i.e., attentional bias and approach bias) and alcohol use and investigated the moderating role of gender, attentional control and inhibitory control. The sample consisted of 94 adolescents and young adults (52.1% boys) between 15.3 and 20.8 years old (M_age = 18.0, SD = 1.1) who reported drinking alcohol in the past three months. A stronger approach bias was related to higher alcohol use, albeit only among boys. Furthermore, the association between attentional bias and alcohol use was moderated by attentional control; the lowest alcohol use was found in adolescents with low attentional bias and high attentional control, suggesting protective effects of both variables. The present study replicates and extends the results of studies on cognitive biases and addiction in adolescence and young adulthood.     

Peligros de la modificación de conducta en el tratamiento de la anorexia nerviosa

RESUMEN

En los últimos años se ha señalado, de forma excesiva, la eficacia de la modificación de conducta en el tratamiento de la anorexia nerviosa. Se ha supuesto, de forma errónea, que la imposición de una mejoría de la emaciación, el síntoma más llamativo, es un tratamiento adecuado para este trastorno tan grave y complejo. Los resultados que se han publicado adolecen de falta de seguimiento. En estos pacientes, este método de tratamientos les llevó a un empeoramiento de su estado. A pesar de conseguir un aumento de peso pasajero, la modificación de conducta debe considerarse como potencialmente dañina en la anorexia nerviosa. En este artículo se aporta información sobre los efectos perjudiciales de los pacientes tratados con este método. Sus historias ilustran que los métodos de modificación de conducta no son sólo peligrosos en potencia, sino en la realidad.     

Problemas metodológicos y conceptuales en el estudio de la función autorreguladora del habla

Resumen

Desde una perspectiva vygotskiana se revisa la evolución de las investigaciones relativas al desarrollo de la función reguladora del habla. Se discuten la metodología y el soporte conceptual de los estudios originales de Luria y de los intentos de replicación realizados por autores occidentales. Se presentan y comentan también varias aportaciones posteriores: tanto los nuevos planteamientos empíricos como los nuevos desarrollos conceptuales. Finalmente, se señala la necesidad de atender a nuevos criterios en la elección de las tareas, de registrar las verbalizaciones espontáneas y de analizar el proceso de sociogénesis. Se concluye identificando dos factores influyentes en la emisión del habla egocéntrica (dificultad relativa de la tarea y percepción del contexto social) y distinguiendo, dentro del funcionamiento de la autorregulación verbal, entre el sistema activador, ligado a los aspectos de impulso, y el sistema de planificación y control, asociado a la propiedad de mediación semiótica.     

Relaciones entre el deseo de control y la superstición

Resumen

El deseo de control hace referencia a la motivación por controlar los acontecimientos que suceden en la vida cotidiana. En los últimos años han proliferado investigaciones sobre la relación entre el deseo de control y la superstición. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que las diferencias individuales en el deseo de control moderan la emergencia del pensamiento supersticioso. El objetivo de este trabajo es doble, instrumentalmente se pretende aportar evidencias de validez de la versión española de una escala de deseo de control al relacionarla con la presencia de supersticiones. Por otro lado, se pretende abordar el estudio de las relaciones entre el deseo de control y la superstición en facetas no estudiadas hasta el momento. Han participado 162 personas, 48 hombres y 114 mujeres, con una edad media de 30 años. Los resultados muestran que en una situación no amenazante, las personas con bajo deseo de control son más supersticiosas y reconocen más supersticiones que las personas con medio y alto deseo de control. Se ha encontrado que la confianza que aportan las supersticiones parece ser la causa por la que las personas las utilizan, frente a la buena suerte o la protección.     

Conflict-driven adaptive control is enhanced by integral negative emotion on a short time scale*

ABSTRACT

Negative emotion influences cognitive control, and more specifically conflict adaptation. However, discrepant results have often been reported in the literature. In this study, we broke down negative emotion into integral and incidental components using a modern motivation-based framework, and assessed whether the former could change conflict adaptation. In the first experiment, we manipulated the duration of the inter-trial-interval (ITI) to assess the actual time-scale of this effect. Integral negative emotion was induced by using loss-related feedback contingent on task performance, and measured at the subjective and physiological levels. Results showed that conflict-driven adaptive control was enhanced when integral negative emotion was elicited, compared to a control condition without changes in defensive motivation. Importantly, this effect was only found when a short, as opposed to long ITI was used, suggesting that it had a short time scale. In the second experiment, we controlled for effects of feature repetition and contingency learning, and replicated an enhanced conflict adaptation effect when integral negative emotion was elicited and a short ITI was used. We interpret these new results against a standard cognitive control framework assuming that integral negative emotion amplifies specific control signals transiently, and in turn enhances conflict adaptation.     

Attentional interference by threat and post-traumatic stress disorder: The role of thought control strategies

Attentional interference by threat is associated with PTSD, but the mechanisms of this relationship remain unclear. Attentional interference might be related to increased use of maladaptive thought control strategies, such as suppressing unwanted thoughts (thought suppression) or replacing threatening thoughts with everyday concerns (worry), which increase PTSD risk. Conversely, attentional interference might be associated with reduced use of adaptive strategies, such as talking about threatening thoughts (social control), which decrease PTSD risk. This study tested if thought control strategies mediate the relationship between attentional interference and PTSD. Sixty-one male Vietnam-era veterans completed measures of PTSD symptoms and thought control strategies. Participants also completed a Visual Search Task measuring attentional interference, which required participants to identify a target letter string among a group of threat or neutral words. Attentional interference by threat was related to PTSD symptoms, and mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of attentional interference through thought suppression and worry. Attentional interference was related to re-experiencing and avoidance, but not hyperarousal, symptom clusters. Thought suppression was a unique mediator for re-experiencing, whereas thought suppression and worry both mediated the relationship with avoidance. These results offer evidence for maladaptive thought control strategies as a mechanism linking attentional biases for threat to PTSD.     

Emotional and non-emotional memories are suppressible under direct suppression instructions

Research on retrieval suppression has produced varying results concerning whether negatively valenced memories are more or less suppressible than neutral memories. This variability may arise if, across studies, participants adopt different approaches to memory control. Cognitive and neurobiological research points to two mechanisms that achieve retrieval suppression: thought-substitution and direct suppression (Benoit & Anderson, 2012; Bergström, de Fockert, & Richardson-Klavehn, 2009). Using the Think/No-think paradigm, this study examined whether participants can inhibit neutral and negatively valenced memories, using a uniform direct suppression strategy. Importantly, when strategy was controlled, negative and neutral items were comparably inhibited. Participants reported high compliance with direct suppression instructions, and success at controlling awareness predicted forgetting. These findings provide the first evidence that direct suppression can impair negatively valenced events, and suggest that variability in forgetting negative memories in prior studies is unlikely to arise from difficulty using direct suppression to control emotionally negative experiences.