A daily diary study of the relationships among daily self-compassion,perceived stress and health-promoting behaviours

Previous studies consistently found that trait self-compassion is positively associated with health-promoting behaviours, and perceived stress mediates the relationship. The current study primarily aimed at examining whether state self-compassion varying from day to day (daily self-compassion) played the same role as trait self-compassion in improving health-promoting behaviours and whether or not perceived stress would be the mediator in this relationship. Eighty-nine Chinese employees were recruited to finish demographic information and the trait measure of self-compassion first, and then finish daily diaries for seven consecutive days. Daily diary measures included daily self-compassion, perceived stress and health-promoting behaviours including both eating behaviours and exercise behaviours. The results of 1-1-1 multilevel mediation analyses showed that, at both the within- and between-person level, daily self-compassion could positively predict daily eating behaviour through the reduction of perceived stress. However, daily self-compassion did not influence exercise behaviour at both levels. The results of 2-1-1 multilevel mediation analyses cross-validated the between-person relationships in the 1-1-1 multilevel mediation models. These results suggest that, both short-term interventions aiming at increasing state self-compassion and long-term interventions aiming at increasing trait self-compassion can benefit one's eating behaviours through the reduction of stress.     

Modulation of the leniency bias in the discursive dilemma

We experimentally approach the discursive dilemma to gain insight into people's procedural appropriateness judgments. We relied on a vignette in which three people had formed opinions about two skills (premises) of a candidate to decide whether to hire her/him (conclusion). The dilemma arises when different outcomes (hire vs. not hire) are achieved depending on whether the majority opinion is independently considered for each premise or for the global conclusion of each judge. Participants were asked to choose the procedure they thought to be more appropriate to reach a decision. In Experiment 1, we found a leniency effect (a bias to prefer the aggregation procedure that led to hiring the candidate), which was reduced by introducing the participant as a juror with an exogenously provided negative opinion about the candidate's skills. In Experiment 2, we replicated the opinion effect, even when subjects did not participate as jury members. In Experiment 3, we found that the leniency bias was only reduced when participants' negative opinion was aligned with a majority of negative premises, but not with a majority of negative conclusions. We discuss present findings in terms of the identification of empirical regularities that may affect people's procedural legitimacy judgments.     

集体效能研究述评

从20世纪80年代中期开始,国外自我效能的研究表现出从个体效能向集体效能的转变,集体效能是自我效能在集体水平上的扩展。在效能内涵和效能形成上,集体效能与个体效能存在着密切的相互作用,但在效能的测量上,集体效能又有着许多不同于个体效能之处,与个体效能相比,集体效能的研究在整体上还存在着明显的不足。     

How to enhance service quality through organizational facilitators,collective work engagement,and relational service competence

This study aims to test how collective work engagement and relational service competence, as affective and cognitive-competent collective states, mediate the relationship between organizational facilitators and customers' perceptions of service quality. In all, 107 service-oriented units were aggregated from 615 service workers and 2165 customers. Structural equation modelling confirmed that organizational facilitators are related to collective work engagement andrelational service competence, which play a mediating role between organizational facilitators and service quality. Whereas collective work engagement plays a partially mediating role between organizational facilitators and relational service competence, relational service competence plays a fully mediating role between collective work engagement and service quality. A discussion and limitations are also provided.     

Health-related behaviours and their correlates in a general population sample of 45-year old women

Abstract

Preventive strategies for menopausal women to reduce the risks for osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease has been the focus of considerable attention, but understanding of mid-aged women's behavioural risk factors for these diseases is meagre. The current study describes a range of health-related behaviours and their psychosocial correlates, in a sample of 45-year old women, recruited from five general practices and assessed by postal survey (N=106, response rate 60%). Results suggest that health promotion for this group might best focus upon increases in regular exercise, calcium intake and breast awareness, and decreases in cigarette and caffeine consumption. The behaviours assessed were generally not inter-related. However, several associations were identified between behaviours and health and psychosocial variables. The main ones were the association between menopausal status and smoking, and the relationship between body weight, self-esteem and physical exercise. It is argued that the menopause transition can be an opportunity for preventive work.     

Do animals dream?

The understanding of biological functions of sleep has improved recently, including an understanding of the deep evolutionary roots of sleep among animals. However, dreaming as an element of sleep may be particularly difficult to address in non-human animals because in humans dreaming involves a non-wakeful form of awareness typically identified through verbal report. Here, we argue that parallels that exist between the phenomenology, physiology, and sleep behaviors during human dreaming provide an avenue to investigate dreaming in non-human animals. We review three alternative measurements of human dreaming – neural correlates of dreaming, ‘replay’ of newly-acquired memories, and dream-enacting behaviors – and consider how these may be applied to non-human animal models. We suggest that while animals close in brain structure to humans (such as mammals and birds) may be optimal models for the first two of these measurements, cephalopods, especially octopuses, may be particularly good candidates for the third.     

Critical thinking as cooperation and its relation to mental health and social welfare

The purpose of this theoretical investigation was to examine critical thinking as a realization of human cooperation, affecting both mental health and social welfare. Although critical thinking contains a critical stance toward any asserted standpoint, such a critical stance appears, paradoxically, to have developed from cooperation and the shared goals of human beings. Moreover, although critical thinking has been seen in academic literature to be anchored on culturally developed rules and principles of rational dialogue as well as on effective learning methods, investigators have not interconnected critical thinking and human cooperation comprehensively enough. To solve the dilemma, we will use available scientific knowledge to examine how cooperation and socially shared goals are realized in critical thinking, especially in a critical stance. The view of critical thinking as cooperation places it ontogenetically and phylogenetically into a wider theoretical framework which also provides a novel perspective on mental health and social welfare. The deterioration of rational thinking in the context of mental disorders may be explained by failures of cooperation, which can contain epistemic distrust and an inability to mentalize the viewpoints of others. These features may clarify some causes why some contemporary dialogues and critical contributions are divisive in worldwide, especially in social media.     

Identity and injustice: Exploring women's participation in collective action

The present study is an investigation into the social psychological factors associated with women's reported participation in a range of different types of political action in the context of gender relations. At time 1,610 women were asked to rate their readiness to participate in various actions and to provide measures of social beliefs. Factor analysis extracted four types of action: participation in women's groups, collective protest, informal participation, and individual protest. One year later, at time 2, a subgroup of the same women were asked to say how much they had actually participated over the previous 12 months. Reported participation was related to gender identity, collective relative deprivation, efficacy, collectivist orientation, and identification as an activist. Regression analysis showed that identification as an activist was by far the most powerful correlate of participation, followed by gender identity; and that gender identity also played a role in moderating relationships between reported participation and other predictor variables. These findings show the important role of identity processes underlying participation in collective action and suggest the need to develop interaction models of participation.     

Antenatal predictors and use of coping strategies in labour

Abstract

One aim of antenatal preparation is developing coping strategies for use (luring labour. However, the existing literature suggests that attendance at classes is not associated with lower pain or distress, possibly because receiving training cannot be assumed to be associated with subsequent practice.

This study aimed to assess whether attenders at classes actually used their taught strategies in their labours, whether use was associated with psychological benefits and whether antenatal measures could predict subsequent use. Concepts from the theories of planned behaviour and self efficacy were used to attempt to predict use of three types of coping strategy.

Use was high for breathing strategies but poor for relaxation and posture. Proportion of use of breathing and relaxation showed weak associations with lower fear. Whilst intentions did act as significant predictors for use of posture and relaxation only small proportions of the variance were accounted for and other antenatal measures showed little predictive capacity.

Reasons why women in labour may fail to take behavioural consequences from their antenatal beliefs are considered. Predicting health-related behaviours where maintenance rather than just initiation is involved may require greater consideration of intra-situational and emotional factors. Modifications of antenatal preparation to facilitate use of strategies are discussed.     

Young pedestrians' behaviours and risk perception: a pilot study with Italian early adolescents

This study aimed to investigate early adolescents’ mobility, taking into consideration risky pedestrian behaviours around roads and their relationship with independent mobility and risk perception in different traffic situations. The participants were 922 students, males (48%) and females, aged 10–14 and who attended the seventh (51%) and ninth grades in a medium-sized city in southern Italy. They completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire at school, specifically designed for the research. Measures included mode of transport, level of independent mobility, frequency of risky behaviours as a pedestrian and risk perception of these behaviours. Moreover, students were asked to evaluate the risk, their likely behaviour, and likely motives for risky behaviour in a specific traffic scenario concerning a risky road crossing shown on a video. Gender and age differences were taken into consideration, and relationships between risky behaviour as a pedestrian, level of independent mobility and different measures of risk perception (concerning both risk behaviour as a pedestrian and in the video scenario) were investigated. Results showed that risky behaviours while travelling as a pedestrian were more widespread among ninth grade students and those who were more independent. Moreover, a strong relationship between a greater involvement in risky pedestrian behaviours and lower risk perception and a greater tendency to justify risky behaviours were found in the students. Results suggested the implementation of a prevention programme in early adolescence to improve both risk perception in specific traffic situations and the awareness of motives of risky road behaviours.