Self-deception as affective coping. An empirical perspective on philosophical issues

In the philosophical literature, self-deception is mainly approached through the analysis of paradoxes. Yet, it is agreed that self-deception is motivated by protection from distress. In this paper, we argue, with the help of findings from cognitive neuroscience and psychology, that self-deception is a type of affective coping.First, we criticize the main solutions to the paradoxes of self-deception. We then present a new approach to self-deception. Self-deception, we argue, involves three appraisals of the distressing evidence: (a) appraisal of the strength of evidence as uncertain, (b) low coping potential and (c) negative anticipation along the lines of Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis. At the same time, desire impacts the treatment of flattering evidence via dopamine. Our main proposal is that self-deception involves emotional mechanisms provoking a preference for immediate reward despite possible long-term negative repercussions. In the last part, we use this emotional model to revisit the philosophical paradoxes.     

Revisiting the mediating role of leader–member exchange in transformational leadership: the differential impact model

Transformational leadership (TFL) has been proposed as an essential antecedent of leader–member exchange (LMX), which in turn affects outcomes in organizations. We extend this mediation hypothesis in two ways by proposing a differential impact model, which we test on three organizational outcomes: employee job satisfaction, employee organizational commitment, and leader effectiveness. First, we extend LMX’s mediational impact—which has previously only been tested for employee outcomes—to leader effectiveness. Second, we argue that this mediation will be stronger for outcomes that are more proximal rather than distal to dyadic relations between leader and followers (high proximity: job satisfaction; medium proximity: organizational commitment; low proximity: leader effectiveness). Meta-analytic structural equation modelling based on 132 studies revealed that LMX mediates TFL’s relationships with employee outcomes (more strongly for job satisfaction than for commitment), but not with leader effectiveness, whereas TFL showed a stronger direct link to leader effectiveness. The findings suggest that TLF and LMX contribute differentially to organizational outcomes depending on their proximity to dyadic relations between leaders and followers. The differential impact model uncovers leadership effectiveness processes, integrates influential leadership theories, and highlights the importance of distinguishing between different outcome measures and the processes facilitating them.     

Muslim Distress Mobilization Hypothesis: complex roles of Islamic Positive Religious Coping and Punishing Allah Reappraisal in Iranian students

Muslim religious coping may include distress mobilisation effects that explain why adaptive and maladaptive forms of religious coping correlate positively rather than nonsignificantly, as they usually do in the West. In this study, 147 Iranian university students responded to Islamic Positive Religious Coping (IPRC) and Punishing Allah Reappraisal (PAR) Scales along with Religious Orientation, Perceived Stress, and mental health measures. IPRC and PAR correlated positively, and procedures accounting for their covariance were essential in disambiguating their implications. IPRC predicted stronger Intrinsic and Extrinsic Personal Religious Orientations, but PAR displayed no relationship with religious motivations. PAR pointed toward broadly negative mental health influences with IPRC displaying limited ties with adjustment. PAR partially mediated some Perceived Stress relationships with poorer mental health. These data offered some support for a Muslim Distress Mobilization Hypothesis, but also uncovered issues that require further clarification.     

Quality of life and mental health among women with ovarian cancer: examining the role of emotional and instrumental social support seeking

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of emotional and instrumental social support seeking in the quality of life (QOL) and mental health of women with ovarian cancer. Participants were recruited through the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry, and one hundred women took part in a mail questionnaire that collected information on their demographics, medical status, social support seeking, QOL and mental health including anxiety, depression and stress. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the influence of emotional and instrumental social support seeking on QOL and mental health. After controlling for remission status, greater emotional social support seeking was predictive of higher overall QOL, social/family QOL, functional QOL and lower depression scores. Instrumental social support seeking was not significant in the models. The results illustrate that social support seeking as a coping mechanism is an important consideration in the QOL and mental health of women with ovarian cancer. Future studies should examine the psychological and behavioral mediators of the relationship to further understand the QOL and mental health of women with ovarian cancer.     

Cognitive counselling intervention: treatment effectiveness in an Italian university centre

Offering counselling to students is increasingly considered as a key academic service. However, the reduction of resources allocated to Italian universities emphasises the need to assess the quality of interventions. This paper presents data reporting the effectiveness of a university counselling service. A sample of 45 undergraduate students completed a cognitive-relational intervention at a counselling service in a University in the North of Italy. The project focused on the development of reappraisal skills and problem-solving strategies to manage difficult situations. The results showed a significant pre and post-intervention reduction in self-reported psychopathological symptoms (measured with Symptoms Check List 90-Revised) as well as in general levels of distress (measured with Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure). A significant increase in reappraisal levels, measured with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, was observed, which is a focal element of the counselling intervention. There were no detectable changes in the level of suppression.     

Mastering moral misery: Emotional and coping responses to intragroup morality (vs. competence) evaluations

In social groups, individuals are often confronted with evaluations of their behaviour by other group members and are motivated to adapt their own behaviour accordingly. In two studies we examine emotional responses towards, and perceived coping abilities with, morality vs. competence evaluations individuals receive from other in-group members. In Study 1, we show that evaluations of one's immoral behaviour primarily induce guilt, whereas evaluations of incompetent behaviour raise anger. In Study 2, we elaborate on the psychological process associated with these emotional responses, and demonstrate that evaluations of immorality, compared to incompetence, diminish group members’ perceived coping abilities, which in turn intensifies feelings of guilt. However, when anticipating an opportunity to restore one's self-image as a moral group member, perceived coping abilities are increased and the experience of guilt is alleviated. Together these studies demonstrate how group members can overcome their moral misery when restoring their self-image.     

Anxiety,anticipation and contextual information: A test of attentional control theory

We tested the assumptions of Attentional Control Theory (ACT) by examining the impact of anxiety on anticipation using a dynamic, time-constrained task. Moreover, we examined the involvement of high- and low-level cognitive processes in anticipation and how their importance may interact with anxiety. Skilled and less-skilled tennis players anticipated the shots of opponents under low- and high-anxiety conditions. Participants viewed three types of video stimuli, each depicting different levels of contextual information. Performance effectiveness (response accuracy) and processing efficiency (response accuracy divided by corresponding mental effort) were measured. Skilled players recorded higher levels of response accuracy and processing efficiency compared to less-skilled counterparts. Processing efficiency significantly decreased under high- compared to low-anxiety conditions. No difference in response accuracy was observed. When reviewing directional errors, anxiety was most detrimental to performance in the condition conveying only contextual information, suggesting that anxiety may have a greater impact on high-level (top-down) cognitive processes, potentially due to a shift in attentional control. Our findings provide partial support for ACT; anxiety elicited greater decrements in processing efficiency than performance effectiveness, possibly due to predominance of the stimulus-driven attentional system.     

Preventing the detrimental effect of posttraumatic stress in young children: The role of theory of mind in the aftermath of a natural disaster

We conducted a field study to test whether parents' negative reactions to a natural disaster affected children's reactions, together with the factors buffering this negative influence. Specifically, we examined whether parents' posttraumatic stress symptoms following an earthquake were associated with children's posttraumatic symptoms and their use of negative coping strategies. Theory of mind (ToM) was tested as the factor allowing children to reduce the detrimental effects of posttraumatic stress symptoms on negative coping. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of elementary school children and their parents in the aftermath of the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012. Results revealed that mothers' (but not fathers') posttraumatic stress symptoms were positively associated with children's posttraumatic stress symptoms, which acted as mediator on the use of negative coping strategies by children, but only among children with low ToM abilities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of findings.     

Treatment Populations,Services, and Outcomes for Cocaine and Crack-Cocaine Dependence

This paper analyzes demographic and other pretreatment characteristics, measures of treatment services received, and treatment outcomes of participantsin the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES), a large-scale longitudinal study of substance abuse treatment (D. R. Gerstein et al., 1997; R. A. Johnson & D. R. Gerstein, 2000). The focus here is those treated primarily for cocaine powder or crack-cocaine dependence, compared with those in treatment for other substances, particularly heroin. Crack-dependent users tend to be female and black, older than primary marijuana or alcohol users but younger than those in treatment for heroin. Primary cocaine powder or crack users are likely to have entered treatment under pressure from the criminal justice system. After treatment there are substantial reductions in use of cocaine powder and crack, especially among participants with fewer prior treatment episodes and lower pretreatment intensity of use. Longer duration and intensity of treatment result in greater reductions in cocaine and crack use.     

Analog scale,magnitude estimation,and person trade‐off as measures of health utility: biases and their correction

Subjects judged the disutility of health conditions (e.g. blindness) using one of them (e.g. blindness+deafness) as a standard, using three elicitation methods: analog scale (AS, how bad is blindness compared to blindness+deafness?); magnitude estimation (ME, blindness+deafness is how many times as bad as blindness?); and person trade‐off (PTO, how many people cured of blindness is as good as 10 people cured of blindness+deafness?). ME disutilities of the less bad condition were smallest, and AS was highest. Interleaving PTO with ME made PTO more like ME. AS disutilities were inconsistent with direct judgments of differences between pairs of conditions. ME and PTO judgments were internally inconsistent: e.g. the disutility of one‐eye‐blindness relative to blindness+deafness was larger than predicted from comparison of each to blindness. Consistency training reduced inconsistency, increased agreement between AS and PTO, and transferred from one method to the other. The results support the use of consistency checks in utility elicitation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.