Coping and Psychological Distress as a Function of the Bully Victim Dichotomy in Older Children

While it has been well established that bullying and being bullied have negative psychological consequences for children, the more recent literature has suggested a more complex relationship based on social cognition. A debate has arisen as to whether bullies have deficits or strengths in social cognition. In a study of 236 children (112 males and 124 females) aged between 12 and 15 years the current research explored three main aspects of social cognition, problem-solving style, perceived control and optimism in both bullies and victims. The findings suggest that the debate may hinge on whether the bullies are also victims. In this study bullies had higher scores on problem-solving control while bully victims had the lowest scores. These variations corresponded to differences in psychological distress suggesting that bullies may have developed more effective coping strategies with the reverse being true for bully victims     

The wording of conclusions in relational reasoning

Literature on relational reasoning mainly focuses on the performance question. It is typically argued that problem difficulty relies on the number of "mental models" compatible with the problem. However, no study has ever investigated the wording of conclusions that participants formulate. In the present work, we analyze the relational terms that people use in drawing conclusions from spatial relation problems (A is to the left of B, B is to the left C, D is in front of A, E is in front C, What is the relation between D and E?). We observed a general preference for expressing conclusions with 'left' rather than conclusions with 'right'. We also found that three factors had an influence on the wording of the conclusions: the linguistic form of premises, the question type and the presentation format. On the other hand, the number of models and premise order did not affect the wording of conclusions. Our study shows that the type of conclusion produced provides a new key to identifying the mental processes involved in spatial reasoning. Implications for the two main approaches to reasoning processes (i.e. the analogical and the propositional approaches) are discussed.     

Naïve deontics: a theory of meaning, representation, and reasoning

Deontic assertions concern what one ought to do, may do, and ought not to do. This paper proposes a theory of their meanings and of how these meanings are represented in mental models. The meanings of deontic assertions refer to sets of permissible and impermissible states. An experiment corroborated the ability of individuals to list these states. The most salient were those corresponding to the mental models of the assertions. When individuals reason, they rely on mental models, which do not make all states explicit. The theory predicts the most frequent conclusions drawn from deontic premises. It also predicts the occurrence of illusory inferences from assertions of permission, i.e., inferences that seem highly plausible but that are in fact invalid. Assertions of prohibitions, according to the theory, should reduce the illusions. Further experiments corroborated these predictions.     

On the experiential link between spatial and temporal language

How do we understand time and other entities we can neither touch nor see? One possibility is that we tap into our concrete, experiential knowledge, including our understanding of physical space and motion, to make sense of abstract domains such as time. To examine how pervasive an aspect of cognition this is, we investigated whether thought about a nonliteral type of motion called fictive motion (FM; as in The road runs along the coast) can influence thought about time. Our results suggest that FM uses the same structures evoked in understanding literal motion, and that these literal aspects of FM influence temporal reasoning.     

Effect of brief mindfulness and relaxation inductions on anxiety,affect and brain activation in athletes

The mindfulness-based intervention and psychological skills training are often used for maintaining the mental health or reducing undesirable mental states in athletes. However, their differences in acute effects on mental health and underlying neural mechanism are not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the differential effects of brief mindfulness induction (MI) and relaxation induction (RI) on state anxiety, affect and brain activation. Thirty-five track and field athletes were recruited for this study. Using a within-subjects crossover design, participants underwent three conditions that incorporated two 30-min experimental conditions (i.e., MI or RI) and a control condition. State anxiety and affect were assessed before and after intervention, and brain activation (i.e., theta, alpha bands) were recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) during each 30-min condition. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that MI and RI similarly reduced state anxiety and negative affect from pre-test to post-test compared to the control condition. In terms of positive affect, there were no significant differences among the three conditions across times. Furthermore, participants exhibited higher frontal theta power during the MI and RI than control condition, whereas no differences in alpha power were observed among conditions. The current study provides initial evidence from an electrophysiological perspective that brief MI and RI both improve the negative psychological states in individual sport athletes through similar neural mechanisms. Nevertheless, the moderating effects of training experiences and long-term interventions on mental state and EEG activity in athletes need further investigation in future studies.     

Interpersonal psychological well-being among coach-athlete-sport psychology practitioner triads

The importance of psychological well-being (PWB) is widely acknowledged in global policy and has important ramifications for health, performance, and engagement among sport performers. Despite this compelling knowledge, little is known about PWB in close sport relationships. We aimed to explore the interpersonal antecedents, transfer mechanisms, and outcomes of PWB within and among athletes, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners (SPPs). Underpinned by an interpretative paradigm, we conducted individual and triadic interviews with three coach-athlete-SPP triads from individual sports and analyzed data using abductive reasoning applied to reflexive thematic analysis. The themes we constructed relating to antecedents of PWB were situational properties of stressors, factors relating to the organization, shared values and characteristics, and interpersonal resilience. PWB was transferred among the triad via interpersonal coping, emotional contagion, and social appraising. PWB was cyclic in nature and, thus, we constructed themes (i.e., psychological safety, meaningful experiences of growth and development, and relational dynamics), which represented those factors that acted as both antecedents and outcomes. Our findings transcend individual understandings of PWB in sport by representing the first interpersonal examination of PWB among coach-athlete-SPP triads. This shift is crucial for informing how performers can collectively evaluate and manage PWB in the context of their close sport relationships. These findings implicate two primary recommendations: first, we recommend that researchers extend conceptual understanding of PWB among those in close sport relationships. Second, organizations and practitioners are encouraged to consider how mentoring and relationship-building schemes can be tailored within wider education and support programs to bolster PWB among athletes, coaches, and practitioners.     

Macronutrient intake as a prospective predictor of depressive symptom severity: An exploratory study with adolescent elite athletes

BackgroundAppropriate availability of macro- and micronutrients has an important impact on cognitive performance, mood and mental health. Although the critical role of nutrition for elite athletes’ performance was recognized early on, little is known about whether consumption of specific macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fat) predict the development of future depressive symptoms in adolescent elite athletes.MethodsParticipants were recruited from three Swiss Olympic Partner Schools (SOPS) in the Northwestern German speaking part of Switzerland. A total of 97 adolescent elite athletes (38% girls, M_age = 16.35 ± 1.19) participated in the study. Depressive symptoms (PHQ9) were assessed at baseline and after 10 months follow-up. A 3-day food recall was completed three months after the baseline assessment. Linear regression analyses were used to examine whether macronutrients predict depression symptom severity after controlling for covariates and baseline depressive symptoms.ResultsHigher protein consumption in athletes was a prospective predictor of lower depressive symptom severity at follow-up (β = −35, p < .05). Several deviations from recommended nutritional standards were observed in elite athletes.ConclusionsThe findings of this exploratory study support the notion that dietary behaviour may be prospectively associated with athletes’ mental health. However, more research is required with larger samples and more in-depth assessment techniques. Future research should also examine whether nutrition education and dietary modification can be used to prevent depressive symptoms among adolescent elite athletes.     

The influence of mental toughness on responses to feedback in snooker: A real-time examination

Two experiments investigated whether mental toughness (MT) is associated with the ability to respond to and/or overcome unwanted information during real-time sport performance. Participants were male snooker players ranging from club to professional level, and MT was measured using the MTQ48 (Clough et al., 2002). In experiment 1, players performed five break-off shots and received deceptive feedback (either positive or negative) from the researcher about their performance relative to other players. Then they performed another five break-offs. Results showed a significant decline in performance following feedback, but no interaction with the nature of feedback or MT variables. In experiment 2, feedback was delivered by a coach and yielded a significant effect on performance. Specifically, negative feedback improved performance while positive feedback impaired performance. The Life Control subscale of the MTQ48 was a significant covariate. The results suggest that negative feedback, delivered constructively by a respected figure, may act as a catalyst for performance enhancement in snooker and that this is moderated by MT.     

Motor learning without physical practice: The effects of combined action observation and motor imagery practice on cup-stacking speed

In this study we explored training effects for combined action observation and motor imagery (AO + MI) instructions on a complex cup-stacking task, without physical practice. Using a Graeco-Latin Square design, we randomly assigned twenty-six participants into four groups. This counterbalanced the within-participant factor of practice condition (AO + MI, AO, MI, Control) across four cup-stacking tasks, which varied in their complexity. On each of the three consecutive practice days participants experienced twenty trials under each of the three mental practice conditions. On each trial, a first-person perspective video depicted bilateral cup-stacking performed by an experienced model. During AO, participants passively observed this action, responding only to occasional colour cues. For AO + MI, participants imagined performing the observed action and synchronised their concurrent MI with the display. For MI, a sequence of pictures cued imagery of each stage of the task. Analyses revealed a significant main effect of practice condition both at the ’surprise’ post-test (Day 3) and at the one-week retention test. At both time points movement execution times were significantly shorter for AO + MI compared with AO, MI and the Control. Execution times were also shorter overall at the retention compared with the post-test. These results demonstrate that a complex novel motor task can be acquired without physical training. Practitioners can therefore use AO + MI practice to supplement physical practice and optimise skill learning.     

Testing the bidirectional relationship between belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and psychological distress: A five-wave longitudinal study

Previous studies have primarily focused on understanding why people believe conspiracy theories, especially during societal crises (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). The investigation of how such conspiracy beliefs would influence people's mental well-being has just begun recently. The present research aims to address this crucial question by testing the relationships between psychological distress and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs with a five-wave longitudinal study. On the one hand, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs could be more appealing to people with heightened distress, as these theories apparently help people to make sense of the uncertainty and life-threatening disease outbreak. On the other hand, conspiracy theories could be a source of existential threat and thus, would induce rather than reduce psychological distress. We tested these possibilities empirically by a series of cross-lagged model analyses. Using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis, we only found a between-person association but not a cross-lagged within-person relationship between the two. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs was predicted by being more politically conservative. These findings were further corroborated by the supplementary latent growth curve analyses. Overall, our findings suggest that conspiracy beliefs may not induce or reduce psychological distress in the context of COVID-19.