Le « sens de la vie » comme paradigme pour le conseil en orientation

Choosing a career requires the fundamental question of life meaning. If this issue was not treated in the career counseling research, his interest was reaffirmed by the development of new trends around life designing and positive psychology. This article discusses the various components (philosophical, theoretical and empirical psychology) of work on life meaning. It aims to demonstrate the usefulness and the unity of the concept for vocational guidance and model the theoretical principles. Finally, new directions are outlined in the design of new methods of guidance and researches.     

Subjective correlates and consequences of belief in free will

Four studies measured or manipulated beliefs in free will to illuminate how such beliefs are linked to other aspects of personality. Study 1 showed that stronger belief in free will was correlated with more gratitude, greater life satisfaction, lower levels of perceived life stress, a greater sense of self-efficacy, greater perceived meaning in life, higher commitment in relationships, and more willingness to forgive relationship partners. Study 2 showed that the belief in free will was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction, meaning in life, gratitude, and self-efficacy than either locus of control or implicit person theory. Study 3 showed that experimentally manipulating disbelief in free will caused a reduction in the perceived meaningfulness of life. Study 4 found that inducing a stronger belief in free will caused people to set more meaningful goals for themselves. The possible concern that believers in free will simply claim all manner of positive traits was contradicted by predicted null findings with regard to sense of humor, empathy, and self-rated attractiveness. Taken together, the present studies show that the belief in free will is a strong predictor of several positive traits and outcomes.     

Do we need positive illusions to carry out plans? Illusion: and instrumental coping

This study tested the theory that positive illusions and instrumental (problem-focused) coping behaviours are related (Brown, J. D. (1993). Coping with stress: The beneficial role of positive illusions. In A. P. Turnbull, J. M. Patterson, S. K. Behr, D. L. Murphy, J. G. Marquis, & M. J. Blue-Banning (Eds.), Cognitive coping, families, and disability, Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.). Positive illusion was assessed as a discrepancy between positive bias towards the self in trait ratings and positive bias towards average others, where ratings were self-favouring. Problem-focused coping was assessed through recall of coping with a recent stressful situation. The results showed that positive illusion scores were unrelated to problem-focused coping scores. It was suggested that although individuals need to be positive to cope well they do not need positive illusions. Tests for gender differences showed that males held more positive illusions than females. No gender differences were found for problem-focused coping but females used emotion-focused coping more than males to cope with a recent stressful situation.     

Work-to-family conflict, positive spillover, and boundary management: a person-environment fit approach

This study adopted a person-environment fit approach to examine whether greater congruence between employees’ preferences for segmenting their work domain from their family domain (i.e., keeping work matters at work) and what their employers’ work environment allowed would be associated with lower work-to-family conflict and higher work-to-family positive spillover. Different facets of work-to-family conflict (time-based and strain-based) and positive spillover (affective and instrumental) were examined. According to latent congruence modeling of survey data from 528 management employees, congruence was negatively related to both time-based and strain-based work-to-family conflict and positively related to work-to-family instrumental positive spillover as expected. However, contrary to expectations, congruence was negatively related to work-to-family affective positive spillover. Implications for how boundary management processes may affect both positive and negative experiences of the work-family interface are discussed.     

The effect of positive emotion on infants' gaze shift

Infants often voluntarily glance at their social partner during their toy play, disengaging their gaze from a toy and selecting a caregiver as their new looking target. This study posed two research questions: Do positive emotions disengage infants' gaze from their point of fixation, and do positive emotions facilitate the selection of the caregiver as their next looking target? The rate of gaze shifts was calculated for neutral and positive emotional states during their toy play. Across all ages, infants exhibited more disengagement from their point of fixation in the positive state than in the neutral one. However, 6- and 9-month-old infants revealed no difference in selecting a caregiver or a physical object as their next looking target in the positive state, but 12-month-olds increased gazing at caregivers in the positive state. These results were discussed with regard to the role of positive emotions on the development of infants' initiating joint attention.     

Do the core self-evaluations moderate the relationship between subjective well-being and physical and psychological health?

This study investigates the role that core self-evaluations (CSE) plays on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and health functioning. The findings from a sample of 160 undergraduate students revealed that CSE explains incremental variance in physical and psychological health functioning, above and beyond the effect of SWB. The results also revealed that CSE moderated the relationship of two indicators of SWB (PA/NA and satisfaction with life) with physical functioning, suggesting that individuals who have positive emotions and/or are satisfied with their lives and simultaneously are high CSE are more likely to demonstrate good physical health functioning. Contrary to expectations, the results revealed that CSE did not moderate the relationship between SWB and psychological health functioning. The findings are discussed in the context of the importance of CSE on health psychology, while implications for practice and directions for future research are proposed.     

Fear and avoidance of driving among drivers involved in a road traffic crash. The role of traumatic fear and driving cognitions

Fear and avoidance of driving are possible consequences of involvement in road traffic crashes (RTCs). Few studies have assessed the factors associated with fear and avoidance of driving after an RTC. The aim of this present study is to investigate the relations among trauma appraisals of fear, negative driving cognitions, fear and avoidance of driving in a sample of people who experienced vehicle crashes. Further, the mediating role of negative driving cognitions in the relation between trauma appraisals, fear of driving and avoidance of driving was assessed. The sample was comprised of 116 drivers who had been involved in an RTC in the past two years. Negative driving cognitions positively predicted fear of driving and avoidance of driving. Moreover, negative driving cognitions mediated the relation among trauma appraisals of fear with fear of driving and avoidance of driving. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Subjective family socio-economic status,school social capital,and positive youth development among young adolescents in China: A multiple mediation model

Previous research has demonstrated that subjective socio-economic status (SES) and school social capital are associated with a wide range of socio-emotional outcomes for children. Less is known about whether subjective SES is linked to overall child development and whether school social capital is a mediator in developing countries. The current study aimed to examine the association between subjective SES and positive youth development (PYD) among young adolescents in China, explore whether student–teacher relationships and student–student relationships mediated this association, and test whether there were gender differences in these associations. The analytical sample included a total of 1011 seventh-graders (mean age = 13.24, SD = .69; 53.70% boys) recruited from Beijing and Anhui Provinces. The results showed that subjective SES was positively and significantly associated with PYD and that student–teacher relationships and student–student relationships played independent and joint mediating roles in the link between the two constructs. In addition, girls benefited more than boys from having closer relationships with teachers. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting school social capital in reducing PYD disparities across subjective SES levels, and suggest that school should be an effective venue for interventions to promote PYD among young adolescents in China.     

Social anxiety and cognitive expectancy of aversive outcome in avoidance conditioning

Fear conditioning studies have shown that social anxiety is associated with enhanced expectancy of aversive outcome. However, the relation between cognitive expectancy and social anxiety has never been tested in avoidance conditioning paradigms. We compared 48 low (LSA) and high socially anxious individuals (HSA) on subjective expectancy of aversive outcome during an avoidance conditioning task. Displays of neutral faces were coupled with an aversive outcome (US): a shout and a shock. Participants could avoid the US by pressing a correct button from a button box. First, HSA showed higher US expectancy than LSA during the initial phase of avoidance conditioning, supporting the view that socially anxious individuals have an expectancy bias when social situations are ambiguous. Second, when the avoidance response became unavailable, LSA showed lower US expectancy than HSA, suggesting that low socially anxious individuals are prone to a positive bias when perceived threat is high. A lack of such positive bias in socially anxious individuals may lead to higher susceptibility to safety behavior interpretations. Together, these findings support the role of cognitive processes in avoidance conditioning and underscore the relevance to encounter avoidance learning when studying social anxiety.