The role of action in a creative theory of personality

Abstract

Psychoanalysis is a technique to let creativity develop, and thought must be a prelude to action, rather than its substitute. Megalomania, redefined according to Bion as the capacity to act responsibly, lies at the extreme positive end of the spectrum of personality.     

Reflections On The Intensive Measurement Of Stress,Coping, And Mood,With An Emphasis On Daily Measures

Abstract

This paper discusses reasons for the shift from longer-term measurement of stress, coping, and mood to more intensive measurement strategies. Daily assessments are common in intensive studies of these constructs. We review measures available to the researcher, focusing on various aspects of the constructs. While daily assessments are an improvement over less intensive methods, we also discuss shortcomings of these measures. Furthermore, current assessments may not capture many important dimensions of stressful occurrences, and we suggest that such occurrences be thought of in terms of episodes. Modifications of current assessments are discussed, as are even more intensive assessments of stress, coping, and mood.     

The role of social support as a moderator of the acute stress response: In Situ versus empirically-derived associations

Abstract

This investigation was designed to (1) evaluate the role of social support during an acute naturalistic stressor i.e., emergency dental treatment, (2) assess whether an in situ and an empirical measure of support exhibited consistent relationships with anxiety and (3) examine the relationship between the in situ and empirical measures of support. All participants completed a measure of social support prior to treatment and an anxiety measure prior to and following treatment. The effect of support on pre-treatment anxiety, post-treatment anxiety and change in anxiety during the treatment process was assessed. According to the in situ support measure, individuals high in support were accompanied to the clinic, and individuals low in support were unaccompanied. According to the empirical support measure, individuals high in support had actual support scores above the sample median. Individuals low in support had actual support scores below the sample median. Individuals high in in situ support were found to have significantly higher levels of pre-treatment anxiety. No other effects of support were observed for either support measure. Furthermore, while there was some evidence that the in situ and empirical measures of support were associated with consistent outcomes, in the main, they exhibited independence.     

the inventory of recent life experiences for cancer patients (IRLE-C): A decontaminated measure of cancer-based hassles

Abstract

Cancer is recognized to have multifaceted stressful impact on all areas of a patient's life. Researchers commonly use self-report questionnaires, intended to measure stressors objectively. However, the item-content and response-format of such scales often tap physical and mental responses to stress, thereby contaminating prediction of adverse impact. This article reports the development and validation of English and French versions of the Inventory of Recent Life Experiences for Cancer Patients (IRLE-C) which is designed to minimize such “criterion-contamination”. This entailed (1) avoiding items reflecting physical or subjective distress; (2) rating stressors for degree of exposure only; and (3) use of an innocuous scale title. The initial item pool was administered serially to a sample of 100 Francophone breast-cancer and prostate-cancer patients. To guard against inflating reliability and validity estimates through capitalizing on chance, we administered the 30-item final scale to an independent sample of 96 Francophone breast-cancer and prostate-cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment. Following the item-selection step, factorial structure and validity analyses were performed using the combined French-speaking sample (n= 196). Second, we administered the English version of the scale to an English-speaking sample of 127 cancer patients (various cancer sites and stages). The measure showed good internal consistency (.94 and .89 for the Francophone and Anglophone samples respectively) and met criteria for a 2-week test-retest reliability (r= .70 for the item-selection subsample and .80 for the cross-replication sub-sample). Correlations between the IRLE-C and the POMS Total Mood Disturbance were around .60 for both the Francophone and Anglophone samples. Avoiding contamination (through content and format) without losing its relationship to subjective distress, the IRLE-C appears a useful instrument for applying the stress-process model in oncology to establish clear distinctions among stressors, mediators, reactions, and consequences.     

Experimental test of a planning intervention for forming a ‘higher order’ health-habit

Abstract

Objective: Habit-formation interventions may help individuals initiate and maintain behaviour change. This paper proposes and empirically tests the idea that it is possible for individuals to form ‘higher-order habits’, or behaviours that can be executed in more than one way, and still be habitual.

Design: Participants (N?=?82) were healthy adults randomly assigned to an action-and-coping-planning intervention for forming a ‘higher-order habit’ of filling half of their dinner plates with fruits and vegetables or a control condition. Key measures were collected at baseline and 1, 2 and 3 weeks post-baseline. Participants submitted 3 pictures per week of their dinner plates via snapchat/email.

Main Outcome Measures: Intrinsic motivation, habit strength and behavioural frequency for filling half their dinner plates with fruits and vegetables.

Results: Intervention participants reported significantly greater habit strength at each follow-up time point. Controls did show some degree of habit formation, despite not fully forming a habit. Behavioural automaticity increased despite consuming a variety of fruits/vegetables; results did not depend on participants’ intrinsic motivation to consume fruits/vegetables.

Conclusion: It may be possible for individuals to form ‘higher-order’ habits, which may be particularly important in health contexts, in which many target behaviours are complex and can be seen as higher-order.     

The Octopus Approach in Time Management: Polychronicity and Creativity

The current study examined the associations among polychronicity, creativity and perceived time pressure in a military context. Polychronicity refers to an individual’s preference for working on many tasks simultaneously as opposed to 1 at a time. As hypothesized, polychronicity was negatively related to creativity. In addition, perceived time pressure moderated this relationship. Specifically, polychronic individuals exhibited less creativity when their perceived time pressure was high. The results underscore that, although today’s work environment encourages polychronic approach, it, when reinforced with perceived high time pressure, runs the risk of reducing creativity, which is a critical driver for the survival of organizations.     

An Investigation into the Relationship Among ADHD Symptomatology,Creativity, and Neuropsychological Functioning in Children

This paper examined the relationship between creativity and ADHD symptomatology. First, the presence of ADHD symptomatology within a creative sample was explored. Secondly, the relationship between cognitive functioning and ADHD symptomatology was examined by comparing four groups, aged 10–12 years: 1) 29 ADHD children without creativity, 2) 12 creative children with ADHD symptomatology, 3) 18 creative children without ADHD symptomatology, and 4) 30 controls. Creativity, intelligence, processing speed, reaction time, working memory, and inhibitory control were measured. Results showed that 40% of the creative children displayed clinically elevated levels of ADHD symptomatology, but none met full criteria for ADHD. With regard to cognitive functioning, both ADHD and creative children with ADHD symptoms had deficits in naming speed, processing speed, and reaction time. For all other cognitive measures the creative group with ADHD symptoms outperformed the ADHD group. These findings have implications for the development and management of creative children.