Perfectionism and doping willingness in athletes: The mediating role of moral disengagement

Although trait perfectionism has been related to doping attitudes in athletes, research investigating variables that could account for relationships between perfectionism and doping outcomes has received scant attention. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether perfectionism was related to doping willingness directly, and indirectly via moral disengagement. We recruited a sample of 204 student athletes (M age = 19.12 years, SD = 1.17, n = 81 females - 39.70%) who completed measures of perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, doping moral disengagement, and doping willingness. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping willingness (β = .13, p < .05) and a nonsignificant relationship between perfectionistic strivings and doping willingness (β = −.01, p > .05). Moreover, bias-corrected bootstrapped indirect effects revealed that doping moral disengagement mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping willingness (ab = .12; 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.21). The findings suggest that the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and doping extends beyond attitudes – to doping willingness – and the propensity to morally disengage explains why this is the case.     

Humanitarian intervention and historical responsibility

Some suggest that the duty of humanitarian intervention should be discharged by states that are historically responsible for the occurrence of violence. A fundamental problem with this suggestion is that historically responsible states might be ill-suited to intervene because they are unlikely to enjoy support from the local population. Cécile Fabre has suggested a way around that problem, arguing that responsible states ought to pay for humanitarian interventions even though they ought not to take part in the military operations. We claim that Fabre’s idea is subject to two concerns. First, the duty to perform might not be appropriately transferrable from the historically responsible state to another state because it would allow the primary duty bearer to escape the worst costs of intervention. Second, an intervention might be as unlikely to generate local support when a historically responsible state pays for an intervention as when it performs it. These problems are enough to cast doubt on Fabre’s idea. However, the idea is helpful because it highlights as yet neglected questions about how the financial and material burden of humanitarian intervention is to be shared.     

The practice of humanitarian work psychology

Humanitarian work psychology (HWP) seeks to improve the welfare of workers who provide a broad range of support to survivors of calamities both natural and man-made. It is an emerging interdisciplinary field of practice spanning expertise from many psychological fields to promote decent work and safe work conditions for those at the forefront of acute disasters of any kind. Personnel functions and health and safety issues are critical to humanitarian service roles. Research is needed to best inform the practice of humanitarian work in a globalised world culture, including strategies to support the well-being of individuals that are involved in humanitarian work.     

A multi-sample investigation of the higher-order latent dimensionality of the Sport-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-2

ObjectiveExamine the higher-order latent dimensionality of the Sport-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-2 (Sport-MPS-2: Gotwals & Dunn, 2009).DesignCorrelational.MethodA total of 1605 athletes (562 female) from eight independent samples completed the Sport-MPS-2. Athletes in one sample (n = 239) also completed a portion of the Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport (MIPS: Stoeber, Otto, & Stoll, 2006). The correlation matrices among the Sport-MPS-2 subscales for five samples were analyzed with exploratory factor analyses. The covariance matrices for the subscales in the three remaining samples (including the sample that completed the MIPS) were analyzed with confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM: Asparouhov & Muthén, 2009).ResultsTwo highly interpretable factors—labelled Perfectionistic Strivings and Perfectionistic Concerns—were obtained for each data set.ConclusionTheorists note the importance of using multiple indicators to measure perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns in sport. The current factor-analytic and ESEM results indicate that the six subscales comprising the Sport-MPS-2 may help to achieve this objective.     

Anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns drive the relation between anxiety sensitivity and symptoms of depression

Depression is typically treated as a homogeneous construct despite evidence for distinct cognitive, affective, and somatic symptom dimensions. Anxiety sensitivity (AS; the fear of consequences of anxiety symptoms) is a cognitive risk factor implicated in the development of depressive symptoms. However, it is unclear how lower order AS dimensions (i.e. physical, cognitive, and social concerns) relate to depressive symptom factors. Confirmatory factor analysis, followed by structural equation modeling, were conducted to examine the factor structure of depression and to then examine the relations between these factors and the lower order factors of AS. This study was conducted in a sample of 374 adults (M age = 35.5, 54.3% female) with elevated levels of psychopathology (89.2% meeting criteria for at least one DSM-5 diagnosis, 25.6% primary depressive disorder). In this study a two-factor model of depression, composed of Cognitive and Affective/Somatic factors, was superior to one- and three-factor solutions. AS cognitive concerns were related to both cognitive and affective/somatic symptoms of depression. Neither of the other AS dimensions was related to depression symptom dimensions. These findings provide a better understanding of the relations between AS and depression symptoms.     

A re-examination of the 2x2 model of perfectionism,burnout, and engagement in sports

Studies examining perfectionism, engagement and burnout in sport have produced different levels of support for the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism. One explanation for why this is so is that researchers have used different measures of perfectionism when testing the hypotheses. To determine whether this is the case, in the current study we retested the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model for engagement and burnout using different measures of perfectionism. A sample of 401 adult athletes from various sports and levels completed measures of athlete engagement and burnout, along with two measures of perfectionism. Moderated regression analyses revealed that support for the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model did indeed differ depending on the measure of perfectionism. This was evident for both burnout (emotional and physical exhaustion and reduced sense of accomplishment) and engagement (dedication and vigor). The findings are aligned with similar work that has found differences in support for the hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model when using other measures of perfectionism for engagement and, importantly, provide the first evidence that this extends to athlete burnout. Researchers will need to consider the influence of the measures of perfectionism used when interpreting, comparing, and summarising future research on the 2 × 2 model for these and other outcomes.     

Shared emotions

Existing scientific concepts of group or shared or collective emotion fail to appreciate several elements of collectivity in such emotions. Moreover, the idea of shared emotions is threatened by the individualism of emotions that comes in three forms: ontological, epistemological, and physical. The problem is whether or not we can provide a plausible account of “straightforwardly shared” emotions without compromising our intuitions about the individualism of emotions. I discuss two philosophical accounts of shared emotions that explain the collectivity of emotions in terms of their intentional structure: Margaret Gilbert's plural subject account, and Hans Bernhard Schmid's phenomenological account. I argue that Gilbert's view fails because it relegates affective experience into a contingent role in emotions and because a joint commitment to feel amounts to the creation of a feeling rule rather than to an emotion. The problems with Schmid's view are twofold: first, a phenomenological fusion of feelings is not necessary for shared emotions and second, Schmid is not sensitive enough to different forms of shared concerns. I then outline my own typology that distinguishes between weakly, moderately, and strongly shared emotions on the basis of the participants’ shared concerns of different degree of collectivity, on the one hand, and the synchronization of their emotional responses, on the other hand. All kind of shared emotions in my typology are consistent with the individualism of emotions, while the question about “straightforward sharing” is argued to be of secondary importance.     

Positive and negative behavioural intentions towards refugees in Turkey: The roles of national identification,threat, and humanitarian concern

The present research investigated positive and negative behavioural intentions towards Syrian refugees in Turkey. The behavioural intentions were examined in relation to national identification, perception of threat, and humanitarian concerns. A questionnaire was conducted among Turkish participants (n = 605) and the results showed that respondents made a distinction between negative and positive behavioural intentions towards Syrian refugees. Further, higher national identification was associated with more negative and less positive behavioural intentions, and perception of threat was responsible for these associations. In addition, humanitarian concern was associated with more positive behavioural intentions and less negative ones. Additionally, stronger humanitarian concern weakened the association between threat perceptions and negative behavioural intentions but also strengthened the association between higher threat and lower positive behavioural intentions.     

Humanitarian Intervention, Altruism, and the Limits of Casuistry

This essay argues that the ethics of humanitarian intervention cannot be readily subsumed by the ethics of just war without due attention to matters of political and moral motivation. In the modern era, a just war draws directly from self-benefitting motives in wars of self-defense, or indirectly in wars that enforce international law or promote the global common good. Humanitarian interventions, in contrast, are intuitively admirable insofar as they are other-regarding. That difference poses a challenge to the casuistry of humanitarian intervention because it makes it difficult to reason by analogy from the case of war to the case of humanitarian intervention. The author develops this point in dialogue with Michael Walzer, the U.S. Catholic bishops, and President Clinton. He concludes by showing how a casuistry of intervention is possible, developing a motivational rationale that draws on the Golden Rule.     

Biased interpretation in perfectionistic concerns: an experimental investigation

Background and objectives: Perfectionism is associated with the development and maintenance of several disorders. Given the importance of perfectionism understanding the biased information processes that underpin it is critical. The present study tested the hypothesis that heightened concern over mistakes subscale scores of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale are characterized by a tendency to impose emotionally negative interpretations on perfectionism-relevant situations.

Method and design: Seventy-six non-clinical, general population participants’ were presented with interpretations of scenarios where a protagonist was described as achieving well above what was required, but fell short of their own high standard. Using a within-subjects, quasi-experimental design, we assessed interpretations of these scenarios by examining the degree to which participants rated test sentences as being likely implications of the original scenarios.

Results: A generalized linear mixed model revealed higher concern over mistakes scores were associated with an increased tendency to rate negative target test sentences as being similar to the original perfectionism-relevant scenarios, and a reduced tendency to rate positive target test sentences as being similar to these original scenarios.

Conclusions: The findings provide support for the cognitive–behavioral model of perfectionism. These findings support the inclusion of strategies in cognitive–behavioral treatment of perfectionism to reduce interpretation bias.