Adaptation to an autoimmune disorder: Does mental flexibility impact illness-related self-regulation?

Objective: To examine whether mental flexibility moderates the relationship between illness representations of control and coping behaviour in individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Design: Recently, diagnosed RA (N = 80) and SLE (N = 75) patients completed questionnaires about illness representations of personal and treatment control and four coping behaviours: instrumental coping, adherence to medical advice, palliative coping and wishful thinking. Mental flexibility was assessed with the Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B), while visuomotor processing speed, as a confounder, was assessed with the Trail Making Test Part A (TMT-A). Moderated mediation models were tested within a bootstrapped multiple regression framework.

Results: TMT-A scores had no statistically significant moderation effects on the relation between representations and coping behaviour. Conversely, in those participants with SLE, TMT-B scores moderated the relation of personal control to wishful thinking and palliative coping, as well as the relation of treatment control to both wishful thinking and palliative coping. All significant effects were restricted to the SLE group.

Conclusion: Interactions between neurocognitive factors and the process of illness adaptation may emerge early during the course of SLE. The present findings highlight the role of cognitive functioning as an integral part of the illness-related self-regulation mechanism.     

Process Overlap Theory: A Unified Account of the General Factor of Intelligence

The most replicated result in the field of intelligence is the positive manifold, which refers to an all-positive pattern of correlations among diverse cognitive tests. The positive manifold is typically described by a general factor, or g. In turn, g is often identified as general intelligence, yet this explanation is contradicted by a number of results. Here we offer a new account of g: process overlap theory. According to the theory, cognitive tests tap domain-general executive processes, identified primarily in research on working memory, as well as more domain-specific processes. Executive processes are tapped in an overlapping manner across cognitive tests such that they are required more often than domain-specific ones. The theory provides an account of a number of findings on human intelligence. As well, it is formalized as a multidimensional item response model and as a structural model, and the neural mechanisms underlying the proposed overlapping processes are discussed.     

Decision-related action orientation predicts police officers' shooting performance under pressure

Background and Objectives: We aimed to test whether police officers’ trait self-control strength decreases negative effects of high pressure (HP) on state anxiety, shooting behavior, and shooting performance. Design and Methods: Forty-two officers performed a shooting test under both high and low-pressure (LP) conditions. Self-control strength was assessed with the decision-related action orientation (AOD) scale of the Action Control Scale (ACS-90). Effects of AOD on perceived anxiety, heart rate, shooting time, and shot accuracy were estimated and controlled for those of other individual difference measures (i.e. age, police working experience, trait anxiety, and threat-related action orientation). Results: After controlling for baseline values in the LP condition as well as the other individual difference measures, AOD significantly predicted shot accuracy in the HP condition. Conclusions: Results suggest that trait self-control strength in the form of AOD helps officers cope with anxiety and maintain perceptual-motor performance under HP.     

Trait predictors of placebo responses in itch

This study investigated trait predictors of placebo responses in the context of inflammatory skin reactions. This was a randomized, cross-over, experimental study using a deceptive placebo protocol. A healthy sample of volunteers (N = 48) completed online personality measures, then attended two laboratory sessions in which short-term inflammatory skin reactions were induced. One was a control session and the other the ‘treatment’ session in which a placebo cream was administered with the suggestion of a reduced skin reaction. A placebo response was defined as smaller skin reactions in control vs. treatment sessions. The traits ego resiliency and neuroticism were selected as possible predictors of placebo responses. Traits were selected in consideration of the two-faceted transactional model of placebo responsiveness and in light of empirical and psychometric considerations ego resiliency emerged as a consistent predictor of placebo responses in itch (p < .05). This is the first study to identify trait predictors of placebo responses in inflammatory skin reactions. Ego resiliency may typify greater placebo responsiveness; however, this may only be in certain contexts. Matching treatment approaches to bio-behavioural response tendencies may be useful clinically if the placebo component of traditional treatments can be enhanced.     

The electric vehicle: A new driving experience involving specific skills and rules

The arrival of the electric vehicle (EV) on the market is one consequence of government measures to improve air quality and reduce CO² emissions. However, the EV has specific properties of use associated with its limited range and relative silence compared to normal vehicles, influencing the mobility behaviours of drivers and requiring them to develop some new driving abilities. This paper examines the behavioural modifications brought about by daily use of an electric vehicle at three different levels of driving activity: strategic, tactical and operational. The study collected and analyzed the self-reported behaviours (via questionnaires and travels dairies) of 36 Parisian private drivers, each of whom drove for six months an electric MINI E prototype. The results of the study show that driving an EV requires a learning phase to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to operate the vehicle. At the strategic level of driving, drivers take into account the restricted range of the EV, implement a daily charge process, and develop new behaviours related to trip planning. The study also examines driver behaviour at the tactical level, in terms of driver interactions with other road users to deal with the silent nature of the EV, and at the operational level of driving, in terms of braking behaviour to master the regenerative braking function of the EV. The paper discusses the interactions between these three levels of driving activity.     

Helpful processes in psychological therapy for patients with primary cancers: A qualitative interview study

Aims: The purpose of this study was to identify what patients with primary cancers found helpful in therapy. Method: In‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted with eight patients who had completed a course of psychological therapy within an NHS psychology service for cancer patients. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The participants identified a range of helpful processes in therapy: talking and expressing their feelings to someone outside of the family; forming a relationship with their therapist; normalisation through the therapists' expert knowledge; problem‐solving and CBT. Limitations: As with all qualitative studies, the small sample and size and dependence on participant recall limits generalisability of the findings. Implications: The findings of this study are consistent with a pluralistic perspective: that multiple therapeutic processes ‐ aligned to a range of different orientations ‐ can be of value to patients with primary cancers. This supports the provision of a range of therapeutic interventions and strategies for this patient group.     

Exploring Individual and Contextual Antecedents of Attitudes Toward the Acceptability of Cheating and Plagiarism

The purpose of this study was to identify the relative contribution of individual and contextual predictors to students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and plagiarism. A group of 324 students from a tertiary institution in New Zealand completed an online survey. The findings indicate that gender, justice sensitivity, and understanding of university policies regarding academic dishonesty were the key predictors of the students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and plagiarism, both as agents of dishonest conduct and as witnesses of misconduct among their peers. The implications of these findings for the development of policies and initiatives in tertiary institutions are discussed.     

Cultural Adaptation of CBT for Aboriginal Australians

This paper provides a commentary and provides international context to the research conducted by J. Bennett‐Levy et al. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a highly structured psychological treatment that has unprecedented empirical validation relative to other approaches to therapy. Despite the wealth of evidence supporting its use, the case for CBT is far less compelling for ethnic minority groups. There is however a growing body of international literature supporting the notion of adaptation of CBT for these groups. The research by J. Bennett‐Levy et al. represents a positive step toward validating CBT for use with Australia's indigenous people that is likely to shape the future direction of research in this field. Suggestions are made regarding the next logical empirical steps in this important area of investigation.     

Causality as individual essence: its bearing on synchronicity

Causality, time, and number are subjectively lived realities and need to be noticed as such. Fundamental to the wide range of living experience, they are also basic to scientific knowing. In this article I examine causality in relation to an article on synchronicity by Harald Atmanspacher and Wolfgang Fach. My examination is neither scientific nor metaphysical, but rather phenomenological, as it is a clarification of form as individual essence of a thing. This non‐material form of an individual thing in the widest sense of the word ‘thing’ was rejected and so lost during modern seventeenth‐century science but, renewed now, can help describe synchronicity. A commentary by William Willeford follows.