Comparing an interdependent and dependent group contingency to increase physical activity in students during recess

Physical activity produces important physiological, mental health, academic, and cognitive benefits in children and youth. Despite these advantages, a large proportion of this population does not meet the recommended amount of physical activity. Recent studies have shown that the interdependent (IGC) and dependent (DGC) group contingencies improve physical activity; however, no comparison of the effects of these contingencies on physical activity has been conducted. We used a multielement within a concurrent multiple baseline design across three classes to compare the effectiveness of group contingencies on physical activity. Both group contingencies increased physical activity, with the IGC producing slightly higher overall levels of physical activity at the classwide and individual levels of analyses. We also compared participants' positive and negative statements and found that, regardless of the group contingency in effect, participants emitted higher levels of positive statements about the contingency when they earned the reward than when they did not, suggesting that reward delivery influenced statements more so than the group contingency arrangement. Results are discussed within the context of treatment decisions and future research.     

负性情绪调节中认知重评和分心策略的作用:ERPs研究

采用事件相关电位技术,考察了认知重评和分心两种情绪调节策略对负性情绪体验和脑电活动的影响。结果发现,认知重评后被试的负性情绪体验强度和LPP波幅(300~1300ms)比简单注视条件下低;分心后被试的负性情绪体验强度比简单注视条件下低,但LPP波幅显示比简单注视条件下高。这说明认知重评和分心对负性情绪体验和脑电活动的影响不同,负性刺激再次呈现时认知重评优于分心策略的调节。该研究为认知重评和分心的比较研究提供了神经电生理学方面的证据。     

Depression as a mediator of negative cognitive style and hopelessness in stress generation

Over the past 20 years, there has been considerable interest in the role of cognitive factors in the stress generation process. Generally, these studies find that depressed individuals, or individuals at cognitive risk for depression, are more likely to experience stressful life events that are in part influenced by their own characteristics and behaviours (i.e., negative dependent events). However, there is still much to be learnt about the mediators of these effects. For example, does the development of depression symptoms explain why individuals at cognitive risk for depression experience increased negative dependent events? Or, is it that increases in cognitive risk explain why depressed individuals experience increased negative dependent events? To explore these questions, a short‐term prospective study was conducted with 209 college students who were given measures of depression, depressogenic risk factors (i.e., negative cognitive style and hopelessness), and negative dependent events at two time points 6 weeks apart. Support was found for three models: (1) depression symptoms mediated the relationship between negative cognitive style and negative dependent events; (2) depression symptoms mediated the relationship between hopelessness and negative dependent events; and (3) first hopelessness and then depression symptoms mediated the relationship between negative cognitive style and negative dependent events in a multiple‐step model. In contrast, the reverse models were not confirmed, suggesting specificity in the direction of the mediational sequence.     

A model-based comparison of three theories of audiovisual temporal recalibration

Observers change their audio-visual timing judgements after exposure to asynchronous audiovisual signals. The mechanism underlying this temporal recalibration is currently debated. Three broad explanations have been suggested. According to the first, the time it takes for sensory signals to propagate through the brain has changed. The second explanation suggests that decisional criteria used to interpret signal timing have changed, but not time perception itself. A final possibility is that a population of neurones collectively encode relative times, and that exposure to a repeated timing relationship alters the balance of responses in this population. Here, we simplified each of these explanations to its core features in order to produce three corresponding six-parameter models, which generate contrasting patterns of predictions about how simultaneity judgements should vary across four adaptation conditions: No adaptation, synchronous adaptation, and auditory leading/lagging adaptation. We tested model predictions by fitting data from all four conditions simultaneously, in order to assess which model/explanation best described the complete pattern of results. The latency-shift and criterion-change models were better able to explain results for our sample as a whole. The population-code model did, however, account for improved performance following adaptation to a synchronous adapter, and best described the results of a subset of observers who reported least instances of synchrony.     

Transformations in hallucinosis and the receptivity of the analyst

Bion describes transformation in hallucinosis (TH) as a psychic defence present in elusive psychotic scenarios in which there is a total adherence to concrete reality: as the hallucinatory activity which physiologically infiltrates perception and allows us to know reality, setting it off against a background of familiarity; and then, surprisingly, as the ideal state of mind towards which the analyst has to move in order to intuit the facts of the analysis. When hallucinosis is followed by ‘awakening’, the analyst gains understanding from the experience and goes through a transformation that will inevitably be transmitted to the analytic field and to the patient. In this paper I illustrate Bion's concept and underline its eminently intersubjective nature. Then I differentiate it from two other technical devices: reverie, which unlike hallucinosis does not imply the persistence of a feeling of the real, and Ferro's transformation in dreaming, i.e. purposeful listening to everything that is said in the analysis as if it were the telling of a dream. Finally, I try to demonstrate the practical utility of the concept of transformation in hallucinosis in order to read the complex dynamics of a clinical vignette. Though not well known (only two references in English in the PEP archive), TH proves to be remarkably versatile and productive for thinking about psychoanalytic theory, technique and clinical work.     

生命意义与主观幸福感的关系:基于中国样本的元分析

运用元分析的方法来探讨生命意义与主观幸福感的关系。纳入了符合元分析标准的文献45篇,共51个独立样本,总样本量为27291。元分析结果表明:生命意义与主观幸福感(r=0.505,p0.001),生活满意度(r=0.395,p0.001)和积极情感(r=0.325,p0.001)呈显著正相关,而与消极情感(r=-0.195,p0.1)呈显著负相关。生命意义与主观幸福感的关系受到性别和被试群体的调节,如性别能显著正向调节二者的关系。结果表明,生命意义能有效预测主观幸福感。     

Addressing the role of personality,ability, and positive and negative affect in positive psychology interventions: Findings from a randomized intervention based on the authentic happiness theory and extensions

The present study explores the role of personality, ability, and affect in a randomized, group-based positive psychology intervention program based on Seligman’s authentic happiness theory and extensions. A total of 100 adults (M = 45.7, SD = 12.8) were randomly assigned to the 12-week intervention program (five training sessions) or a waiting list control group. The intervention consisted of basic information, group activities, and homework assignments. Participants in the intervention group demonstrated higher levels of happiness, pleasure, and engagement after completion of the program. Baseline levels of psychometric intelligence moderated the intervention effectiveness (greater effects for those higher in reasoning, vocabulary, and general intelligence). There were no effects for the big five personality traits. Finally, increases in positive affect before and after the homework assignment were associated with greater levels of happiness after the program. The relevance of these findings for the development of new programs is discussed.     

SNARC (spatial–numerical association of response codes) meets SPARC (spatial–pitch association of response codes): Automaticity and interdependency in compatibility effects

Concepts, including the mental number line, or addressing pitch as high and low, suggest that the spatial–numerical and spatial–pitch association of response codes (SNARC and SPARC) effects are domain-specific and thus independent. Alternatively, there may be dependencies between these effects, because they share common automatic or controlled decision mechanisms. In two experiments, participants were presented with spoken numbers in different pitches; their numerical value, pitch, and response compatibility were varied systematically. This allowed us to study SNARC and SPARC effects in a factorial design (see also Fischer, Riello, Giordano, &; Rusconi, 2013 Fischer, M. H., Riello, M., Giordano, B. L., &; Rusconi, E. (2013). Singing numbers?…?in cognitive space--a dual-task study of the link between pitch, space, and numbers. Topics in Cognitive Science, 5(2), 354–366. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12017[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants judged the stimuli on numerical magnitude, pitch, or parity (odd–even). In all tasks, the SNARC and SPARC effects had superadditive interactions. These were interpreted as both effects sharing a common mechanism. The task variation probes the mechanism: In the magnitude judgement task, numerical magnitude was explicit, whereas pitch was implicit; in the pitch judgement task, it was vice versa. In the parity judgement task, both dimensions were implicit. Regardless of whether they were implicit or explicit, both SNARC and SPARC effects occurred in all tasks. We concluded that by not requiring focal attention the common mechanism operates automatically.     

Clinical applications of Matte Blanco's thinking

Ignacio Matte Blanco (1908–1995) left very few specific indications about the applications of his theoretical notions to his interpretative style. The author shows how he uses Matte Blanco to formulate some of his own interpretations. The first part of the paper uses clinical vignettes to illustrate some of Matte‐Blanco's concepts. Their theoretical vocabulary is thus made explicit. Then two psychoanalytic sessions are discussed at greater length, together with one from a therapy, so that the use of Matte‐Blanco's notions can be seen clearly, allowing for a fresh perspective on areas of psychoanalytic theory, particularly dreams, psychopathology viewed according to the proportions of asymmetrical and symmetrical functioning in the patient's bi‐logical mental system, the multidimensionality of the unconscious, the structural unconscious, the emotion‐thought relationship, projective identification, resistance, and negative therapeutic reaction. The practical consequences of all this are elaborated, particularly the ensuing possibility of ‘thinking with the patient' in the session. This enables the patient to introject a form of mental functioning in which the asymmetrical mode is not invaded by the symmetric mode (a parallel can be seen here with the Bionian concept of dialogue between the psychotic and non‐psychotic parts of the mind).     

Feeling Better About Self After Receiving Negative Feedback: When the Sense That Ability Can Be Improved Is Activated

Past studies suggest that managers and educators often consider negative feedback as a motivator for individuals to think about their shortcomings and improve their work, but delivering negative feedback does not always achieve desired results. The present study, based on incremental theory, employed an intervention method to activate the belief that a particular ability could be improved after negative feedback. Three experiments tested the intervention effect on negative self-relevant emotion. Study 1 indicated conveying suggestions for improving ability reduced negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback. Study 2 tested whether activating the sense of possible improvement in the ability could reduce negative self-relevant emotion. Results indicated activating the belief that ability could be improved reduced negative self-relevant emotion after failure, but delivering emotion management information alone did not yield the same effect. Study 3 extended the results by affirming the effort participants made in doing the test, and found the affirmation reduced negative self-relevant emotion. Collectively, the findings indicated focusing on the belief that the ability could be improved in the future can reduce negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback.