This paper investigates the effects of stock pledge by controlling shareholder on corporate's future innovation productivity and the mechanism through which stock pledge affects innovation. We find ...that both the existence of stock pledge by controlling shareholder and the percentage of shares pledged by controlling shareholder are significantly negatively related to firms' future innovation outputs and quality, and these baseline results are robust to a variety of tests on sample selections, model specifications, and variable definitions. We further adopt several methodologies to address endogeneity concerns and establish a causal relationship between stock pledge by controlling shareholder and innovation. We then provide evidence to show that the impediment effect of stock pledge by controlling shareholder on innovation is possibly due to controlling shareholder's fear of losing corporate control in case of innovation failure. Finally, we find that although stock pledge is a possible channel to relieve a firm's financial constraint, it does not encourage the firm to invest more in innovation.
•This paper investigates the effects of stock pledge by controlling shareholder on corporate innovation.•Stock pledge by controlling shareholder impedes firms' future innovation outputs and quality.•The impediment effect is likely due to controlling shareholder's fear of losing corporate control.•Stock pledge does not encourage financially constrained firms to invest more in innovation.
Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that dysfunctional beliefs influence symptoms. However, well-established belief domains do not fully explain OCD symptomatology, ...suggesting other cognitive mechanisms may be involved. An additional belief domain which may play a role in OCD is beliefs about losing control. Indeed, these beliefs have been found to be associated with OCD symptoms. However, the relationships between beliefs about losing control and other OCD phenomena, including other relevant dysfunctional beliefs, is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between beliefs about losing control and appraisals hypothesized to be relevant to OCD.BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESCognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that dysfunctional beliefs influence symptoms. However, well-established belief domains do not fully explain OCD symptomatology, suggesting other cognitive mechanisms may be involved. An additional belief domain which may play a role in OCD is beliefs about losing control. Indeed, these beliefs have been found to be associated with OCD symptoms. However, the relationships between beliefs about losing control and other OCD phenomena, including other relevant dysfunctional beliefs, is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between beliefs about losing control and appraisals hypothesized to be relevant to OCD.A total of 163 participants completed the experimental protocol, wherein they received false (positive or negative) feedback regarding the likelihood they may lose control and completed a vignette task asking them to read hypothetical scenarios relevant to OCD concerns (checking, and aggressive thoughts). Vignettes were followed by questions and prompts used to measure OCD-relevant appraisals.METHODSA total of 163 participants completed the experimental protocol, wherein they received false (positive or negative) feedback regarding the likelihood they may lose control and completed a vignette task asking them to read hypothetical scenarios relevant to OCD concerns (checking, and aggressive thoughts). Vignettes were followed by questions and prompts used to measure OCD-relevant appraisals.Based on MANOVAs, beliefs about losing control had a significant impact on appraisals in the checking, F (151) = 5.55, p = .001, and aggressive thoughts, F (151) = 2.898, p = .037, vignettes. However, planned comparison indicated that in the aggressive thoughts vignettes, this effect was in the opposite direction than was hypothesized.RESULTSBased on MANOVAs, beliefs about losing control had a significant impact on appraisals in the checking, F (151) = 5.55, p = .001, and aggressive thoughts, F (151) = 2.898, p = .037, vignettes. However, planned comparison indicated that in the aggressive thoughts vignettes, this effect was in the opposite direction than was hypothesized.The losing control induction may have inadvertently influenced participants' beliefs about the utility of thought control.LIMITATIONSThe losing control induction may have inadvertently influenced participants' beliefs about the utility of thought control.Findings provide preliminary evidence for an association between beliefs about losing control and OCD-relevant appraisals.CONCLUSIONSFindings provide preliminary evidence for an association between beliefs about losing control and OCD-relevant appraisals.
Fear of acting on unwanted impulses (e.g., stabbing a loved one) and avoidance of threatening stimuli (e.g., knives) are common phenomena in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Cognitive models of ...OCD suggest that maladaptive beliefs underlie the development and maintenance of symptoms. The goal of this experiment was to determine whether beliefs about losing control over one's behaviour lead to experiencing anxiety and intrusive thoughts while approaching stimuli that are commonly feared in OCD, and to behaving more cautiously while interacting with the stimuli. Undergraduate participants (N = 128) were provided with false feedback about the meaning of their intrusive thoughts: “having intrusive thoughts means that you are likely to lose control over your behaviour” versus “intrusive thoughts are normal”. Participants were then asked to approach sharp knives in a stepwise manner (i.e., behavioural approach test; BAT). Afterwards, they sorted the stimuli in a knife block as quickly as possible. Participants with higher (versus lower) beliefs about losing control experienced significantly increasing anxiety throughout the BAT. They also remembered experiencing more intrusive thoughts throughout the protocol and perceived themselves as less cautious while sorting the knives. Interestingly, objective measures of intrusive thoughts and caution were not significantly different between conditions.
•A manipulation of beliefs about losing control over one's behaviour was tested.•Higher beliefs about losing control led to increased anxiety around sharp knives.•These beliefs led to recalling more of one's intrusions about losing control.•These beliefs predicted lower perceived caution while interacting with knives.•Beliefs about losing control may be an important treatment target in CBT for OCD.
Purpose
Concerns about the likelihood, consequences, and meaning of losing control are commonplace across anxiety‐related disorders. However, several experimental studies have suggested that ...individuals without a diagnosis of a mental disorder also believe that they can and will lose control under the right circumstances. Understanding the range of beliefs about the nature and consequences of losing control can help us to better understand the continuum of negative beliefs about losing control.
Methods
The present study used thematic analysis to identify common beliefs about losing control in an unselected sample. Twenty‐one participants, half of whom met criteria for at least one anxiety‐related disorder, were interviewed about their beliefs about losing control.
Results
All 21 participants reported that losing control was possible. Losses of control were defined as multifaceted cognitive‐behavioural processes and were seen as negative considering the perceived consequences of the losses. Commonly described consequences were harm to oneself or others, powerlessness, and unpleasant emotions during (e.g., sadness, frustration, and anxiety) and following (e.g., regret, shame, and humiliation) a loss of control.
Conclusions
These results suggest that perceived losses of control are common and that negative beliefs about losing may only become problematic when the losses are personally significant. Further, they offer important insight into what is common among clinical and non‐clinical beliefs about losing control and inform how these beliefs might be worth targeting in cognitive and behavioural interventions.
Rectal cancer patients who have undergone lower anterior resection with sphincter-saving surgery often experience loss of bowel control. We currently do not have suitable treatment regimens for such ...patients.
The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of losing bowel control in patients who have undergone lower anterior resection with sphincter-saving surgery for rectal cancer in Taiwan.
A descriptive phenomenological study design was adopted. Purposive sampling and one-on-one semistructured interviews were conducted for data collection. Narratives were analyzed using Colaizzi's method.
Data saturation was achieved after interviewing 12 patients (8 men, 4 women) whose average age was 61 years. Three themes and 11 subthemes emerged: physical problems (pain from broken perianal skin, insomnia, decreased physical strength, and body weight loss), adverse psychological reactions (worries, helplessness, and social isolation), and the use of coping strategies (avoidance of inappropriate foods to reduce bowel irritation and peristalsis, reduction of food intake, and use of antidiarrheal drugs and perianal skincare products).
The study supports the importance of having a good understanding of patient experiences by healthcare professionals to provide more effective healthcare. Furthermore, awareness of the cultural issue of social isolation was deemed important for providing individualized healthcare.
Education, counseling, and psychological support can enhance patients' abilities to use coping strategies to overcome the physical and mental challenges of bowel symptoms. For example, appropriate diet-related education programs must be developed to reduce the trial-and-error learning process commonly adopted by patients to identify inappropriate foods.
Background
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is often conceptualized as arising from maladaptive cognitions. One cognitive domain that has received relatively little attention, despite endorsement from ...people struggling with social anxiety, is the belief that they may lose control over their speech/behaviour and/or their physical symptoms of anxiety. The present study aimed to evaluate the causal role of these beliefs on social anxiety symptoms in an analogue sample.
Methods
Beliefs were manipulated using false feedback in undergraduate psychology students (
N
= 130) to induce either high or low levels of beliefs about losing control. Participants then engaged in a social interaction task with a confederate.
Results
The high beliefs about losing control (HLC) condition reported greater anxiety just before meeting the confederate than the low loss of control (LLC) condition. Further, HLC participants reported worse social performance and greater perceived failures of control than did those in the LLC condition during their interaction with a confederate.
Conclusion
Results suggest beliefs about losing control are producing cognitive and behavioural changes which may in part explain differences in performance in social interactions. Beliefs about losing control appear to be relevant to the cognitive model of social anxiety. Future studies should consider whether these beliefs are malleable among individuals with SAD.
Background
Social anxiety is associated with increased
and
decreased alcohol use. Alcohol expectancies may help explain these inconsistencies. For example, a fear of losing control in front of others ...could motivate avoidance of alcohol. Similarly, cognitive models propose that individuals with elevated social anxiety believe they are at risk of behaving inappropriately and embarrassing themselves, indicating that beliefs about losing control over one’s behaviour may be involved in social anxiety. This experiment aimed to manipulate negative alcohol expectancies about losing control to assess their impact on symptoms and processes associated with social anxiety.
Methods
Ninety-three undergraduate participants (i.e., non-clinical sample) were randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or control condition and were ‘informed’ that alcohol makes people lose control over their actions/speech. They then completed a ‘getting to know you’ task.
Results
Participants in the placebo and alcohol (versus control) conditions experienced greater anxiety before and during the task and engaged in more post-event processing 24 h later. However, the physiological effects of alcohol influenced results: participants in the alcohol (versus placebo) condition experienced lower anticipatory anxiety, perceived themselves as making a better first impression, and demonstrated a lower reliance on safety behaviour.
Conclusions
Although this experiment used a non-clinical sample, beliefs about losing control may be important to consider when conceptualizing social anxiety and treating associated symptoms from a cognitive-behavioural framework.
Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) posit that maladaptive beliefs lead to the development of symptoms. However, psychometric studies have provided mixed evidence regarding ...whether beliefs about control over thoughts predict OCD symptoms above and beyond other obsessive beliefs. Clinical reports have documented concerns among those diagnosed with OCD regarding a potential loss of control over their thoughts and behaviour, indicating that broadening the scope of beliefs about control by integrating aspects of losing control may better explain their role in OCD. In this study, 133 undergraduate participants underwent a bogus EEG session and received (positive or negative) false feedback about the possibility that they may lose control over their thoughts and behaviour, and completed a task asking them to control the pace of pictures. As hypothesized, participants in the high (versus low) beliefs about losing control condition checked significantly more often which keys they should use to control the pictures, t(106.95) = 2.28, p = .02, d = .44, demonstrating that manipulating beliefs about control can impact checking behaviour when a potential loss of control is emphasized. Also, checking behaviour predicted a lower desire for control, such that compulsions may be seen as opportunities to re-establish disrupted control cognitions.
•A broader conceptualization of beliefs about control over thoughts is proposed.•A manipulation of beliefs about control with a focus on losing control is tested.•Manipulating beliefs about a potential loss of control led to checking behaviour.•Checking behaviour predicted a lower desire for control.•Beliefs about losing control should potentially be targeted during CBT.
Cognitive theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) proposes that maladaptive beliefs play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of symptoms. Clinical reports as well as recent ...psychometric and experimental investigations suggest that control-related beliefs in OCD may benefit from expansion to include aspects of losing control. However, currently available measures either focus on other facets of control (e.g., sense of control) or do not put emphasis on beliefs about losing control (e.g., beliefs about control over thoughts). The current study aimed to develop and validate the Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory (BALCI), a self-report measure of negative beliefs about losing control, in a sample of undergraduate participants (N= 488). An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the BALCI's 21 items capture negative beliefs about losing control over one's thoughts, behaviour, and emotions (Factor 1), beliefs about the importance of staying in control (Factor 2), and beliefs about losing control over one's body/bodily functions (Factor 3). The BALCI was also found to have good convergent and divergent validity and to be associated with elevated OCD symptoms above and beyond previously identified obsessive beliefs. Theoretical implications and recommendations for the field of cognitive-behaviour therapy are discussed.
The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory (BALCI) in the non-clinical Turkish emerging adults sample. The study group consisted of 549 participants from ...three study phases and aged between 18 and 28 years and mainly women. According to the results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the BALCI Turkish Version (BALCI-TV) confirmed 21 items in three factors. The network analysis findings showed that the items including the factors were together. The results indicated that configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance across the gender. Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω of the total BALCI-TV were .90. Test–retest correlation result was .89. All results indicated that the BALCI-TV had good psychometric properties. The BALCI-TV can be provided to measure control and beliefs related to control within obsessive–compulsive disorder for Turkish academics and mental health practitioners.
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