The propensity to perceive and exert control in our environment contributes to both our adaptive behavior and general well-being. Prior studies have shown that humans have an inherent behavioral bias ...toward control-conferring environments and that this bias translates into greater subjective affect and is protective of our well-being. As such, it is vital to understand contextual factors that can alter our preference for control. In our previous work, we demonstrated that the behavioral bias toward control can be captured experimentally as the subjective value of control using a novel Value of Control task. We adapted this task in two experiments to study whether one's subjective value of control is (a) tied to overestimation of success probability or outcome magnitude (Experiment 1) and (b) affected by the contextual valence of a decision (e.g., gain, loss; Experiment 2). Using a within-subjects design (Experiment 1), we found that participants showed similar behavioral bias toward control regardless of whether probability or magnitude was manipulated, suggesting that the perception of control can increase both how much a reward is subjectively worth and the probability estimation for obtaining the given reward. Using a between-subjects design (Experiment 2), we showed that when the outcome was framed as a potential loss, participants significantly lowered their subjective value of control, suggesting that outcome valence plays a role in shaping how much perceived control influences our behavior. Collectively, these findings offer further insight into the malleability of an individual's perception of control and drive to perform control-seeking behaviors.
To better understand men's reluctance to seek help for mental health issues, we investigated the contributions of depression, stigma, and masculinity on help-seeking likelihood in a sample of ...depressed men. Two-hundred and fifty-eight men, who screened positive for depression on the PHQ-2, completed measures assessing self-stigma, self-reliance, emotional control, and general help-seeking likelihood via an online Qualtrics survey. Path analysis using MPlus tested one model of moderated mediation and two mediation models among the variables. Results supported a partial mediation model where (a) self-reliance, emotional control, and self-stigma directly related to lower likelihood of help-seeking, (b) self-reliance and emotional control predicted greater self-stigma, (c) depression predicted greater self-reliance and emotional control, (d) self-reliance and emotional control had indirect effects on help-seeking being partially mediated by self-stigma, and (e) depression had significant indirect effects on both help-seeking and stigma, being fully mediated by self-reliance and emotional control. We discuss the need to develop practices and interventions that address self-stigma's contribution to men's help-seeking through the complex relationships between depression and men's self-stigma as mediated by self-reliance and emotional control. Limitations to the study and future research directions are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Depression is costly in both human suffering and the hundreds of billions of dollars it costs the U.S. annually. Although treatment for depression is effective, men are less likely to seek help. The goal of this study was to better understand the complex relationships among masculinity, self-stigma, and depression as they explain help-seeking intentions in men who screened positive for depression. Our findings suggest the importance of psychologists addressing men's gendered reactions to their depression and how those gendered reactions contribute to self-stigma and less likelihood to seek help.
This study explored the relationship between emotional control, resilience, and mental health in cancer. Patients with cancer were recruited (n = 170). Courtauld Scale of Emotional Control, ...Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire were selected. Assuming the absence of interaction among the variables, they were analyzed separately. Four groups resulted, finding statistically significant differences (F(4, 165) = 18.03; p < 0.001). High resilience and low emotional control seem to be protective attributes, and high emotional control has demonstrated to be a risk factor for mental health. Considering differences in cancer-related psychological variables could derive in personalized psychotherapeutic interventions.
Emotional labor theory has conceptualized emotional display rules as shared norms governing the expression of emotions at work. Using a sample of registered nurses working in different units of a ...hospital system, we provided the first empirical evidence that display rules can be represented as shared, unit-level beliefs. Additionally, controlling for the influence of dispositional affectivity, individual-level display rule perceptions, and emotion regulation, we found that unit-level display rules are associated with individual-level job satisfaction. We also showed that unit-level display rules relate to burnout indirectly through individual-level display rule perceptions and emotion regulation strategies. Finally, unit-level display rules also interacted with individual-level dispositional affectivity to predict employee use of emotion regulation strategies. We discuss how future research on emotional labor and display rules, particularly in the health care setting, can build on these findings.
Background and objectives: Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the interventions used in the treatment of chronic medical conditions such as MS in recent years. Hence, this study was designed to ...determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on emotional control of MS patients in the city of Isfahan. Methods: The present study was a semi-experimental research which was conducted by using a pretest-posttest design with the control group. The study population consisted of all members of the MS Society of Isfahan in 2016-2017. Using the available sampling method, 30 subjects were selected and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (15 subjects for each group). Both groups completed Williams and Chambless emotional control questionnaire as the pre-test. After eight sessions (two one-hour sessions per week for four weeks) of cognitive-behavioral therapy, the posttest was performed for the groups. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods, including mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics including univariate covariance analysis in the SPSS 20 software. Results: The study participants included 16 married women and 14 married men. The mean age of the participants in the experimental and control groups was 30.23 ± 7.06 and 29.34 ± 7.15, respectively. The results of the univariate covariance analysis showed that a significant difference in the mean scores of emotional control from the pre-test to the post-test stage between the experimental group and the control group (P = 0.001). Thus, in the experimental group, the mean total score of emotional control in the pretest and post-test phases was equal to 71.66 and 31.33, respectively, while these values in the control group in the pre-test and post-test phases were 67.06 and 62.93, respectively. Also in the experimental group, the scores of four sub-scales of anger, depressed mood, anxiety, and positive emotions revealed significant differences between the post-test stage and the pre-test stage (P =0.001). Therefore, the cognitive-behavioral therapy was effective in improving the emotional control of MS patients. Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy, we recommended the use of this therapeutic method to improve the emotional control of the patients with MS.
The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM; Newman & Llera, 2011) has been well established in the literature on the etiology and maintenance of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Research has investigated ...other factors that may also characterize GAD, such as fear of emotional responding, negative problem orientation (NPO), and negative beliefs about control; however, these have yet to be explored within the context of the CAM regarding maintenance of GAD symptoms. The purpose of this study was to explore the predictive relationship between the above-mentioned factors and GAD symptoms, mediated by contrast avoidance. Participants (N = 99, 49.5% of whom scored in the upper range on GAD symptoms) completed a series of questionnaires across three time points, each one week apart. Results indicated that fear of emotional responding, NPO, and sensitivity to low perceived control predicted CA tendencies a week later. CA tendencies then mediated the relationship between each predictor and GAD symptoms in the following week. Findings suggested that known vulnerabilities for GAD predict coping with distressing internal responses via sustained negative emotionality (such as through chronic worry) as a way to avoid negative emotional contrasts. However, this coping mechanism itself may maintain GAD symptoms over time.
•Discomfort with emotions, NPO, and low perceived control are risk factors for GAD.•Risk factors for GAD predicted contrast avoidance tendencies one week later.•Contrast avoidance tendencies predicted subsequent GAD symptoms one week later.•Contrast avoidance linked known risk factors with maintenance of GAD symptoms over time.
Objective: Racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive aging are only partly attributable to socioeconomic indicators. Psychosocial factors, such as discrimination and perceived control, also differ ...across racial/ethnic groups, and emerging literature highlights their potential role in contributing to cognitive disparities in addition to socioeconomic status. Method: 1,463 older adults (51% Hispanic, 27% non-Hispanic Black, and 22% non-Hispanic White) in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project completed cognitive and psychosocial measures, including a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, Everyday and Major Experiences of Lifetime Discrimination scales, and the Perceived Control scale. Mediation models quantified separate indirect effects of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity on global cognitive composite scores through education, income, discrimination, and external perceived control. Results: Educational attainment, income, and perceived control each mediated racial/ethnic disparities in global cognition. Socioeconomic indicators (i.e., lower education and lower income) explained approximately 50% of the Black-White and Hispanic-White disparities in global cognition, and more external perceived control explained an additional 5%-8%. Hispanics reported the lowest levels of discrimination, while non-Hispanic Blacks reported the highest levels. However, neither everyday nor major lifetime discrimination was associated with global cognition. Significant racial/ethnic disparities in global cognition remained after accounting for the included socioeconomic and psychosocial factors. Conclusions: This study suggests that psychosocial factors may explain racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive aging above and beyond socioeconomic indicators. More external perceived control, which could reflect chronic exposure to interpersonal and institutional marginalization, may be a particularly salient psychosocial risk factor for poorer cognitive aging among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic older adults.
Key Points
Question: What factors explain racial/ethnic inequalities in cognitive functioning among older adults? Findings: Lower socioeconomic status and lower perceived control each contribute independently to racial/ethnic inequalities in cognitive functioning. Importance: Targeting both economic and psychosocial factors may help to reduce racial/ethnic inequalities in cognitive aging. Next Steps: Future research should disentangle causal pathways to inequality involving socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, which may be interactive and/or bidirectional.
Objective: The aim of this study is to validate the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and Adult ADHD Investigator Symptom Rating Scale (AISRS) expanded versions, including executive function ...deficits (EFDs) and emotional dyscontrol (EC) items, and to present ASRS and AISRS pilot normative data. Method: Two patient samples (referred and primary care physician PCP controls) were pooled together for these analyses. Results: Final analysis included 297 respondents, 171 with adult ADHD. Cronbach’s alphas were high for all sections of the scales. Examining histograms of ASRS 31-item and AISRS 18-item total scores for ADHD controls, 95% cutoff scores were 70 and 23, respectively; histograms for pilot normative sample suggest cutoffs of 82 and 26, respectively. Conclusion: (a) ASRS- and AISRS-expanded versions have high validity in assessment of core 18 adult ADHD Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) symptoms and EFD and EC symptoms. (b) ASRS (31-item) scores 70 to 82 and AISRS (18-item) scores from 23 to 26 suggest a high likelihood of adult ADHD.
In this study, we examined the relationship between emotional labor and burnout as well as job satisfaction. Besides, we also explored whether psychological capital (PsyCap) moderated the emotional ...labor-burnout or job satisfaction associations. In total, 264 full-time Chinese school teachers in China were recruited. Results showed that PsyCap was related to emotional labor, burnout, and job satisfaction in the hypothesized direction. Furthermore, PsyCap moderated the association between emotional labor and the outcome variables. For instance, positive association between surface acting on depersonalization as well as negative association with job satisfaction was weaker when PsyCap was high. In addition, positive association between deep acting and job satisfaction was further reinforced among participants with high PsyCap but not among participants with low PsyCap. Finally, the relationships of PsyCap with depersonalization as well as job satisfaction were more salient among employees who reported infrequent use of expression of naturally felt emotion. Limitations and implications of the study were discussed.
To develop the Chinese version of the Social Anxiety Cognition Scale for College Students (SACS-CS) based on Hofmann's model of social anxiety disorder and examine its reliability and validity.
Based ...on literature analysis and structured interviews, a theoretical model was constructed and behavioral examples were collected. According to the results of participants' and experts' evaluations, the initial SACS-CS was developed. The study data were collected from a total of 500 valid participants, randomly divided into two samples. Sample 1 (
= 200) and sample 2 (
= 300) were considered for exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), respectively. Internal reliability and validity were examined using all 500 participants, and temporal reliability was established using sample 3 (
= 70), who completed the scale again after 4 weeks.
The SACS-CS consists of 21 items, grouped under four factors: self-perception, social skills, emotional control, and cost estimation. The four-factor model fits well. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale and the four factors ranged from 0.87 to 0.96, and the test-retest reliability ranged from 0.76 to 0.84. The scores of the scale and the four factors were significantly correlated with the score of the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (
= 0.54-0.64).
The SACS-CS possesses good reliability and validity and can be applied in the cognitive assessment of college students' social anxiety. The scale could help people with different social anxiety disorder conditions receive more personalized interventions.
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