Out of darkness
Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies
Amy Orben & Andrew Przybylski
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The notion that digital-screen engagement decreases adolescent well-being has become a recurring feature in public, political, and scientific conversation. The current level of psychological evidence, however, is far removed from the certainty voiced by many commentators. There is little clear-cut evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well-being, and most psychological results are based on single-country, exploratory studies that rely on inaccurate but popular self-report measures of digital-screen engagement. In this study, which encompassed three nationally representative large-scale data sets from Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom (N = 17,247 after data exclusions) and included time-use-diary measures of digital-screen engagement, we used both exploratory and confirmatory study designs to introduce methodological and analytical improvements to a growing psychological research area. We found little evidence for substantial negative associations between digital-screen engagement -- measured throughout the day or particularly before bedtime -- and adolescent well-being.
When more is not merrier: Shared stressful experiences amplify
Sasha Nahleen, Georgia Dornin & Melanie Takarangi
Cognition and Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sharing experiences with others, even without communication, can amplify those experiences. We investigated whether shared stressful experiences amplify. Participants completed the Cold Pressor Task at the same time as a confederate, or while the confederate completed another task. Importantly, participants in the shared (vs. unshared) condition experienced more sensory pain characteristics and reported more stress over time in relation to the task. Importantly, they reported thinking more about the confederate’s thoughts and feelings. This mentalizing sometimes mediated effects, suggesting the task amplified when participants constructed mental representations of others’ CPT experience (e.g. that it hurts) and incorporated it into their own responses.
Global Processing Makes People Happier Than Local Processing
Li-Jun Ji et al.
Frontiers in Psychology, March 2019
Abstract:
Past research demonstrates that mood can influence level of perceptual processing (global vs. local). The present research shows that level of perceptual processing can influence mood as well. In four studies, we manipulated people’s level of perceptual processing using a Navon letter task (Study 1), landscape scenery (Study 2), and Google Maps Street View images (Studies 3 and 4). Results from these studies and a meta-analysis support the conclusion that global processing results in higher happiness than local processing. In conjunction with previous findings that mood affects level of cognitive processing, these results suggest that the link between level of processing and mood may be reciprocal and bidirectional.
Yesterday’s News: A Temporal Discontinuity in the Sting of Inferiority
Alexander Kristal, Ed O’Brien & Eugene Caruso
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Reactions to other people who get desirable outcomes should be a simple function of how much one desires those outcomes. Four studies (N = 4,978) suggest that one’s reactions depend on the temporal location of outcome acquisition: Observers care more (e.g., feel more envy) right before, versus right after, other people have identical experiences (Studies 1, 2a, and 2b). For example, participants’ envy in February rose as Valentine’s Day approached (as a peer’s enviable date loomed in the future) but abruptly plateaued come February 15 onward (after the date occurred). Further, the passing of time specifically assuaged the pain of comparison (whereas positive reactions, such as feeling inspired, remained high; Studies 3a, 3b, and 3c); therefore, taking a past perspective can be used to regulate negative emotions in the present (Study 4). Time asymmetrically shapes the experience of upward comparison, despite other people’s desirable outcomes indeed being achieved. Other people’s good lives sting less if they have already lived them.
Adaptive working memory training can reduce anxiety and depression vulnerability in adolescents
Patricia Beloe & Nazanin Derakshan
Developmental Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Adolescents can be at heightened risk for anxiety and depression, with accumulating research reporting on associations between anxiety and depression and cognitive impairments, implicating working memory and attentional control deficits. Several studies now point to the promise of adaptive working memory training to increase attentional control in depressed and anxious participants and reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, but this has not been explored in a non‐clinical adolescent population. The current study explored the effects of adaptive dual n‐back working memory training on sub‐clinical anxiety and depression symptomology in adolescents. Participants trained on either an online adaptive working memory task or non‐adaptive control task for up to 20 days. Primary outcome measures were self‐reported anxiety and depression symptomology, before and after intervention, and at 1‐month follow‐up. Self‐reported depression (p = .003) and anxiety (p = .04) decreased after training in the adaptive n‐back group relative to the non‐adaptive control group in the intention‐to‐treat sample (n = 120). These effects were sustained at follow‐up. Our findings constitute proof of principle evidence that working memory training may help reduce anxiety and depression vulnerability in a non‐clinical adolescent population. We discuss the findings’ implications for reducing risk of internalising disorders in youth and the need for replication.
Caring for Others Cares for the Self: An Experimental Test of Brief Downward Social Comparison, Loving-Kindness, and Interconnectedness Contemplations
Douglas Gentile, Dawn Sweet & Lanmiao He
Journal of Happiness Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
Several strategies for decreasing anxiety and increasing subjective well-being have been tested and found to be useful, such as downward social comparison, loving-kindness contemplations, and interconnectedness contemplations. These, however, have not often been directly compared. Emerging adults contemplated one technique for 12 min while walking around a building. Those who wished others well (loving-kindness) had lower anxiety, greater happiness, greater empathy, and higher feelings of caring and connectedness than those in a control condition. The Interconnectedness condition resulted only in beneficial effects on social connection. Although social comparison theory suggests that downward social comparison should improve mood, this study found that it had no beneficial effects relative to the control condition and was significantly worse than the loving-kindness condition. This brief loving-kindness contemplation worked equally well across several measured individual differences, and is a simple intervention that can be used to reduce anxiety, increase happiness, empathy, and feelings of social connection.