Sad situation
Do people turn to visible reminders of group identity under stress?
Katharine Greenaway & Lara Aknin
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
How do people cope with stress? Research suggests that people have a number of strategies, including turning to the groups to which they belong, increasing feelings of identification and affiliation. We examine a novel extension of this strategy: adopting visible reminders of one's group identity. In two experiments (Ns = 103 and 194), we explore whether students are more likely to use an artifact that displays their university identity in situations of high, compared to low, evaluative stress. In Experiment 1, students were more likely to choose a university-branded pen (vs. an identical unbranded pen) to complete exam questions when their performance would be evaluated versus not. In Experiment 2, we found the tendency to use a university-branded pen in the face of evaluative stress emerged only among people who found the evaluation personally relevant. In addition, we present converging results from two observational studies suggesting that students are more likely to wear clothing that signals their university identity on exam days compared to control days. These findings suggest that people may turn to visible reminders of group membership when facing evaluative stress. Although we found no consistent evidence for a psychological mechanism underlying this effect, we speculate about theoretically relevant possibilities.
Vanishing time in the pursuit of happiness
Aekyoung Kim & Sam Maglio
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Happiness can be conceptualized as a positive affective state or as a goal whose pursuit ironically pulls the pursuer away from achieving it (Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, & Savino in Emotion, 11(4), 807–815, 2011). But how do people think about time during this latter, never-ending pursuit of happiness? The present investigation asks how seeking happiness influences perceptions of time availability. Four studies demonstrated that trait-level happiness seeking (Study 1) as well as direct manipulation of happiness seeking (Studies 2, 3, and 4) consistently reveal the same pattern: reduced feelings of time availability while pursuing happiness. This negative effect on time availability is mitigated when happiness seems like it has been achieved (Study 2) or seems quick to achieve (Study 3). In addition, pursuing happiness can ultimately decrease happiness, in part, by reducing perceptions of time availability (Study 4), extending theories on happiness, goal pursuit, and perceptions of time.
Crushing Hope: Short Term Responses to Tragedy Vary by Hopefulness
Jason Fletcher
University of Wisconsin Working Paper, January 2018
Abstract:
This research note explores the consequences of dispositional optimism and hopefulness when the environment changes. Much literature has documented the importance of a positive outlook in pursuing investments in health and education that pay off in the future. A question that has received less attention is whether a positive outlook creates resilience in the face of setbacks or whether a positive outlook may be a disadvantage in extreme circumstances, especially when there is a large mismatch between expectations and reality. This paper uses the coincidental interview schedule of the Add Health data (N=15,024) around the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 to examine interactions with this environmental shock and previously elicited measures of hopefulness. The results suggest that increases in depressive symptoms following the attack are concentrated among those young adults who initially expressed the most hopefulness in the future as teenagers.
ADHD, depression, and motor vehicle crashes: A prospective cohort study of continuously-monitored, real-world driving
Paula Aduen et al.
Journal of Psychiatric Research, June 2018, Pages 42–49
Abstract:
ADHD is associated with automobile crashes, traffic fatalities, and serious road trauma, but it is unclear whether this risk is (a) driven by ADHD symptoms specifically, and (b) unique to ADHD or transdiagnostic across psychiatric disabilities, such as depression, that also have concentration problems as core symptoms. The current study provides the first prospective, continuously-monitored evaluation of crash risk related to ADHD symptoms, including the first on-road comparison of ADHD with another high-prevalence psychiatric disability (depression). A probability-based sample of 3226 drivers from six U.S. sites, including subsamples with self-reported ADHD (n = 274) and depression (n = 251), consented to have their vehicles outfitted with sophisticated data acquisition technologies to continuously monitor real-world, day-to-day driving from ‘engine-on to engine-off’ for 1–2 years (Mean = 440 consecutive days/driver, Mean = 9528 miles/driver). Crashes and near-crashes were objectively identified via software-based algorithms and double-coded manual validation (blinded to clinical status). Miles driven, days monitored, age, gender, education, and marital status were controlled. ADHD symptoms portended 5% increased crash risk per increase in symptom severity score (IRR = 1.05). This risk corresponded to approximately 1 biennial crash and 1 annual near-crash per driver with ADHD; crash risk doubled for drivers reporting ADHD symptom severity near the sample's maximum. Analyses based on self-reported clinical status indicated similarly elevated rates for ADHD (IRR = 1.46) and depression (IRR = 1.34) that may be related, in part, to both groups' inattention/concentration symptoms. Risk was not attenuated by ADHD usual treatment, but varied according to antidepressant medication status. Previous studies have significantly underestimated the risk for traffic crashes conveyed by ADHD and depression.
Towards an unconscious neural reinforcement intervention for common fears
Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can “hardwired” physiological fear responses (e.g., for spiders and snakes) be reprogramed unconsciously in the human brain? Currently, exposure therapy is among the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders, but this intervention is subjectively aversive to patients, causing many to drop out of treatment prematurely. Here we introduce a method to bypass the subjective unpleasantness in conscious exposure, by directly pairing monetary reward with unconscious occurrences of decoded representations of naturally feared animals in the brain. To decode physiological fear representations without triggering excessively aversive reactions, we capitalize on recent advancements in functional magnetic resonance imaging decoding techniques, and use a method called hyperalignment to infer the relevant representations of feared animals for a designated participant based on data from other “surrogate” participants. In this way, the procedure completely bypasses the need for a conscious encounter with feared animals. We demonstrate that our method can lead to reliable reductions in physiological fear responses, as measured by skin conductance as well as amygdala hemodynamic activity. Not only do these results raise the intriguing possibility that naturally occurring fear responses can be “reprogrammed” outside of conscious awareness, importantly, they also create the rare opportunity to rigorously test a psychological intervention of this nature in a double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion. This may pave the way for a new approach combining the appealing rationale and proven efficacy of conventional psychotherapy with the rigor and leverage of clinical neuroscience.
Within-subject associations between inflammation and features of depression: Using the flu vaccine as a mild inflammatory stimulus
Kate Kuhlman et al.
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, March 2018, Pages 540-547
Methods: Forty one undergraduate students completed daily diaries of mood, feelings of social disconnection, sleep, and physical symptoms for one week before and after receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine. Circulating plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) was measured via blood samples taken immediately before and one day after vaccination.
Results: There was a significant increase in circulating IL-6 from pre- to post-intervention (p = .008), and there was significant variability in the magnitude of IL-6 change. Greater increases in IL-6 were associated with greater mood disturbance on post-vaccine days, specifically depressed mood and cognitive symptoms.
The interaction between monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) and childhood maltreatment as a predictor of personality pathology in females: Emotional reactivity as a potential mediating mechanism
Amy Byrd et al.
Development and Psychopathology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research consistently demonstrates that common polymorphic variation in monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) moderates the influence of childhood maltreatment on later antisocial behavior, with growing evidence that the “risk” allele (high vs. low activity) differs for females. However, little is known about how this Gene × Environment interaction functions to increase risk, or if this risk pathway is specific to antisocial behavior. Using a prospectively assessed, longitudinal sample of females (n = 2,004), we examined whether changes in emotional reactivity (ER) during adolescence mediated associations between this Gene × Environment and antisocial personality disorder in early adulthood. In addition, we assessed whether this putative risk pathway also conferred risk for borderline personality disorder, a related disorder characterized by high ER. While direct associations between early maltreatment and later personality pathology did not vary by genotype, there was a significant difference in the indirect path via ER during adolescence. Consistent with hypotheses, females with high-activity MAOA genotype who experienced early maltreatment had greater increases in ER during adolescence, and higher levels of ER predicted both antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder symptom severity. Taken together, findings suggest that the interaction between MAOA and early maltreatment places women at risk for a broader range of personality pathology via effects on ER.