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Awe-full uncertainty: Easing discomfort during waiting periods
Abstract
Waiting for uncertain news is a common and stressful experience. We examined whether experiencing awe can promote well-being during uncomfortable periods of uncertainty. Across two studies (total N = 729), we examined the relationship between trait awe and well-being as participants awaited feedback on a novel intelligence test or ratings from peers following a group interaction. These studies further examined the effect of an awe induction, compared to positive and neutral control conditions, on well-being. We found partial support for a relationship between trait awe and well-being during waiting periods, particularly with positive emotion. We also found partial support for the benefits of an awe induction: People consistently experienced greater positive emotion and less anxiety in the awe condition compared to a neutral control condition, although these benefits did not always improve upon the positive control experience. Importantly, these benefits emerged regardless of one’s predisposition to experience awe.
... Another limitation is that the improvement may be short term [8], but it also could be used as an accessible intervention for the general population during this particular period. Four elements have been widely shown to be helpful in previous empirical studies [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. First, coloring that elicits awe can reduce anxiety and strengthen happiness. ...
... First, coloring that elicits awe can reduce anxiety and strengthen happiness. Awe may transfer people's attention from themselves to a bigger picture and increase positive feelings, such as connectedness and humility, which benefit people, especially when facing adverse events [14,15]. Second, coloring that provides a sense of being in nature, such as viewing nature pictures or connecting with the natural environment, can improve mood and reduce anxiety [16,17]. ...
... People undergoing the outbreak of COVID-19, especially those going through lockdown, faced many uncertainties that could bring psychological distress [2]. Research has demonstrated that awe effectively mitigates anxiety in a stressful waiting period [14]. Therefore, the awe experience might reduce uncertainties by directing players' attention to a "big picture," improving the feeling of connectedness and promoting SWB during the stressful lockdown period. ...
Background:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 has spread worldwide and generated tremendous stress on human beings. Unfortunately, it is often hard for distressed individuals to access mental health services under conditions of restricted movement or even lockdown. In this research, we developed an online coloring game and tested its effectiveness as an accessible and engaging instrument for maintaining subjective well-being (SWB) as well as for reducing anxiety during the pandemic.
Objective:
The study first aims to develop an online digital intervention package on a commercial released coloring game. The second aim is to test the effectiveness of difference interventions package for players to maintain SWB and reduce anxiety during the pandemic.
Methods:
An evidence-based coloring intervention package was developed and uploaded to an online coloring game covering almost 1.5 million players worldwide in January 2021. Global players participated to color either four rounds of images characterized by awe, pink, nature, and blue or four rounds of irrelevant images. Participants' subjective well-being (SWB), anxiety, and perceived effectiveness of the game in reducing anxiety (subjective effectiveness, SE) were assessed one week before the intervention (T1), after completing pictures in each round (T2-T5), and after the intervention (T6). Independent t-tests were used to examine the general intervention effect and the intervention effect of each round. One-way ANOVA was used to examine whether these outcome variables were influenced by the number of rounds completed.
Results:
In total, 1390 global players responded and completed at least one assessment. Overall, the general intervention group showed a statistical significantly greater increase in SWB than the general control group (N=164, t=3.59, Cohen's d 0.58[95% CI 0.36 to -1.24], P<0.001). Compared to the control group, the best effectiveness of intervention group showed in the Awe round, in which the increasing of SWB is significant (N=171, t=2.51, Cohen's d 0.39[95% CI 0.10 to -0.82], P=0.013), and players who colored all four pictures had nearly significant improvement in SWB (N=171, F(4,170)=2.34, ŋ2=0.053, P=0.058) and a significant decrease in anxiety(N=171, F(4,170)=3·39, ŋ2=0·075, P=0.011).
Conclusions:
These data suggest that the effectiveness of online psychological interventions, such as coloring game, for mental health in the special period. It shows the feasibility of applying existing commercial games embedded scientific psychological interventions that can fill the gap of mental crises and services for a wider group of people during the pandemic. The result would inspire the innovations of against the psychological problems caused by public emergencies, and encourages more games, especially most popular ones, to take more positive action for the common crisis of mankind.
Clinicaltrial:
... For content moderators, adding cute stimuli to break up the negative stimuli thus has the potential to alleviate the distress associated with their work by reducing stress and its physiological correlates (i.e., high blood pressure and heart rate in the moment), and longitudinally, by improving the moderator's experience with moderation via association. Awe has also been repeatedly linked to stress reduction specifically (e.g., [50]), but is also linked to more negative affect than cuteness [50,71]. This increased negative affect could potentially heighten moderators' perception of the negativity in the posts they need to moderate, and this could result in multiple differing outcomes (e.g., counteracting the initial positive affect brought about by the awe stimulus, increasing speed to remove the post faster and reduce the negative affect, etc.). ...
... When it comes to emotional distress, however, awe has a much clearer effect [47,50,71]. In Koh and colleagues' [47] study comparing happiness and awe's effects on emotional distress, operationalized as negative affect, and their findings indicate that awe has the same distressreduction properties as happiness. ...
... In other words, experiencing awe makes a person feel less negative affect. When distress was operationalized as anxiety, the same effect has been demonstrated [71]. Le and colleagues [50] suggest that the mechanism behind this effect may be how awe makes a person focus on either themselves or others. ...
When people have the freedom to create and post content on the internet, particularly anonymously, they do not always respect the rules and regulations of the websites on which they post, leaving other unsuspecting users vulnerable to sexism, racism, threats, and other unacceptable content in their daily cyberspace diet. However, content moderators witness the worst of humanity on a daily basis in place of the average netizen. This takes its toll on moderators, causing stress, fatigue, and emotional distress akin to the symptomology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The goal of the present study was to explore whether adding positive stimuli to breaktimes-images of baby animals or beautiful, aweinspiring landscapes-could help reduce the negative side-effects of being a content moderator. To test this, we had over 300 experienced content moderators read and decide whether 200 fake text-based social media posts were acceptable or not for public consumption. Although we set out to test positive emotional stimulation, however, we actually found that it is the cumulative nature of the negative emotions that likely negates most of the effects of the intervention: the longer the person had practiced content moderation, the stronger their negative experience. Connections to compassion fatigue and how best to spend work breaks as a content moderator are discussed.
... Dispositional awe has been positively associated with well-being . Further, dispositional awe and awe induction (i.e., state awe) through watching a video of nature images paired with instrumental music, have been shown to contribute to experiencing more positive emotions and less anxiety during waiting periods (i.e., waiting for intelligence test results) than a neutral control group (Rankin et al., 2020). Moreover, in the same study, regardless of an individual's level of dispositional awe, state awe was found to cause more positive emotion and less anxiety in participants waiting for their results (Rankin et al., 2020). ...
... Further, dispositional awe and awe induction (i.e., state awe) through watching a video of nature images paired with instrumental music, have been shown to contribute to experiencing more positive emotions and less anxiety during waiting periods (i.e., waiting for intelligence test results) than a neutral control group (Rankin et al., 2020). Moreover, in the same study, regardless of an individual's level of dispositional awe, state awe was found to cause more positive emotion and less anxiety in participants waiting for their results (Rankin et al., 2020). Importantly, from a mental health perspective, awe has been shown to buffer against negative emotion associated with both imagined and actual loss of possessions (Koh et al., 2019). ...
Awe is considered a transformational and multifaceted emotion. Vastness is the core cognitive appraisal associated with awe, which activates a need for cognitive accommodation. Increasingly, studies are evaluating awe’s dimensions including triggers, cognitive and emotional characteristics, and primarily beneficial outcomes. Additionally, numerous emotions have been conceptualised within a cognitive behavioural framework and cognitive behavioural models may be utilised to promote positive human qualities and experiences. Therefore, this paper outlines the results of a systematic review of the literature on awe from a cognitive behavioural perspective to propose a cognitive behavioural model. Databases searched included Psych Net, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCO, SAGE, JSTOR, Springer LINK, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley with the inclusion of peer reviewed articles. A total of 57 studies were identified. Triggers of awe were primarily related to nature and cognitive processes centred on vastness and the need for accommodation. A range of outcomes associated with awe were identified including increased well-being, spiritual growth, and pro-environmental intent. The key findings from this review informed a cognitive behavioural model of awe. Such a cognitive behavioural model may inform the cultivation of awe for individual, community, or environmental well-being and experience design. Future research is required to validate the proposed model, proposed pathways, and utility.
... Thus, people who are not high in the trait of awe can still have awe induced within a short period and enjoy its positive effects. This is in line with a previous study that found that the trait of awe is not associated with negative emotions arising from waiting [43]. However, Study 1 did not indicate whether awe impacts uniquely in alleviating negative emotions arising from self-threat, which was complemented in Study 2. ...
... In practical terms, this research contributes in three aspects. First, our findings inspire people to mitigate the interference of negative emotions by immersing themselves in awe conditions when encountering self-threat, thus promoting well-being [30,43]. Second, our research suggests that amid alleviating negative emotions arising from self-threat by relying on the cues of awe, individuals should attentively perceive and embrace the sense of the small-self, thus maximizing the driving role of the small-self. ...
Negative emotions arising from self-threat are ubiquitous and harmful. We propose that the experience of awe awakens the small-self, which in turn alleviates these negative emotions. We examine our theoretical hypotheses in four studies employing various self-threatening situations, using distinct awe manipulations and involving participants from different countries. The participants experiencing awe reported lower levels of negative emotions arising from self-threat compared with those in the neutral (Study 1) and happiness conditions (Study 2). Moreover, we verified that the small-self mediates the alleviating effect of awe on negative emotions through measuring (Study 3) and manipulating the small-self (Study 4). Beyond a set of practical implications for promoting mental health and well-being, our research also provides novel insights into awe, self-appraisal, and self-threat.
... Awe has been found to increase positive mood, promote prosociality, induce humility, expand time perception, decrease materialism, improve subjective well-being and life satisfaction, and enhance the joy and prosocial emotions of the elderly (e.g., Anderson et al., 2018;Bai et al., 2021;Jiang et al., 2018;Jiang & Sedikides, 2021;Joye & Bolderdijk, 2015;Piff et al., 2015;Rudd et al., 2012;Stellar et al., 2017;Sturm et al., 2020). In addition, awe could act as a coping strategy for protecting people from negative incidents such as daily stress and uncertain waiting periods (Bai et al., 2021;Koh et al., 2019;Rankin et al., 2020). ...
... Awe has a wide range of psychological benefits, such as improving mental health, well-being, and prosociality (e.g., Anderson et al., 2018;Bai et al., 2021;Joye & Bolderdijk, 2015). Emerging research has studied awe as a buffer with which to cope with negative incidents (e.g., Bai et al., 2021;Koh et al., 2019;Rankin et al., 2020). Our findings suggest that psychological practitioners should take cautious steps in incorporating awe as a strategy to enhance MIL in their practice. ...
Research on awe and meaning in life (MIL) is rare. In the current research, we conducted a pre-registered study to examine how awe influences MIL from the perspective of the tripartite model of MIL as well as the construction and detection routes of deriving meaning. The results showed that awe increased MIL via motivating purpose pursuit but decreased MIL by reducing the sense of significance. Overall, awe increased MIL, which was driven mainly by the mediating effect of purpose pursuit. Our findings suggest that awe is not a purely positive emotion, and it affects MIL in a complex way. The implications were discussed.
... Research has demonstrated that individuals with high levels of dispositional awe are happier and less anxious as they await performance feedback [26,43]. In terms of state of awe, studies have shown that participants in the awe group felt more satisfied with their current life compared with participants in the neutral group [19]. ...
... Moreover, participants in the awe group felt less negative toward an imagined or actual possessionloss and negative feedback on performance in work from supervisors or colleagues [26,27]. Furthermore, positive emotion is increased and anxiety decreased while waiting for performance feedback from others [43]. Meanwhile, Yaden et al. [40] found that individuals can feel inner peace when experiencing awe. ...
As a self-transcendent emotion, awe refers to an immediate emotional response or a sustained feeling to various stimuli. The experience of awe is profound and of great significance not only for individual growth but also for social progress. To systematically understand and better conduct future research on awe, this study first illustrates the definition of awe and its widespread functions on prosocial behaviors, well-being, cognition, and self-consciousness. Then, the neuroscientific literature is reviewed, where findings show that the neural basis of awe involves multiple brain regions related to self-consciousness, cognitive control, attention, and emotion. The review also discusses the application of awe in clinical treatments, especially in transpersonal psychotherapy, to inspire individuals to promote spiritual development. Lastly, recommendations on how awe can guide future research are presented.
... Awe is recognized as a positive emotion due to its diverse benefits across various domains of life. Physiologically, awe is associated with parasympathetic activation -a division in the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that is responsible for energy conservation and decreased heart rate -and sympathetic withdrawal (e.g., Chirico et al., 2017;Shiota et al., 2014Shiota et al., , 2011Quesnel & Riecke, 2018;Rankin et al., 2019). The regulatory function of awe for the autonomic nervous system may restore balance and moderate the effects of stress. ...
... For example, Anderson et al. (2018) found that experiencing awe in nature and outdoor activities improved well-being in military veterans and at-risk youth. More recently, some research has found that awe can promote other positive emotions such as compassion, gratitude, and optimism (Nelson-Coffey et al., 2019) and decrease anxiety during waiting periods for uncertain news (Rankin et al., 2019). ...
Awe is a self-expansive emotion, where the boundaries of a separate self are transcended to process a larger, complex reality. The current review integrates the existing scholarship on awe including the benefits, individual differences, and neuroanatomical correlates of the emotion. We also identify the attentional antecedents to awe experiences, the states and traits that may support or create barriers to experiences of the emotion, and theoretically guided methods to allow the emotion to be accessible in day-to-day life. We argue that awe may promote prosocial instincts through the recognition of one’s place in a vast interconnected world and be particularly beneficial in this age of rapid technological progress and social unrest.
... Awe is recognized as a positive emotion due to its diverse benefits across various domains of life. Physiologically, awe is associated with parasympathetic activation -a division in the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that is responsible for energy conservation and decreased heart rate -and sympathetic withdrawal (e.g., Chirico et al., 2017;Shiota et al., 2014Shiota et al., , 2011Quesnel & Riecke, 2018;Rankin et al., 2019). The regulatory function of awe for the autonomic nervous system may restore balance and moderate the effects of stress. ...
... For example, Anderson et al. (2018) found that experiencing awe in nature and outdoor activities improved well-being in military veterans and at-risk youth. More recently, some research has found that awe can promote other positive emotions such as compassion, gratitude, and optimism (Nelson-Coffey et al., 2019) and decrease anxiety during waiting periods for uncertain news (Rankin et al., 2019). ...
Awe is a self-expansive emotion, where the boundaries of a separate self are transcended to process a larger, complex reality. The current review integrates the existing scholarship on awe including the benefits, individual differences, and neuroanatomical correlates of the emotion. We also identify the attentional antecedents to awe experiences, the states and traits that may support or create barriers to experiences of the emotion, and theoretically guided methods to allow the emotion to be accessible in day-today life. We argue that awe may promote prosocial instincts through the recognition of one's place in a vast interconnected world and be particularly beneficial in this age of rapid technological progress and social unrest.
... Uncertainty relating to the virus in regards to its spread and personal safety, uncertainty regarding the future, and especially economic uncertainty. Rankin et al. (2019) found that dispositional awe was correlated with well-being during times of waiting and experimentally induced awe was related to lower anxiety compared to neutral conditions. Thus, experience of awe may aid individuals in managing anxiety during these uncertain times. ...
Awe is an emotion defined by an experience of vastness and cognitive accommodation that is unique among other positive emotions in that its cognitive effects are more similar to those of negative emotions. The current study posits that because of its unique cognitive effects, awe may related to resilience to stressors introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that awe would significantly correlate with resilience to COVID-19 even when controlling for religiosity. Religiosity was included in the analyses because of strong support in previous research connecting it to both awe and resilience. Regression analyses revealed that awe and religiosity were both significant correlates of resilience but when placed in the same model, the relationship between religiosity and resilience disappeared. An exploratory mediation analysis was conducted to further explore this result. Implications for understanding resilience in the face of COVID-19 and directions for future research are discussed.
... Awe is classed as a positive emotion in much of the literature due to the multitude of positive effects it can produce. It increases well-being and life satisfaction Rudd et al., 2012) while decreasing stress levels (Bai et al., 2021;Rankin et al., 2020). Awe also has numerous prosocial effects such as enhanced humility (Stellar et al., 2018), gratitude, and helping behavior (Joye & Bolderdijk, 2015;Kahn & Cargile, 2021;Piff et al., 2015;Prade & Saroglou, 2016) while decreasing aggression (Yang et al., 2016). ...
Research shows the experience of awe is associated with a variety of benefits ranging from increased well-being and prosocial behavior to enhanced cognition. The adaptive purpose of awe, however, is elusive. In this article, we aim to show that the current framework used to conceptualize awe points towards higher-order cognition as the key adaptive function. This goes against past evolutionary positions that posit social benefits or unidimensional behavioral adaptations. In the second half of the article, we highlight a distinct cognitive advantage of awe. The literature connecting awe and cognition is surveyed and used to develop a view that situates awe as a critical component in the cognitive success of the human species.
... This greater perception of available time was also linked to higher levels of life satisfaction; perhaps because this allows us to savour the present moment rather than feeling rushed to get things done (Rudd et al., 2012). On top of this, the experience of awe can help to alleviate stress and anxiety and promote positive feelings when individuals are experiencing uncertainty (Anderson, Monroy, & Keltner, 2018;Rankin, Andrews, & Sweeny, 2019). Positively valanced awe experiences have also been shown to increase meaning in life (Rivera, Vess, Hicks, & Routledge, 2019). ...
The achievement of sustainable prosperity requires the enhancement of human wellbeing alongside increased care for the environment. In recent years, much has been written on the role of different mental states and their potential to influence our way of thinking and, perhaps more importantly, the way we act. In this working paper, we explore the emerging potential of a type of mental state known as Self-Transcendent Experiences (STEs) to deliver beneficial effects on human wellbeing and sustainable attitudes and behaviours. Self-transcendent experiences can be facilitated by experiences of flow, awe and meditation, as well as psychedelic experiences. Some of these experiences can occur naturally, through sometimes unexpected encounters with nature or during immersion in every-day activities that one intrinsically enjoys, as well as through more intentional practices such as meditation or the use of psychedelics. We demonstrate how each of the four alternative types of STEs share some similar neurological underpinnings and review their links to improvements in human wellbeing and sustainable attitudes and behaviours. We also highlight potential risks across the different varieties of STEs and consider factors that need to be considered if they are to be employed as a practical means of supporting sustainable prosperity.
... Following the publication of Keltner and Haidt's (2003) seminal paper, numerous studies have linked awe with higher human wellbeing. For example, awe has been associated with greater levels of life satisfaction (Rudd et al., 2012;Krause and Hayward, 2015), more positive emotions (Anderson et al., 2018;Rankin et al., 2019), and increases in meaning in life (Rivera et al., 2019). Awe might also help to moderate the effects of stress on the body (Chen and Mongrain, 2020) in that it is associated with increased activation of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) (Chirico et al., 2017) and reduced activation of the sympathetic branch of the ANS (Shiota et al., 2011). ...
In recent years, much has been written on the role of different mental states and their potential to influence our way of thinking and, perhaps more importantly, the way we act. With the recent acceleration of environmental and mental health issues, alongside the limited effectiveness of existing interventions, an exploration of new approaches to deliver transformative change is required. We therefore explore the emerging potential of a type of mental state known as self-transcendent experiences (STEs) as a driver of ecological wellbeing. We focus on four types of STEs: those facilitated by experiences of flow, awe, and mindfulness, as well as by psychedelic-induced experiences. Some of these experiences can occur naturally, through sometimes unexpected encounters with nature or during immersion in everyday activities that one intrinsically enjoys, as well as through more intentional practices such as meditation or the administration of psychedelics in controlled, legal settings. We explore the evidence base linking each of the four types of STE to ecological wellbeing before proposing potential hypotheses to be tested to understand why STEs can have such beneficial effects. We end by looking at the factors that might need to be considered if STEs are going to be practically implemented as a means of achieving ecological wellbeing.
... It is associated with parasympathetic activation, which is a division in the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The mission of this system is to save energy and decrease heart rate, as well as sympathetic withdrawal (Shiota et al., 2014;Rankin et al., 2019). Consequently, it can be said that experiencing awe can be regulatory and can be utilized in finding balance and coping with stress (Chen & Mongrain, 2020). ...
Dijitalleşme, modern yaşam ve gelişmelere olan yoğun bağımlılığın bir sonucu olarak insan hayatı, insanlıkla ve maneviyatla bağlarını kaybetme tehlikesiyle karşı karşıyadır. Bunun muhtemel bir çözümü, Büyük Kanyon’un enginliğine veya yüzlerce yıldızla dolu bir gökyüzüne tanık olmak veya mistik bir deneyim yaşamak gibi örneklerle açıklanabilecek, hayret ve hayranlığın duygusal bir algısı olan awe duygusunun beslenmesidir. Bu çalışmada öncelikle alan yazın titizlikle taranmış ve awe üzerine yapılan araştırmalar bu duygunun ne olduğu, formülasyonu, felsefesi çerçevesinde derlenmiştir. Daha sonra awenin Varoluşçu ve Transpersonel psikolojideki kullanım alanları verilmiş ve ayrıca hastalarda bu duyguyu güçlendirebilecek terapi önerileri de sunulmuştur. Sonuç olarak awenin halk sağlığının yükseltilmesi ve yaşam doyumunun yükseltilmesine yönelik tedavilerde daha fazla kullanılması gerektiğine inanıyoruz.
... Using the three-item precursor version of the GrAw-7 scale, Gratitude/Awe was moderately inversely related to depressive symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia, but not with anxiety or general physical health (data source: Offenbaecher et al., 2013). Other studies found that awe may buffer negative feelings (Koh et al., 2017;Atamba, 2019) and is related to positive emotions and less anxiety (Rankin et al., 2019). ...
Background: Spirituality is a multidimensional construct which includes religious, existentialistic, and relational issues and has different layers such as faith as the core, related attitudes and conviction, and subsequent behaviors and practices. The perceptive aspects of spirituality such as wondering awe are of relevance for both, religious and non-religious persons. These perceptions were related to perceiving the Sacred in life, mindful awareness of nature, others and self, to compassion, meaning in life, and emotional wellbeing. As awe perceptions are foremost a matter of state, it was the aim (1) to empirically analyze the frequency of wondering awe perceptions (i.e., with respect to gender, age cohorts, religious or non-religious persons) and (2) to qualitatively analyze a range of triggers of awe perceptions.
Methods: Data from 7,928 participants were analyzed with respect to the frequency of Awe/Gratitude perceptions (GrAw-7 scale), while for the second part of the study responses of a heterogeneous group of 82 persons what caused them to perceive moments of wondering awe were analyzed with qualitative content analysis techniques.
Results: Persons who experience Awe/Gratitude to a low extend were the youngest and had lowest wellbeing and lowest meditation/praying engagement, while those with high GrAw-7 scores were the oldest, had the highest wellbeing, and were more often meditating or praying ( p <0.001). Gender had a significant effect on these perceptions, too (Cohen’s d =0.32). In the qualitative part, the triggers can be attributed to four main categories, Nature , Persons , Unique Moments , and Aesthetics , Beauty , and Devotion . Some of these triggers and related perceptions might be more a matter of admiration than wondering awe, while other perceptions could have more profound effects and may thus result in changes of a person’s attitudes and behaviors.
Conclusion: Emotionally touching experiences of wondering awe may result in feelings of interconnectedness, prosocial behavior, mindful awareness, and contribute to a person’s meaning in life and wellbeing and can also be a health-relevant resource. These perceptions can be seen as a perceptive aspect of spirituality, which is not exclusively experienced by religious people but also by non-religious persons.
... In contrast, dispositional awe is negatively correlated with the need for cognitive closure, and high dispositional awe means high tolerance for uncertainty (Shiota et al., 2007). For example, awe experiences are associated with greater positive emotions while waiting for uncertain information and, to a lesser extent, with lower negative emotions and anxiety (Rankin et al., 2019). ...
Based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study explored the mediating effect of spiritual intelligence between awe and life satisfaction among Chinese primary school teachers and whether this effect was moderated by ethnicity. Participants comprised 569 teachers from 24 primary schools in southwestern China, where many of the ethnic minority groups of China reside. Awe and spiritual intelligence were found to positively predict life satisfaction among primary school teachers, while awe also indirectly influenced life satisfaction through the partial mediation of spiritual intelligence. Ethnicity was also found to moderate the relation between awe and life satisfaction, i.e., when compared with the Han teachers, there is a more significant and positive relation between awe and life satisfaction in ethnic minority teachers. These findings not only indicate the critical role of awe in promoting life satisfaction of primary school teachers but also especially show that awe embodied in the traditional cultural activities makes it easier to breed life satisfaction in ethnic minority teachers.
... Theoretical considerations drawn from experimental studies would indicate that awe may buffer negative feelings (31,32). Also in an experimental group of people waiting for the results of an intelligence test or peer feedback, positive emotions and less anxiety were observed when they experienced "awe conditions" compared with neutral conditions, and these findings were independent from a person's predisposition to experience awe (33). As positive emotions usually help to adapt in difficult situations, it was suggested that also gratitude could be a resilience factor [(34); cf. ...
Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of almost all people
worldwide, many people observed also positive changes in their attitudes and behaviors.
This can be seen in the context of posttraumatic growth. These perceived changes
refer to five main categories: Nature/Silence/Contemplation, Spirituality, Relationships,
Reflection on life, and Digital media usage. A previous study with persons recruited in
June 2020 directly after the lockdown in Germany showed that the best predictors of
these perceived changes related to the Corona pandemic were the ability to mindfully
stop and pause in distinct situations, to be “spellbound at the moment” and to become
“quiet and devout,” indicating moments of wondering awe, with subsequent feelings of
gratitude. Now, we intended to analyze (1) by whom and how strongly awe/gratitude
was experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) how these feelings relate
to perceived changes and experienced burden, and (3) whether or not feelings of
awe/gratitude contribute to participants’ well-being or may buffer perceived burden in
terms of a resilience factor.
Methods: Online survey with standardized questionnaires [i.e., WHO-Five Well-being
Index (WHO5), Life satisfaction (BMLSS), Awe/Gratitude scale (GrAw-7), and Perceived
Changes Questionnaire (PCQ)] among 2,573 participants (68% women; mean age
48.7 ± 14.2 years, 74% with a Christian affiliation) from Germany recruited between
June and November 2020.
Results: Awe/Gratitude scored significantly higher particularly among women (Cohen’s
d = 0.40), older persons (d = 0.88), persons who rely on their faith as a
“stronghold in difficult times” (d = 0.99), those with higher well-being (d = 0.70),
and lower perceptions of loneliness (d = 0.49). With respect to perceived changes
during the pandemic, more intense feelings of Awe/Gratitude were particularly related to Nature/Silence/Contemplation (r = 0.41), Spirituality (r = 0.41), and Relationships
(r = 0.33). Regression analyses revealed that the best predictors of Awe/Gratitude
(R2 = 0.40) were the frequency of meditation, female gender, life satisfaction and
well-being, faith as a stronghold, and perceived burden and also life reflection, while
Nature/Silence/Contemplation and Relationships had a further, but weaker, impact on
Awe/Gratitude as a dependent variable. Awe/Gratitude was moderately associated
with well-being (r = 0.32) and would predict 9% of participants’ well-being variance.
The best predictors of participants’ well-being were multidimensional life satisfaction
and low perceived burden (related to the pandemic), and further Awe/Gratitude and
Nature/Silence/Contemplation; these would explain 47% of variance in well-being
scores. However, Awe/Gratitude cannot be regarded as a buffer of the negative aspects
of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is onlymarginally (though negatively) related to perceived
burden (r = −0.15). Mediation analysis showed that Awe/Gratitude mediates 42% of the
link between well-being as a predictor on Nature/Silence/Contemplation as an outcome
and has a direct effect of � = 0.15 (p < 0.001) and an indirect effect of � = 0.11
(p < 0.001). Further, Awe/Gratitude mediates 38% (p < 0.001) of the link between
Nature/Silence/Contemplation as a predictor on well-being as the outcome; the direct
effect is � = 0.18 (p < 0.001), and the indirect effect is � = 0.11 (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: The general ability to experience Awe/Gratitude particularly during the
COVID-19 pandemic may sensitize to perceive the world around (including nature and
concrete persons) more intensely, probably in terms of, or similar to, posttraumatic
growth. As this awareness toward specific moments and situations that deeply “touch”
a person was higher in persons with more intense meditation or prayer practice, one
may assume that these practices may facilitate these perceptions in terms of a training.
However, the experience of Awe/Gratitude does not necessarily buffer against adverse
events in life and cannot prevent perceived burden due to the corona pandemic,
but it facilitates to, nevertheless, perceive positive aspects of life even within difficult
times. As Awe/Gratitude is further mediating the effects of Nature/Silence/Contemplation
on well-being, intervention programs could help to train these perceptions, as these
self-transcendent feelings are also related to prosocial behaviors with respectful
treatment of others and commitment to persons in needs, and well-being.
... Theoretical considerations drawn from experimental studies would indicate that awe may buffer negative feelings (31,32). Also in an experimental group of people waiting for the results of an intelligence test or peer feedback, positive emotions and less anxiety were observed when they experienced "awe conditions" compared with neutral conditions, and these findings were independent from a person's predisposition to experience awe (33). As positive emotions usually help to adapt in difficult situations, it was suggested that also gratitude could be a resilience factor [(34); cf. ...
Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of almost all people worldwide, many people observed also positive changes in their attitudes and behaviors. This can be seen in the context of posttraumatic growth. These perceived changes refer to five main categories: Nature/Silence/Contemplation, Spirituality, Relationships, Reflection on life, and Digital media usage. A previous study with persons recruited in June 2020 directly after the lockdown in Germany showed that the best predictors of these perceived changes related to the Corona pandemic were the ability to mindfully stop and pause in distinct situations, to be “spellbound at the moment” and to become “quiet and devout,” indicating moments of wondering awe, with subsequent feelings of gratitude. Now, we intended to analyze (1) by whom and how strongly awe/gratitude was experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) how these feelings relate to perceived changes and experienced burden, and (3) whether or not feelings of awe/gratitude contribute to participants' well-being or may buffer perceived burden in terms of a resilience factor.
Methods: Online survey with standardized questionnaires [i.e., WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO5), Life satisfaction (BMLSS), Awe/Gratitude scale (GrAw-7), and Perceived Changes Questionnaire (PCQ)] among 2,573 participants (68% women; mean age 48.7 ± 14.2 years, 74% with a Christian affiliation) from Germany recruited between June and November 2020.
Results: Awe/Gratitude scored significantly higher particularly among women (Cohen's d = 0.40), older persons ( d = 0.88), persons who rely on their faith as a “stronghold in difficult times” ( d = 0.99), those with higher well-being ( d = 0.70), and lower perceptions of loneliness ( d = 0.49). With respect to perceived changes during the pandemic, more intense feelings of Awe/Gratitude were particularly related to Nature/Silence/Contemplation ( r = 0.41), Spirituality ( r = 0.41), and Relationships ( r = 0.33). Regression analyses revealed that the best predictors of Awe/Gratitude ( R ² = 0.40) were the frequency of meditation, female gender, life satisfaction and well-being, faith as a stronghold, and perceived burden and also life reflection, while Nature/Silence/Contemplation and Relationships had a further, but weaker, impact on Awe/Gratitude as a dependent variable. Awe/Gratitude was moderately associated with well-being ( r = 0.32) and would predict 9% of participants' well-being variance. The best predictors of participants' well-being were multidimensional life satisfaction and low perceived burden (related to the pandemic), and further Awe/Gratitude and Nature/Silence/Contemplation; these would explain 47% of variance in well-being scores. However, Awe/Gratitude cannot be regarded as a buffer of the negative aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is only marginally (though negatively) related to perceived burden ( r = −0.15). Mediation analysis showed that Awe/Gratitude mediates 42% of the link between well-being as a predictor on Nature/Silence/Contemplation as an outcome and has a direct effect of β = 0.15 ( p < 0.001) and an indirect effect of β = 0.11 ( p < 0.001). Further, Awe/Gratitude mediates 38% ( p < 0.001) of the link between Nature/Silence/Contemplation as a predictor on well-being as the outcome; the direct effect is β = 0.18 ( p < 0.001), and the indirect effect is β = 0.11 ( p < 0.001).
Conclusions: The general ability to experience Awe/Gratitude particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic may sensitize to perceive the world around (including nature and concrete persons) more intensely, probably in terms of, or similar to, posttraumatic growth. As this awareness toward specific moments and situations that deeply “touch” a person was higher in persons with more intense meditation or prayer practice, one may assume that these practices may facilitate these perceptions in terms of a training. However, the experience of Awe/Gratitude does not necessarily buffer against adverse events in life and cannot prevent perceived burden due to the corona pandemic, but it facilitates to, nevertheless, perceive positive aspects of life even within difficult times. As Awe/Gratitude is further mediating the effects of Nature/Silence/Contemplation on well-being, intervention programs could help to train these perceptions, as these self-transcendent feelings are also related to prosocial behaviors with respectful treatment of others and commitment to persons in needs, and well-being.
... For example, pain can stimulate stable traits of good character or "virtue in deficit" [39] and prompt persons to interpret problems or restrictions as challenges to overcome rather than as threats to avoid [40]. From this perspective, experiences such as pain and disability shift from being "awful to awe-full" [41]. Dwelling on the boundary of fear, an attitude of awe heightens awareness of, and surrenders to, something larger than ordinary experience and beyond full understanding [42]. ...
Purpose: Rehabilitation is commonly portrayed as care that seeks to enable persons who are disabled to recover as normal a state of well-being as their personal and social circumstances allow. In contrast, this article frames psychological preconditions for persons living with disabilities to flourish toward, around or even beyond recovery through health care provision before, during or after injury.
Method: This conceptual article uses reasoning and creative word play, informed by experience and literature from disciplines including psychology and philosophy.
Results: Ultrabilitation promotes seven psychological preconditions of flourishing by persons with disabilities. These interconnected conditions are: apprehension; appetite; “attitude”; ambiguity; autonomy; accountability and ambiopia.
Conclusions: Clinicians could partner with persons living with disabilities to promote these mental preconditions for flourishing, and use ultrabilitation to resist potentially destabilizing forces such as social imperatives to recovery and normalcy.
• Implications for rehabilitation
• Clinicians can support persons with disabilities to optimize mental states that enable them to flourish in everyday life.
• Apprehension, including awareness of and anxiety about disability and its management, can motivate persons to assent to capabilities to flourish.
• Apprehension and ambiguity can feed an appetite for personal growth and an attitude that trusts in genuine possibilities for growth through autonomy and accountability.
• Autonomy frees persons to accept what they cannot change; set and implement challenging but achievable goals in creative ways; and learn to lose control without viewing disability as something that they need to get beyond in order to flourish.
There are two ways for a situation to be uncertain. Subjective uncertainty refers to not knowing facts. Objective uncertainty refers to future events that have not been determined yet. A wide ranging literature review finds that subjective uncertainty inhibits behavior, increases conserving resources and willpower, and stimulates search for information – though in crude, sometimes dysfunctional fashion. In contrast, objective uncertainty calls for action, reflected in agentic control, increased arousal, and greater willingness to take risks. Again, some responses are irrational, such as exerting more effort for less expected reward, and betting more on uncontrollable future than past events. With both kinds of uncertainty, attention is mobilized and emotion is prolonged. Our review uncovered multiple signs that some uncertainty is beneficial and heightens enjoyment as a kind of spice of life, or, in some cases, as a welcome hope that a bad outcome might still be avoided.
Background:
Interpersonal conflict is inevitable in the adolescent socialization process; wise reasoning is applicable to and effective for interpersonal conflict problem solving. However, the role of emotions in wise reasoning remains unclear and less explored in empirical research. According, this study explored the relationship between awe and wise reasoning, and proposed the influence pathways from the self-transcendence of awe to examine the facilitative effect of decentralized emotions on wise reasoning. Method: A total of 812 tenth and eleventh graders (age range 15-19 years, M = 16.07, SD = 0.76, 54.6% male) from a high school in Zhejiang, China completed self-report questionnaires that measured awe, small-self, need for relatedness, and wise reasoning via an online survey.
Results:
Structural equation models demonstrated that adolescents' trait awe positively predicted their wisdom in conflict situations-wise reasoning directly and indirectly through the parallel mediating role of small-self and need for relatedness.
Conclusions:
This finding validates the facilitative effect of decentralized emotions on wise reasoning and the internal and external influence pathways. The study laid the foundation for future exploration of the role of emotion types on wise reasoning and provided practical guidance for the solution of interpersonal conflict in social interactions among adolescents.
This paper describes “Kalos, eîdos, skopeîn,” an immersive Dhrupad-based dance installation designed to elicit feelings of awe in the spectators, in a real-life artistic context. This study used a mixed-methods approach in order to explore spectators’ awe experience (N=45), using specific scales and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results suggested that “Kalos, eîdos, skopeîn,” with its combination of nature motifs and the slow dance-walk associated with the Dhrupad music in the choreography, was able to produce awe-related moments in some spectators and inspire a degree of positive emotions. Our qualitative results viewed awe explicitly as a positive emotion and showed that generally the spectator narratives, involving the whole performance, were based on modified states of consciousness. Three themes emerged: the main theme is “A rich experience of modified states of consciousness” involving the whole performance, and two interconnected sub-themes “Captivated by the slowness of the dancers” associated with the slow movement and “I can still hear the mantra in my head” in rapport with Dhrupad music. This study was carried out as part of the Canadian FRQSC/FCI Project (2019-RC2-260306).
When people have the freedom to create and post content on the internet, particularly anonymously, they do not always respect the rules and regulations of the websites on which they post, leaving other unsuspecting users vulnerable to sexism, racism, threats, and other unacceptable content in their daily cyberspace diet. However, content moderators witness the worst of humanity on a daily basis in place of the average netizen. This takes its toll on moderators, causing stress, fatigue, and emotional distress akin to the symptomology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The goal of the present study was to explore whether adding positive stimuli to breaktimes-images of baby animals or beautiful, aweinspiring landscapes-could help reduce the negative side-effects of being a content moderator. To test this, we had over 300 experienced content moderators read and decide whether 200 fake text-based social media posts were acceptable or not for public consumption. Although we set out to test positive emotional stimulation, however, we actually found that it is the cumulative nature of the negative emotions that likely negates most of the effects of the intervention: the longer the person had practiced content moderation, the stronger their negative experience. Connections to compassion fatigue and how best to spend work breaks as a content moderator are discussed.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic with its lockdowns affected social relations and mental health conditions of people worldwide. We aimed to analyze the relevance of nature and times of silence as resources to cope with the pandemic. Of interest were how experiences of nature and times of silence are related to the perception of wondering awe and gratitude and psychological wellbeing and how these have changed during the different phases of the pandemic. Finally, we asked whether Nature/Silence would mediate the link between Awe/Gratitude and wellbeing.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey with standardized questionnaires (i.e., PCQ, GrAw-7, BMLSS-10, WHO-5) enrolling participants during the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. The total sample of 5,155 participants from Germany consisted of 65% women and 34% men, with a mean age of 45.0 ± 14.0 years.
Results: Directly after the first lockdown, Nature/Silence and Awe/Gratitude scores were high and decreased along with wellbeing with the onset of the second lockdown in winter 2020, while perceived burden constantly increased. Nature/Silence was rated lowest by people with reduced wellbeing (eta2 = 0.058) and feeling lonely or socially isolated (eta2 = 0.042). Predictor analyses revealed that wellbeing as a dependent variable was predicted best by corona-related perception of burden, Awe/Gratitude, reflection of life, and Nature/Silence and further by perceived changes in terms of relationships and spirituality (R2 = 0.55). In mediation analyses, Awe/Gratitude proved to be a significant predictor for Nature/Silence (β = 0.55, p< 0.0001) and wellbeing (β = 0.05, p < 0.0001). The mediation analysis explained 37% of the variability in the data. The direct influence of Awe/Gratitude on wellbeing was estimated as β = 0.09 (p < 0.0001), and the mediation effect of Nature/Silence on the link between Awe/Gratitude and wellbeing was significant, too (β = 0.03, p < 0.0001), explaining 25% of the total effect.
Conclusion: Nature/Silence and Awe/Gratitude were used as relevant resources during the pandemic, although they cannot fully buffer the negative effects of the social restrictions that resulted in decreases in wellbeing and increases in perceived burden. Perception of nature as a sensitizer of positive experiences particularly during difficult phases of life could be trained to stabilize wellbeing and thus to contribute to public health.
A meta-analytic review of studies that experimentally elicited awe and compared the emotion to other conditions (84; 487 effects; 17,801 participants) examined the degree to which experimentally elicited awe (1) affects outcomes relative to other positive emotions (2) affects experience, judgment, behaviour, and physiology, and (3) differs in its effects if the awe state was elicited through positive or threatening contexts. The efficacy of methods that have been used to experimentally elicit awe and the possibility of assessing changes in the state of the self with experimental awe elicitations were also examined. Meta-analyses with robust variance estimation revealed that awe affected outcomes compared to other positive emotions and control conditions; affected experience, judgment, and behaviour; and had similar effects if elicited through positive or threatening contexts. The ability to compare awe to negative emotion states and its effects on physiology was limited by a small number of available effects. Images, videos, autobiographical recall, and naturalistic exposure were effective in eliciting awe. Exploratory analyses suggested that some processes involved in changes in the self can be related to experimental awe elicitations. These findings suggest awe is a discrete emotion and identifies areas for future investigation.
While leisure activities have been illustrated to enhance women’s psychological health, the study of leisure reading experiences and their impact on prenatal attachment has not been investigated to date. Addressing this research gap, a moderated mediation model is built to explain the indirect effects of leisure reading experiences on prenatal attachment through subjective vitality conditioned by the moderating role of optimism. 494 valid responses from pregnant women were obtained from obstetrical centers for testing the hypothesized model. The results indicated that subjective vitality fully mediates the relationship between hedonic experience and prenatal attachment, and also partially mediates the relationship between other leisure reading experiences (flow and transcendent) and prenatal attachment. In addition, the mediating effect was observed to be significant at higher levels of optimism. The proposed framework signifies novel contributions to the understanding of pregnant women’s mental health and their bond with the baby through leisure reading experiences.
A worrisome period of uncertainty frequently precedes important life events, and many of the coping strategies people employ during such waiting periods are ineffective. Distraction can be efficacious, but individuals awaiting uncertain news often fail to lose themselves in a sufficiently diverting activity. Across three studies-two observational and one experimental-we test whether flow-inducing activities provide a better distraction and improve the waiting experience. In Study 1, law graduates (N = 125) who experienced more flow while awaiting their bar exam results reported less worry, fewer negative emotions, and more positive emotions. However, they were often unable to accurately identify personally relevant flow-inducing activities. Study 2 replicated these findings in a longitudinal study of doctoral-level students in the academic job market (N = 141). Study 3 experimentally tested the effects of engaging in a flow activity (via an adaptive Tetris game) on undergraduate participants (N = 309) waiting for peers to rate their physical attractiveness. Study 3 successfully replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 with a measure of subjective flow experiences, but the manipulation was only effective for bolstering positive emotion and mitigating negative emotions; it did not reduce worry. Our findings point to challenges in moving people toward flow but suggest that engaging in flow may boost well-being during a period of uncertainty and make waiting a little easier. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Whether awaiting biopsy results, a grade on a midterm, or a decision from a journal editor, people feel distressed as they wait for uncertain news. In the present study, we investigated how people’s perceptions of their romantic partner, specifically their partner’s responsiveness to their support needs, corresponds with key aspects of the waiting experience. In a longitudinal study of 184 law students awaiting their result on the California bar exam, we examined changes in perceived responsiveness over time and associations between perceived responsiveness and expectation management strategies, health, and well-being. Results revealed temporal patterns in perceived responsiveness, with the greatest responsiveness perceived at the start and end of the wait. Perceived responsiveness was also intertwined with efforts to manage one’s expectations while awaiting uncertain news and was associated with more positive emotions, better subjective coping, and greater self-reported sleep quality during the wait.
In this study, individuals estimated interval times of several minutes (from 2 to 32 minutes) during their everyday lives using a cell phone they kept with them. Their emotional state, the difficulty of the activity performed during this interval, and the attention that it required were also assessed, together with their subjective experience of the passage of time. The results showed that the mean time estimates and their variability increased linearly with increasing interval duration, indicating that the fundamental scalar property of time found for short durations also applies to very long durations of several minutes. In addition, the emotional state and difficulty of the activity were significant predictors of the judgment of long durations. However, the awareness of the passage of time appeared to play a crucial role in the judgment of very long duration in humans. A theory on the emergence of the awareness of the passage of time and how it affects the judgment of interval durations lasting several minutes is therefore discussed.
The present study examined the possibility that waiting is bad for one’s subjective health. Specifically, we examined longitudinal trends in the self-reported health, self-reported sleep disruption, distress, and emotion regulation strategies of law school graduates waiting for their bar exam results. Multilevel analyses suggest that waiting was particularly detrimental to participants’ self-reported health and sleep disruption at the beginning and end of the waiting period. Moreover, distress and most emotion regulation efforts were associated with poorer subjective health on average, and personal increases in distress and emotion regulation were largely associated with personal increases in poor self-reported health and sleep disruption. Our results suggest that waiting periods can take a toll on subjective health and that individual and temporal variations in distress and emotion regulation efforts are associated with these health trajectories.
Waiting for uncertain news is often distressing, at times even more distressing than facing bad news. The goal of this article was to investigate strategies for "waiting well" during these periods of uncertainty. Specifically, we propose 2 definitions of waiting well. First, people can wait in such a way as to ease their distress during the waiting period. Second, people could wait in such a way as to ease the pain of bad news or enhance the thrill of good news. We conducted a longitudinal study of law graduates (N = 230) awaiting their result on the California bar exam. Participants completed questionnaires prior to the exam, every 2 weeks during the 4-month waiting period, and shortly after learning whether they passed or failed. Cross-lagged models revealed that participants were quite unsuccessful at waiting well by our first definition. That is, their coping strategies were ineffective for reducing distress associated with uncertainty, apparently even backfiring in some cases. However, multiple regression analyses examining relationships between waiting experiences and responses to good and bad news found that many participants were successful at waiting well according to our second definition: Participants who suffered through a waiting period marked by anxiety, rumination, and pessimism responded more productively to bad news and more joyfully to good news, as compared with participants who suffered little during the wait. These findings substantiate the difficulty of enduring a stressful waiting period but suggest that this difficulty may pay off once the news arrives. (PsycINFO Database Record
Negative emotions are reliably associated with poorer health (e.g., Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002), but only recently has research begun to acknowledge the important role of positive emotions for our physical health (Fredrickson, 2003). We examine the link between dispositional positive affect and one potential biological pathway between positive emotions and health-proinflammatory cytokines, specifically levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6). We hypothesized that greater trait positive affect would be associated with lower levels of IL-6 in a healthy sample. We found support for this hypothesis across two studies. We also explored the relationship between discrete positive emotions and IL-6 levels, finding that awe, measured in two different ways, was the strongest predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines. These effects held when controlling for relevant personality and health variables. This work suggests a potential biological pathway between positive emotions and health through proinflammatory cytokines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Environmental psychology research has demonstrated that exposure to mundane natural environments can be psychologically beneficial, and can, for instance, improve individuals’ mood and concentration. However, little research has yet examined the psychological benefits of extraordinary, awe-evoking kinds of nature, such as spectacular mountain scenes or impressive waterfalls. In this study, we aimed to address the underrepresentation of such extraordinary nature in research on human – nature interactions. Specifically, we examined whether watching a picture slideshow of awesome as opposed to mundane nature differentially affected individuals’ emotions, mood, social value orientation, and their willingness to donate something to others. Our analyses revealed that, compared to mundane nature and a neutral condition, watching awesome natural scenes and phenomena had some unique and pronounced emotional effects (e.g., feeling small and humble), triggered the most mood improvement, and led to a more prosocial social value orientation. We found that participants’ willingness to donate did not differ significantly for any of the conditions.
Waiting for uncertain news, such as the outcome of a job interview or medical test, is a ubiquitous and difficult but little studied experience. We conducted a longitudinal examination, guided by the predictions of the uncertainty navigation model (Sweeny & Cavanaugh, 2012), to examine broad trends and individual differences in experiences during a consequential waiting period. Fifty students preparing for the California bar exam completed questionnaires at 6 time points: shortly before and after the exam, at 2 intermediate time points during the 4-month waiting period, and immediately before and after learning whether they passed. We identified key individual differences in the overall experience of a waiting period, such that dispositional optimists reported lower levels of anxiety and rumination on average, and defensive pessimists and people uncomfortable with uncertainty reported higher levels. Longitudinal growth curve modeling analyses suggested that waiting is most difficult at the start and end of a waiting period, although people maintained hope and optimism throughout the wait. These temporal trends were generally robust, although some individual differences emerged. These findings provide the first evidence regarding when and for whom waiting periods are most difficult and thus can serve as the basis for future investigations of waiting experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Participants were trained on a temporal bisection task in which visual stimuli (a pink oval) of 400 ms and 1600 ms served as short and long standards, respectively. They were then presented comparison durations between 400 ms and 1600 ms, represented by faces expressing three emotions (anger, happiness, and sadness) and a neutral‐baseline facial expression. Relative to the neutral face, the proportion of long responses was higher, the psychophysical functions shifted to the left, and the bisection point values were lower for faces expressing any of the three emotions. These findings indicate that the duration of emotional faces was systematically overestimated compared to neural ones. Furthermore, consistent with arousal‐based models of time perception, temporal overestimation for the emotional faces increased with the duration values. It appears, therefore, that emotional faces increased the speed of the pacemaker of the internal clock.
Although theorists have proposed the existence of multiple distinct varieties of positive emotion, dispositional positive affect is typically treated as a unidimensional variable in personality research. We present data elaborating conceptual and empirical differences among seven positive emotion dispositions in their relationships with two core personality constructs, the ''Big Five'' and adult attachment style. We found that the positive emotion dispositions were differentially associated with self-and peer-rated Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism. We also found that different adult attachment styles were associated with different kinds of emotional rewards. Findings support the theoretical utility of differentiating among several dispositional positive emotion constructs in personality research.
Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a threatening stimulus in human adults in a temporal bisection task. In Experiment 1, for two anchor duration conditions (400/800 vs. 800/1600 ms), the participants completed trials in which the probe duration was followed by an aversive stimulus or a nonaversive stimulus. The results showed that the duration was judged longer when the participants expected an aversive rather than a nonaversive stimulus. In Experiment 2, the effect of the temporal localization of the aversive stimulus was also tested, with the aversive stimulus being presented at the beginning or at the end of the probe duration. The results revealed a temporal overestimation in each condition compared to the trials in which no aversive stimulus was presented. Furthermore, the temporal overestimation was greater when the expectation for the forthcoming threatening stimulus was longer. This temporal overestimation is explained in terms of a speeding-up of the neural timing system in response to the increase in the arousal level produced by the expectation of a threatening stimulus.
The diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions requires patients to wait for results that are potentially threatening to their wellbeing (e.g., breast biopsy results, pregnancy test results after fertility treatment and genetic screening outcomes). Little research has been carried out to document the psychological processes that unfold during such waiting periods. The aim of the present study was to document the course of anxiety, depression, positive affect and coping during the waiting period before a pregnancy test result in fertility treatment. Using a daily record-keeping chart designed for fertility treatment, 61 women undergoing IVF were monitored daily for emotional reactions (e.g., anxiety, depression and positive affect) and coping during 7 days of active treatment (stimulation), 7 days of waiting to find out whether a pregnancy was achieved (waiting) and 4 days of reacting to the pregnancy test results (outcome). The stimulation stage of treatment was characterized by positive affect with a lesser degree of anxiety, whereas the predominant emotions in the waiting stage were a combination of positive affect and anxiety symptoms versus depression. From the pregnancy test day onwards, the predominant emotion was depression. There was a significant increase in coping activity between the stimulation and waiting stages, with variable effects across coping strategies. It was concluded that whilst medical waiting periods have a clearly defined emotional trajectory, the coping pattern is less differentiated. This may explain why waiting for medical test results is so demanding. Healthcare professionals can assist their patients by facilitating coping strategies that better fit the demands of the waiting period and by offering support once outcomes are known.
Episodic memory, as defined by Tulving, can be described in terms of behavioural elements (what, where and when information) but it is also accompanied by an awareness of one's past (chronesthesia) and a subjective conscious experience (autonoetic awareness). Recent experiments have shown that corvids and rodents recall the where, what and when of an event. This capability has been called episodic-like memory because it only fulfils the behavioural criteria for episodic memory. We tested seven chimpanzees, three orangutans and two bonobos of various ages by adapting two paradigms, originally developed by Clayton and colleagues to test scrub jays. In Experiment 1, subjects were fed preferred but perishable food (frozen juice) and less preferred but non-perishable food (grape). After the food items were hidden, subjects could choose one of them either after 5 min or 1 h. The frozen juice was still available after 5 min but melted after 1 h and became unobtainable. Apes chose the frozen juice significantly more after 5 min and the grape after 1 h. In Experiment 2, subjects faced two baiting events happening at different times, yet they formed an integrated memory for the location and time of the baiting event for particular food items. We also included a memory task that required no temporal encoding. Our results showed that apes remember in an integrated fashion what, where and when (i.e., how long ago) an event happened; that is, apes distinguished between different events in which the same food items were hidden in different places at different times. The temporal control of their choices was not dependent on the familiarity of the platforms where the food was hidden. Chimpanzees' and bonobos' performance in the temporal encoding task was age-dependent, following an inverted U-shaped distribution. The age had no effect on the performance of the subjects in the task that required no temporal encoding.
The present manuscript discusses the time-emotion paradox in time psychology: although humans are able to accurately estimate time as if they possess a specific mechanism that allows them to measure time (i.e. an internal clock), their representations of time are easily distorted by the context. Indeed, our sense of time depends on intrinsic context, such as the emotional state, and on extrinsic context, such as the rhythm of others' activity. Existing studies on the relationships between emotion and time suggest that these contextual variations in subjective time do not result from the incorrect functioning of the internal clock but rather from the excellent ability of the internal clock to adapt to events in one's environment. Finally, the fact that we live and move in time and that everything, every act, takes more or less time has often been neglected. Thus, there is no unique, homogeneous time but instead multiple experiences of time. Our subjective temporal distortions directly reflect the way our brain and body adapt to these multiple time scales.
Infantile physical morphology-marked by its "cuteness"-is thought to be a potent elicitor of caregiving, yet little is known about how cuteness may shape immediate behavior. To examine the function of cuteness and its role in caregiving, the authors tested whether perceiving cuteness can enhance behavioral carefulness, which would facilitate caring for a small, delicate child. In 2 experiments, viewing very cute images (puppies and kittens)-as opposed to slightly cute images (dogs and cats)-led to superior performance on a subsequent fine-motor dexterity task (the children's game "Operation"). This suggests that the human sensitivity to those possessing cute features may be an adaptation that facilitates caring for delicate human young.
Conducted 3 experiments with 168 female and 108 male undergraduates to assess the relationship of test anxiety and achievement-oriented instructions to time perception. Ss were rated as high-, middle-, or low-test-anxious using the Test Anxiety Scale. After being given either achievement-orienting or neutral instructions, Ss waited for an undesignated period of time and then performed an intellective task. The dependent measures were Ss' estimates of the duration of the waiting and performance periods and their scores on the assigned task. High-test-anxious Ss' time estimates were significantly greater than the estimates of the other Ss, and their performance was at a relatively low level. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that highly anxious persons under stress experience cognitive interference and preoccupation that makes time pass slowly and results in poor performance. Implications are discusssed particularly in terms of the need for training programs capable of fostering improved cognitive skills requiring self-control. (18 ref)
A 36-item short-form (SF-36) was constructed to survey health status in the Medical Outcomes Study. The SF-36 was designed for use in clinical practice and research, health policy evaluations, and general population surveys. The SF-36 includes one multi-item scale that assesses eight health concepts: 1) limitations in physical activities because of health problems; 2) limitations in social activities because of physical or emotional problems; 3) limitations in usual role activities because of physical health problems; 4) bodily pain; 5) general mental health (psychological distress and well-being); 6) limitations in usual role activities because of emotional problems; 7) vitality (energy and fatigue); and 8) general health perceptions. The survey was constructed for self-administration by persons 14 years of age and older, and for administration by a trained interviewer in person or by telephone. The history of the development of the SF-36, the origin of specific items, and the logic underlying their selection are summarized. The content and features of the SF-36 are compared with the 20-item Medical Outcomes Study short-form.
Five studies on the relation between positive and negative affect are reported. In Studies 1 and 2 we found that positive feelings were remembered as being nearly independent of negative feelings in the past year, but the two types of affect were moderately negatively correlated for the past month. In Studies 3 and 5, subjects completed daily mood reports for 70 and 30 days, respectively. In Study 4, subjects completed three-week, daily, and moment mood reports and also filled out reports when they experienced strong emotions. The principal finding was that the relation between positive and negative affect differed greatly depending on the time frame. The strongest negative correlation between the two affects occurred during emotional times. The correlation decreased in a linear fashion as the time span covered increased logarithmically. It appears that positive and negative affect are independent in terms of how much people feel in their lives over longer time periods. Researchers need to focus on the processes that underlie both positive and negative affect and that are responsible for producing their relative independence.
The Sleep Hygiene Index was developed to assess the practice of sleep hygiene behaviors. The Sleep Hygiene Index was delivered to 632 subjects and a subset of the subjects participated in a readministration of the instrument. Test-retest reliability analyses suggested that sleep hygiene behaviors are relatively stable over time for a nonclinical population. Results confirmed that sleep hygiene is strongly related to sleep quality and modestly related to perceptions of daytime sleepiness. As predicted, support of the sleep hygiene construct was also provided by strong correlations with the associated features of a diagnosis of inadequate sleep hygiene. The Sleep Hygiene Index, a much shorter sleep hygiene instrument than previously published, demonstrated comparable psychometric properties with additional evidence of validity and a clear item selection rationale.
Intolerance of uncertainty is the tendency of an individual to consider the possibility of a negative event occurring unacceptable, irrespective of the probability of occurrence. It is a key component of worry, state anxiety, and related anxiety pathologies. The 27-item Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS) was developed to measure intolerance of uncertainty. Previous psychometric analyses of the IUS have suggested both four- and five-factor models. High inter-item correlations, factor instability, and previous theoretical research support the development of a reduced measure. The present study used two undergraduate samples and evaluated a psychometrically stable 12-item two-factor version of the IUS. The reduced measure (IUS-12) retained exemplary internal consistency, while correlating extremely well with the original IUS and related measures of anxiety and worry. The IUS-12 also demonstrated a stable two-factor structure, representing both anxious and avoidance components of intolerance of uncertainty. Directions for future research and potential applications for assessment are discussed.
For decades, researchers in the behavioral sciences have studied how humans judge time accurately. Now they are looking more closely at the conditions in which they fail to do so and why, with the aim of testing the limits of a potential internal timing system (i.e., an internal clock). Recent behavioral studies have thus focused on time distortions, in particular those caused by emotion. They have also begun to examine the awareness of the passage of time and its relation with the perception of durations in different temporal ranges, from a few seconds to several minutes.
At some point in life, everyone must wait for important news—whether the news from college applications, job interviews, medical tests, academic exams, or even romantic overtures. Until recently, the psychological literature on stress and coping had largely overlooked these common and often distressing experiences. However, the past 5 years have seen significant advances in the understanding of waiting experiences, revealing insights into the nature, time course, and consequences of distress during waiting periods; individual differences in these experiences; and effective and ineffective strategies for coping with this type of uncertainty. This article reviews the emerging findings from this growing literature and provides suggestions for future research in this area.
Recent experience sampling research supports the idea that our experience of time speeds up when we are happy and slows down when we feel sad. However, this research had only examined a single negative mood state namely, sadness. Here, I extend this research by testing whether the experience of time speeding-up and slowing down is associated with other thoughts and negative mood states. Thirty-nine participants aged from 18 to 29 completed an experience sampling procedure that lasted for five consecutive days. The experience sampling procedure included measures of time experience (passage of time judgements), mood, levels of activity and time orientation. Increased frustration predicted the experience of time slowing down more than sadness and increased activity, thinking about the future and to a lesser extent happiness, predicted time moving more quickly. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to laboratory-based studies of time perception.
People frequently await uncertain news, yet research reveals that the strategies people naturally use to cope with uncertainty are largely ineffective. We tested the role of mindfulness for improving the experience of a stressful waiting period. Law graduates awaiting their bar exam results either reported their trait mindfulness (Study 1; N = 150) or were instructed to practice mindfulness meditation (Study 2; N = 90). As hypothesized, participants who were naturally more mindful or who practiced mindfulness managed their expectations more effectively by bracing for the worst later in the waiting period and perceived themselves as coping better. Additionally, participants who were low in dispositional optimism and high in intolerance of uncertainty benefited most from mindfulness (relative to control) meditation. These findings point to a simple and effective way to wait better, particularly for those most vulnerable to distress.
Worry is an aversive emotional experience that arises alongside repetitive unpleasant thoughts about the future. In this paper, we argue that although extreme levels of worry are associated with depressed mood, poor physical health, and even mental illness, worry has an upside. We focus on two empirically supported benefits of worry: its motivational benefits and its benefit as an emotional buffer. Regarding motivation, worry illuminates the importance of taking action to prevent an undesirable outcome and keeps the situation at the front of one's mind to ensure that appropriate action is taken. It also triggers efforts to mitigate the consequences of bad news, motivates productive behavior that in turn reduces worry, and enhances the effectiveness of goal-directed action by prompting people to focus on obstacles that might derail best-laid plans. Worry can also serve as an emotional buffer by providing a desirable contrast to subsequent affective reactions, particularly for people who are prone to high levels of worry.
Objective:
Whether healthy or sick, adults undergo frequent medical testing; however, no guidelines currently exist as to how patients are informed of their medical test results. This short report provides an initial look at how healthcare professionals deliver medical test results and patient preferences regarding these procedures.
Methods:
We specifically focus on two options for delivery of results: (1) open-ended timing, in which patients are contacted without warning when test results become available; or (2) closed-ended timing, in which patients are provided with a specific day and time when they will learn their test results. Participants who underwent a recent medical test indicated which delivery method their healthcare professional provided and their preferred method.
Results:
Findings demonstrate a large discrepancy between actual and preferred timing, stemming from a general trend towards providing open-ended timing, whereas patient preferences were evenly split between the two options.
Conclusion:
This study provides a first step in understanding the merits of two options for delivering medical test results to patients and suggests an opportunity to improve patient care.
Practice implications:
The findings from this study provide first steps toward the development of guidelines for delivering test results in ways that maximize the quality of patient care.
The present report is focused on the Item Response Theory research methodology and descriptive potential. Its purpose is to present the item analysis of C, D and E Series from Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices which were given to 506 Bulgarian high school students. The basic concepts and underlying assumptions of IRT are briefly reviewed. The latent variable is defined after a short check of some intelligence theories and a detailed examination of the used items. After the verification of IRT assumptions, the Two-parameter logistic model is selected for the analysis. The estimated item parameters are interpreted in accordance to suggested guidelines. Item Characteristic Curves and Item Information Functions are plotted and their features are also discussed.
Awaiting uncertain news is stressful, but is it more stressful than receiving bad news? We compared these emotional experiences in two studies. Participants in Study 1 reflected on a personal experience awaiting news that ultimately turned out badly, and participants in Study 2 were law graduates awaiting their results on the bar exam who ultimately failed the exam. In Study 1, participants were ambivalent as to whether awaiting or receiving bad news was more difficult, and emotion ratings in both studies confirmed this ambivalence. Anxiety was higher in anticipation of bad news (at least at the moment of truth) than in the face of it, whereas other negative emotions were more intense following the news than during the waiting period. Thus, whether waiting is "the hardest part" depends on whether one prefers to be racked with anxiety or afflicted with other negative emotions such as anger, disappointment, depression, and regret.
© 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
Awe has been defined as an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that overwhelm current mental structures, yet facilitate attempts at accommodation. Four studies are presented showing the information-focused nature of awe elicitors, documenting the self-diminishing effects of awe experience, and exploring the effects of awe on the content of the self-concept. Study 1 documented the information-focused, asocial nature of awe elicitors in participant narratives. Study 2 contrasted the stimulus-focused, self-diminishing nature of appraisals and feelings associated with a prototypical awe experience with the self-focused appraisals and feelings associated with pride. Study 3 found that dispositional awe-proneness, but not dispositional joy or pride, was associated with low Need for Cognitive Closure, and also documented a relationship between dispositional awe and increased emphasis on membership in "universal" categories in participants' self-concepts. Study 4 replicated the self-concept finding from Study 3 using experimentally elicited awe. Implications for future work on awe are discussed.
Objectives:
Worry and depressive rumination have been found to be involved in the onset and maintenance of a range of psychological disorders. The development of brief screening measures for excessive worry and depressive rumination is therefore desirable to facilitate the assessment of worry and rumination in prevention and treatment settings where routine administration of full questionnaires is not practical due to time-related constraints.
Design and methods:
Using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) as gold standard starting points, brief versions of these measures were developed in a large sample of adolescents (N = 1,952) and results were cross-validated in two independent samples (N = 1,954; N = 457).
Results:
The brief versions demonstrated acceptable to high internal consistency (brief PSWQ: α = .84-.91; brief RRS: α = .78-.81) and correlated highly with the full questionnaires (brief PSWQ: r = .91-.94; brief RRS: r = .88-.91). In addition, they showed high sensitivity (brief PSWQ: .90-.92; brief RRS: .90-.93), and high specificity (brief PSWQ: .88-.90; brief RRS: .80-.87) to detect excessive worry and rumination. The validity of the brief measures was further supported by demonstrating that the brief measures showed similar differences in scores between males and females as the full measures as well as substantial relationships to other measures of repetitive negative thinking and symptom measures of anxiety and depression. Finally, the brief measures predicted future symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Conclusions:
The brief versions of the PSWQ and RRS are time-efficient and valid instruments for the screening of worry and depressive rumination. Their use in clinical practice is recommended to inform treatment and/or to select individuals at risk for development of psychological disorders who may benefit from preventive interventions.
Past studies have documented interpersonal benefits of natural environments. Across four studies, we tested the hypothesis that exposure to more beautiful nature, relative to less beautiful nature, increases prosocial behavior. Study 1 yielded correlational evidence indicating that participants prone to perceiving natural beauty reported greater prosocial tendencies, as measured by agreeableness, perspective taking, and empathy. In Studies 2 and 3, exposure to more beautiful images of nature (versus less beautiful images of nature) led participants to be more generous and trusting. In Study 4, exposure to more beautiful (versus less beautiful) plants in the laboratory room led participants to exhibit increased helping behavior. Across studies, we provide evidence that positive emotions and tendencies to perceive natural beauty mediate and moderate the association between beauty and prosociality. The current studies extend past research by demonstrating the unique prosocial benefits of beautiful nature.
Duration-based measures of happiness from retrospectively constructed daily diaries are gaining in popularity in population-based studies of the hedonic experience. Yet experimental evidence suggests that perceptions of duration—how long an event lasts—are influenced by individuals’ emotional experiences during the event. An important remaining question is whether observational measures of duration outside the laboratory setting, where the events under study are engaged in voluntarily, may be similarly affected, and if so, for which emotions are duration biases a potential concern. This study assesses how duration and emotions co-vary using retrospective, 24-h diaries from a national sample of older couples. Data are from the Disability and Use of Time supplement to the nationally representative U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that experienced wellbeing (positive, negative emotion) and activity duration are inversely associated. Specific positive emotions (happy, calm) are not associated with duration, but all measures of negative wellbeing considered here (frustrated, worried, sad, tired, and pain) have positive correlations (ranging from 0.04 to 0.08; p < .05). However, only frustration remains correlated with duration after controlling for respondent, activity and day-related characteristics (0.06, p < .01). The correlation translates into a potentially upward biased estimate of duration of up to 10 min (20 %) for very frustrating activities. We conclude that estimates of time spent feeling happy yesterday generated from diary data are unlikely to be biased but more research is needed on the link between duration estimation and feelings of frustration.
In this paper we present a prototype approach to awe. We suggest that two appraisals are central and are present in all clear cases of awe: perceived vastness, and a need for accommodation, defined as an inability to assimilate an experience into current mental structures. Five additional appraisals account for variation in the hedonic tone of awe experiences: threat, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, and the supernatural. We derive this perspective from a review of what has been written about awe in religion, philosophy, sociology, and psychology, and then we apply this perspective to an analysis of awe and related states such as admiration, elevation, and the epiphanic experience.
Humans subjects repeatedly produced durations ranging from 0.5 to 1.3 sec, with each trial being followed by accurate feedback as to the time produced. An analogy was drawn between this production task and the peak procedure, a technique used to examine temporal control in rats which typically produces data conforming to scalar timing theory. Human production data were analysed in a way similar to that employed in peak procedure experiments. Using non-linear regression, it was found that the peak of relative frequency distributions of times produced varied accurately with the target time, and that the coefficient of variation of fitted curves was approximately constant as peak location and target time varied. In both these respects human production data were very similar to those collected from rats in peak procedure experiments, and thus compatible with scalar timing and Weber's law. Weber fractions obtained in this experiment were about half the value of those produced by rats in peak procedure studies, but only slightly lower than those obtained from animals in some other experimental situations.
Progressive matrices provide a nonverbal series of tests designed for measuring intelligence. The individual test was standardized on 660 children from Ipswich sampled from those born between 1924 and 1932. Subsequently, 1407 children from the same schools were given group tests. Score values are presented in the form of separate curves for the 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, and 95th percentile points at half-yearly ages from 6 to 14 for the individual test and from 8 to 14 for the group test. The group test also includes percentile values for 3665 male adults. Results are compared with those of the revised Stanford Binet, but no correlations are stated. Case notes show that verbal fluency sometimes influences Binet IQ's, while not influencing matrix test scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
When do people feel as if they are rich in time? Not often, research and daily experience suggest. However, three experiments showed that participants who felt awe, relative to other emotions, felt they had more time available (Experiments 1 and 3) and were less impatient (Experiment 2). Participants who experienced awe also were more willing to volunteer their time to help other people (Experiment 2), more strongly preferred experiences over material products (Experiment 3), and experienced greater life satisfaction (Experiment 3). Mediation analyses revealed that these changes in decision making and well-being were due to awe's ability to alter the subjective experience of time. Experiences of awe bring people into the present moment, and being in the present moment underlies awe's capacity to adjust time perception, influence decisions, and make life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise.
The study of any problem involving waiting situations invariably assumes that people dislike having to wait. The analysis of queueing problems usually prescribes that some costs should be associated with the time people spend waiting to be served. These are usually considered to be of an economic nature, though the existence of other costs of a psychological nature is accepted. It is generally accepted that after having to wait for a certain amount of time, anxiety and stress start to build up in an individual, due both to the sense of waste and the uncertainty involved in a waiting situation. This work provides a theoretical basis for analysing this building up process as it occurs during the waiting period. It is proved that, under very general conditions, the resulting psychological stress accumulated during the process is a marginal increasing function of the waiting time, and some strategies to minimise it are developed. The results obtained give theoretical support to the usual assumptions underlying the development of systems to provide “real time” information to people in waiting situations. This is especially important in the operation of public transportation systems. The results also provide theoretical support to the “convex” treatment usually given to the waiting cost function in queueing problems.
When time is limited, researchers may be faced with the choice of using an extremely brief measure of the Big-Five personality dimensions or using no measure at all. To meet the need for a very brief measure, 5 and 10-item inventories were developed and evaluated. Although somewhat inferior to standard multi-item instruments, the instruments reached adequate levels in terms of: (a) convergence with widely used Big-Five measures in self, observer, and peer reports, (b) test–retest reliability, (c) patterns of predicted external correlates, and (d) convergence between self and observer ratings. On the basis of these tests, a 10-item measure of the Big-Five dimensions is offered for situations where very short measures are needed, personality is not the primary topic of interest, or researchers can tolerate the somewhat diminished psychometric properties associated with very brief measures.
This paper is a report of a review conducted to define the manifestations that characterize psychological distress during the diagnostic phase for suspected breast cancer, define the extent of psychological distress associated with the threat of potential cancer, and identify factors influencing psychological distress levels.
Raising the possibility that a malignancy might be present is threatening. The resulting distress is believed to influence treatment outcomes in those diagnosed with cancer and result in behavioural changes in those with benign disease.
Research papers published between January 1983 and May 2009 were identified in CINAHL, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. The search was performed using the following terms: breast cancer diagnosis, mammography, breast biopsy, breast diagnostic, anxiety, distress and uncertainty.
A systematic review was conducted of 30 studies meeting the inclusion criteria of a quantitative design with at least one standardized measure of distress and specifically addressing distress during the evaluation period.
It is well-documented that distress, manifested as anxiety, exists. In a small cohort of women, distress levels are heightened to worrying levels that may have long-term implications. There was strong evidence for relationships among medical history, education and trait anxiety with distress. There was no substantiation of the association between younger age and increased psychological distress that has been consistently reported with other cancers.
It is necessary to understand the impact of factors on distress so that heightened levels can be predicted and targeted by interventions initiated at the first mention of the possibility of the presence of malignancy.
Depression, anxiety and somatization are the most common mental disorders in primary care as well as medical specialty populations; each is present in at least 5-10% of patients and frequently comorbid with one another. An efficient means for measuring and monitoring all three conditions would be desirable.
Evidence regarding the psychometric and pragmatic characteristics of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)-7 anxiety and PHQ-15 somatic symptom scales are synthesized from two sources: (1) four multisite cross-sectional studies (three conducted in primary care and one in obstetric-gynecology practices) comprising 9740 patients, and (2) key studies from the literature that have studied these scales.
The PHQ-9 and its abbreviated eight-item (PHQ-8) and two-item (PHQ-2) versions have good sensitivity and specificity for detecting depressive disorders. Likewise, the GAD-7 and its abbreviated two-item (GAD-2) version have good operating characteristics for detecting generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The optimal cutpoint is > or = 10 on the parent scales (PHQ-9 and GAD-7) and > or = 3 on the ultra-brief versions (PHQ-2 and GAD-2). The PHQ-15 is equal or superior to other brief measures for assessing somatic symptoms and screening for somatoform disorders. Cutpoints of 5, 10 and 15 represent mild, moderate and severe symptom levels on all three scales. Sensitivity to change is well-established for the PHQ-9 and emerging albeit not yet definitive for the GAD-7 and PHQ-15.
The PHQ-9, GAD-7 and PHQ-15 are brief well-validated measures for detecting and monitoring depression, anxiety and somatization.
The Varieties of Religious Experience : a Study in Human Nature / William James Note: The University of Adelaide Library eBooks @ Adelaide.
Despite the prevalence of sleep complaints among psychiatric patients, few questionnaires have been specifically designed to measure sleep quality in clinical populations. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a self-rated questionnaire which assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month time interval. Nineteen individual items generate seven "component" scores: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction. The sum of scores for these seven components yields one global score. Clinical and clinimetric properties of the PSQI were assessed over an 18-month period with "good" sleepers (healthy subjects, n = 52) and "poor" sleepers (depressed patients, n = 54; sleep-disorder patients, n = 62). Acceptable measures of internal homogeneity, consistency (test-retest reliability), and validity were obtained. A global PSQI score greater than 5 yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 89.6% and specificity of 86.5% (kappa = 0.75, p less than 0.001) in distinguishing good and poor sleepers. The clinimetric and clinical properties of the PSQI suggest its utility both in psychiatric clinical practice and research activities.
Although time distortion is commonly reported during a traumatic experience, there is little research addressing the phenomenon. This study investigated the role of affect in time perception in a very stressful experience by indexing novice tandem skydivers' (N=76) levels of fear and excitement before the skydive and soon after landing. Estimations of how long skydivers thought their experience lasted were obtained after landing. Whereas increased fear was associated with the perception of time passing slowly, increased excitement was associated with the perception of time passing quickly. These data support models of time perception based on avoidance and approach motivations influencing time distortion.