A theoretical model for sexual performance anxiety (SPA) and a clinical approach for its remediation (SPA-R)

INTRODUCTION

Anxiety, and more specifically performance anxiety, is commonly associated with sexual problems both by health professionals and clients alike. Yet, despite its strong association with sexual dysfunctions, the conceptualization and understanding of performance anxiety are seldom provided in a comprehensive and detailed manner that imparts utility for its remediation.

OBJECTIVES

Here, we offer a theoretical model for sexual performance anxiety that directly informs a clinical approach for its remediation, with the goal of better preparing clinicians who routinely work with, counsel, and treat men and women experiencing a sexual problem.

METHOD

We first lay a groundwork that explains the general characteristics of anxiety as a psychological construct and emotion and briefly summarize 2 overarching models that relate anxiety to performance. Then we present a theoretical model that provides a heuristic for understanding sexual performance anxiety (SPA) and review factors purported to moderate and mediate anxiety in sexual performance situations. Finally, we present a clinical approach for its remediation (SPA-R) that is directly tied to the theoretical model (SPA), specifically demonstrating how consideration of various targets in the flow chart can serve as a roadmap for addressing performance anxiety within a psychotherapeutic context.

RESULTS

We highlight and explain each aspect of the model and delineate the connection between the model and its application, summarizing a number of key principles inherent to the therapeutic process.

CONCLUSION

We offer both this theoretical model and remedial clinical application not necessarily as the only or even best solution for dealing with clients suffering from sexual performance anxiety but as a challenge to stimulate both critique and further discussion, elaboration, and research on this critically important, though somewhat neglected, topic.

The Self-Control Bridge: Connecting Social Media Use to Academic Procrastination

Problematic social media use can be characterized as compulsive or excessive engagement with social media applications that have addictive qualities. Research has highlighted a strong link between self-control and academic procrastination. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to explore the connection between problematic social media use and academic procrastination, with self-control acting as a mediator. This study is cross-sectional and aims to describe and analyze simple and multiple-variable relationships within the framework of structural equation modeling. The participants of this study comprised 665 students (female 50.8% M-age 21.72). The survey was conducted online, and the respondents consented to participate in the study. Hierarchical regression revealed that problematic social media use (β = .238, p < .001) and self-control (β = -.691, p < .001) were independent factors of academic procrastination; the SEM results demonstrated that self-control fully mediated the relationship between problematic social media use and academic procrastination; the bootstrap method revealed that the bounds of the CI did not contain 0, confirming the significance of this mediating effect. Problematic social media use can positively predict academic procrastination, and this relationship is fully mediated by self-control.

Motivational Barriers to Care and the Ethics of Encouragement

In this paper I argue that by using methods of encouragement, derived from the fields of social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral economics, healthcare workers can potentially provide their patients with tools for increasing adherence to their treatment plans. I claim that the shared decision-making model can, and should, be enriched to include a component that encourages patients to follow through with their plans. It is commonsense that it is one thing to decide on a plan, and quite another to stick to it. Even if a plan is one's own, people often backslide with respect to their prior commitments. I appeal to the extensive literatures on decision-making, delay discounting, and willpower to provide some empirically verified tools for motivating patients. Importantly, I argue that contrary to appearances, motivating others to act with respect to their commitments expresses a respect for autonomy and is non-paternalistic.

The impact of a personality trait rooted in Chinese confucian culture-Junzi personality-on loneliness and subjective well-being among chinese individuals: the mediating role of self-reflection and self-control

Reducing loneliness and enhancing subjective well-being are key topics in psychological research. However, few studies have explored the impact of cultural factors on loneliness and subjective well-being from a cultural perspective. Moreover, there has been few research examining the underlying mechanisms through which sociocultural factors influence individual loneliness and well-being. This study aims to explore the influence of a personality trait rooted in Chinese Confucian culture-Junzi personality-on subjective well-being among Chinese, specifically examining the mediating roles of self-reflection and self-control. A sample of 693 Chinese college students were surveyed on their Junzi personality, self-reflection, self-control, loneliness, and subjective well-being in three stages over 6 months. Correlation analysis and a multiple mediation model were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0. Results revealed that Junzi personality positively predicted subjective well-being and negatively predicted loneliness. Additionally, self-reflection, self-control, and loneliness sequentially mediated the effect of Junzi personality on subjective well-being. This study highlights the significant role of cognitive factors in the process through which sociocultural factors influence well-being.

Problem Recognition as A Discrete Concept for Change Processes in Problematic Alcohol Use

Purpose of review

Alcohol problem recognition reflects the extent to which a person with any level of problematic alcohol use (PAU), including hazardous alcohol use, acknowledges the associated risks/harms as potentially/actually problematic with a relative degree of objectivity. Notably, alcohol problem recognition is typically low amongst people with PAU not engaged in treatment or support. This review evaluates existing PAU problem recognition measures and related concepts such as ambivalence, readiness to change, motivation, cognitive biases and other self-evaluative appraisal processes.

Recent findings

Alcohol problem recognition has been operationalised via various measures but is often conflated with other related but theoretically distinct concepts. Limited conceptual work examines the nature of problem recognition as a discrete concept and its function in relation to behaviour change outcomes and key variables.

Summary

Problem recognition is proposed as an important theoretically distinct process that warrants further conceptual development and testing for advancing understanding of change processes across the PAU spectrum.

Strategic Learning Principles Are Related to Academic Scores for Doctor of Physical Therapy Students

Introduction

The Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) is a self-assessment of strategic learning principles with scores representing areas for growth. The purpose of this study was to measure LASSI scores at 2 points in time for Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students in a 2-year hybrid program to see if scores changed after a science of learning course and two quarters of the program. The authors then examined the relationship between LASSI scores and academic scores (DPT program GPA, anatomy, and physiology grades).

Methods

Retrospective descriptive analysis of LASSI scores with comparisons between baseline and after a science of learning course and two quarters of the program using a paired t-test; bivariate correlations examined the relationship of LASSI scores to academic scores.

Results

Data was collected for 259 matriculated DPT students. Three of the 10 LASSI scales had significant change after the science of learning course and two quarters of the program; however, the effect sizes were small (0.2 or less). Anxiety management (t(258) = 2.340, p = .020) scores improved, while both concentrations (t(258) =  - 3.229, p = .001) and the use of academic resources (t(258) =  - 1.999, p = .047) had lower scores. There were several LASSI scores with significant correlations to academic scores (ρ = .132 to .431).

Discussion/Conclusion

LASSI was related to academic scores, although the strength of the relationship was low to negligible. LASSI showed small changes over time. There could be various reasons for scores improving or declining, but the awareness of scores and change in scores can provide a solid foundation for individualized coaching to DPT students as they navigate the rigor of a graduate level professional program.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-02215-5.

Food cravings are associated with increased self-regulation, even in the face of strong instigation habits: A longitudinal study of the transition to plant-based eating

Frequently engaging in a positive health behaviour, like following a vegetarian or vegan (veg*n) diet, can bring benefits to both the individual and society. We investigated the roles of two psychological determinants of behaviour-instigation habits and self-regulation strategy use-in a cohort of individuals who were newly transitioning to a veg*n diet. In a longitudinal study over 6 months (7 waves including baseline), 222 individuals transitioning to a veg*n diet reported their monthly habit strength, craving frequency, self-regulation strategies and animal product consumption. Our results supported the benefits of having a healthy habit, as stronger habits predicted fewer cravings and lower consumption of animal products, in line with the person's target diet. However, in contrast to some theoretical accounts, having a strong instigation habit did not reduce the use of self-regulation strategies; people with strong habits used multiple strategies to maintain their diet, especially when they experienced frequent diet-inconsistent cravings. These findings challenge the idea that habits eliminate the need for self-regulation, and suggest that habits do not fully circumvent motivational challenges in the pursuit of complex health behaviours. Our results are consistent with recent suggestions that automatic and intentional processes act simultaneously during the enactment of complex health behaviours.

Evaluating a 30-day alcohol abstinence challenge in heavy-drinking individuals with and without chronic pain: Feasibility, safety, and perceived benefits

INTRODUCTION

To combat high-risk alcohol consumption, we introduced a 30-day alcohol abstinence challenge targeted at heavy drinkers with and without chronic pain. Our study aimed to assess the challenge's feasibility and safety and to explore its perceived benefits. Our exploratory aim was to identify participants' coping strategies during the challenge.

METHODS

Our single-arm study recruited heavy drinkers from a pain clinic and a university setting (n = 34, 64.7% chronic pain). Participants underwent a modified community-based 30-day challenge, which included motivational interviewing, an individualized start date, and weekly phone check-ins.

RESULTS

We found the 30-day challenge was feasible and safe; 72.3% of eligible heavy drinkers participated in the challenge with no serious adverse events. Most challengers (94.1%) reported some benefit from the challenge, which included improvements in alcohol withdrawal symptoms, sleep, and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy, but not in pain. We identified 25 perceived benefits and 21 coping strategies.

CONCLUSION

Our study confirms that a 30-day alcohol abstinence challenge is a feasible and safe intervention for heavy drinkers with and without chronic pain, yielding notable health benefits. The challenge also facilitated the development of effective coping strategies. Future studies should explore the long-term benefits of such interventions in broader outpatient settings.

Effect of healthy dietary intention-behavior (in)consistency on depression and anxiety in the process of behavior change

Although an increasing number of people are now committed to pursuing a healthy diet, it remains unclear how mental health changes during this process. The present study aimed to examine the combined effect of healthy dietary intention and behavior on depression and anxiety across two sub-studies. This study consisted of two parts: a cross-sectional survey (Study 1) involving 1,433 college students and an 11-day daily diary study (Study 2) with 117 college students. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis indicated that in cases of congruence, individuals' intention and behavior align at a high level and were associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety in the motivational phase but were not found similar association in the volitional phase. In cases of incongruence, individuals with high intention-low behavior tend to experience lower levels of depression and anxiety in the motivational phase. However, individuals with high intention-low behavior tend to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety in the volitional phase. These findings not only enrich the current understanding of diet and health but also contribute to the development of holistic strategies for promoting a healthy diet.

Embodied Cognition and the Structure of Personality: An Exploratory Study of Longitudinal Pathways From Early Psychomotor Function

OBJECTIVE

To explore the developmental pathways linking infant psychomotor function with personality in late adolescence through cognitive, social, and self-regulation skills. The broader research question, seen through the lens of embodied cognition, is whether cognition and personality in youth develop from basic sensorimotor and communicative systems in infancy.

METHOD

The sample included 9202 participants from a representative UK birth cohort. A structural equation model examined the prospective associations between motor and communicative functions at age 9 months, cognition, self-regulation, and prosociality at 5 years, and the five-factor model of personality at 17 years. The associations between psychomotor function and the meta-traits of stability and plasticity were also explored.

RESULTS

Even after controlling for confounders and correcting for multiple paths, there was robust evidence that psychomotor development significantly predicts personality structure, with indirect pathways mediated by self-regulation skills and general or social cognitive skills in middle childhood. While infant communicative function was significantly associated with both meta-traits, gross motor function was significantly associated with plasticity but not stability.

CONCLUSIONS

Early psychomotor function may have long-term effects on personality, mediated by cognitive, social, and self-regulation skills. This finding can inform the development of socio-educational interventions and tailored curricula in early childhood education.

Self-regulation in eHealth: definition, contributing factors, and experiences from blended rehabilitation care

PURPOSE

eHealth might contribute to changes in roles and responsibilities of patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs), including the patient's potential to enhance self-regulation. The aim of this study was to identify important aspects and experiences of self-regulation and factors that may support self-regulation in blended rehabilitation care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted among HCPs and patients regarding perceptions and experiences with self-regulation in relation to a telerehabilitation portal. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes.

RESULTS

According to HCPs (n = 18), aspects of self-regulation are: an active role of patients, a facilitating role for HCPs, and collaboration. Patients and parents (n = 24) experienced self-regulation by: having an active role and having a voice. Aspects of eHealth that support self-regulation are: at home usage, flexible scheduling, easily accessible communication, using it as a reference work, using it to stimulate motivation, and adapting usage to different phases of treatment.

CONCLUSION

Patients and HCPs agree that patients having an active role is important for experiencing self-regulation. A telerehabilitation portal that can be flexibly used at home, with a communication and log module, can support self-regulation. Optimising eHealth design to stimulate self-regulation, and measuring the impact of eHealth on self-regulation should be further studied.

The Mediating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal on Bedtime Procrastination and Sleep Quality in Higher Educational Context: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

Background

While bedtime procrastination is commonly associated with adverse outcomes such as poor sleep quality, the mechanisms mediating these effects remain underexplored. Grounded in the Self-Regulation Model of Behavior and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, this study examines the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal in the relationship between bedtime procrastination and sleep quality over time.

Methods

Employing a longitudinal design, the study examined the progression of bedtime procrastination, cognitive reappraisal, and sleep quality among university students at three distinct time points throughout an academic semester. Structural equation modeling and autoregressive time-lagged panel models were utilized to analyze the data, assessing both the direct effects and the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal over time.

Results

The results revealed that bedtime procrastination exhibited significant stability across time points (β = 0.619 to 0.658, p<0.001). Bedtime procrastination at earlier time points predicted poorer cognitive reappraisal (β= -0.169, p<0.05 to -0.215, p<0.01) and subsequent sleep quality (β=0.256, p<0.001). Additionally, cognitive reappraisal significantly mediated the relationship between bedtime procrastination and sleep quality (β= -0.359, Boot 95% CI: -0.51 to -0.234), emphasizing the role of emotional regulation strategies in sleep-related outcomes.

Conclusion

These findings underscored the impact of bedtime procrastination on sleep quality and highlight cognitive reappraisal as a key mediator. Interventions focusing on enhancing emotion regulation skills could mitigate the adverse effects of bedtime procrastination and improve sleep outcomes among university students.

Action toward sound sources enhances auditory spatial confidence: on the metacognitive consequences of reaching to sounds

Each perceptual process is accompanied with an evaluation regarding the reliability of what we are perceiving. The close connection between confidence in perceptual judgments and planning of actions has been documented in studies investigating visual perception. Here, we extend this investigation to auditory perception by focusing on spatial hearing, in which the interpretation of auditory cues can often present uncertainties. We asked if confidence in perceived sound position changes when we interact with the sound source by planning a sound-directed motor action (reaching) vs. a verbal response (naming). We tested 30 participants in a sound localization task in which they were both asked to localize sound sources by reaching them or by naming the labels above them in a within-participants experimental design. Participants performed the task with binaural hearing and with one ear plugged to increase errors and reduce confidence. Results showed that sound localization performance did not differ between reaching and naming, and yet participants felt more confident and required less time to complete the trial when reaching to the sources compared to naming them, regardless of the listening condition. Moreover, we found that during monaural listening the coherence between performance and confidence was reduced in each trial, irrespective of response type, suggesting increased difficulties in metacognitive monitoring. These findings suggest that, even in the case of spatial hearing, motor action planning plays a role in the formulation of confidence judgments, alongside sensory inputs and decision-making processes and stress the importance of including metacognitive measurements into spatial hearing research.

Impact of cancer-related fatigue on quality of life in patients with cancer: multiple mediating roles of psychological coherence and stigma

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this current research was to explore the impact of cancer-related fatigue on the quality of life among patients with cancer, as well as the multiple mediating roles of psychological coherence and stigma.

METHODS

This study utilized a cross-sectional design. A questionnaire was administered between November 2022 and May 2023 to 364 patients with cancer in two tertiary hospitals in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, China. The questionnaires included the General Information Questionnaire, Cancer-Related Fatigue Questionnaire, Psychological Coherence Scale, Stigma Scale, and Quality of Life Questionnaire. SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS 3.5 macros were used for descriptive statistics and correlation analysis of the data, as well as multiple mediation effect tests.

RESULTS

Cancer-related fatigue directly affects quality of life (β = -0.950, 95% CI = -1.138 to -0.763) and indirectly through three mediators: psychological coherence (β = -0.172, 12.58% of total effect), stigma (β = -0.193, 14.12% of total effect), and both psychological coherence and stigma (β = -0.052, 3.80% of total effect), totaling a 30.50% mediating effect.

CONCLUSION

Overall, psychological coherence and stigma may play an important mediating role between cancer-related fatigue and quality of life in patients with cancer. This suggests that alleviating cancer-related fatigue, while enhancing psychological coherence and reducing stigma, could be effective strategies for improving patients' quality of life. Therefore, healthcare professionals and related professionals should pay attention to and adopt effective interventions to alleviate cancer-related fatigue, enhance psychological coherence, and reduce stigma, thereby contributing to the overall well-being and quality of life of patients with cancer.

Network intervention analysis to assess the trajectory of change and intervention effects associated with the use of self-control training for ego depletion aftereffects

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to use the advanced technique of Network Intervention Analysis (NIA) to investigate the trajectory of symptom change associated with the effects of self-control training on youth university students' chronic ego depletion aftereffects.

METHODS

The nine nodes of chronic ego depletion aftereffects and integrated self-control training were taken as nodes in the network and analyzed using NIA. Networks were computed at the baseline, at the end of treatment, at 1-, 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month follow up. 62 samples were recruited from universities and randomly divided into two groups. The sample ranged in age from 18 to 25 years and included both males and females.

RESULTS

Self-control training interventions directly improved the states of low self-efficacy, low adherence, and work burnout, as well as indirectly alleviated fatigue, emotional regulation disorders, and other issues. Follow-up surveys showed that the intervention not only had immediate effects but also had long-term effects.

CONCLUSION

These findings indicate that self-control training has a direct intervention effect on low self-efficacy, low adherence, and work burnout of youth university students' ego depletion aftereffects. This study is the first application of NIA in abnormal psychological state intervention research outside the field of mental disorder treatment. NIA is a promising method to evaluate the trajectories of intervention change and the direct and indirect effects of training interventions.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

No. KY20202063-F-2; date of approval: 10th December, 2020.

Boosting: Empowering Citizens with Behavioral Science

Behavioral public policy came to the fore with the introduction of nudging, which aims to steer behavior while maintaining freedom of choice. Responding to critiques of nudging (e.g., that it does not promote agency and relies on benevolent choice architects), other behavioral policy approaches focus on empowering citizens. Here we review boosting, a behavioral policy approach that aims to foster people's agency, self-control, and ability to make informed decisions. It is grounded in evidence from behavioral science showing that human decision making is not as notoriously flawed as the nudging approach assumes. We argue that addressing the challenges of our time-such as climate change, pandemics, and the threats to liberal democracies and human autonomy posed by digital technologies and choice architectures-calls for fostering capable and engaged citizens as a first line of response to complement slower, systemic approaches.

The Self-Control of Eating

Many individuals struggle to regulate their own consumption of food. Beginning with general theories of self-control, we review psychological factors that have been shown to influence the regulation of eating, including those related to particular personality variables, such as external eating, restrained eating, and reward sensitivity, as well as situational constraints, including normative influences, emotions, and calorie deprivation. Strategies for the self-control of eating, including reappraisal, effortful inhibition, and various automatic strategies are also reviewed, along with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of historical and contemporary psychological studies investigating food consumption. Whereas extensive examinations of food preferences and body weight have appeared in the psychological literature, we call for more robust research that prioritizes actual eating as the primary dependent measure.

Within-subject reliability, occasion specificity, and validity of fluctuations of the Stroop and go/no-go tasks in ecological momentary assessment

Following the (revised) latent state-trait theory, the present study investigates the within-subject reliability, occasion specificity, common consistency, and construct validity of cognitive control measures in an intensive longitudinal design. These indices were calculated applying dynamic structural equation modeling while accounting for autoregressive effects and trait change. In two studies, participants completed two cognitive control tasks (Stroop and go/no-go) and answered questions about goal pursuit, self-control, executive functions, and situational aspects, multiple times per day. The sample (aged 18-30 years in both studies) consisted of 21 participants (14 female) in the pilot study and 70 participants (48 female) in the main study. Findings indicated poor within-subject reliability for the Stroop task error rate and reaction time difference between congruent and incongruent trials and moderate to good within-subject reliability for the go/no-go task error rate and reaction time. Occasion specificity-the systematic variance accounted for by state residuals-was at a modest level (between 1.4% and 11.1%) for the Stroop error rate and reaction time difference, and at a moderate level (between 16.1% and 37.2% for the go/no-go error rate and reaction time) in the two studies. Common consistency-the variance accounted for by latent trait variables-was at a moderate to high level for all of the investigated scores. Indicative of construct validity, the Stroop and go/no-go task error rates correlated positively with each other on the within- and between-subject level. Within-subject correlations between task scores and subjective self-control measures were very small and mostly nonsignificant.

Active listening modulates the spatial hearing experience: a multicentric study

Although flexible and portable virtual reality technologies have simplified measuring participants' perception of acoustic space, their clinical adoption remains limited, often lacking ecological fidelity. In clinical practice, participants are typically instructed to remain still when testing sound localization, whereas head movements are crucial in daily life. Additionally, assessing spatial hearing extends beyond measuring accuracy to include meta-cognitive evaluations like perceived effort and confidence, which are rarely adopted. Our study hypothesized that allowing head movement during sound localization, compared to a static head condition, would reduce perceived listening effort and enhance confidence in normal hearing participants. Conducted across three audiology and otology hospital services in Northern Italy, the study involved personnel inexperienced with our VR equipment. This also tested the feasibility and usability of our VR approach in clinical settings. Results showed that head movements reduced subjective effort but did not significantly affect perceived confidence. However, during the active condition, participants reporting higher confidence exhibited less head movement and explored the space less. Similarly, those with less head movement reported lower listening effort. These findings underscore the importance of allowing natural posture to capture the full extent of spatial hearing capabilities and the value of including metacognitive evaluations in assessing performance. Our use of affordable, off-the-shelf VR equipment effectively measured spatial hearing in clinical settings, providing a flexible alternative to current static systems. This approach highlights the potential for more dynamic and comprehensive assessments in clinical audiology.

The affective gradient hypothesis: an affect-centered account of motivated behavior

Everyone agrees that feelings and actions are intertwined, but cannot agree how. According to dominant models, actions are directed by estimates of value and these values shape or are shaped by affect. I propose instead that affect is the only form of value that drives actions. Our mind constantly represents potential future states and how they would make us feel. These states collectively form a gradient reflecting feelings we could experience depending on actions we take. Motivated behavior reflects the process of traversing this affective gradient, towards desirable states and away from undesirable ones. This affective gradient hypothesis solves the puzzle of where values and goals come from, and offers a parsimonious account of apparent conflicts between emotion and cognition.

Self-regulatory flexibility

Robust associations of self-control with successful goal pursuit have been amply demonstrated. Much less is known about the psychological processes that occur when people grapple with self-control conflicts and that may contribute to successful goal pursuit. Influenced by the neighboring fields of emotion regulation and coping, self-regulatory flexibility has been identified as one of such potential processes. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of selected models of regulatory flexibility, empirical evidence on associations with self-regulatory success, and to identify avenues for future research.

Self-control ≠ temporal discounting

This paper explores self-control beyond the framework of time discounting, as is conventional in economics and decision research. Contrary to the notion that self-control failures stem from hyperbolic time discounting or present bias, we argue that self-control problems represent conflicts between the motivational thrusts of affects - i.e., emotions, physiological states, and cognitive motivational feeling states - and deliberations about the best course of behavior. Drawing upon theoretical foundations and empirical evidence, we highlight how affective states can both undermine and necessitate self-control. We critique the temporal discounting model for its inability to account for diverse self-control scenarios and propose that effective self-regulation often involves strategies to avoid or manage affective triggers, thus providing a more comprehensive understanding of self-control mechanisms.

Beyond deliberate self-control: Habits automatically achieve long-term goals

Habits are often beneficial to goal pursuit. They reduce the need for self-control by automating behavior, thereby streamlining decision-making and decreasing temptations and motivational interference. Given that habits outsource behavioral control to the environment, stable performance contexts are critical for habit formation and performance. However, when goals change, unwanted habit memories still persist. Then, the automaticity of habit impedes goal pursuit. Although unwanted habits cannot easily be changed by exerting self-control, altering the performance context and reward structure are more effective. In sum, the article challenges traditional views on deliberate self-control and offers a new perspective on achieving long-term goals through habit formation.

Evaluating risks, monitoring cannabis use, and planning to get home safely: Exploring self-regulation processes associated with cannabis use and driving

OBJECTIVE

Preventing Cannabis-impaired driving involves understanding how users assess risk, monitor their use, and plan to get home safely. While extant research has shown substantial heterogeneity in patterns of cannabis use among different user groups, far less research has examined self-regulation among users. The current study aims to identify sub-groups of individuals who used or have used cannabis based on how they perceive risks, monitor their impairment, and plan to avoid driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) to examine how the different profiles relate to DUIC outcomes.

METHODS

Participants were a Canadian sub-sample in the province of British Columbia who participated in the 2022 International Cannabis Policy study and reported ever using or currently using cannabis (N = 886, Mage = 43.58, SDage = 13.67; 63% female). Risk perception, impairment monitoring, planning ability, DUIC-related behaviors, Cannabis use and related problems were assessed through an online self-reported survey.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis identified three groups of self-regulators based on their level of risk perception, monitoring, and plan to avoid DUI. The majority (51%) of participants showed moderate self-regulation with average levels of risk perception, monitoring, and planning. A "highly self-regulated" group (20%) had the highest risk perception, monitoring, and planning. A "low self-regulated" group (29%) had the lowest risk perception, less confidence in monitoring, and lower DUI planning. There were significant differences between the profiles and DUIC outcomes. Cannabis users (including both historical and current users) with high self-regulation were less likely to be passengers of drivers under the influence and more likely to intervene to stop friends from driving while impaired, compared to those with low or moderate self-regulation. However, there were no profile differences in reports of having ever driven under the influence of cannabis.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in risk perception, monitoring, and planning are associated with self-regulatory abilities. Understanding diverse self-regulation patterns among people who have used cannabis can help identify and mitigate risky behaviors, including DUI.

Cognitive Engagement and Subjective Well-Being in Adults: Exploring the Role of Domain-Specific Need for Cognition

Need for Cognition (NFC) is an investment trait reflecting interindividual differences in intrinsically motivated engagement in cognitive endeavors. While other motivational constructs like the ability self-concept are typically conceptualized domain-specific, NFC was initially conceived to describe domain-general behavior. Building on a previous study reporting the relevance of domain-specific aspects of NFC in the school context, we investigated the domain-specificity of NFC in predicting various aspects of subjective well-being across three samples with N = 1074 participants and subsamples of students and professionals ranging from n = 140 to n = 346. Our findings reveal positive associations of both domain-general and domain-specific NFC with positive affect, life satisfaction, and job- and study-related satisfaction. In part, domain-specific NFC was more strongly related to domain-specific life satisfaction compared to domain-general NFC. Additionally, we found evidence for small incremental values of domain-specific NFC over and above domain-general NFC in predicting subjective well-being. Confirming previous research, self-control and the emotion regulation strategy reappraisal partially mediated the prediction of well-being by NFC. Our results indicate that additionally considering NFC as domain-specific can meaningfully complement the domain-general conceptualization.

Influence of amount and delay of reward on choice and response rate: A free-operant, multiple-schedule analogue of a discrete-trial procedure

The current study explored a free-operant analogue of discrete-trial procedures to study the effects of amount and delay of reinforcement on choice and response rate. Rats responded on a multiple variable-interval (VI) 45-s, 45-s schedule, with interspersed choice probe trials. Comparison of relative response rates and percentage of choice revealed some discrepancies between the free-operant analogue and discrete-trial procedures. Amount of reward controlled choice behavior when the ratios of delays were similar. When reward delays were more discrepant, delay length controlled choice behavior. Whereas the percentage of choice was larger for the larger magnitude reward, the relative rate of response for the larger magnitude was less than .50. In contrast, when the percentage of choice generally fell to below 50% (with large amount and large delay differences between alternatives), relative response rate indicated a preference for the larger amount alternative. This study shows the feasibility and utility of a free-operant analogue of discrete-choice studies that could be used to develop an analysis of preference.

Thalamic Volumes and Functional Networks Linked With Self-Regulation Dysfunction in Major Depressive Disorder

AIMS

Self-regulation (SR) dysfunction is a crucial risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, neural substrates of SR linking MDD remain unclear.

METHODS

Sixty-eight healthy controls and 75 MDD patients were recruited to complete regulatory orientation assessments with the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ) and Regulatory Mode Questionnaire (RMQ). Nodal intra and inter-network functional connectivity (FC) was defined as FC sum within networks of 46 thalamic subnuclei (TS) or 88 AAL brain regions, and between the two networks separately. Group-level volumetric and functional difference were compared by two sample t-tests. Pearson's correlation analysis and mediation analysis were utilized to investigate the relationship among imaging parameters and the two behaviors. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was conducted to explore the inter-network FC mode of TS related to behavioral subscales. Network-based Statistics with machine learning combining powerful brain imaging features was applied to predict individual behavioral subscales.

RESULTS

MDD patients showed no group-level volumetric difference in 46 TS but represented significant correlation of TS volume and nodal FC with behavioral subscales. Specially, inter-network FC of the orbital part of the right superior frontal gyrus and the left supplementary motor area mediated the correlation between RFQ/RMQ subscales and depressive severity. Furthermore, CCA identified how the two behaviors are linked via the inter-network FC mode of TS. More crucially, thalamic functional subnetworks could predict RFQ/RMQ subscales and psychomotor retardation for MDD individuals.

CONCLUSION

These findings provided neurological evidence for SR affecting depressive severity in the MDD patients and proposed potential biomarkers to identify the SR-based risk phenotype of MDD individuals.

The apple does not fall far: stable predictive relationships between parents' ratings of their own and their children's self-regulatory abilities

Having control over your own behavior and impulses is a critical skill that influences children's academic, social, and emotional development. This study investigates the stability and predictive relationships between parents' ratings of their own and their children's executive function and delay aversion. Using data from approximately 1700 families collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, we employed hierarchical structural equation models and cross-lagged panel models to analyze the temporal stability and directional influences of executive function and delay aversion assessments.Our analysis revealed a substantial latent correlation (r = 0.48, p < 0.001) between parents' and children's executive function problems, indicating a shared variance of approximately 23%. Significant cross-lagged effects were found, with parental executive functions at T1 predicting child executive functions at T2 (β = 0.16, p = 0.005). For delay aversion, we found a latent correlation of r = 0.53 (p < 0.001) and significant within-timepoint and temporal stability, but no cross-lagged effects.These findings suggest that higher levels of executive function problems reported by parents at T1 correspond to an increased perception of similar problems in their children at T2. This highlights the importance of parental self-perception in assessing children's abilities. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating family dynamics into interventions targeting executive function difficulties and delay aversion in children, and understanding this interplay enables the development of more effective, individualized approaches to support positive developmental outcomes.

From willpower to strategies: Existing insights and outstanding issues in self-control strategy use in daily life

This paper focuses on recent advances in research on strategies that support self-control in everyday life. No one strategy or set of strategies appears to be effective at all times and in all situations. To understand effective self-control, we must expand our understanding of how strategies fit the situation and the person. To this end, we propose researching unexplored aspects of situations, how self-control strategies develop in the first place, and the role of emotion regulation in self-control strategy effectiveness. We also highlight methodological blind spots and offer ways to correct them and introduce new methodological approaches to best capture self-control strategies in everyday life.

Motivational dynamics of self-control

How people respond to desires varies substantially across time and situations. Building on recent theoretical developments, we propose that motivation plays a central role in the dynamics of self-control as it unfolds across time. We illustrate the role of motivation in self-control by highlighting evidence that pursuing goals for intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) reasons plays a key role in shaping when and how people engage in self-control in service to their goals. We then expand this framework by outlining several promising directions for future research, specifically emphasizing the dynamic interplay between motivation and self-control at various stages in the regulation process. Ultimately, we posit that motivation is a key factor in helping people flexibly regulate desires in accordance with situational demands.

Effortless self-control

Self-control is essential for outcomes in several life domains but is often seen as effortful. We discuss recent research indicating the possibility of effortless self-control. First, we discuss how high levels of self-control are associated with quicker self-control conflict identification and resolution. Second, we describe two pathways that may lead to these associations: (1) How automatization of behaviors plays a role in self-control outcomes. That is, self-control is associated with better, effortless habits. (2) We discuss that self-control conflicts can be anticipated and resolved with strategies that avoid effortful inhibition. Taken together, we aim to demonstrate that there is more to successful self-control than 'simply' working hard to resist your impulses - there may be easier roads to take.

Proactive Personality and Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Career Aspiration and the Moderating Effect of Organizational Career Management

As proactivity becomes vital for organizational success, retaining proactive employees becomes increasingly important, making the relationship between a proactive personality and turnover intention a key research topic. While existing studies have largely depicted turnover as a consequence of dissatisfaction and have identified negative indirect relationships, this study seeks to challenge that perspective by proposing that, in today's boundaryless career environment, people also engage in voluntary turnover for career advancement. Using a self-regulation career management model, we propose that proactive employees set ambitious career goals influenced by career aspirations, leading them to seek external opportunities and thus exhibit higher turnover intention. However, when organizations implement career management practices, this relationship weakens as proactive employees perceive opportunities to achieve their goals within their current organizations. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 342 respondents using the SPSS macro PROCESS. The findings support our propositions, revealing a positive indirect effect through career aspirations, which diminishes when perceived organizational career management is strong.

Hope for the best or prepare for the worst? Calm perseverance, not vigilant monitoring, contributes to adolescent life satisfaction

OBJECTIVE

Which kind of self-regulatory strategies contribute to life satisfaction in adolescence?

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the present research, we tested two competing hypotheses arguing that either a strategy of vigilant monitoring of opportunities for working towards goal achievement or a calm perseverance strategy steadily working towards goals in a slower pace would promote life satisfaction in a large and diverse sample of adolescents. We also tested whether the employment of these strategies would hinge on perceptions of goal importance and goal attainability.

RESULTS

Employing a longitudinal design, we found support that calm perseverance was the sole significant predictor of life satisfaction regardless of goal perceptions. Vigilant monitoring only contributed indirectly to life satisfaction through its positive effects on calm perseverance. Using a calm perseverance strategy was supported by perceiving one's goals as attainable.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

These findings bear important implications for self-regulation theory that has highlighted goal progress as a prerequisite for well-being.

Procrastination in the Intention-Behaviour gap: Exercise procrastination and the moderating role of emotion

Health behaviour procrastination is closely associated with the intention-behaviour gap. However, research on health behaviour procrastination has tended to focus on bedtime procrastination, with relatively few studies on exercise procrastination. This research examined the relationship between exercise procrastination and the intention-behaviour gap through three studies. Additionally, based on the temporal-affective self-regulation resource model, the moderating role of emotion as a self-regulatory resource in exercise procrastination was explored. Study 1 validated the Chinese version of the newly developed Procrastination in Exercise Scale in two Chinese adult samples (N = 2376 and N = 393). Study 2 collected two waves of data from 447 Chinese adults (Mage = 31.19) and examined the mediating role of exercise procrastination in the intention-behaviour gap. Using a sample of 453 Chinese adults (Mage = 20.39), Study 3 investigated the moderating role of positive and negative affect in the association between intention and exercise procrastination. Cross-lagged analyses revealed the predictive roles of Time 1 intention on Time 2 exercise procrastination and Time 1 exercise procrastination on Time 2 physical activity. Exercise procrastination mediated the relationship between intention and physical activity. Examining the moderating role of emotion between intention (Time 1) and exercise procrastination (Time 2), Study 3 found that negative affect buffered this association. Findings highlight the role of exercise procrastination in explaining the intention-behaviour gap and shed new light on physical activity interventions, with implications for promoting exercise behaviour.

Metacognition for hearing in noise: a comparison between younger and older adults

Metacognition entails knowledge of one's own cognitive skills, perceived self-efficacy and locus of control when performing a task, and performance monitoring. Age-related changes in metacognition have been observed in metamemory, whereas their occurrence for hearing remained unknown. We tested 30 older and 30 younger adults with typical hearing, to assess if age reduces metacognition for hearing sentences in noise. Metacognitive monitoring for older and younger adults was overall comparable. In fact, the older group achieved better monitoring for words in the second part of the phrase. Additionally, only older adults showed a correlation between performance and perceived confidence. No age differentiation was found for locus of control, knowledge or self-efficacy. This suggests intact metacognitive skills for hearing in noise in older adults, alongside a somewhat paradoxical overconfidence in younger adults. These findings support exploiting metacognition for older adults dealing with noisy environments, since metacognition is central for implementing self-regulation strategies.

The Inversion Problem: Why Algorithms Should Infer Mental State and Not Just Predict Behavior

More and more machine learning is applied to human behavior. Increasingly these algorithms suffer from a hidden-but serious-problem. It arises because they often predict one thing while hoping for another. Take a recommender system: It predicts clicks but hopes to identify preferences. Or take an algorithm that automates a radiologist: It predicts in-the-moment diagnoses while hoping to identify their reflective judgments. Psychology shows us the gaps between the objectives of such prediction tasks and the goals we hope to achieve: People can click mindlessly; experts can get tired and make systematic errors. We argue such situations are ubiquitous and call them "inversion problems": The real goal requires understanding a mental state that is not directly measured in behavioral data but must instead be inverted from the behavior. Identifying and solving these problems require new tools that draw on both behavioral and computational science.

Personality traits and self-control: The moderating role of neuroticism

Self-control is important for mental and physical health, and personality traits are vital antecedents for self-control. Previous studies suggest that conscientiousness and extraversion enhance self-control, whereas neuroticism hampers it. However, the link between personality and self-control has mostly been studied using a narrow conceptualization of self-control, as the ability to resist impulses, thus excluding initiatory self-control. Also, no studies have examined whether and how personality traits interact with one another to increase, or reduce, self-control. Data were collected on two occasions from 480 military cadets (31.04% female) to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and self-control (general, inhibitory, and initiatory self-control). Furthermore, the study investigated the moderating role of neuroticism, as a trait and as individual facets, on the relationship between the other personality traits and self-control. Although neuroticism correlated negatively with all self-control dimensions, there were unique relations only with general and inhibitory self-control. Extraversion correlated positively with all self-control dimensions but was only uniquely related to initiatory self-control. Conscientiousness correlated positively with all self-control dimensions and this pattern persisted when we assessed the unique effects. Openness to experience and agreeableness correlated positively with general and inhibitory self-control but had no unique effects on any of the self-control dimensions. Neuroticism negatively moderated the relationship between extraversion and both general and inhibitory self-control, and the relationship between conscientiousness and both general and initiatory self-control. The facet-level analysis confirmed the general patterns and provided further detail on which facets of neuroticism were the most influential as moderators. In conclusion, the study highlights the critical role of different types of self-control, and that neuroticism plays a cardinal role for the effects of conscientiousness and extraversion on self-control.

Regulation of craving training to support healthy food choices under stress: A randomized control trial employing the hierarchical drift-diffusion model

Stress increases the likelihood of consuming unhealthy food in some individuals. Previous research has demonstrated that the Regulation of Craving - Training (ROC-T) intervention can reduce unhealthy food intake. However, its effectiveness under stress and the underlying mechanism remained uncertain. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the ROC-T intervention in improving healthy food choices and to explore the intervention mechanism through computational modeling employing the hierarchical drift-diffusion model (HDDM). This study adopted a 2 (ROC-T intervention vs. control) * 2 (stress vs. no-stress) between-subject experimental design. A total of 118 employees (72 women, Mage = 28.74) participated in the online experiment. Results show that the ROC-T intervention increases healthy food choices under stress and no-stress conditions. The HDDM results reveal a significant two-way interaction for non-decision time (Bayes factor, BF = 32.722) and initial bias (BF = 27.350). Specifically, in the no-stress condition, the ROC-T intervention resulted in lower non-decision time and higher initial bias compared with the control group. The findings validated the negative impact of stress on healthy food choices, and that the ROC-T intervention promotes healthy food choices both under stress and no-stress conditions.

The fable of state self-control

Trait self-control is highly valued, often equated with moral righteousness and associated with numerous positive life outcomes. This paper challenges the conventional conflation of trait self-control and state self-control. We suggest that while trait self-control is consistently linked to success, state self-control is not the causal mechanism driving these benefits. Trait self-control, sometimes also referred to as conscientiousness, grit, and the ability to delay gratification, predicts better health, wealth, and academic achievement. Conventional wisdom has it that people high in trait self-control reap all these benefits because they engage in more state self-control, defined as the momentary act of resolving conflict between goals and fleeting desires. Despite its intuitive appeal, there are problems with extolling state self-control because of our love for trait self-control. First, empirical evidence suggests that individuals high in trait self-control do not engage in more state self-control but engage it less. Second, changes to state self-control do not reliably and sustainably improve people's outcomes, as least in the long-term. And third, despite the possibility of dramatic improvements in trait self-control, these improvements are often short lived, with people returning to their baseline trait level over longer time horizons. The roots of this problem are numerous: Imprecise and inaccurate naming of our constructs that lead to construct drift and contamination; ignoring the numerous other facets of conscientiousness like orderliness or industriousness; and not appreciating that traits are sometimes not reducible to states. We suggest that the celebrated benefits of trait self-control arise from mechanisms beyond state self-control and highlight the need for a broader conceptualization of self-control in psychological research and practical interventions.

Self-control in criminology: we need a broader conceptualization and links to psychiatric diagnoses

Background

Poor self-control is a strong correlate of criminal propensity. It is conceptualized and operationalized differently in criminology than in other scientific traditions.

Aims

(1) To verify the dimensionality of the criminological Grasmick self-control items, other self-regulation items and morality ones. (2) To re-interpret the dimensions using a clinical perspective, a taxonomic/diagnostic model and references to possible "biological underpinnings." (3) Validate the dimensions by associations with crime.

Method

Population: all persons born 1995 in Malmö and living there at age 12. A random sample (N = 525) filled in a comprehensive self-report questionnaire on themes like personality, crime/abuse and social aspects at age 15, 16 and 18. Age 18 data were analysed: 191 men and 220 women.

Results

Self-regulation items were 4-dimensional: ADHD problems (Behavior control and Executive skills) and two Aggression factors. Morality items formed a fifth dimension. Negative Affect and Social interaction factors covered the rest of the variance. The validity of these factors was backed up by correlations with similar items/factors. Self-regulation subscales predicted crimes better than the Grasmick scale; an interaction with morality improved prediction still further. Sex differences were over-all small with three exceptions: Aggression, Morality and Negative affect.

Conclusion

We identified four dimensions of the 20-item Grasmick instrument: Cognitive action control (impulsiveness/sensation seeking, response inhibition), Executive skills/future orientation, Affective/aggression reactivity and Aggression control. All should be possible to link to brain functional modules. Much can be gained if we are able to formulate an integrated model of self-regulation including distinct brain functional modules, process-and trait-oriented models, relevant diagnoses and clinical experiences of individual cases.

Effectiveness of a web-based group intervention for internet addiction in university students

The phenomenon of Internet addiction has been systematically addressed with numerous studies highlighting its association with deficits in self-regulation. Despite the extensive literature elucidating the adverse effects of Internet addiction on university students, the availability of relevant interventions has remained constrained. The current study aimed at evaluating a web-based, group intervention, which aimed to prevent Internet addiction and enhance self-regulation. The sample consisted of 47 undergraduate and postgraduate university students (Ν = 47, Mage=21, SD = 3), who were divided into an intervention (n = 24) and a control group (n = 23). The participants were asked to complete a) the Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998), and b) the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Brown et al., 1999), prior to the commencement of the intervention, after its conclusion, and one and a half months after the intervention. The web-based intervention consisted of 6 sessions, over a two-week period. Results indicated an improvement of self-regulation and Internet addiction levels for the intervention group, compared to the control group. These results were maintained at the one and a half months follow-up. Implications for designing and implementing web-based group interventions for Internet addiction are discussed.

PROTOCOL: Key characteristics of effective preschool-based interventions to promote self-regulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This is the protocol for a Cochrane Review. The objectives are as follows: The aim of this systematic review is to advance our understanding of the key characteristics of effective preschool-based interventions designed to foster self-regulation. To accomplish this, the review addresses the following questions: 1. What types of preschool-based interventions have been developed to promote self-regulation? 2. What is the average effect of these preschool-based interventions on self-regulation, focusing on four key constructs: integrative effortful control, integrative executive function, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning? 3. What characteristics-such as Resource Allocation, Activity Type, and Instruction Method-could potentially contribute to the effects of preschool-based interventions in promoting self-regulation?

Mindfulness, social evaluation anxiety, and self-regulation: exploring their association on impulsive behavior among athletes

Introduction

Athletes, due to frequent physical interactions in competitive sports, are prone to impulsive behavior. Impulsive behavior is a prevalent psychological factor in sports, often leading to performance-affecting errors. This cross-sectional survey investigated the relationship between mindfulness and athletes' impulsive behavior.

Methods

We sampled 403 athletes from youth training centers, universities, sports academies, and clubs in China using convenience and snowball sampling. Using AMOS v23, we analyzed the data with a structural equation model.

Results

Our structural equation model confirmed that mindfulness and self-regulation inversely correlate with impulsive behavior, while social evaluation anxiety positively correlates with impulsive behavior. Furthermore, self-regulation and social evaluation anxiety serve as intermediaries in the link between mindfulness and impulsive behavior.

Discussions

This research suggests introducing mindfulness meditation practices in competitive settings to improve athletes' social evaluation anxiety and enhance their self-regulation abilities, thereby boosting their psychological health and curbing impulsive behavior.

Multiple paths to rumination within a network analytical framework

Theories of rumination have proposed different psychological factors to place one at risk for repetitive negative thinking. A comprehensive empirical test that captures the most relevant contributors to rumination is lacking. Building on influential self-regulatory and metacognitive frameworks, we modeled how key constructs in this context relate to ruminative thinking. 498 participants completed online questionnaires including indicators of rumination, metacognition, promotion goal orientation, effortful control, and depression. We estimated regularized partial correlation networks to investigate unique associations between the different constructs and followed these analyses up with directed acyclic graphs to identify potential pathways towards rumination. Results demonstrated that: (1) both self-regulatory and metacognitive factors were directly linked to rumination, amongst these were (2) positive beliefs, negative beliefs about uncontrollability and harm, cognitive self-consciousness, depression, effortful control, perfectionism, and (lack of) cognitive confidence, and (3) we identified multiple directed pathways, suggesting three direct contributors to rumination while controlling for the influence of all other variables: diminished effortful control, positive beliefs, and cognitive self-consciousness. This study is the first to comprehensively assess metacognitive and self-regulatory frameworks of rumination in a data-driven manner. Our findings suggest that there are multiple pathways towards rumination, which should be incorporated in clinical case conceptualization of rumination and related disorders.

No evidence for a reciprocal relationship between daily self-control failures and addictive behavior in a longitudinal study

Introduction

We all experience occasional self-control failures (SCFs) in our daily lives, where we enact behaviors that stand in conflict with our superordinate or long-term goals. Based on the assumption that SCFs share common underlying mechanisms with addictive disorders, we tested the hypothesis that a generally higher susceptibility to daily SCFs predicts more addictive behavior, or vice versa.

Methods

At baseline, 338 individuals (19-27 years, 59% female) from a community sample participated in multi-component assessments. These included among others (1) a clinical interview on addictive behaviors (quantity of use, frequency of use, DSM-5 criteria; n = 338) and (2) ecological momentary assessment of SCFs (n = 329, 97%). At the 3-year and 6 year follow-up, participation rates for both assessment parts were 71% (n = 240) and 50% (n = 170), respectively.

Results

Controlling for age, gender, IQ, and baseline addiction level, random-intercept cross-lagged panel models revealed that participants who reported more SCFs also showed pronounced addictive behavior at the between-person level, but we found no evidence of a predictive relationship at the within-person level over time.

Discussion

A higher rate of SCFs is associated with more addictive behavior, while there is no evidence of an intraindividual predictive relationship. Novel hypotheses suggested by additional exploratory results are that (1) only addiction-related SCFs in daily life are early markers of an escalation of use and thus for addictive disorders and that (2) an explicit monitoring of SCFs increases self-reflection and thereby promotes the mobilization of cognitive control in response to goal-desire conflicts.

An experimental manipulation of the value of effort

People who take on challenges and persevere longer are more likely to succeed in life. But individuals often avoid exerting effort, and there is limited experimental research investigating whether we can learn to value effort. We developed a paradigm to test the hypothesis that people can learn to value effort and will seek effortful challenges if directly incentivized to do so. We also dissociate the effects of rewarding people for choosing effortful challenges and performing well. The results provide limited evidence that rewarding effort increased people's willingness to choose harder tasks when rewards were no longer offered (near transfer). There was also mixed evidence that rewarding effort increased willingness to choose harder tasks in another unrelated and unrewarded task (far transfer). These heterogeneous results highlight the need for further research to understand when this paradigm may be the most effective for increasing and generalizing the value of effort.

Primary care patient interests in joining a planned multi-cancer early detection clinical trial

INTRODUCTION

Clinical trials are being conducted and are being planned to assess the safety and efficacy of multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests for use in cancer screening. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of primary care patient outreach in recruiting participants to a planned MCED clinical trial, assess patient interest in trial participation, and measure decisional conflict related to participation.

METHODS

The research team used the electronic medical record of a large, urban health care system to identify primary care patients 50-80 years of age who were potentially eligible for a planned MCED trial. We mailed information about the planned MCED trial to identified patients and then contacted the patients by telephone to obtain consent and administer a baseline survey. Subsequently, we contacted consented patients to complete an interview to review the mailed information and elicit perceptions about trial participation. Finally, a research coordinator administered an endpoint telephone survey to assess patient interest in and decisional conflict related to joining the trial.

RESULTS

We randomly identified 1000 eligible patients and were able to make contact with 690 (69%) by telephone. Of the patients contacted, 217 (31%) completed the decision counseling session and 219 (32%) completed the endpoint survey. Among endpoint survey respondents, 177 (81%) expressed interest in joining the MCED trial and 162 (74%) reported low decisional conflict.

CONCLUSIONS

Most patients were contacted and about a quarter of those contacted expressed interest in and low decisional conflict about joining the planned MCED trial. Research is needed to determine how to optimize patient outreach and engage patients in shared decision-making about MCED trial participation.

A scoping review on self-regulation and reward processing measured with gambling tasks: Evidence from the general youth population

Aberrant reward processing and poor self-regulation have a crucial role in the development of several adverse outcomes in youth, including mental health disorders and risky behaviours. This scoping review aims to map and summarise the evidence for links between aspects and measures of reward processing and self-regulation among children and adolescents in the general population. Specifically, it examined the direct associations between self-regulation (emotional or cognitive regulation) and reward processing. Studies were included if participants were <18 years and representative of the general population. Quantitative measures were used for self-regulation, and gambling tasks were used for reward processing. Of the eighteen studies included only two were longitudinal. Overall, the direction of the significant relationships identified depended on the gambling task used and the self-regulation aspect explored. Emotional regulation was measured with self-report questionnaires only, and was the aspect with the most significant associations. Conversely, cognitive regulation was mainly assessed with cognitive assessments, and most associations with reward processing were non-significant, particularly when the cognitive regulation aspects included planning and organisational skills. Nonetheless, there was some evidence of associations with attention, cognitive control, and overall executive functioning. More longitudinal research is needed to draw accurate conclusions on the direction of the association between self-regulation and reward processing.

Goal pursuit increases more after dietary success than after dietary failure: examining conflicting theories of self-regulation using ecological momentary assessment

BACKGROUND

Maintaining a healthy body weight and reaching long-term dietary goals requires ongoing self-monitoring and behavioral adjustments. How individuals respond to successes and failures is described in models of self-regulation: while cybernetic models propose that failures lead to increased self-regulatory efforts and successes permit a reduction of such efforts, motivational models (e.g., social-cognitive theory) make opposite predictions. Here, we tested these conflicting models in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) context and explored whether effort adjustments are related to inter-individual differences in perceived self-regulatory success in dieting (i.e., weight management).

METHODS

Using linear mixed effects models, we tested in 174 diet-interested individuals whether current day dietary success or failure (e.g., on Monday) was followed by self-regulatory effort adjustment for the next day (e.g., on Tuesday) across 14 days. Success vs. failure was operationalized with two EMA items: first, whether food intake was higher vs. lower than usual and second, whether food intake was perceived as more vs. less goal-congruent than usual. Trait-level perceived self-regulatory success in dieting was measured on a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Intended self-regulatory effort increased more strongly after days with dietary success (i.e., eating less than usual / rating intake as goal-congruent) than after days with dietary failure (i.e., eating more than usual / rating intake as goal-incongruent), especially in those individuals with lower scores on perceived self-regulatory success in dieting.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support mechanisms proposed by social-cognitive theory, especially in unsuccessful dieters. Thus, future dietary interventions could focus on preventing the decrease in self-regulatory effort after instances of dietary failures and thereby mitigate the potential risk that a single dietary failure initiates a downward spiral into unhealthy eating.