No abstract is provided for this article.
Sitting alone with one’s thoughts could foster a sense of rest and relaxation, yet many find this activity difficult. In two preregistered experiments (Study 1: n = 266, Study 2: n = 369), we focused on autonomy-supportive and controlling framings of solitude as drivers of motivation for solitude, positive experiences such as enjoyment and relaxation, negative experiences such as frustration and boredom, and negative thoughts like worries and rumination. In Study 1, we found support for one hypothesis that autonomy-supportive instructions to sit alone with thoughts led to greater autonomous motivation for solitude compared to controlling instructions that pressured participants to sit alone. However, the effect of instructions on autonomous motivation was trivial, with a smaller effect observed in Study 2. More importantly, we did not find evidence that our autonomy-supportive instructions meaningfully influenced self-reported measures of participants’ experiences with sitting alone with thoughts, nor both self-reported and behavioral measures intention to be in solitude again. Examination of null effects suggested that most differences between autonomy-supportive and controlling-instruction conditions were likely too small to be practically meaningful. However, some null findings in relation to excitement, relaxation, or frustration during sitting alone with thoughts were equivocal and required larger sample sizes to determine whether there was indeed an absence of effect. Consistent with findings reported by Nguyen et al. (2018), participants displayed drops in high-arousal types of affect and increases in low-arousal types of affect. Future research is needed to explore other factors that influence motivation for solitude and lead people to benefit from the regulatory effects of time spent alone.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Aspiring for financial success is an important aspect of capitalist cultures. Three studies examine the hypothesis that values and expectancies for wealth and money are negatively associated with adjustment and well-being when they are more central to an individual than other self-relevant values and expectancies. Studies 1 and 2 use 2 methods to show that the relative centrality of money-related values and expectancies is negatively related to college students' well-being and mental health. Study 3, using a heterogeneous noncollege sample, extends these findings by showing that a high centrality of aspirations for financial success is associated with interview ratings of lower global adjustment and social productivity and more behavioral disorders. Discussion is focused on the deleterious consequences of materialistic world views and the need to examine differential effects of content regarding goals and values. Financial success has long been a core component of the American dream, and many of the values modeled and encouraged by modern society suggest that success and happiness depend on procuring monetary wealth (Derber, 1979). Yet folklore and table side discussion often suggest that a darker side lurks behind the American dream. Pursuing material wealth is sometimes viewed as empty or shallow and as precluding investment in one's family and friends, self-actualization, and contributions to the community. Suspicion about the worth of material pursuits is echoed in some humanistic theories. Both Rogers (1963) and Maslow (1954), for instance, consider humans to be energized by an actualizing tendency and believe that well-being occurs to the extent people can freely express their inherent potentials. In situations of conditional positive regard (Rogers, 1963) or forceful external demands (Maslow, 1956), however, individuals often forego their own actualization to attain regard or outcomes from others. Similarly, Fromm (1976) distinguished between a having or consummatory orientation and a being or experiential orientation to life. He considered the former as reflecting alienation from the actualizing tendencies of the self. Inasmuch as money represents an external incentive for behavior that is contingently given, these theories suggest the pursuit of
No abstract is provided for this article.
3 studies reexamine Steinberg and Silverberg's construct of "emotional autonomy" (EA) in adolescent and young adult samples. We argue that rather than measuring either autonomy or independence, EA represents emotional detachment from parents. In Study 1, EA is shown to be negatively associated with early adolescents' (n = 148) reported quality of attachment to parents, but not to friends. In Study 2, EA is shown to be positively related to experienced parental rejection but largely unrelated to perceived independence-support in a high school sample (n = 193). In Study 3, EA in young adults (n = 104) is inversely related to measures of family cohesion, parental acceptance, independence support, and self-perceived lovability. Finally, a projective measure of parental nurturance taken by a subsample of subjects (n = 58) was associated negatively with EA but positively with perceived lovability. Discussion concerns the conceptualization of attachment versus detachment, dependence, and autonomy in theories of adolescence.
Behavioral and emotional self-regulation are important aspects of competence in school-age children. Despite the apparent interrelatedness of behavioral and affective processes, empirical approaches to the development of self-regulation typically have investigated these systems separately. As a result, their relative effects upon social competence remain, for the most part, an open question. This study, working from an organizational and developmental psychopathology perspective, attempted to investigate developmental processes that place maltreated children at risk for impaired peer relationships by assessing the independent and relative influences of behavioral and emotional regulation on social competence in school-age children. Subjects were maltreated children, who are at risk for both attenuated self-regulation and impaired peer relationships, and economically disadvantaged nonmaltreated comparison children. Observations were conducted during a summer day camp, an ecologically valid context in which to study children's social interactions. As predicted, maltreated children were found to be deficient in behavioral and affective regulation, relative to nonmaltreated children. Furthermore, attenuated self-regulation mediated the effects of maltreatment on children's social competence. Results highlighted the unique contributions of both behavior and affect in predicting peer competence, suggesting that a more comprehensive approach to the study of self-regulation is warranted.
Based on the authors' combined experience of seventy years working on projects around the globe, Construction Equipment Management for Engineers, Estimators, and Owners contains hands-on, how-to information that you can put to immediate use. Taking an approach that combines analytical and practical results, this is a valuable reference for a wide r
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Research in self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2002) has shown that satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs in sport contexts is associated with enhanced engagement, performance, and well-being. This article outlines the initial development of a multidimensional measure designed to assess psychological need thwarting, an under-studied area of conceptual and practical importance. Study 1 generated a pool of items designed to tap the negative experiential state that occurs when athletes perceive their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness to be actively undermined. Study 2 tested the factorial structure of the questionnaire using confirmatory factor analysis. The supported model comprised 3 factors, which represented the hypothesized interrelated dimensions of need thwarting. The model was refined and cross-validated using an independent sample in Study 3. Overall, the psychological need thwarting scale (PNTS) demonstrated good content, factorial, and predictive validity, as well as internal consistency and invariance across gender, sport type, competitive level, and competitive experience. The conceptualization of psychological need thwarting is discussed, and suggestions are made regarding the use of the PNTS in research pertaining to the darker side of sport participation.
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We address 3 critiques raised by Grossman (2011) of self-report measures of mindfulness and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale—Adolescent (MAAS–A) in particular. Grossman questioned whether self-report measures actually assess mindfulness, whether the construct of mindfulness can be understood apart from mindfulness training, and whether there is empirical evidence to support the validity of mindfulness measures. In response we discuss established theory that attention (and secondarily meta-awareness) is core to the meaning of mindfulness and is the central feature of the MAAS and MAAS–A. We then argue that mindfulness is an inherent capacity that varies between and within persons and is not, as Grossman claimed, a concept applicable to only a trained few. Further, as assessed by the MAAS and MAAS–A, mindfulness is associated with the same variety of outcomes as mindfulness training is theorized to yield. Finally, we provide considerable evidence that the MAAS and MAAS–A are valid instruments. We conclude that although construct measurement is inevitably imperfect, such efforts are critical to building basic knowledge and refining effective interventions.
