Research on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor...Show moreResearch on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor of various mental and physical health outcomes. Whilst the relationship between optimism and executive functioning has been discussed, little is known about optimism as a predictor of success in executive functioning. In this study, data from 250 respondents was collected through online questionnaires to study whether optimism is a significant predictor of success in executive functioning in general, as well as in separate aspects of attention, self-control and self-monitoring, and planning. The measuring instruments that were used were the Life-Orientation Test-Revised for optimism and the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory for executive functioning and its aspects. Four simple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The results showed that optimism is a significant predictor of executive functioning in general (b = .22, p < .001), as well as of attention (b = .13, p < .001) and planning (b = .06, p < .05), but not of self-control and self-monitoring (p > .05). The main limitation in this study was that data were collected cross-sectionally instead of longitudinal. For self-control and self-monitoring, further research could be beneficial to understand what made this outcome differ from the others. These outcomes could be helpful to further investigate possible implications for the treatment of neuropsychological problems.Show less
Coronavirus disease 2019 has negatively affected the general population, and especially university undergraduates. Attending to and being aware of the present moment in an open, accepting and...Show moreCoronavirus disease 2019 has negatively affected the general population, and especially university undergraduates. Attending to and being aware of the present moment in an open, accepting and compassionate manner (i.e. mindfulness) has been shown to decrease depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and increase positive affect. In our present study, we used network analysis to examine the associations between anxiety, depression, stress, mindfulness and joy. An observational research design was used with a convenience sample of 66 undergraduate students aged 18 to 34 years who completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) on their phones. They were asked eight questionsーtwo psychological constructs and six subclinical psychopathology symptomsーfour times a day for two weeks. Network analysis resulted in temporal and contemporaneous network models, indicating that mindfulness at time t does not significantly predict any variable at later time t+1 on the temporal level. At the contemporaneous level, mindfulness is associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and joy. Given the limitations of the present study and the hypothesis generating nature of network analysis, we conclude that the significant partial correlations between mindfulness, psychological well-being and joy in the contemporaneous network may indicate potential causal relations worth following up on in future research.Show less
De Europese Unie heeft als doel om in 2050 klimaatneutraal te zijn. Om dit doel te bereiken is het noodzakelijk dat de EU-lidstaten overstappen op hernieuwbare energiebronnen zoals windenergie....Show moreDe Europese Unie heeft als doel om in 2050 klimaatneutraal te zijn. Om dit doel te bereiken is het noodzakelijk dat de EU-lidstaten overstappen op hernieuwbare energiebronnen zoals windenergie. Windmolens stuiten echter op verzet in verschillende lidstaten. Het is daarom belangrijk dat er inzicht gekregen wordt in de factoren die de mate van acceptatie van de bouw van windparken bepalen. Het huidige onderzoek had tot doel om te achterhalen wat het effect is van inspraak door lokale belanghebbenden in de besluitvorming op de acceptatie van de bouw van de windparken, vergeleken met pseudo-inspraak en geen inspraak. Dit werd gedaan door middel van een experimenteel onderzoek, dat voorgelegd werd aan 199 participanten die wonen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk. In het onderzoek werd ook een sequentieel mediatie model getest, dat beschrijft hoe inspraak een positief effect zal hebben op acceptatie, doordat de inspraakmogelijkheid de waargenomen procedurele rechtvaardigheid vergroot, wat vervolgens het vertrouwen in de autoriteit vergroot. Dit verhoogde vertrouwen zorgt vervolgens voor een grotere mate van acceptatie van de bouw van het windpark. De resultaten lieten zoals verwacht zien dat inspraak, vergeleken met pseudo-inspraak en geen inspraak, een positief effect heeft op acceptatie, via de mediatoren. In tegenstelling tot wat voorspeld werd bleek pseudo-inspraak, ten opzichte van geen inspraak, geen significant effect te hebben op zowel de mediatoren als de mate van acceptatie. Ook werd gevonden dat risicopercepties over horizonvervuiling, geluidsoverlast en gezondheidsschade een significante negatieve relatie hebben met acceptatie van het windpark. Theoretische en praktische implicaties van het onderzoek worden besproken.Show less
Introduction: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a highly prevalent issue in our society that includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. CM can lead to...Show moreIntroduction: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a highly prevalent issue in our society that includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. CM can lead to various negative consequences, such as dissociation. Known subtypes are amnestic dissociation, absorption and depersonalization/derealization. There is ample empirical evidence supporting sexual and physical abuse leading to dissociation, but rarely do studies focus on all facets of the variables. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the different types of CM and dissociation taking post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a mediator into account. Methods: Using an online self-report survey, CM, dissociation and PTSD were assessed cross-sectionally among a sample recruited on online platforms for domestic violence via Leiden University (N=432). Obtained data were analyzed by performing a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and mediation analysis (PROCESS macro). Results: The results support the notion to use all subscales of both variables, as sexual abuse and physical neglect were significantly associated with amnestic dissociation, while sexual abuse, physical neglect and emotional abuse were significant predictors of derealization/depersonalization; physical neglect had a significant relationship with absorption. PTSD was a significant mediator but it did not fully explain the link between CM and dissociation. Discussion: Future studies should focus on using clinical samples and longitudinal designs to gain deeper knowledge into therapeutic implications. Integrating the findings of our paper is an important step to better understand the types of CM, dissociation and the importance of PTSD.Show less
When listening to music people often start moving together, which has been shown to increase interpersonal liking. In fact, even small synchronous movements, such as tapping your finger to music...Show moreWhen listening to music people often start moving together, which has been shown to increase interpersonal liking. In fact, even small synchronous movements, such as tapping your finger to music with another person, appear to increase liking. The current online study investigated the impact of tapping tempo and resulting tempo comfort on liking in a dyadic tapping task. It was expected that people would like another tapper significantly more if they judged the tapping tempo to be comfortable as opposed to uncomfortable. Furthermore, it was expected that the personality trait openness to experience would moderate, and that task enjoyment would mediate the relationship between tempo comfort and liking. Both of the latter predictions were rejected. However, two different tapping tempi were indeed experienced as differing significantly in tempo comfort. Tempo comfort was a significant predictor of liking with a small effect size during the fast, but not during the slow tempo. It is possible that when tapping tempo is comfortable it is not a prevalent or consciously perceived musical factor and therefore does not impact social cognition or behaviour. However, when tempo does become a prevalent factor, for example by being perceived as too fast or potentially also too slow, tempo comfort starts having an impact on interpersonal liking. Future research could profit from determining a tempo interval in which most people perceive the tapping tempo to be comfortable enough as to not negatively impact liking.Show less
Dispositional optimism is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to mental and physical health. The role of resilient coping on the relationship between dispositional optimism and...Show moreDispositional optimism is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to mental and physical health. The role of resilient coping on the relationship between dispositional optimism and anxiety symptoms has not yet been examined. In this study, the potential mediating role of resilient coping in the relationship between dispositional optimism and anxiety symptoms has been tested using PROCESS macro. The Life Orientation Test Revised, the Brief Resilient Coping Scale, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaires were used for the assessment of optimism, resilient coping, and anxiety symptoms, respectively. The total, direct, and indirect effects were estimated using data from a healthy population (N = 248). The results showed that the level of dispositional optimism significantly predicted the level of anxiety symptoms (b = -.36, p < .001) such that higher levels of dispositional optimism were associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. No significant evidence was found for the mediating role of resilient coping in this relationship, possibly due to the low internal consistency of the questionnaire in this sample. As the sample in this study had an overrepresentation of students within the age range of 20-25, it is likely that the results might not apply to the larger population, given that there are differences in what students have to cope with compared to people who are in other phases of their lives. Future research may complement findings by investigating whether there is a causal relationship between coping skills and anxiety symptoms.Show less
Worldwide, an increase in cases and severity of domestic violence (DV) has been reported as a result of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. As one’s language can provide inferences...Show moreWorldwide, an increase in cases and severity of domestic violence (DV) has been reported as a result of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. As one’s language can provide inferences about one’s mental health, this study analyzed word use in a DV online support group, aiming to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the mental health of DV victims. As social support and leisure activities might mitigate the consequences of DV on one’s mental health, their role as protective factors was examined. 5856 posts were collected from a DV support group and from two comparison groups on the social media platform Reddit. Confirmatory analysis was conducted following a registered pre-analysis plan. The results show that DV victims used significantly more linguistic indicators of depression than individuals in the comparison groups. However, linguistic indicators of depression did not increase significantly with the onset of COVID-19. Negative emotion words showed a weak negative correlation with words referring to social support (rho = - .110) and leisure activities (rho = -.137). Similarly, pre-occupation with COVID-19 was associated with using more negative emotion words (rho = .148). Exploratory analysis revealed that mid-pandemic, daily posting frequency in the DV support group was 22% higher than pre-pandemic. It is concluded that DV victims show more linguistic indicators of depression than comparison groups and that these characteristics are stable over time. Further, one’s concern with COVID-19 could contribute to negative emotions, whereas social support and leisure activities could function to some degree as protective factors for victims of DVShow less
Brand personality has been proven to influence consumer responses. A two dimensional model of warmth and competence is often utilized to study brand personality. However, the dimension of warmth...Show moreBrand personality has been proven to influence consumer responses. A two dimensional model of warmth and competence is often utilized to study brand personality. However, the dimension of warmth consists of the components sociability and morality. In the current study, the relation between perceived brand morality and competence with purchase intentions is investigated, with brand trust and brand identification as possible mediators. Four hypotheses were tested with a survey (N = 105) evaluating five global brands. Results generally supported the hypotheses and showed that both perceived morality and competence predicted purchase intention, and brand trust was found to mediate both relations. Brand identification did not mediate the relation of competence and morality with purchase intention. This study can be used to optimize branding and advertising, as it provides an in-depth and specific understanding of the effects of brand competence, morality, and trust on consumer-brand relationships and resulting consumer responses.Show less
