Personality trait and subjective work experience fit (P-SWE fit) as an explanation for voluntary turnover.

The aim of the present study was to show that examining the interactions between personality traits and subjective work experience (SWE) can be an interesting approach to understanding turnover. During the months following their enlistment, 186 resigning and 77 nonresigning military personnel were questioned about six SWE dimensions. During the recruitment process, they had undergone a Big Five personality test. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to study the effects of personality and SWE on turnover. Binomial generalized linear models enabled us to identify interaction effects between personality traits and SWE. These showed that open individuals who feel a high level of specialty satisfaction are less likely to quit. Similarly, individuals with high levels of neuroticism or conscientiousness are more inclined to resign if the environment is perceived to be stressful. The same applies to agreeable individuals who have negative perceptions of their interpersonal relationships. This study highlights the complexity of voluntary turnover and the need to investigate the transactions between personality and contextual characteristics with nonlinear models.

Modification of Affective Trajectory in a Positive Psychology Intervention.

Enhancing positive affect (PA) and reducing negative affect (NA) are targets of positive psychology interventions, and well-being and positive functioning are core elements of mental health. However, the underlying temporal dynamics of these elements are unknown. This study aimed at identifying how a 42-day daily positive psychology intervention (PPI) impacts affective longitudinal dynamics compared to a control condition. This study employed an experience sampling method (self-observation diary including the Measurement of Affectivity: Valence/Activation scale, MAVA) with two non-randomised groups-a control group (n = 43) and an intervention group (n = 43)-taken from a community sample. Compared to the control participants, the PPI participants' trajectories for activated and deactivated NA showed an important decrease over the course of the PPI. The deactivated PA trajectory increased non-linearly across the PPI, whereas the activated PA trajectory showed a linear increase. This study suggests that PPIs change daily affective life.

Between-Individual Differences in Baseline Well-Being and Emotion Regulation Strategy Use Moderate the Effect of a Self-Help Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Typical Adults.

BACKGROUND: Self-help interventions intended to help nonclinical individuals regulate their emotions can have important social benefits (i.e. mental disorder prevention, well-being promotion). However, their mean effect size on well-being is generally low, possibly because there are considerable between-individual differences in the response to these interventions. The present study examined whether individuals' baseline levels of emotional well-being and engagement in emotion regulation strategies moderate the effects on these same variables in a 4-week self-help cognitive-behavioral intervention intended for typical adults. METHODS: Data were collected from 158 nonclinical French adults (n = 95 for the control group, n = 63 for the cognitive-behavioral group) using experience sampling. Emotional well-being was assessed, as well as the engagement in three emotion regulation strategies (i.e. cognitive reappraisal, problem solving, and appreciation). RESULTS: As expected, the post-test scores on some variables were significantly predicted by the interactions between the intervention and the pre-test scores on these same variables. In particular, it was the participants with the most negative baseline levels (i.e. low emotional well-being, low engagement in appreciation) who benefitted most from the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in the light of current knowledge on between-individual differences in how individuals respond to interventions.

A Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Differential Effects on Affective and Processual Evolution.

OBJECTIVES: A 20-minutes-a-day, self-help, mindfulness-based intervention was conducted for 6 weeks with a French community sample. First, the intervention effects on affective and functioning variables were evaluated. Then, a differential approach was used to examine improvement potentiality and the perceived benefits of mindfulness according to the participants' baseline mindfulness competencies. METHOD: Participants were non-randomly assigned to a control group on the waiting list (n = 44) or a mindfulness group (n = 47). Self-report measures assessed anxiety, depression, psychological distress, mindfulness, negative self-oriented cognition, and experiential avoidance. RESULTS: Improvements in the variables were observed for the mindfulness group but not for the control group, with effect sizes ranging between .53 and .88. Low baseline levels of mindfulness predicted greater improvement in mindfulness (r = -0.55, p < .001) than high baseline levels. CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness practice elicited several positive outcomes regarding affective variables, highlighting emotional functioning changes.

From prioritizing objects to prioritizing cues: a developmental shift for cognitive control.

Emerging cognitive control supports increasingly adaptive behaviors and predicts life success, while low cognitive control is a major risk factor during childhood. It is therefore essential to understand how it develops. The present study provides evidence for an age-related shift in the type of information that children prioritize in their environment, from objects that can be directly acted upon to cues signaling how to act. Specifically, gaze patterns recorded while 3- to 12-year-olds and adults engaged in a cognitive control task showed that whereas younger children fixated on targets that they needed to respond to before gazing at task cues signaling how to respond, older children and adults showed the opposite pattern (which yielded better performance). This shift in information prioritization has important conceptual implications, suggesting that a major force behind cognitive control development may be non-executive in nature, as well as opening new directions for interventions.

Rumination and Mindlessness Processes: Trajectories of Change in a 42-Day Mindfulness-Based Intervention.

This preliminary study aimed to understand the effects of an autonomous mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on mindlessness propensities: rumination, automatic pilot functioning, and attentional distractibility. The ecological momentary assessment was completed by community participants assigned to two nonrandomized groups: an experimental group (n = 45) that practiced 20-minute daily mindfulness meditation for 42 days and a control group (n = 44) that was on the waiting list for the MBI. All participants completed a self-assessment on rumination and mindlessness propensities twice a day. The MBI led to a favorable gradual decrease in automatic pilot functioning and attentional distractibility. Rumination evolved in three stages: a rapid decrease during the first week, a stabilization phase between the 10th and 30th days, and an additional decrease after 30 days of practice. This innovative study provides a promising perspective regarding rumination, automatic pilot functioning, and attentional distractibility dynamic trajectories over the course of an MBI.

Children's Allocation of Study Time during the Solution of Raven's Progressive Matrices.

The acuity of reasoning on Raven's Progressive Matrices is strongly influenced by strategic determinants. Building on metamemory studies that highlight the influence of study-time allocation on memory development, we investigated children's allocation of study time while solving these matrices. A total of 170 children aged 6-12 years completed a computerized short-form version of the standard matrices featuring items selected to represent a broad range of difficulties. Beyond analyzing changes in mean latencies and performances with age, we used generalized additive mixed models to explore within-participant variability in response times as a function of both item complexity and overall individual efficiency. Results revealed that individual differences in performances were significantly associated with children's adaptive modulation of response times. Mediation analysis further indicated that response-time modulation contributed to age-related changes in performance. Taking account of study-time allocation in reasoning tasks may open up new avenues for the study of reasoning development and the assessment of intellectual functioning.

Reactive or proactive? Age differences in the use of affective regulation strategies.

We examined age-related differences in the reactive and proactive use of affect regulation strategies. We collected data from 209 participants 13-80 years of age, using an experience sampling method. The most interesting finding was that, as hypothesized, compared with those under 20, adults 20 and over used the 2 strategies we focused on (i.e., problem solving and positive reappraisal) more intensely and in a reactive manner. By contrast, from the age of about 55 upward, adults were characterized by a more intensely proactive use of these strategies. Results are discussed in the light of age differences in motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record

The development of relational integration during childhood.

Relational integration refers to the process whereby several variables are integrated within a single cognitive representation. In cognitive and developmental science, it is regarded as a central function of working memory that may contribute to the development of higher order processes, such as reasoning and fluid intelligence. In the present experiment, we administered the Relational Integration Level Assessment Task (RILAT), a novel experimental task designed to assess children's level of relational integration, to participants aged 5-12 years, along with a measure of fluid intelligence. Results yielded age norms for the development of successive levels of relational complexity and indicated a smooth progression rather than abrupt, stage-like transitions. Relational integration was found to be closely associated with fluid intelligence, as measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices. Analyses of age-related changes in this association revealed that the relationship was strongest during the stabilization periods for each level of relational complexity.

Genetic testing for hereditary cancer: effects of alexithymia and coping strategies on variations in anxiety before and after result disclosure.

This study assessed the impact of the results of genetic testing for hereditary cancer from a multifactorial health psychology perspective, considering that emotional expression plays a key role in psychological adjustment. Measures of dispositional and transactional coping strategies, anxiety and alexithymia were filled out by 77 participants in a longitudinal study design. Statistical analyses were performed using general linear models and partial least squares path modelling, low-constraint methods that are particularly useful in the behavioural sciences. While anxiety levels prior to the result announcement were predictive of the distress experienced by noncarriers, considerable variability was observed for mutation carriers. Some subjects who had lower anxiety levels before the test displayed greater anxiety afterwards, but others seemed to anticipate the distress they would experience with the result that they showed a decrease in anxiety. The mutation carriers behaved as though their adaptive functioning were reshaped by the test result, independent of their disposition and previous emotional state, except in the case of alexithymia. Difficulty expressing emotions prior to genetic testing contributed to a similar difficulty after receiving the result, adding to the latter's emotional impact by promoting emotion-focused coping strategies and increasing distress.

Preschoolers' use of feedback for flexible behavior: insights from a computational model.

This study addressed preschoolers' cognitive flexibility in an inductive task requiring response feedback processing to infer relevant task goals. A total of 63 4- to 6-year-olds were tested on a perceptual matching task in which they needed to switch attention among three colors. A computational model was designed to track down how responses to positive and negative feedback changed as children progressed through the task. The results showed that children's differential response to positive and negative feedback developed with age. In addition, age differences in feedback responding increased as the task unfolded. These findings are interpreted as reflecting an increase in flexibility with age in terms of growing efficiency in feedback processing.