Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.

AIMS: This study examined age-related differences between young and older adults' emotion regulation, hope, and optimism 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Whether personality explained such outcomes was also examined. METHOD: A sample of 228 young adults and 161 older adults was interviewed in April-May 2021 to complete questionnaires assessing cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) emotion regulation strategies use, optimism, hope (agency and pathways components), and personality traits. RESULTS: Older adults reported greater CR and ES use, optimism, and hope-agency levels than young adults, whereas no age differences emerged for hope-pathway scores. Personality traits (more consistently emotional stability) contributed to explaining CR and ES use, and greater hopeful and optimistic dispositions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm older adults' advantage in facing the emotional and psychological fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in its third wave. They also underscore the importance of considering personality to depict individual profiles prone to experiencing long-term negative emotional/psychological consequences of emergencies as COVID-19.

Sex/Gender Differences in Verbal Fluency and Verbal-Episodic Memory: A Meta-Analysis.

Women are thought to fare better in verbal abilities, especially in verbal-fluency and verbal-memory tasks. However, the last meta-analysis on sex/gender differences in verbal fluency dates from 1988. Although verbal memory has only recently been investigated meta-analytically, a comprehensive meta-analysis is lacking that focuses on verbal memory as it is typically assessed, for example, in neuropsychological settings. On the basis of 496 effect sizes and 355,173 participants, in the current meta-analysis, we found that women/girls outperformed men/boys in phonemic fluency (ds = 0.12-0.13) but not in semantic fluency (ds = 0.01-0.02), for which the sex/gender difference appeared to be category-dependent. Women/girls also outperformed men/boys in recall (d = 0.28) and recognition (ds = 0.12-0.17). Although effect sizes are small, the female advantage was relatively stable over the past 50 years and across lifetime. Published articles reported stronger female advantages than unpublished studies, and first authors reported better performance for members of their own sex/gender. We conclude that a small female advantage in phonemic fluency, recall, and recognition exists and is partly subject to publication bias. Considerable variance suggests further contributing factors, such as participants' language and country/region.

Does the Weekly Practice of Recalling and Elaborating Episodes Raise Well-Being in University Students?

Increasing well-being is a prominent worldwide goal that can be achieved primarily through social support and environmental factors. However, in times of social distancing or isolation, it is important to also rely on self-managed activities. This study aimed to (a) test the effectiveness of a seven-week well-being intervention, in increasing need satisfaction, self-compassion, emotion regulation, and grateful disposition by curbing need frustration, self-derogation, and emotional suppression, and (b) examine the maintenance and long-term effects of the practices based on recall, elaboration, and writing. One hundred and twenty university students weekly recalled and elaborated for seven consecutive weeks on three recent episodes of gratitude, self-affirmation, goal setting, or meaningful things, according to the group to which they were assigned. Before the intervention, immediately after and one month later, they filled in questionnaires to assess need satisfaction/frustration, self-compassion/derogation, emotion regulation and grateful disposition. The results confirmed an increase in well-being and a decrease in ill-being for all groups (Cohen d for the significant differences ranging from 0.18 to 0.53). The effects were maintained one month later and even increased for self-compassion, self-derogation, need frustration, and emotional reappraisal. A follow-up assessment revealed that a third of the participants continued with the well-being practices. Implications and suggestions for future well-being interventions are discussed.

Gender stereotypes and incremental beliefs in STEM and non-STEM students in three countries: relationships with performance in cognitive tasks.

Women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been linked, among others, to gender stereotypes and ability-related beliefs as well as gender differences in specific cognitive abilities. However, the bulk of studies focused on gender stereotypes related to mathematics. The present study, therefore, aimed to map gender stereotypes and incremental beliefs (i.e., the conviction about modifiability) with respect to a wide range of stereotypical male-favouring and female-favouring abilities. Gender stereotypes and incremental beliefs were assessed with self-report questionnaires in 132 STEM students (65 women) and 124 non-STEM students (73 women) in three European countries ranked in the top, middle, and bottom of the Global Gender Gap Report. Moreover, a mental rotation and a verbal fluency test were completed. Men endorsed male-favouring stereotypes more than women, and women endorsed female-favouring stereotypes more than men, an effect that was most pronounced in the country with the larger gender gap. Male STEM students endorsed male-favouring stereotypes more strongly than male non-STEM and female STEM students. Male non-STEM students endorsed female-favouring stereotypes less than female and male STEM students. Female STEM students reported higher incremental beliefs than female non-STEM students, especially in the country with the lowest gender gap. Men outperformed women, and STEM students outperformed non-STEM in mental rotation, while women outperformed men in verbal fluency. Male STEM students' stronger endorsement of male-favouring stereotypes might reflect genuine group differences, at least in mental rotation. While potentially such gender stereotypes can help creating a "chilly climate" where women in academic STEM degrees are expected to perform poorly, those women believed more in the possibility to change and improve in male-favouring abilities which could help them to overcome the potential negative effect of stereotyping.

Displayed enthusiasm attracts attention and improves recall.

BACKGROUND: Instructor enthusiasm has been shown to enhance a range of positive student outcomes including recall, but the underlying mechanisms for the favourable effects of teacher enthusiasm are still largely unknown. AIMS: We hypothesized that attention paid to the instructor is one mechanism and that the positive effects of enthusiasm will disappear when attention is captured by another task. SAMPLES: In a series of three studies, we involved fourth and fifth graders in listening to texts read aloud with high or low levels of displayed enthusiasm. METHODS: In Study 1, we obtained self-reported and observed behavioural indicators of attention while students were read texts with high versus low enthusiasm. In Study 2, we additionally manipulated attention by comparing a group who performed a concurrent attentional task while listening to the texts read with high or low enthusiasm to a group who only listened to the texts. In Study 3, we compared the attention-catching concurrent task used in Study 2 to a non-attention-catching dual task. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that displayed enthusiasm captures attention and that attention partially explains the positive effect of displayed enthusiasm on recall.

Multiple Dimensions of Self-Esteem and Their Relationship with Health in Adolescence.

The aim of the present study was to examine how different domains of self-esteem (social, competence, affect, academic, family, and physical) relate to self-reported physical and mental health, lower back pain (LBP), smoking, and physical exercise in a sample of adolescents. A sample of 326 adolescents 14-19 years old completed several self-report questionnaires collecting epidemiological data, and information on their LBP, smoking, and physical exercise, the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale. Pearson's correlations were calculated between their self-esteem scores and their physical and mental health scores. Three multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were performed to estimate associations between self-esteem and LBP, smoking, and physical exercise. Self-esteem (total and subcomponent scores) correlated positively with physical and mental health, and with physical exercise, and negatively with smoking. The results also confirm gender-related differences in self-esteem, in favor of boys. This study offers the first findings on the relationship between different domains of self-esteem and a variety of health outcomes in an adolescent population. The results suggest that multidimensional interventions could be devised to improve adolescents' physical health by promoting their physical exercise, and to prevent their smoking by nurturing their self-esteem.

The role of implicit gender spatial stereotyping in mental rotation performance.

Men outscore women in mental rotation. Among the possible explanations for this result are gender stereotypes. Research has shown that instructions confirming or disconfirming the gender stereotype that men are more talented than women may affect performance in some spatial tasks, such as mental rotation, but research so far has shown inconsistent or null results. However, no research to date has assessed whether participants' implicit associations linking men to spatial abilities may modulate these effects. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the moderating role of the implicit gender spatial stereotyping, that is the automatic associations between men vs. women and space, in male and female participants receiving either stereotypical (stating that men outscore women) or stereotype-nullifying (stating that there is no gender difference) explicit instructions. Results confirmed that men performed better than women in mental rotation, but also showed that in the stereotype-nullifying condition, the higher the automatic associations between space and men the lower men's performance. The discussion focuses on the importance of considering implicit gender spatial stereotyping as a factor that can modulate mental rotation performance.

Effects of Group Gender Composition on Mental Rotation Test Performance in Women.

Mental rotation is a task in which men outscore women by up to one standard deviation. Many biological, strategic, experiential, and motivational factors concur to explain this gender gap. Among these there are gender stereotypes, which could either harm or favor performance, giving rise, respectively, to stereotype threat or lift effects. This study examined effects due to stereotypes induced by testing women in a minority mixed-gender group composition (subtle message) when provided with instructions about men's or women's superiority (blatant message), in order to assess the hypothesis that the effort of disconfirming a negative stereotype causes increased performance when two messages, either blatant or subtle, are provided. Sixty-six men and 78 women tested either in a mixed-gender or a same-gender group composition were provided with one of the three instructions (men better, women better, nullifying) after performing a mental rotation test (baseline measure) and before taking another one. Results showed that women increased performance mainly when instructed that men score higher in the mixed-gender group composition, and after the nullifying instructions when tested in the same-gender group composition. Men increased performance mainly when they were instructed that women scored higher. Taken together, the results showed that both genders improve performance, when two threats arise both subtly and blatantly, or when no threat is in the air. Effects of implicit and explicit activated stereotypes are discussed.

Scaffolding for motivation by parents, and child homework motivations and emotions: Effects of a training programme.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Based on the principles of scaffolding for motivation and on the assumptions of self-determination theory, two studies aimed to assess the role played by perceived parental autonomy-supportive scaffolding on child homework autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, affect, and engagement. SAMPLES AND RESULTS: The results of Study 1, which involved 122 parents and their children, showed that the higher the parental autonomous motivation, the more their children perceived them as autonomy-supportive while scaffolding for motivation, and hence developed autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, and engagement in homework. In Study 2, 37 parents were involved in a four-session training programme that focused on sustaining autonomy-supportive scaffolding modalities. The training decreased parental negative affect, prevented child negative affect increase, and maintained child homework motivation. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion focuses on the strength that parents have with regard to helping their children develop less negative, and potentially also more positive attitude towards homework, through autonomy support as a scaffold for motivation.

Does displayed enthusiasm favour recall, intrinsic motivation and time estimation?

Displayed enthusiasm has been shown to relate to intrinsic motivation, vitality, and positive affect, but its effects on recall performance and time estimation have not yet been explored. This research aimed at studying the effects of a delivery style characterised by High Enthusiasm (HE) on recall, time estimation, and intrinsic motivation. In line with previous studies, effects on intrinsic motivation were expected. In addition, higher recall and lower time estimations were hypothesised. In two experiments, participants assigned to a HE condition or to a normal reading control condition listened to a narrative and to a descriptive passage. Then, they were asked to rate perceived time, enthusiasm, pleasure, interest, enjoyment and curiosity, before writing a free recall. Experiment 1 showed that in the HE condition, participants recalled more, were more intrinsically motivated, and expressed lower time estimations compared to the control condition. Experiment 2 confirmed the positive effects of HE reading compared to normal reading, using different passages and a larger sample.

Women drive better if not stereotyped.

A commonly held stereotype is that women are poor drivers. This stereotype is recognized and endorsed by women and girls very early on, long before taking their driving licence, nevertheless they are less involved in accidents and drive safer and less fast than men. In line with the stereotype threat theory, the present study tests the hypothesis that making the driving stereotype salient will lead women to underperform in a driving simulation task. In Experiment 1women in the stereotype threat condition were told that the aim of the study was to detect gender differences in driving whereas in a control condition no study aim was provided. In Experiment 2, two conditions were compared: stereotype threat (same instructions as in Experiment 1), and stereotype boost (the alleged goal was to compare driving ability of young vs. old people). As predicted, the results of both experiments showed that women under stereotype threat, as compared to either control or stereotype boost participants, doubled the number of mistakes. Nevertheless, they overall expected/self-reported to drive/have driven poorly. Importantly, their level of expectation was a significant predictor of their actual driving performance only in the stereotype threat condition. Implications of these effects of stereotype threat on women's driving performance and self-assessment are discussed.

Perceived Control Mediates the Relations between Depressive Symptoms and Academic Achievement in Adolescence.

The present research examined the protective role played by perceived control in the relation between depressive symptoms and academic achievement in adolescence. A sample of 218 adolescents aged 11 to 16 filled in questionnaires to assess self-reported depressive symptoms and three factors tied with Perceived Control (PC): self-regulated learning strategies use, effort attribution, and perceived competence. Grade Point Average (GPA) was considered as a measure of academic achievement. A path model showed that the relation between GPA and depressive symptoms is mediated by PC (p<.05), and became non-significant when PC is considered. The discussion stresses the need to take into account the strategic and motivational factors favouring learning in planning programmes to prevent and treat depressive symptoms in adolescence.

Perceived control mediates the relations between depressive symptoms and academic achievement in adolescence

The present research examined the protective role played by perceived control in the relation between depressive symptoms and academic achievement in adolescence. A sample of 218 adolescents aged 11 to 16 filled in questionnaires to assess self-reported depressive symptoms and three factors tied with Perceived Control (PC): self-regulated learning strategies use, effort attribution, and perceived competence. Grade Point Average (GPA) was considered as a measure of academic achievement. A path model showed that the relation between GPA and depressive symptoms is mediated by PC (p<.05), and became non-significant when PC is considered. The discussion stresses the need to take into account the strategic and motivational factors favouring learning in planning programmes to prevent and treat depressive symptoms in adolescence (AU)

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Brief report: Play fighting to curb self-reported aggression in young adolescents.

This study investigated the effects of play fighting on aggressive behaviors. It was hypothesized that the teaching of play fighting during physical education lessons could reduce self-reported aggression in a group of adolescents to a greater extent than playing volleyball (a low physical contact activity). Participants were 210 young adolescents (mean age = 13.27, SD = 0.48 years) from 10 classrooms that were randomly assigned to an 8-lesson play fighting session or to traditional volleyball lessons. They filled in the 12-item short version of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ-12) pre- and post-interventions. The play fighting group showed a significant reduction in all the four subscales of the AQ-12 (Cohen d ranging from 0.61 to 0.67), while participants in the volleyball group did not. Results suggest that play fighting might provide useful contents in a physical education curriculum, with possible reduction in aggressive behavior.

Cognitive styles and mental rotation ability in map learning.

In inspecting, learning and reproducing a map, a wide range of abilities is potentially involved. This study examined the role of mental rotation (MR) and verbal ability, together with that of cognitive styles in map learning. As regards cognitive styles, the traditional distinction between verbalizers and visualizers has been taken into account, together with a more recent distinction between two styles of visualization: spatial and object. One hundred and seven participants filled in two questionnaires on cognitive styles: the Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire (Richardson in J Ment Imag 1:109-125, 1977) and the Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire (Blajenkova et al. in Appl Cogn Psych 20:239-263, 2006), performed MR and verbal tests, learned two maps, and were then tested for their recall. It was found that MR ability and cognitive styles played a role in predicting map learning, with some distinctions within cognitive styles: verbal style favoured learning of one of the two maps (the one rich in verbal labels), which in turn was disadvantaged by the adoption of spatial style. Conversely, spatial style predicted learning of the other map, rich in visual features. The discussion focuses on implications for cognitive psychology and everyday cognition.

Who finds neutral pictures pleasant and relaxing?

Valence and arousal are independent dimensions of consciously experienced affect. The former refers to pleasantness; the latter to the degree of excitement or stimulation. The present research explores some of the predictors of these dimensions through the hypothesis that valence relates to positive affect and lack of negative affect, while arousal is tied to negative affect, and that both are predicted by personal wellbeing, considered as a way of achieving happiness. The occurrence of depressive symptoms is also considered within the hypothesis: as a facet of negative affect, as lack of wellbeing, or as an independent dimension placed at the same level as wellbeing, and which relates to both positive and negative affect (considered as mediators). Sixty-one participants were asked to view on a computer screen a series of 20 neutral pictures, having medium valence and low arousal, and complete self-report questionnaires to assess affect, personal wellbeing, and the occurrence of depressive symptoms. After picture viewing, valence and arousal judgments were requested. In the analysis, three competing models with latent variables were tested, to assess at best the role depressive symptoms have. They confirmed that valence is predicted by high positive and low negative affect, arousal by negative affect and even directly by the occurrence of depressive symptoms, and that personal wellbeing and depressive symptoms are the starting point. They are negatively correlated and predict positive (both) and negative affect (just the occurrence of depressive symptoms). The discussion focuses on both theoretical and practical implications. Suggestions for future research are given.

Influence of other-beliefs on self-beliefs and on everyday memory self-report in the elderly.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Elderly people tend to evaluate their memory functioning pessimistically and have a decrease in self-efficacy beliefs associated with an attributional style which relies mainly on uncontrollable causes. This pattern may be significantly influenced by the caregivers evaluations of self-efficacy beliefs and attributional style of the elderly. This study compares older and younger adults with respect to everyday memory self-assessment, self-efficacy beliefs and attributional style, and examines the relationships between everyday memory self-assessment, self-evaluations, and evaluations by significant others as regards elderly self-efficacy beliefs, attributional style, and everyday memory. METHODS: 100 older, 100 younger, and 100 middle-aged adults were required to complete questionnaires aimed at assessing everyday memory, attributional style, and self-efficacy beliefs. The group of middle-aged adults was asked to complete questionnaires aimed at assessing the perceived efficacy and attributional style of the older and younger participants. RESULTS: Data indicate that, unlike younger adults, the elderly negatively evaluate their everyday memory, have an attributional style mainly characterized by uncontrollable factors, and have less confidence in their memory. A structural equation model shows that the opinions of the significant others (relatives or medical staff) as regards the perceived efficacy and attributional style of elderly people affect their self-efficacy and attributional style which, in turn, influence everyday self-reported memory efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the central role of metamemory in everyday memory evaluation in the elderly, and stress the importance of what significant others think as regards the elderly person in question. From a practical point of view, it makes an important contribution to intervention and prevention programs involving people in close contact with the elderly, by suggesting ways in which significant others can help in optimizing the ability of older people to meet the challenges of aging successfully.

Imagery and rehearsal as study strategies for written or orally presented passages.

In the present research, we studied the influence of text presentation modality on recall under imagery, rehearsal, and no strategy instructions. It was hypothesized that imagery is a more effective recall strategy for an oral presentation and rehearsal for a written presentation, and that imagery and rehearsal are effective study strategies. One hundred twenty participants participated, 80 of whom were trained in the use of imagery or rehearsal in the study of passages and 40 of whom made up the control group. A text was presented orally or in writing; the trained participants were to memorize it using the strategy taught, and the participants in the control group were to memorize it using a freely chosen strategy. They were then asked for free written recall. The results confirmed that the participants using imagery recalled the oral presentation better than the written one, and those using rehearsal recalled the written presentation better than the oral one. The discussion focuses on a selective-interference explanation of the presentation modality effects. Practical suggestions are given, and implications for future research are discussed.