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Biomedical subjects

P Salovey

Publications and source records attributed to P Salovey.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Shaping perceptions to motivate healthy behavior: the role of message framing.

Health-relevant communications can be framed in terms of the benefits (gains) or costs (losses) associated with a particular behavior, and the framing of such persuasive messages influences health decision making. Although to ask people to consider a health issue in terms of associated costs is considered an effective way to motivate behavior, empirical findings are inconsistent. In evaluating the effectiveness of framed health messages, investigators must appreciate the context in which health-related decisions are made. The influence of framed information on decision making is contingent on people, first, internalizing the advocated frame and, then, on the degree to which performing a health behavior is perceived as risky. The relative effectiveness of gain-framed or loss-framed appeals depends, in part, on whether a behavior serves an illness-detecting or a health-affirming function. Finally, the authors discuss the cognitive and affective processes that may mediate the influence of framed information on judgment and behavior.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1996

Beliefs about mood moderate the relationship of stress to illness and symptom reporting.

The current prospective study examined how characteristic beliefs about mood affect illness and symptom reporting. Using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, 134 undergraduate (76 females and 58 males) reported their beliefs about attention to, clarity, and reparability of mood. Self-reported stress, illness, and symptoms were collected at three times following assessment of trait meta-mood, during times of general stress, and immediately prior to a class examination. Results indicate that, at increasing levels of distress, those who believe in greater attention to mood were more likely to report physical symptoms. In addition, those individuals who said that they generally make efforts to maintain positive mood were less likely to report illness than those less likely to engage in mood repair. The findings suggest that a person's general manner of evaluating or appraising mood is an important moderator of the relation between distress and symptom and illness reporting.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Role-relationship models for case formulation.

BACKGROUND: Personality disorders are important because they occur frequently and often complicate psychiatric symptom disorders. They are difficult to diagnose and formulate because unitary core traits and themes are hard to define for individual patients. A multiple-selves approach helps clinicians define core contradictions in belief that are frequently present. METHOD: A configurational system for case formulation was used with an approach of states and person schemas. Transactions and stories involving self and others were observed for recurrent elements of identity, attribution, and action. These elements were systematically arranged as role relationship models for each important state of behavior. Cyclic repetitions of maladaptive interpersonal behavior patterns were then explained in terms of motivations and social events that activate enduring, but erroneous, beliefs. RESULTS: Reliable and valid individualized formulations were derived by means of configurations of role relationship models. Inferring several levels of diverse self and other beliefs clarified the complexity usually found in disorders of personality. CONCLUSIONS: The role relationship models method of formulation is compatible with integrative approaches to treatment planning.

Aspirations, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

The effects of message framing on mammography utilization.

This experiment compared the effectiveness of gain-versus loss-framed messages to persuade women to obtain mammography screening. One hundred and thirty-three women 40 years and older and not adhering to current guidelines for obtaining mammography screening were assigned randomly to view either gain-framed (emphasizing the benefits of obtaining mammography) or loss-framed (emphasizing the risks of not obtaining mammography) persuasive videos that were factually equivalent. Attitudes and beliefs were measured before and immediately following the intervention. Mammography utilization was assessed 6 and 12 months later. Consistent with predictions based on prospect theory, women who viewed the loss-framed message were more likely to have obtained a mammogram within 12 months of the intervention. These findings suggest that loss-framed messages may have an advantage in the promotion of detection behaviors such as mammography.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Measurement error masks bipolarity in affect ratings.

For years, affect researchers have debated about the true dimensionality of mood. Some have argued that positive and negative moods are largely independent and can be experienced simultaneously. Others claim that mood is bipolar, that joy and sorrow represent opposite ends of a single dimension. The 3 studies presented in this article suggest that the evidence that purportedly shows the independence of seemingly opposite mood states, that is, low correlations between positive and negative moods, may be the result of failures to consider biases due to random and nonrandom response error. When these sources of error are taken into account using multiple methods of mood assessment, a largely bipolar structure for affect emerges. The data herein speak to the importance of a multi-method approach to the measurement of mood.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Attributions of responsibility and persuasion: increasing mammography utilization among women over 40 with an internally oriented message.

One hundred ninety-seven women over 40 years old and not adhering to national guidelines for screening mammography viewed persuasive messages varying in attributional emphasis (internal, external, or information-only). Internal attributions of responsibility for health-promoting behavior were expected to motivate the greatest change in women's attitudes and behaviors in relation to breast cancer and mammography. Attitudes about breast cancer and mammography were measured immediately and 6 months after the presentation. Twelve months later, women who viewed the internal message were more likely to have obtained a screening mammogram than women assigned to the other 2 conditions. The attributions of responsibility encouraged by the persuasive messages were associated with whether viewing the presentation led to behavior change.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Mood-induced self-focused attention.

The influence of mood on self-focused attention was explored in 2 experiments involving the induction of moods in the laboratory. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that mood states, whether pleasant or unpleasant, induce self-focused attention. This hypothesis was supported using a sentence completion task as the measure of self-focus. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 results using a measure of self-complexity as an index of self-focus. These experiments provide support for a model of affect-action sequences the first step of which entails the turning of attention toward the self in response to the arousal of affect.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

A broader conception of mood experience.

The experience of a mood consists of more than emotional states such as happiness, anger, sadness, or fear. It also includes mood management processes that can facilitate or inhibit the experience of the mood reaction. A multidomain framework is described for organizing such experience, and 2 studies are reported that analyzed separately emotion-related and emotion-management-related mood experiences. In both studies, emotion-related experience, including physical, emotional, and cognitive subdomains, could be characterized by Pleasant-Unpleasant and Arousal-Calm dimensions. Also, both studies yielded evidence for the emotion-management dimensions of Plans of Action, Suppression, and Denial. These broader dimensions of mood experience predicted criterion variables such as empathy better than Pleasant-Unpleasant and Arousal-Calm dimensions alone.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual stimuli: a component of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence involves the accurate appraisal and expression of emotions in oneself and others and the regulation of emotion in a way that enhances living. One aspect of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize the consensually agreed upon emotional qualities of objects in the environment. One hundred thirty-nine adults viewed 18 reproductions of faces, color swatches, and abstract designs and rated the emotional content of these visual stimuli. Three scores were extracted, including consensual accuracy, amount, and range of emotion perceived. These scores were compared with other aspects of emotional intelligence such as empathy and related to constructs such as alexithymia and neuroticism. A general ability to perceive consensual emotional content in visual stimuli was found, and it was most strongly associated with the ability to respond empathically to others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Perceived distributions of the characteristics of in-group and out-group members: empirical evidence and a computer simulation.

This research studied 2 properties of perceived distributions of the characteristics of social category members: the probability of differentiating (making distinctions) among category members and the perceived variability (variance) of category members. The results of 4 experiments supported the hypothesis that greater familiarity with a social group leads to greater perceived differentiation and variability regarding that group. In-group members formed more differentiated and variable distributions for groups defined by age and more differentiated distributions for groups defined by nationality. For gender (where students were roughly equally familiar with people of both genders), no in-group--out-group differences occurred. Also, students perceived greater differentiation and variability among classmates over the course of a semester. To explain these results, we developed PDIST, a multiple exemplar model that assumes that people form perceived distributions by activating a set of category exemplars and then judging the relative likelihoods of different feature values on the basis of the relative activation strengths of these feature values. The results of a computer simulation experiment indicated that PDIST is sufficient to explain the results of our 4 experiments. According to the perceived distributions formed by PDIST, increasing familiarity leads to greater differentiation and variability, has a concave impact, and has greater impact on differentiation than on variability.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Influence of mood on health-relevant cognitions.

Three experiments assessed the effects of mood on symptom appraisal, health behavior self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and perceptions of vulnerability. Ss in Experiments 1 and 2 were acutely ill, whereas Ss in Experiment 3 were healthy. In each experiment, happy, sad, and neutral moods were induced. In Experiment 1, Ss who experienced sadness reported more aches and pains and greater discomfort than happy Ss. Sad Ss were less confident that they could carry out illness-alleviating behaviors. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that mood's influence on vulnerability perceptions is moderated by health status. Although mood had little impact on perceptions of vulnerability among ill Ss, probability estimates of future negative health-relevant events among healthy Ss were mood sensitive. Seeing oneself as invulnerable to future negative events was accentuated among happy Ss and attenuated among sad Ss. Mood may be an important determinant of care seeking, adherence, and recovery from illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Health psychology.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Implicit models of illness.

This study was designed to be an initial investigation of implicit models of illness, that is, the dimensional structure that organizes an individual's common-sense illness schema. Nurses, college students, and diabetics rated the qualities of two different diseases, one that was personally salient (i.e., flu or diabetes) and one with which they were familiar but did not have direct experience (i.e., cancer), on a 38-item Implicit Models of Illness Questionnaire (IMIQ). An exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-dimensional structure of illnesses composed of Seriousness, Personal Responsibility, Controllability, and Changeability. The stability of this four-dimensional model was established using confirmatory factor analysis to test the fit of this structure to the IMIQ data of another sample of subjects drawn from the same populations. The structure of this implicit model proved stable for judgments of different diseases and across groups of subjects, even though they differed in their physical-health status and occupational roles. The dimensions identified in the present study were compared to those described in other papers. Our dimensions seemed to be both personally and psychologically meaningful. The implications of this preliminary "generic" implicit illness model for future work in the field of health cognition are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Seeking urgent pediatric treatment: factors contributing to frequency, delay, and appropriateness.

The present study explored the factors that contribute to mothers' decisions to seek urgent medical attention for their children when symptoms are not of a traumatic nature. One hundred mothers seeking treatment for their children at a prepaid clinic completed a questionnaire eliciting their expectations regarding the course of their children's problems, seriousness of the problems, perceived responsibility for the symptoms, and extent to which a variety of factors contributed to their decisions to seek treatment. Demographic data and information about each child's symptoms and medical history were also obtained. Four major "reasons for seeking treatment" factors were identified: family history of the presenting complaint, worry regarding the symptoms, situational variables, and the extent of the child's illness behavior. The appropriateness of the visit, delay in seeking treatment, and frequency of mothers' use of the pediatric clinic were predicted by the nature of the presenting symptoms (particularly the presence of fever), the ages of the mother and child, and two of the reasons for seeking treatment factors (i.e., family history and child's illness behavior). The present study suggests that mothers pay more attention to presenting symptoms and to the children's behavior than to psychosocial stressors in deciding to seek urgent care.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Health protection: attitudes and behaviors of LPNs, teachers, and college students.

Three groups of subjects, college students, high school teachers, and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), were asked to rate 30 health-protective activities in terms of (a) importance (attitude) and (b) the frequency with which they performed them (behavior). Correlational analyses revealed reasonably high consistency between attitudes and behaviors in all three groups. Multidimensional scaling procedures identified two basic dimensions of Health-Protective Behaviors (HPBs) accounting for 57% of the variance. The two dimensions were (a) degree of effectiveness and (b) amount of effort. Although students emphasized effectiveness in rating HPBs and teachers used both dimensions equally, the LPNs tended to consider only amount of effort. Additional analyses indicated that group differences were not related to age or gender but rather to health orientation. In sum, individuals' attitudes and behaviors related to health protection are stable, simply organized, and relatively consistent, but samples of health care providers (LPNs) and lay people (students and teachers) differentially weight the importance of effort and effectiveness when considering HPBs. The implications of these results for patient-provider communication, treatment adherence, as well as an understanding of health behavior are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

"Chronic pain as a variant of depressive disease". A critical reappraisal.

This paper critically examines the hypothesis that chronic pain is the physical manifestation of an underlying depressive disorder, as proposed by Blumer and Heilbronn in 1982 ( Blumer , D., and Heilbronn , M. Chronic pain as a variant of depressive disease. The pain-prone disorder. J. Nerv . Ment . Dis., 170: 381-406, 1982). The logic of this argument and the empirical evidence provided by Blumer and Heilbronn to support their hypothesis are discussed and their validity challenged. Alternative interpretations for the results as well as for the relationship between pain and depression are noted. Although it may be plausible to view a small subset of chronic pain patients as manifesting a " muted depressive state," the burden of proof still lies with those theorists who adhere to this formulation.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗