Emotions as a Result of Approach and Avoidance
There is a powerful theory in psychology, proposed by Carver and Scheier, about how emotions arise as an indication of how we are progressing towards our goals. Today’s post will be elaborating and extending on that model.
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Basically this cybernetic theory of emotions, is based on that fact that most of our actions are goal directed, we are either trying to archive a desired end state / goal; or we are trying to avoid an undesirable end-state or anti-goal. The same action or overt behavior may be motivated by different goal related orientation. For e.g., a student studying for a test may ...
Source: The Mouse Trap - August 6, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: emotion movement approach system avoidance system basic emotions Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Domain-specific temporal discounting and temptation
Today’s paper co-authored by Angela Duckworth again straddles the two worlds of psychology and economics.
English: A comparison of the discount factor of hyperbolic discounting with that of exponential discounting. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Temporal discounting or time preference is the preference people show towards immediate short-term rewards over higher but later long-term gains. People are willing to accept much lower sums (of say money) now, than they would, for sure, receive at some time in the future. This preference is for sure sums and is distinct and different form uncertainty/risk avoidance.
Different pe...
Source: The Mouse Trap - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: Research Summaries Angela Duckworth liking wanting Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Self-controlled children stay leaner in the transition to adolescence
This study was a prospective longitudinal study that looked at over 100 children in a school setting, and measured their self control and BMI while in grade 5 (mean age 10.5) and correlated it with their BMI when in grade 8.
Self-control was measured using a variety of methods. Students filled 2 self-report measures of self-control: The Impulsivity subscale of the Eysenck I6 Junior Questionnaire and The Brief Self-Control Scale. Parents as well as teachers also filled the informant version of Brief self-control scale. Apart from this Kirby Delay-Discounting Rate Monetary Choice Questionnaire was used to present hypothetica...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 30, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: obesity Research Summaries Angela Duckworth self-control Source Type: podcasts
4 Answers to the Purpose of Life
People sometimes ask what is the purpose of life? Why should we exist or chose to continue existing? To them I typically pose a counter question, what purpose would *you* like to have for life and can you live your life ‘as if’ that is the purpose of life? See an example answer I provide here about the meaning/ purpose of life.
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However, this post is not about such philosophical questions. Instead it builds on my previous posts about 4 major goals in life worth striving for. To recap the four major goals are 1) Happiness 2) Success 3) Morality 4) Meaning.
Sometimes you co...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 28, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: happiness moral sense meaning Morality Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Self-Control Protects Against Overweight Status in the Transition from Childhood to Adolescence
This study was a prospective longitudinal study that looked at nearly 850 children in a birth cohort, and measured their self control at age 9 and correlated it with their BMI at age 15.
Self-control at age 9 was operationalised using informant ratings by mother, father and teacher on the items related to self-control on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS)questionnaire. Overweight status was established by classifying those with BMI z-scores falling above 85th percentile as overweight.
Other potential confounds like intelligence, pubertal status etc were also measured and used in the analysis.
The results showed tha...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 28, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: Research Summaries Angela Duckworth self-control Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit –S)
This research summary will be especially attractive to those who have interest in psychometric and would like to see how the concept and measure of grit has evolved. In this paper, Angela Duckworth refines her measurement of grit and establishes the test-retest stability of the concept apart form predictive and consensual validity.
Animation of a vernier caliper measuring a bolt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The authors wanted to come up with a briefer version of the grit scale, which would have better internal consistency and still retain the predictive power and the two factor structure of Consistency of Interests ...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 22, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: Research Summaries Angela Duckworth grit Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Positive predictors of teacher effectiveness
This study looked at grit, life satisfaction and optimism of teachers as predictors of their effectiveness which will distinguish high performing teachers from the mediocre.
They conducted a prospective longitudinal study wherein, grit, life satisfaction and optimistic explanatory style of novice Teach for America teachers was measured before they started school year. The gains in academic performance of the students they taught was used as an indicator of their effectiveness at the school year end.
Grit, the ability to work hard under challenging circumstances, may be relevant to teacher effectiveness as they do face cons...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 22, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: happiness Research Summaries Angela Duckworth grit Martin Seligman Optimism teaching Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Empirical identification of the major facets of Conscientiousness
This research summary looks at a paper co-authored by Angela Duckworth, that tries to carve conscientiousness at it joints.
English: perfectionist measuring and cutting grass (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Conscientiousness is a personality trait that is present in most personality theories and measured by most personality inventories, the most famous of these being the Big Five or OCEAN model and as measured by Big Five Inventory (BFI)/ NEO-PI-R.
Personality traits structure is supposed to be hierarchical with traits like Conscientiousness comprising of many finer aspects or facets. The NEO-PI-R is structured around 6 facets ...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 19, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: personality Research Summaries Angela Duckworth Conscientiousness Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits
Today’s research summary is about a paper co-authored by Angela Duckworth, that is at the intersection of psychology and economics. Though I have been following behavioral economics a bit, I still found the paper a bit challenging to read and comprehend and don’t claim to understand all the attached jargon, functions and mathematical formulations. The fact that the paper is 88 pages long wasn’t of help either (the saving grace being that 20 or more pages were filled with references alone), so read the rest of the summary at your own peril!
An illustration of Spearman’s two-factor intelligence theory...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 18, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: economics personality Research Summaries Angela Duckworth Big Five personality traits Intelligence quotient Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals
Today’s research summary is based on this paper which Angela Duckworth co-authored with Chris Peterson and colleagues, and where she first introduced her concept of grit and operationalized it by introducing the Grit Scale.
Monkey Grit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One common thread running thorough Angela’s research is a (harmonious) obsession with finding out what leads to great achievement. A lot of earlier research in psychology has focused on the role of talent/ intelligence in high achievement, and that role is well established.
Terman, for example, studied a group of highly gifted children in a famed longit...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 17, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: motivation Research Summaries Angela Duckworth grit Source Type: podcasts
Can we tell when people are lying? A rebroadcast from 2007
I was searching through my old podcasts and I came up with another one from 2007 that seems to be pertinent to today's world. This one was on liars.
According to a study 50% of people questioned thought they could tell when someone was lying. The data suggested we were not that good at telling when someone was lying to us. Is that true?
This podcast presented some of the reasons why we cannot always tell who is telling the truth or who is lying. I think it is very relevant today! (Source: The Shrink Is In)
Source: The Shrink Is In - July 17, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: DrGurr Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Self-Discipline Gives Girls the Edge: Gender in Self-Discipline, Grades, and Achievement Test Scores
Today’s post summarizes a paper by Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman, that parses the same set of data, as obtained in their earlier paper (see research summary of that paper here), to come up with new insights about gender differences in self-control and scholastic achievement.
Dangal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Girls, typically outperform boys when it comes to getting good grades overall and within each subject. this is true of US; however from what I have seen of Indian board results, the same is true of almost every board exam in India, be it CBSE, ICSE or State Boards.
The girls however do not outperfor...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 16, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: Research Summaries Angela Duckworth IQ Martin Seligman self-control Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Childhood IQ and risk of bipolar disorder in adulthood: prospective birth cohort study
This study focused on association of childhood IQ (which is an imperfect measure of true intelligence) with propensity for bipolar disorder in young adulthood. This study did not look at creativity and did not look at actual occurrence of bipolar disorder, thus all the results should not be extrapolated wildly.
Childhood IQ at age 8 was measured using WISC-III and separate verbal and performance IQ as well as Full IQ scores were used in analysis. Propensity towards bipolar was measured using HCL-32 (hypo-mania checklist) which consist of 32 yes/no answers to statements like ‘I am more easily distracted’ when in...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 14, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: bipolar intelligence Research Summaries Bipolar disorder IQ Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents
Today’s research summary focuses on a very early article by Angela Duckworth, that first catapulted her to fame. Co-authored with Martin Seligmen, the article focuses on how non-cognitive factors like self-control are a better predictor of scholastic achievement than say cognitive factors like IQ.
Two college students wrestling (collegiate, scholastic, or folkstyle) in the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Authors use the awkward term self-discipline in the paper, but all they really meant was self-control, defining which, and around which, a rich literature already existed. Angela clarifies as much in her ne...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 13, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: intelligence Research Summaries academic achievment character strengths IQ self-control Source Type: podcasts
Research Summaries: Positive Psychology in Clinical Practice
Review articles are themselves supposed to be a summary of a field of inquiry, so it appeared queer summarizing a review article; but here I go. This post summarizes a 2005 review article appearing in Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. As it is more than a decade since the publication of this article by Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth and Tracy Steen, I think it is appropriate to see how far the field has come since then and what still remains to be done.
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Positive psychology (PP), in this article, is seen through the triple lens of focusing on subjective well-being or pleasure; flow, eng...
Source: The Mouse Trap - July 10, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: sandygautam Tags: happiness positive psychology Research Summaries Angela Duckworth Martin Seligman Source Type: podcasts
