Complexity management theory: motivation for ideological rigidity and social conflict

Value Fulfillment from a Cybernetic Perspective: A New Psychological Theory of Well-Being

Value Fulfillment Theory (VFT) is a philosophical theory of well-being. Cybernetic Big Five Theory (CB5T) is a psychological theory of personality. Both start with a conception of the person as a goal-seeking (or value-pursuing) organism, and both take goals and the psychological integration of goals to be key to well-being. By joining VFT and CB5T, we produce a cybernetic value fulfillment theory in which we argue that well-being is best conceived as the fulfillment of psychologically integrated values. Well-being is the effective pursuit of a set of nonconflicting values that are emotionally, motivationally, and cognitively suitable to the person. The primary difference in our theory from other psychological theories of well-being is that it does not provide a list of intrinsic goods, instead emphasizing that each person may have their own list of intrinsic goods. We discuss the implications of our theory for measuring, researching, and improving well-being.

The Informative Process Model as a New Intervention for Attitude Change in Intractable Conflicts: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Peacemaking is especially challenging in situations of intractable conflict. Collective narratives in this context contribute to coping with challenges societies face, but also fuel conflict continuation. We introduce the Informative Process Model (IPM), proposing that informing individuals about the socio-psychological processes through which conflict-supporting narratives develop, and suggesting that they can change via comparison to similar conflicts resolved peacefully, can facilitate unfreezing and change in attitudes. Study 1 established associations between awareness of conflict costs and conflict-supporting narratives, belief in the possibility of resolving the conflict peacefully and support for pursuing peace among Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. Studies 2 and 3 found that exposure to IPM-based original videos (vs. control) led Israeli-Jews to deliberation of the information presented, predicting acceptance of the IPM-based message, which, in turn, predicted support for negotiations. Study 3 also found similar effects across IPM-based messages focusing on different conflict-supporting themes. We discuss the implications to attitude change in intractable conflicts.

Autistic-Like Traits and Positive Schizotypy as Diametric Specializations of the Predictive Mind

According to the predictive-processing framework, only prediction errors (rather than all sensory inputs) are processed by an organism's perceptual system. Prediction errors can be weighted such that errors from more reliable sources will be more influential in updating prior beliefs. It has previously been argued that autism-spectrum conditions can be understood as resulting from a predictive-processing mechanism in which an inflexibly high weight is given to sensory-prediction errors that results in overfitting their predictive models to the world. Deficits in executive functioning, theory of mind, and central coherence are all argued to flow naturally from this core underlying mechanism. The diametric model of autism and psychosis suggests a simple extension of this hypothesis. If people on the autism spectrum give an inflexibly high weight to sensory input, could it be that people with a predisposition to psychosis (i.e., people high in positive schizotypy) give an inflexibly low weight to sensory input? In this article I argue that evidence strongly supports this hypothesis. An inflexibly low weight given to sensory input can explain such disparate features of positive schizotypy as increased exploratory behavior, apophenia, hyper theory of mind, hyperactive imagination, attentional differences, and having idiosyncratic worldviews.

Fear of the unknown as a mechanism of the inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Although there is accumulating evidence for an inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress, little is known about the mechanisms of this relation. Using cross-sectional, observational methods, this research examined fear of uncertainty as one potential mechanism.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Study 1 (N = 141) was completed with a convenience sample, a unidimensional measure of life meaning, and general measures of anxiety and depression. Study 2 (N = 152) was completed with a sample prescreened for anxiety, a multidimensional measure of life meaning, and clinical measures of anxiety and depression.

RESULTS

The results from both studies generally showed an inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress. Study 2 further indicated that these relations were stronger for the meaning subscale of perceiving life as coherent/comprehensible than the subscales assessing whether participants' lives are perceived as purposeful or significant. Mediation analyses in both studies showed indirect effects of life meaning on psychological distress through fear of uncertainty.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support and extend previous research by showing that (i) meaning-as-comprehension may be particularly important in regards to psychological distress, and (ii) fear of uncertainty may mediate the inverse relation between meaning and measures of anxiety and depression.

Theory of Motivated Cue-Integration and COVID-19: Between Interoception, Somatization, and Radicalization

The global dissemination of COVID-19 creates confusion and ambiguity in nearly every aspect of life, including fear of contagion, heightened awareness of the mortality of self and family members, lack of power, and distrust of experts and decision-makers. In this stressful situation, the question arises as to what mechanisms distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive self-regulation. The theory of Motivated Cue-Integration (MCI) is a novel theory of self-regulation that provides a new perspective on the effect of COVID-19 on self-regulation deficiency as an example of psychological distress. Inspired by predictive coding, social cognition, embodied cognition, and experiential approach, MCI suggests that self-regulation is based on interaction between (1) high-level values and goals, (2) low-level interoceptive and exteroceptive signals, and (3) trust in epistemic authority or a significant other. Motivated Cue-Integration posits that individuals create meaning by making moment-to-moment predictions that affect their interpretation of the experience of ambiguity influenced by their relationship with epistemic authority. According to MCI, deficiency in self-regulation during COVID-19 could result either from over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to low-level interoceptive and exteroceptive cues; rigidity or ambiguity of high-level goals, poor integration between the two levels of processing as well as distrust in epistemic authority. According to MCI, variations of these deficiencies may occur in various clinical phenomena such as alexithymia and somatization, as well as in social phenomena such as goal radicalization. Based on this reasoning, MCI claims that the mentalization of the relationship between interoceptive cues, exteroceptive cues, goals, and psychological needs of the person, as well as the improvement of confidence in epistemic authority, can promote adaptive self-regulation. Psychological intervention can foster trust in epistemic authority, increase the mentalization of interoceptive and exteroceptive cues, and their association with adaptive goals. As such, the integration of these elements in a way that facilitates incentives pathways and insight fosters a more integrated subjective experience, higher clarity of emotion, and positive internal dialogue which promotes action tendency.

Redefining value: a discourse analysis on value-based health care

Background

Today’s remarkable popularity of value-based health care (VBHC) is accompanied by considerable ambiguity concerning the very meaning of the concept. This is evident within academic publications, and mirrored in fragmented and diversified implementation efforts, both within and across countries.

Method

This article builds on discourse analysis in order to map the ambiguity surrounding VBHC. We conducted a document analysis of publicly accessible, official publications (n = 22) by actors and organizations that monitor and influence the quality of care in the Netherlands. Additionally, between March and July 2019, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews (n = 23) with national stakeholders.

Results

Our research revealed four discourses, each with their own perception regarding the main purpose of VBHC. Firstly, we identified a Patient Empowerment discourse in which VBHC is a framework for strengthening the position of patients regarding their medical decisions. Secondly, in the Governance discourse, VBHC is a toolkit to incentivize providers. Thirdly, within the Professionalism discourse, VBHC is a methodology for healthcare delivery. Fourthly, in the Critique discourse, VBHC is rebuked as a dogma of manufacturability. We also show, however, that these diverging lines of reasoning find common ground: they perceive shared decision-making to be a key component of VBHC. Strikingly, this common perception contrasts with the pioneering literature on VBHC.

Conclusions

The four discourses will profoundly shape the diverse manners in which VBHC moves from an abstract concept to the practical provision and administration of health care. Moreover, our study reveals that VBHC’s conceptual ambiguity largely arises from differing and often deeply rooted presuppositions, which underlie these discourses, and which frame different perceptions on value in health care. The meaning of VBHC – including its perceived implications for action – thus depends greatly on the frame of reference an actor or organization brings to bear as they aim for more value for patients. Recognizing this is a vital concern when studying, implementing and evaluating VBHC.

The Mindful Personality II: Exploring the Metatraits from a Cybernetic Perspective

Relationships between dispositional mindfulness and the personality metatraits, stability and plasticity, remain unexplored despite continued efforts to more accurately characterize associations between dispositional mindfulness and personality. The metatraits are theorized to constitute basic requirements for biological survival and their expression is believed to be a strong determinant of well-being. As such, this study used path analysis to explore associations between dispositional mindfulness, the metatraits and psychological well-being in a sample of 403 American adults. Results indicate that dispositional mindfulness is principally associated with stability, or the capacity to sustain currently operative schemas and goals. Results further suggest a positive relationship between dispositional mindfulness and plasticity, or the tendency to flexibly adapt to changing circumstances. A more granular investigation of these associations demonstrated that the facets of dispositional mindfulness are differentially related with the metatraits. Ultimately, the metatraits were found to fully mediate the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and psychological well-being.

Piaget No `Remedy' for Kuhn, But the Two Should be Read Together

In arguing that the philosophical works of Jean Piaget could be used as a `remedy' for the flaws in those of Thomas Kuhn, Tsou overlooked some crucial aspects of the problem: the early history between them, the biological foundation supporting Piaget's method, and a preexisting suggestion regarding the intended future extension of his work. There was also no mention of the existence of a `lost' manuscript by Kuhn, which supposedly presents the mature articulation of his theory. This comment therefore proposes some `friendly amendments' to Tsou's exposition, with a view to helping achieve his synthetic vision once the `lost' work has finally been published. Yet the basic message, in anticipation of this future endeavor, is also exceedingly simple: the implicit direction of Piaget's (and Kuhn's) epistemological constructivism can be characterized as evolutionary-developmental `progress from,' rather than vitalist-teleological `progress toward.'

The Process Model of Group-Based Emotion

Scholars interested in emotion regulation have documented the different goals and strategies individuals have for regulating their emotions. However, little attention has been paid to the regulation of group-based emotions, which are based on individuals’ self-categorization as a group member and occur in response to situations perceived as relevant for that group. We propose a model for examining group-based emotion regulation that integrates intergroup emotions theory and the process model of emotion regulation. This synergy expands intergroup emotion theory by facilitating further investigation of different goals (i.e., hedonic or instrumental) and strategies (e.g., situation selection and modification strategies) used to regulate group-based emotions. It also expands emotion regulation research by emphasizing the role of self-categorization (e.g., as an individual or a group member) in the emotional process. Finally, we discuss the promise of this theoretical synergy and suggest several directions for future research on group-based emotion regulation.

The neuromodulator of exploration: A unifying theory of the role of dopamine in personality

The neuromodulator dopamine is centrally involved in reward, approach behavior, exploration, and various aspects of cognition. Variations in dopaminergic function appear to be associated with variations in personality, but exactly which traits are influenced by dopamine remains an open question. This paper proposes a theory of the role of dopamine in personality that organizes and explains the diversity of findings, utilizing the division of the dopaminergic system into value coding and salience coding neurons (Bromberg-Martin et al., 2010). The value coding system is proposed to be related primarily to Extraversion and the salience coding system to Openness/Intellect. Global levels of dopamine influence the higher order personality factor, Plasticity, which comprises the shared variance of Extraversion and Openness/Intellect. All other traits related to dopamine are linked to Plasticity or its subtraits. The general function of dopamine is to promote exploration, by facilitating engagement with cues of specific reward (value) and cues of the reward value of information (salience). This theory constitutes an extension of the entropy model of uncertainty (EMU; Hirsh et al., 2012), enabling EMU to account for the fact that uncertainty is an innate incentive reward as well as an innate threat. The theory accounts for the association of dopamine with traits ranging from sensation and novelty seeking, to impulsivity and aggression, to achievement striving, creativity, and cognitive abilities, to the overinclusive thinking characteristic of schizotypy.

The challenges of incorporating cultural ecosystem services into environmental assessment

The ecosystem services concept is used to make explicit the diverse benefits ecosystems provide to people, with the goal of improving assessment and, ultimately, decision-making. Alongside material benefits such as natural resources (e.g., clean water, timber), this concept includes-through the 'cultural' category of ecosystem services-diverse non-material benefits that people obtain through interactions with ecosystems (e.g., spiritual inspiration, cultural identity, recreation). Despite the longstanding focus of ecosystem services research on measurement, most cultural ecosystem services have defined measurement and inclusion alongside other more 'material' services. This gap in measurement of cultural ecosystem services is a product of several perceived problems, some of which are not real problems and some of which can be mitigated or even solved without undue difficulty. Because of the fractured nature of the literature, these problems continue to plague the discussion of cultural services. In this paper we discuss several such problems, which although they have been addressed singly, have not been brought together in a single discussion. There is a need for a single, accessible treatment of the importance and feasibility of integrating cultural ecosystem services alongside others.

A novel differential susceptibility gene: CHRNA4 and moderation of the effect of maltreatment on child personality

BACKGROUND

The differential susceptibility hypothesis states that some genetic variants that confer risk in adverse environments are beneficial in normal or nurturing environments. The cholinergic system is promising as a source of susceptibility genes because of its involvement in learning and neural plasticity. The cholinergic receptor gene CHRNA4 has been linked to characteristics related to the personality traits Neuroticism and Openness/Intellect.

METHODS

The effects of interaction between CHRNA4 genotype and maltreatment status on child personality were examined in a well matched sample of 339 maltreated and 275 non-maltreated children (aged 8-13 years).

RESULTS

Variation in CHRNA4 interacted with childhood maltreatment to predict personality in a manner indicating differential susceptibility. The interaction of CHRNA4 and maltreatment status predicted Neuroticism and Openness/Intellect. Maltreated children with the rs1044396 T/T genotype scored highest on Neuroticism and showed no effect of genotype on Openness/Intellect. Non-maltreated children with this genotype scored lowest on Neuroticism and highest on Openness/Intellect.

CONCLUSION

Variation in CHRNA4 appears to contribute to personality by affecting degree of developmental sensitivity to both normal and adverse environments.

Relational leadership, decision-making and the messiness of context in healthcare

Decision-making is a neglected area in the leadership literature and in healthcare in particular. This paper draws on the Cynefin framework, which is a practice-based approach to decision-making, to theorize about leadership in healthcare. The framework uses a multi-ontology cognitive-based sense-making perspective to identify five domains of decision-making that are linked to individual leadership styles and given contexts. It is markedly different from other complexity approaches by the inclusion of the central domain of Disorder. While this inclusion is vitally important, the leadership implications of the approach are under-theorized. Focusing on the idea of Disorder, we argue alternatively that a relational leadership approach is needed to understand decision-making as a multi-ontology sensemaking approach and this also necessitates accounting for professional sensemaking in healthcare settings. The relational approach adopted here is based on Dian Hosking's work and views decision-making as a task that is undertaken through organizing processes that are cognitive but also social/cultural, political and emotional, and in which the social construction of leadership and context are inseparable individual and collective undertakings. When skilful relating is a part of leadership practice then multi-ontology sensemaking is a possibility in decision-making tasks. We support our arguments with illustrative examples to put forward a relational approach to leadership in healthcare.

Conservatives Anticipate and Experience Stronger Emotional Reactions to Negative Outcomes

The present work examined whether conservatives and liberals differ in their anticipation of their own emotional reactions to negative events. In two studies, participants imagined experiencing positive or negative outcomes in domains that do not directly concern politics. In Study 1, 190 American participants recruited online (64 male, Mage  = 32 years) anticipated their emotional responses to romantic relationship outcomes. In Study 2, 97 Canadian undergraduate students (26 male, Mage  = 21 years) reported on their anticipated and experienced emotional responses to academic outcomes. In both studies, more conservative participants predicted they would feel stronger negative emotions following negative outcomes than did more liberal participants. Furthermore, a longitudinal follow-up of Study 2 participants revealed that more conservative participants actually felt worse than more liberal participants after receiving a lower-than-desired exam grade. These effects remained even when controlling for the Big Five traits, prevention focus, and attachment style (Study 1), and optimism (Study 2). We discuss how the relationship between political orientation and anticipated affect likely contributes to differences between conservatives and liberals in styles of decision and policy choices.

Dialogical Inquiry

After examining the main principles and historical origins of Edgar Schein's clinical inquiry, this article introduces dialogical inquiry, an extension of clinical inquiry. Following clinical inquiry's main principles, dialogical inquiry adopts a dialogue over videotaped segments of behavior as its main tool. The goals of dialogical inquiry are (a) to raise participants' awareness about how they interpret work situations in the moment, so that they can increase their effectiveness and (b) to allow the researcher to build actionable academic knowledge. The process of dialogical inquiry has four phases: (a) a life interview with the participant, (b) shadowing and filming the participant in action in the work environment, (c) selecting episodes from the videotaped shadowing for discussion, and (d) a discussion with the participant about these episodes. Like clinical inquiry, and more generally action research, dialogical inquiry is intended to be a method that can help fill the gap between theory and practice.

Working toward a neurobiological account of ADHD: commentary on Gail Tripp and Jeff Wickens, dopamine transfer deficit

The dopamine transfer deficit model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is compared and contrasted with the existing dynamic developmental theory and the extended temporal difference (TD) model. The first two both identify learning deficits as a key problem in ADHD, but this mechanism would seem at least as likely to cause other neurodevelopmental disorders. Learning deficits also do not provide a natural account of ADHD performance worsening in longer trials, nor of stimulant action, nor of the high rate of test-retest inconsistency. The extended TD model is based on the quite different premise that there are very many underlying causes for the disorder, and computational simulation of it has supported the existence of two subtypes that involve no dopamine transfer deficit, as well as several subtypes that do. The three models have markedly different ways of accounting for key aspects of ADHD, including intra-individual variability, stimulant effects, and extinction deficits. The most important shortcoming of all the models is their limited treatment of state-regulation processes, which are very important in ADHD; this is partially addressed by the extended TD model's proposed dopamine appetite.