Too Reluctant to Reach Out: Receiving Social Support Is More Positive Than Expressers Expect

Content validation of the nursing diagnosis "inadequate social support network"

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate evidence of content validity of the nursing diagnosis "inadequate social support network".

METHOD

A methodological study of the content validation type, carried out with 23 judges who evaluated the adequacy of the title, definition, class and domain of the nursing diagnosis "inadequate social support network". The judges also assessed the relevance of 28 clinical indicators and 32 etiological factors, which were considered valid when the Content Validity Index was ≥ 0.9.

RESULTS

The judges agreed with the proposed title and suggested changes to the definition of the nursing diagnosis. They recommended its inclusion in Domain 7 - "Roles and relationships" and Class 3 - "Role performance" of the NANDA-I taxonomy. In addition, 19 clinical indicators and 27 etiological factors were considered relevant.

CONCLUSION

The nursing diagnosis "inadequate social support network" had its theoretical structure validated in terms of content, which can support the practice of nurses in the operationalization of the Nursing Process.

The illusion of moral decline

Anecdotal evidence indicates that people believe that morality is declining^1,2. In a series of studies using both archival and original data (n = 12,492,983), we show that people in at least 60 nations around the world believe that morality is declining, that they have believed this for at least 70 years and that they attribute this decline both to the decreasing morality of individuals as they age and to the decreasing morality of successive generations. Next, we show that people's reports of the morality of their contemporaries have not declined over time, suggesting that the perception of moral decline is an illusion. Finally, we show how a simple mechanism based on two well-established psychological phenomena (biased exposure to information and biased memory for information) can produce an illusion of moral decline, and we report studies that confirm two of its predictions about the circumstances under which the perception of moral decline is attenuated, eliminated or reversed (that is, when respondents are asked about the morality of people they know well or people who lived before the respondent was born). Together, our studies show that the perception of moral decline is pervasive, perdurable, unfounded and easily produced. This illusion has implications for research on the misallocation of scarce resources³, the underuse of social support⁴ and social influence⁵.

A Prosociality Paradox: How Miscalibrated Social Cognition Creates a Misplaced Barrier to Prosocial Action

Behaving prosocially can increase well-being among both those performing a prosocial act and those receiving it, and yet people may experience some reluctance to engage in direct prosocial actions. We review emerging evidence suggesting that miscalibrated social cognition may create a psychological barrier that keeps people from behaving as prosocially as would be optimal for both their own and others’ well-being. Across a variety of interpersonal behaviors, those performing prosocial actions tend to underestimate how positively their recipients will respond. These miscalibrated expectations stem partly from a divergence in perspectives, such that prosocial actors attend relatively more to the competence of their actions, whereas recipients attend relatively more to the warmth conveyed. Failing to fully appreciate the positive impact of prosociality on others may keep people from behaving more prosocially in their daily lives, to the detriment of both their own and others’ well-being.

Kindness in short supply: Evidence for inadequate prosocial input

In everyday life, people often have opportunities to improve others' lives, whether offering well-intentioned advice or complimenting someone on a job well done. These are opportunities to provide "prosocial input" (information intended to benefit others), including feedback, advice, compliments, and expressions of gratitude. Despite widespread evidence that giving prosocial input can improve the well-being of both givers and recipients, people sometimes hesitate to offer their input. The current paper documents when and why people fail to give prosocial input, noting that potential givers overestimate the costs of doing so (e.g., making recipients uncomfortable) and underestimate the benefits (e.g., being helpful) for at least four psychological reasons. Unfortunately, the reluctance to give prosocial input results in a short supply of kindness.