Increasing Character Strength Knowledge, Interest, and Skill: Preliminary Evidence for a Collaborative and Multimethod Assessment Procedure

Introduction: The study’s objective was to evaluate whether a qualitative, collaborative, and multimethod assessment protocol increased reports of character strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skills. Methods: Thirty-two participants completed three phases of data collection. Participants were first screened for well-being, which was used as an auxiliary covariate to order participants into experimental conditions. Selected participants were randomly assigned to a control or collaborative and multimethod assessment (card sort × qualitative interview) condition. Participants completed pre- and post-measures of strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skill. In the final phase, second phase participants were invited to report on strength-related outcomes 24 h post-administration using an online survey. Results: A series of 2 (Assessment Condition) × 3 (Time) mixed ANOVAs were analyzed. Results revealed a significant assessment condition by time interaction for strength knowledge and perceived skill. Participants in the collaborative and multimethod assessment condition reported higher strength knowledge and perceived skills compared to control participants. These effects were maintained for 24 h. Conclusion: The findings offer preliminary yet sizable support for using collaborative and multimethod assessment procedures to increase strength knowledge and perceived skill. Because of the qualitative, collaborative, and individualized nature of our assessment protocol, the findings offer a low-cost and contextually bound pathway to increase strength-based outcomes

Evaluating the Effects of Self-Control Depletion on Task Persistence: A Focus on the Moderating Effects of Performance Monitoring

Self-control is essential in day-to-day life and has important implications for goal attainment, successful living, and psychological well-being. However, self-control is known to fail when resources are depleted physically, cognitively, or emotionally, which can lead to difficulties completing important tasks. Performance monitoring, which makes a standard salient so that people can sustain their performance while attending to their goals, might buffer the loss of self-control on task performance. Overall, the purpose of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of self-control depletion and performance monitoring on task persistence. Eighty undergraduate students were recruited to participate in the study. Participants were randomly assigned first to a self-control depletion condition and then to a performance monitoring condition using an online format. Group differences on task persistence were determined by how long it took participants to quit a series of anagram problems. A 2 (Self-Control Depletion) x 3 (Performance Monitoring) Factorial ANCOVA, with trait conscientiousness scores as a covariate, was analyzed on task persistence scores. Results revealed non-significant main effects for trait conscientiousness, self-control depletion condition, and performance monitoring condition. Similarly, there was a non-significant interaction effect. These results suggest that self-control depletion, performance monitoring, and trait conscientiousness largely do not affect persistence on anagram task scores. However, there were significant methodological and environmental limitations associated with the study that minimized the likelihood of detecting significant findings. The implications of the study are discussed, and future recommendations are offered

Performance Monitoring and Self-Control

The purpose of this research project is to examine the potential for a buffer against loss of self-control. Research shows that using self-control attenuates subsequent ability or motivation to use self-control (Baumeister et al., 1998). Wan and Sternthal (2008) argue that monitoring performance using a salient standard of comparison (i.e. a progress bar) may improve performance of those who have suffered a loss of control. In the laboratory, one way to deplete self-control is to ask participants to exaggerate their emotions, such as laughing at a video that is not funny. In this study, one group must exaggerate their laughter while watching a comedic video that is not funny, and a second group will simply watch the video. After participants watch the video, they will complete an anagram task under one of three conditions: the first group will see a progress bar, which indicates amount of task completion, a second group will see a slow progress bar, and a third group will see no progress bar. I expect those in the exaggerate-emotion condition not to persist less than the control condition during the anagram task, and I expect those in the slow progress-bar condition to persist longer than those in the normal or no progress-bar conditions

SHIP prevents lipopolysaccharide from triggering an antiviral response in mice

Gram-negative bacterial infections, unlike viral infections, do not typically protect against subsequent viral infections. This is puzzling given that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and double-stranded (ds) RNA both activate the TIR domain–containing adaptor-inducing interferon β (TRIF) pathway and, thus, are both capable of eliciting an antiviral response by stimulating type I interferon (IFN) production. We demonstrate herein that SH2-containing inositol-5′-phosphatase (SHIP) protein levels are dramatically increased in murine macrophages via the MyD88-dependent pathway, by up-regulating autocrine-acting transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ). The increased SHIP then mediates, via inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, cytosine-phosphate-guanosine (CPG)– and LPS-induced tolerance and cross-tolerance and restrains IFN-β production induced by a subsequent exposure to LPS or dsRNA. Intriguingly, we found, using isoform-specific PI3K inhibitors, that LPS- or cytosine-phosphate-guanosine-induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) is positively regulated by p110α, -γ, and -δ but negatively regulated by p110β. This may explain some of the controversy concerning the role of PI3K in Toll-like receptor–induced cytokine production. Consistent with our in vitro findings, SHIP−/− mice overproduce IFN-β in response to LPS, and this leads to antiviral hypothermia. Thus, up-regulation of SHIP in response to Gram-negative bacterial infections probably explains the inability of such infections to protect against subsequent viral infections