225 research outputs found
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Mindfulness and Marital Satisfaction
This study investigated the relationships among mindfulness, marital satisfaction, and perceived spousal similarity. All 95 subjects responded to a questionnaire measuring each of these variables, and an additional series of demographic variables. A significant positive relationship was found between mindfulness and marital satisfaction, with no statistically significant relationship found between perceived spousal similarity and marital satisfaction. There was a stronger correlation between mindfulness and marital satisfaction than the correlation between marital satisfaction and any of the other variables, including similarity. These results carry meaningful implications for the role of mindfulness techniques within the context of building and maintaining happy marital relationships and general well-being.Psycholog
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Mind-set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect
In a study testing whether the relationship between exercise and health is moderated by one's mind-set, 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels were measured on physiological health variables affected by exercise. Those in the informed condition were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle. Examples of how their work was exercise were provided. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect.Psycholog
The DSM: mindful science or mindless power? A critical review
In this paper we review the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental health (DSM), its scientific bases and utility. The concepts of ânormality,â âpathology,â and boundaries between them are critically reviewed. We further use the concepts of mindfulness and mindlessness, and evidence from cognitive and social sciences to investigate the DSM clinical and social impact and we argue against its assigned overpower. We recommend including alternative perspectives to the DSM, such as mindfulness and positive psychology. We also argue for including mindfulness training in psychiatric residency and clinical psychology programs
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Reducing Stereotyping Through Mindfulness: Effects on Automatic Stereotype-Activated Behaviors
We assessed whether mindfulness (active categorization) can prevent automatic stereotype-activated behaviors related to the elderly. Eighty participants (mean age = 24.4) were given a set of photographs to prime the dimension Old Age and were asked to categorize them multiple times, to see whether the effect of the prime could be reduced through increased mindfulness. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, where they were asked to categorize the photographs across (1) four self-generated categories; (2) four assigned categories; (3) a single category-Gender; or (4) a single category-Age. Participants' walking speed (cf. Bargh et al. 1996, Experiment 2) was then measured, as they moved between the two experimental stations. The results show that greater mindfulness predicted greater walking speed, indicating a decrease in the effect of the automatic stereotype-activated behavior.Psycholog
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The Effect of Mindfulness on Heart Rate Control
An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that mindful attention to change regarding heart rate (HR) would result in greater control over HR. Experimental groups monitored the changing or stable nature of HR, respectively. All participants' HR slowed during the decrease phase. Participants whose attention was directed to the stable nature of HR performed the worst on the increase phase of the HR control task. These results suggest that mindfulness, instantiated here as attention to variability, is a means to increasing control.Psycholog
Symptom changes in multiple sclerosis following psychological interventions: a systematic review
Background: Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system involving a variety of debilitating physical, sensory, cognitive and emotional symptoms. This literature review evaluated the impact of psychological interventions on the physiological symptoms associated with the illness. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases, as well as reference lists. Relevant studies were selected and assessed according to a preset protocol. Results: The search produced 220 articles, with 22 meeting inclusion criteria for the review. A total of 5,705 subjects with Multiple Sclerosis were analyzed. Results from the included studies indicate a general improvement in both psychological and physiological outcomes following psychological treatment. The most highly influenced physical symptoms include fatigue, sleep disturbances, pain, and physical vitality. Conclusions: Findings from the review suggest a positive relationship between psychological interventions and physiological Multiple Sclerosis symptoms. Implications for future research are discussed
Snail promotes the cell-autonomous generation of Flk1 + endothelial cells through the repression of the microRNA-200 family
Expression of the transcription factor Snail is required for normal vasculogenesis in the developing mouse embryo. In addition, tumors expressing Snail have been associated with a more malignant phenotype, with both increased invasive properties and angiogenesis. Although the relationship between Snail and vasculogenesis has been noted, no mechanistic analysis has been elucidated. Here, we show that in addition to inducing an epithelial mesenchymal transition, Snail promotes the cell-autonomous induction of Flk1(+) endothelial cells in an early subset of differentiating mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Cells that become Flk1+ in response to Snail have a transcriptional profile specific to Gata6+primitive endoderm, but not the early Nanog+epiblast. We further show that Snail's ability to promote Flk1(+) endothelium depends on fibroblast growth factor signaling as well as the repression of the microRNA-200 (miR-200) family, which directly targets the 3âČ UTRs of Flk1 and Ets1. Together, our results show that Snail is capable of inducing Flk1+ lineage commitment in a subset of differentiating ES cells through the down-regulation of the miR-200 family. We hypothesize that this mechanism of Snail-induced vasculogenesis may be conserved in both the early developing embryo and malignant cancers
Forecasting the onset and course of mental illness with Twitter data
We developed computational models to predict the emergence of depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Twitter users. Twitter data and details of depression history were collected from 204 individuals (105 depressed, 99 healthy). We extracted predictive features measuring affect, linguistic style, and context from participant tweets (N = 279,951) and built models using these features with supervised learning algorithms. Resulting models successfully discriminated between depressed and healthy content, and compared favorably to general practitioners\u27 average success rates in diagnosing depression, albeit in a separate population. Results held even when the analysis was restricted to content posted before first depression diagnosis. State-space temporal analysis suggests that onset of depression may be detectable from Twitter data several months prior to diagnosis. Predictive results were replicated with a separate sample of individuals diagnosed with PTSD (Nusers = 174, Ntweets = 243,775). A state-space time series model revealed indicators of PTSD almost immediately post-trauma, often many months prior to clinical diagnosis. These methods suggest a data-driven, predictive approach for early screening and detection of mental illness
Pleasure and meaningful discourse: an overview of research issues
The concept of pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural phenomenon in studies of media audiences since the 1980s. In these studies different forms of pleasure have been identified as explaining audience activity and commitment. In the diverse studies pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural concept that needs to be contextualized carefully. Genre and genre variations, class, gender, (sub-)cultural identity and generation all seem to be instrumental in determining the kind and variety of pleasures experienced in the act of viewing. This body of research has undoubtedly contributed to a better understanding of the complexity of audience activities, but it is exactly the diversity of the concept that is puzzling and poses a challenge to its further use. If pleasure is maintained as a key concept in audience analysis that holds much explanatory power, it needs a stronger theoretical foundation. The article maps the ways in which the concept of pleasure has been used by cultural theorists, who have paved the way for its application in reception analysis, and it goes on to explore the ways in which the concept has been used in empirical studies. Central to our discussion is the division between the âpublic knowledgeâ and the âpopular cultureâ projects in reception analysis which, we argue, have major implications for the way in which pleasure has come to be understood as divorced from politics, power and ideology. Finally, we suggest ways of bridging the gap between these two projects in an effort to link pleasure to the concepts of hegemony and ideology
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