-
PloS One 2023How to improve the quality of the new retail service supply chain (RSSC) has become a hot topic for enterprises and consumers. Considering the influence of the new RSSC...
How to improve the quality of the new retail service supply chain (RSSC) has become a hot topic for enterprises and consumers. Considering the influence of the new RSSC enterprises' emotional attitude on the decision-making of quality improvement, the theory of rank-dependent expected utility (RDEU) is combined with an evolutionary game, constructing an evolutionary game model of collaborative quality improvement of new RSSC, and analyzing the game strategy choice of each participant in collaborative quality improvement of new RSSC. The study shows that when only one party is emotional, the rationality of retail service integrators will promote the synergistic improvement of the quality of the new RSSC more than functional service providers. Moreover, pessimism and optimism have an inverted U-shaped effect on quality decisions. When both parties have emotions, functional service providers remain optimistic, and retail service integrators remain pessimistic or rational can promote the collaborative improvement of new RSSC quality. In addition, the effects of quality preference, peer mechanism, feedback mechanism, and risk mechanism on the collaborative quality improvement of new RSSC are analyzed. Based on the research findings, relevant countermeasures are proposed to incentivize new retailers to conduct collaborative improvement in quality in terms of establishing an open mechanism for negotiation and consultation, strengthening the emotion management of new retail node firms, and adjusting the transmission of quality signals, with a view to realizing the quality collaborative improvement of the new RSSC.
Topics: Humans; Quality Improvement; Marketing; Emotions; Attitude
PubMed: 37967115
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294175 -
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin Nov 2023It is a puzzle why humans tend toward unrealistic optimism, as it can lead to excessively risky behavior and a failure to take precautionary action. Using data from a...
It is a puzzle why humans tend toward unrealistic optimism, as it can lead to excessively risky behavior and a failure to take precautionary action. Using data from a large nationally representative U.K. sample our claim is that optimism bias is partly a consequence of low cognition-as measured by a broad range of cognitive skills, including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning. We operationalize unrealistic optimism as the difference between a person's financial expectation and the financial realization that follows, measured annually over a decade. All else being equal, those highest on cognitive ability experience a 22% (53.2%) increase in the probability of realism (pessimism) and a 34.8% reduction in optimism compared with those lowest on cognitive ability. This suggests that the negative consequences of an excessively optimistic mindset may, in part, be a side product of the true driver, low cognitive ability.
PubMed: 37947133
DOI: 10.1177/01461672231209400 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023Cardiovascular reactivity refers to changes in blood pressure and heart rate in response to internal or external stimuli. Previous research has shown that excessively...
INTRODUCTION
Cardiovascular reactivity refers to changes in blood pressure and heart rate in response to internal or external stimuli. Previous research has shown that excessively high and low cardiovascular reactivity are associated with an increased risk of cardiac problems. Dispositional optimism has been associated with numerous health benefits, including better cardiovascular responses to stressors, and reduced mortality risk. Conversely, pessimism has been associated with negative health outcomes and worse cardiovascular reactivity to stress. Mood, comprising positive and negative affect, can significantly impact psychological adjustment and physical health. Therefore, it is important to consider mood as a potential confounding variable in the link between optimism and cardiovascular reactivity. The study hypothesized that optimism and pessimism would still influence cardiovascular reactivity even when mood variables were controlled for.
METHODS
A within-subjects correlational design with 107 young adult participants was used. Sociodemographic and clinical questionnaires were administered to collect information on participants' characteristics. The Dispositional Optimism Scale (LOT-R) and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) were used to assess participants' levels of optimism, pessimism, and mood. Measures of cardiovascular reactivity, including systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR), were taken during a stressor task (PASAT).
RESULTS
There is a moderate positive correlation between dispositional optimism and positive affect, while pessimism demonstrated a moderate positive association with negative affect. Linear regression analyses were conducted, controlling baseline reactivity variables, gender, and body mass index. The results showed that pessimism had a significant negative effect on SBP reactivity, suggesting that higher levels of pessimism decreased SBP response. Optimism had a significant positive effect on DBP reactivity, while pessimism had a significant negative effect.
DISCUSSION
Overall, these results suggest that dispositional optimism and pessimism are related to cardiovascular reactivity, even after controlling for positive and negative affect. Pessimism was associated with lower SBP reactivity, while both optimism and pessimism influenced DBP reactivity. These findings are consistent with previous research indicating that optimism enables more effective stress management during challenging events, whereas pessimism can serve as a risk factor, heightening the likelihood of experiencing future cardiac issued caused by blunted cardiovascular reactivity.
PubMed: 37908813
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1233900 -
Neuroethics Oct 2023Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is utilized to treat pediatric refractory dystonia and its use in pediatric patients is expected to grow. One important question concerns...
INTRODUCTION
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is utilized to treat pediatric refractory dystonia and its use in pediatric patients is expected to grow. One important question concerns the impact of hope and unrealistic optimism on decision-making, especially in "last resort" intervention scenarios such as DBS for refractory conditions.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined stakeholder experiences and perspectives on hope and unrealistic optimism in the context of decision-making about DBS for childhood dystonia and provides insights for clinicians seeking to implement effective communication strategies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Semi-structured interviews with clinicians ( = 29) and caregivers ( = 44) were conducted, transcribed, and coded.
RESULTS
Using thematic content analysis, four major themes from clinician interviews and five major themes from caregiver interviews related to hopes and expectations were identified. Clinicians expressed concerns about caregiver false hopes (86%, 25/29) and desperation (68.9%, 20/29) in light of DBS being a last resort. As a result, 68.9% of clinicians (20/29) expressed that they intentionally tried to lower caregiver expectations about DBS outcomes. Clinicians also expressed concern that, on the flip side, unrealistic pessimism drives away some patients who might otherwise benefit from DBS (34.5%, 10/29). Caregivers viewed DBS as the last option that they had to try (61.3%, 27/44), and 73% of caregivers (32/44) viewed themselves as having high hopes but reasonable expectations. Fewer than half (43%, 19/44) expressed that they struggled setting outcome expectations due to the uncertainty of DBS, and 50% of post-DBS caregivers (14/28) expressed some negative feelings post treatment due to unmet expectations. 43% of caregivers (19/44) had experiences with clinicians who tried to set low expectations about the potential benefits of DBS.
CONCLUSION
Thoughtful clinician-stakeholder discussion is needed to ensure realistic outcome expectations.
PubMed: 37905206
DOI: 10.1007/s12152-023-09524-3 -
Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) Oct 2023Due to the presence of numerous problems in osteoarthritis, e.g., the presence of one or more chronic diseases, reduced self-esteem and reduced ability to cope, patients...
BACKGROUND
Due to the presence of numerous problems in osteoarthritis, e.g., the presence of one or more chronic diseases, reduced self-esteem and reduced ability to cope, patients must undertake readaptation activities. In such circumstances, resources that are necessary for optimal adaptation become of particular importance. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of behavioral resources, namely self-efficacy and optimism, on quality of life perception in early-old-age patients with knee osteoarthritis.
METHODS
An anonymous survey was conducted using recognized research tools: the Index of Severity for Knee Disease, Life Orientation Test, General Self-Efficacy Scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life BEFF. The study involved 300 people aged between 60 and 75 years old, including 150 patients diagnosed with gonarthrosis and 150 people without diagnosed joint and muscular diseases of the lower limbs. Non-parametric tests (e.g., Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman's correlation coefficient) were used for the statistical analysis of the results, assuming a significance level of < 0.05.
RESULTS
The level of the examined personal resources was significantly lower in the group of people with gonarthrosis ( < 0.001), among whom low self-efficacy and a tendency toward pessimism prevailed. The results in terms of the level of lower limb joints impairment among the respondents correlated significantly and negatively with self-efficacy (r = -0.239; = 0.003) and dispositional optimism (r = -0.318; < 0.001). A higher level of the studied psychosocial resources led to a more favorable assessment of quality of life ( < 0.001) and own health ( < 0.001). In addition, a higher sense of self-competence was associated with better quality of life in the psychological ( = 0.044), social ( < 0.001) and environmental ( < 0.001) domains, while a tendency toward optimism was associated with higher quality of life perception in the social domain ( < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
It would seem to be reasonable to introduce a routine diagnosis, assessing the level of personal capabilities of elderly people with knee osteoarthritis, which may have a beneficial effect on their perception of their quality of life and their own health.
PubMed: 37887974
DOI: 10.3390/geriatrics8050101 -
NeuroImage. Clinical 2023Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), including rumination, plays a key role in various psychopathologies. Although several psychotherapeutic treatments have been... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), including rumination, plays a key role in various psychopathologies. Although several psychotherapeutic treatments have been developed to reduce RNT, the neural correlates of those specific treatments and of psychotherapy in general are largely unknown. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers the potential to investigate the neural correlates of psychotherapeutic techniques in situ. Therefore, in this study we investigated the efficacy and neural correlates of a fNIRS adapted Mindfulness-based Emotion Regulation Training (MBERT) for the treatment of depressive rumination in 42 subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) in a cross-over designed randomized controlled trial. Using psychometric measures, subjective ratings and fNIRS, we analyzed in situ changes in depressive symptom severity, ruminative thoughts and cortical activity in the Cognitive Control Network (CCN). Our results show that MBERT is effective in treating depressive symptoms and rumination. On a neural level, we found consistently higher cortical activation during emotion regulation training compared to control trials in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Furthermore, cortical oxygenation decreased from session to session in the bilateral DLPFC. The relevance of the results for the psychotherapeutic treatment of MDD as well as further necessary investigations are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Depressive Disorder, Major; Emotional Regulation; Cognition; Pessimism; Prefrontal Cortex
PubMed: 37839195
DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103525 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023Future-oriented cognition plays a manifold role for adults' mental health. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between future-oriented cognition and...
Future-oriented cognition plays a manifold role for adults' mental health. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between future-oriented cognition and mental health in = 191 children aged between 3 and 7 years. Parents completed an online-questionnaire including children's future-oriented cognition (e.g., episodic foresight; Children Future Thinking Questionnaire; CFTQ), children's mental health problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ), and wellbeing (Parent-rated Life Orientation Test of children; PLOT and Positive-Mental-Health Scale; PMH). More externalizing problems (especially hyperactivity) related to lower future-oriented cognition. For mental wellbeing, higher levels of optimism were associated with higher episodic foresight. Future-oriented cognition increased with age cross-sectionally. This increase was flatter at higher levels of wellbeing (indicated by lower pessimism). Results are discussed considering findings on the role of future-oriented cognition for mental health in adults and adolescents. Suggestions for future work are presented regarding the direction of the observed links and underlying mechanisms.
PubMed: 37829062
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1211986 -
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Sep 2023Depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by anxiety, pessimism, and suicidal tendencies, which has serious impact on human's life. In this paper, we use...
Depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by anxiety, pessimism, and suicidal tendencies, which has serious impact on human's life. In this paper, we use Granger causality index based on polynomial kernel as network node connectivity coefficient to construct brain networks from the magnetoencephalogram (MEG) of 5 depressed patients and 11 healthy individuals under positive, neutral, and negative emotional stimuli, respectively. We found that depressed patients had more information exchange between the frontal and occipital regions compared to healthy individuals and less causal connections in the parietal and central regions. We further analyzed the topological properties of the network revealed and found that depressed patients had higher average degrees under negative stimuli ( = 0.008) and lower average clustering coefficients than healthy individuals ( = 0.034). When comparing the average degree and average clustering coefficient of the same sample under different emotional stimuli, we found that depressed patients had a higher average degree and average clustering coefficient under negative stimuli than neutral and positive stimuli. We also found that the characteristic path lengths of patients under negative and neutral stimuli significantly deviated from small-world network. Our results suggest that the analysis of polynomial kernel Granger causality brain networks can effectively characterize the pathology of depression.
PubMed: 37761629
DOI: 10.3390/e25091330 -
European Journal of Investigation in... Sep 2023This study responds to the need to explore psychological predictors of COVID-19-related anxiety in vulnerable groups. An anonymous voluntary online survey was conducted...
This study responds to the need to explore psychological predictors of COVID-19-related anxiety in vulnerable groups. An anonymous voluntary online survey was conducted ( = 520) with (a) working parents with young children (0-12 y.o.), (b) people with chronic physical conditions, (c) people with multiple vulnerability characteristics and (d) a control group (no self-reported vulnerability) in 2022. Findings showed that perceived stress of the parents and trait anxiety of the chronic sufferers were single weak positive predictors of COVID-19 anxiety. However, both psychological factors had a stronger effect on the pandemic-related anxiety for the group with multiple vulnerabilities. In the control group, trait resilience and optimistic expectations (combined with perceived stress) were moderate negative predictors of COVID-19 anxiety. The findings emphasize the importance of perceptions, expectations, trait anxiety as well as the need for intersectional research of vulnerability from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, they highlight the necessity of group-specific policies and interventions aimed both at handling the negative psychological tendencies of the vulnerable groups and at strengthening the positive tendencies of non-vulnerable groups, rather than tackling only emergent anxiety conditions in crisis times.
PubMed: 37754471
DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe13090132 -
Acta Psychologica Oct 2023Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, frequently recurrent condition associated with decreased well-being and increased healthcare-related costs. Mixed-methods...
INTRODUCTION
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, frequently recurrent condition associated with decreased well-being and increased healthcare-related costs. Mixed-methods research provides multiple ways of illustrating the phenomenon to better understand patient experience, including where treatment is not working, referred to here as treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
METHODS
A mixed-methods study investigated the experiences of people with symptomatic MDD, symptomatic TRD or TRD in remission, surveying 148 adults recruited from English clinical sites to measure symptom severity (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]), HRQoL (EQ-5D-5L/World Health Organisation Brief Assessment of QoL [WHOQOL-BREF]) and work productivity/activity impairment (WPAI:D). Interviews with 26 survey respondents were analysed thematically. Integrated datasets explored areas of convergence and divergence, with concepts mapped against the EQ-5D-5L.
RESULTS
Qualitative data explained low WHOQOL-BREF domain scores and the interrelation of psychological, emotional, cognitive and physical difficulties. Tiredness, lack of energy and motivation impacted daily activities, socialising and career goals. Low work performance scores were explained by poor concentration, decision-making and motivation. Participants also described the influence of social support and housing insecurity. Only 19 % of HRQoL qualitative codes mapped to the EQ-5D-5L. Themes dominant in patients with TRD were inability to cope, self-care challenges, dissatisfaction with mental health services and treatment pessimism.
LIMITATIONS
Limited data collected on people with TRD in remission.
CONCLUSIONS
The EQ-5D-5L and WPAI:D likely underestimate how depression impacts the HRQoL and work of people with MDD or TRD. Qualitative data suggest increased distress for people with TRD compared to those with MDD. Clinical management and treatment access decisions should consider the broader impacts of depression and environmental factors affecting the patient's experience.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Quality of Life; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major; Surveys and Questionnaires; England
PubMed: 37734244
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104035