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Ein positiver Zusammenhang von Leistungsmotivation, Flow und Wohlbefinden ist in Einzelpfaden gut belegt. Befunde, welche alle drei Variablen miteinander in Beziehung setzen, stehen in der Bildungsfor-schung noch aus. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, den Einfluss einzelner Dimensionen von Leistungsmotivation & Flow auf das subjektive Wohlempfinden von Schüler/innen, unter Berücksichtigung etwaiger Media-tionseffekte durch Flow zu untersuchen. Die Grundlage der Daten bildet der erste Messzeitpunkt einer motivationsbezogenen Interventionsstudie.
Erhoben wurden die Daten im Rahmen einer prospektiven randomisierten Längsschnittstudie im Kon-trollgruppendesign (N=742; 46,2% weibl.), welche mit Schüler/innen von sieben rheinland-pfälzischen Schulen durchgeführt wurde. Leistungsmotivation, Wohlbefinden und Flow wurden mit folgenden In-strumenten erfasst: Petermann & Winkel (2007a&b): Fragebogen zur Leistungsmotivation; Flow-Skala (in Anlehnung an Rheinberg et al., 2003); Flourishing-Skala (in Anlehnung an Diener et al., 2009). Ausge-wertet wurden die Daten mittels Mediatoranalysen per multipler Regression mit SPSS.
Die Ergebnisse multipler Regressionsanalysen konnten sowohl in der Primar-, als auch Sekundarstufe direkte Effekte einzelner Leistungsmotivationsskalen auf das subjektive Wohlbefinden belegen. Zudem wurden in den Jahrgansstufen 2&3,4&5,7&9 der Zusammenhang zwischen Leistungsmotivation und Wohlbefinden durch Flow-Erleben mediiert. In der Jahrgangsstufe 11 konnte kein Mediationseffekt gefunden werden.
Die Ergebnisse bestätigen vorliegende Korrelationsstudien und identifizieren Flow als einen zentralen Mediator zwischen der Leistungsmotivation und dem Wohlbefinden bei Schüler/innen. Die Reflexion dieser Befunde eröffnet großes Potential für die weitere Ausarbeitung und Implementierung Flow-förderlicher Interaktionen in der Schule.
Auf der Grundlage einer Fragebogenstudie wurden unterschiedliche Elemente eines förderlichen Umgangs mit Gesundheitsinformationen betrachtet und ihre Zusammenhänge mit personspezifischen Merkmalen analysiert. Als zentrale Aspekte der Informationsprozesse wurden die drei Elemente Gesundheitsinformationskompetenz, Gesundheitsinteresse und gesundheitsspezifische Informationsgewohnheiten konzeptuell voneinander getrennt. Auf der Basis des bisherigen Forschungsstands wurde zunächst ein theoretisches Modell des Umgangs mit Gesundheitsinformationen entwickelt, das die Bedeutung der Kompetenz und des Interesses für gesundheitsbezogene Informationsgewohnheiten hervorhebt, individuelle Ausprägungen dieser drei Elemente mit soziodemografischen Faktoren, Persönlichkeitseigenschaften, Überzeugungen und dem Gesundheitszustand in Beziehung setzt sowie Verbindungen zu gesundheitsrelevanten Verhaltensweisen beschreibt. Dieses Modell wurde anschließend an einer Stichprobe von 352 Berufsschülerinnen und -schülern aus drei Berufsbereichen (Wirtschaft/Verwaltung, Technik und Gesundheit) empirisch überprüft. Über multiple Regressionsanalysen wurden bedeutsame Prädiktoren für die drei Hauptelemente Kompetenz, Interesse und Informationsgewohnheiten identifiziert, über logistische Regressionen und Korrelationen ihre Zusammenhänge mit dem Gesundheitsverhalten überprüft. Darüber hinaus wurden lineare Strukturgleichungsmodelle zur Vorhersage des Informationsverhaltens entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen die konzeptionelle Trennung der drei Faktoren, die jeweils mit unterschiedlichen Prädiktoren verbunden waren. Auf der Basis der Befunde werden Ansatzpunkte für die weitere Forschung und die Förderung eines kompetenten Umgangs mit Gesundheitsinformationen diskutiert.
Why they rebel peacefully: On the violence-reducing effects of a positive attitude towards democracy
Under the impression of Europe’s drift into Nazism and Stalinism in the first half of the 20th century, social psychological research has focused strongly on dangers inherent in people’s attachment to a political system. The dissertation at hand contributes to a more differentiated perspective by examining violence-reducing aspects of political system attachment in four consecutive steps: First, it highlights attachment to a social group as a resource for violence prevention on an intergroup level. The results suggest that group attachment fosters self-control, a well-known protective factor against violence. Second, it demonstrates violence-reducing influences of attachment on a societal level. The findings indicate that attachment to a democracy facilitate peaceful and prevent violent protest tendencies. Third, it introduces the concept of political loyalty, defined as a positive attitude towards democracy, in order to clarify the different approaches of political system attachment. A set of three studies show the reliability and validity of a newly developed political loyalty questionnaire that distinguishes between affective and cognitive aspects. Finally, the dissertation differentiates former findings with regard to protest tendencies using the concept of political loyalty. A set of two experiments show that affective rather than cognitive aspects of political loyalty instigate peaceful protest tendencies and prevent violent ones. Implications of this dissertation for political engagement and peacebuilding as well as avenues for future research are discussed.
When do anorexic patients perceive their body as too fat? Aggravating and ameliorating factors
(2019)
Objective
Our study investigated body image representations in female patients with anorexia nervosa
and healthy controls using a size estimation with pictures of their own body. We also
explored a method to reduce body image distortions through right hemispheric activation.
Method
Pictures of participants’ own bodies were shown on the left or right visual fields for 130 ms
after presentation of neutral, positive, or negative word primes, which could be self-relevant
or not, with the task of classifying the picture as “thinner than”, “equal to”, or “fatter than”
one’s own body. Subsequently, activation of the left- or right hemispheric through right- or
left-hand muscle contractions for 3 min., respectively. Finally, participants completed the
size estimation task again.
Results
The distorted “fatter than” body image was found only in patients and only when a picture of
their own body appeared on the right visual field (left hemisphere) and was preceded by
negative self-relevant words. This distorted perception of the patients’ body image was
reduced after left-hand muscle contractions (right hemispheric activation).
Discussion
To reduce body image distortions it is advisable to find methods that help anorexia nervosa
patients to increase their self-esteem. The body image distortions were ameliorated after
right hemispheric activation. A related method to prevent distorted body-image representations
in these patients may be Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
therapy.
In order to investigate the psychobiological consequences of acute stress under laboratory conditions, a wide range of methods for socially evaluative stress induction have been developed. The present dissertation is concerned with evaluating a virtual reality (VR)-based adaptation of one of the most widely used of those methods, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). In the three empirical studies collected in this dissertation, we aimed to examine the efficacy and possible areas of application of the adaptation of this well-established psychosocial stressor in a virtual environment. We found that the TSST-VR reliably incites the activation of the major stress effector systems in the human body, albeit in a slightly less pronounced way than the original paradigm. Moreover, the experience of presence is discussed as one potential factor of influence in the origin of the psychophysiological stress response. Lastly, we present a use scenario for the TSST-VR in which we employed the method to investigate the effects of acute stress on emotion recognition performance. We conclude that, due to its advantages concerning versatility, standardization and economic administration, the paradigm harbors enormous potential not only for psychobiological research, but other applications such as clinical practice as well. Future studies should further explore the underlying effect mechanisms of stress in the virtual realm and the implementation of VR-based paradigms in different fields of application.
Evidence points to autonomy as having a place next to affiliation, achievement, and power as one of the basic implicit motives; however, there is still some research that needs to be conducted to support this notion.
The research in this dissertation aimed to address this issue. I have specifically focused on two issues that help solidify the foundation of work that has already been conducted on the implicit autonomy motive, and will also be a foundation for future studies. The first issue is measurement. Implicit motives should be measured using causally valid instruments (McClelland, 1980). The second issue addresses the function of motives. Implicit motives orient, select, and energize behavior (McClelland, 1980). If autonomy is an implicit motive, then we need a valid instrument to measure it and we also need to show that it orients, selects, and energizes behavior.
In the following dissertation, I address these two issues in a series of ten studies. Firstly, I present studies that examine the causal validity of the Operant Motive Test (OMT; Kuhl, 2013) for the implicit affiliation and power motives using established methods. Secondly, I developed and empirically tested pictures to specifically assess the implicit autonomy motive and examined their causal validity. Thereafter, I present two studies that investigated the orienting and energizing effects of the implicit autonomy motive. The results of the studies solidified the foundation of the OMT and how it measures nAutonomy. Furthermore, this dissertation demonstrates that nAutonomy fulfills the criteria for two of the main functions of implicit motives. Taken together, the findings of this dissertation provide further support for autonomy as an implicit motive and a foundation for intriguing future studies.
Internet interventions have gained popularity and the idea is to use them to increase the availability of psychological treatment. Research suggests that internet interventions are effective for a number of psychological disorders with effect sizes comparable to those found in face-to-face treatment. However, when provided as an add-on to treatment as usual, internet interventions do not seem to provide additional benefit. Furthermore, adherence and dropout rates vary greatly between studies, limiting the generalizability of the findings. This underlines the need to further investigate differences between internet interventions, participating patients, and their usage of interventions. A stronger focus on the processes of change seems necessary to better understand the varying findings regarding outcome, adherence and dropout in internet interventions. Thus, the aim of this dissertation was to investigate change processes in internet interventions and the factors that impact treatment response. This could help to identify important variables that should be considered in research on internet interventions as well as in clinical settings that make use of internet interventions.
Study I (Chapter 5) investigated early change patterns in participants of an internet intervention targeting depression. Data from 409 participants were analyzed using Growth Mixture Modeling. Specifically a piecewise model was applied to model change from screening to registration (pretreatment) and early change (registration to week four of treatment). Three early change patterns were identified; two were characterized by improvement and one by deterioration. The patterns were predictive of treatment outcome. The results therefore indicated that early change should be closely monitored in internet interventions, as early change may be an important indicator of treatment outcome.
Study II (Chapter 6) picked up on the idea of analyzing change patterns in internet interventions and extended it by using the Muthen-Roy model to identify change-dropout patterns. A sligthly bigger sample of the dataset from Study I was analyzed (N = 483). Four change-dropout patterns emerged; high risk of dropout was associated with rapid improvement and deterioration. These findings indicate that clinicians should consider how dropout may depend on patient characteristics as well as symptom change, as dropout is associated with both deterioration and a good enough dosage of treatment.
Study III (Chapter 7) compared adherence and outcome in different participant groups and investigated the impact of adherence to treatment components on treatment outcome in an internet intervention targeting anxiety symptoms. 50 outpatient participants waiting for face- to-face treatment and 37 self-referred participants were compared regarding adherence to treatment components and outcome. In addition, outpatient participants were compared to a matched sample of outpatients, who had no access to the internet intervention during the waiting period. Adherence to treatment components was investigated as a predictor of treatment outcome. Results suggested that especially adherence may vary depending on participant group. Also using specific measures of adherence such as adherence to treatment components may be crucial to detect change mechanisms in internet interventions. Fostering adherence to treatment components in participants may increase the effectiveness of internet interventions.
Results of the three studies are discussed and general conclusions are drawn.
Implications for future research as well as their utility for clinical practice and decision- making are presented.
The present dissertation was developed to emphasize the importance of self-regulatory abilities and to derive novel opportunities to empower self-regulation. From the perspective of PSI (Personality Systems Interactions) theory (Kuhl, 2001), interindividual differences in self-regulation (action vs. state orientation) and their underlying mechanisms are examined in detail. Based on these insights, target-oriented interventions are derived, developed, and scientifically evaluated. The present work comprises a total of four studies which, on the one hand, highlight the advantages of a good self-regulation (e.g., enacting difficult intentions under demands; relation with prosocial power motive enactment and well-being). On the other hand, mental contrasting (Oettingen et al., 2001), an established self-regulation method, is examined from a PSI perspective and evaluated as a method to support individuals that struggle with self-regulatory deficits. Further, derived from PSI theory`s assumptions, I developed and evaluated a novel method (affective shifting) that aims to support individuals in overcoming self-regulatory deficits. Thereby affective shifting supports the decisive changes in positive affect for successful intention enactment (Baumann & Scheffer, 2010). The results of the present dissertation show that self-regulated changes between high and low positive affect are crucial for efficient intention enactment and that methods such as mental contrasting and affective shifting can empower self-regulation to support individuals to successfully close the gap between intention and action.
When humans encounter attitude objects (e.g., other people, objects, or constructs), they evaluate them. Often, these evaluations are based on attitudes. Whereas most research focuses on univalent (i.e., only positive or only negative) attitude formation, little research exists on ambivalent (i.e., simultaneously positive and negative) attitude formation. Following a general introduction into ambivalence, I present three original manuscripts investigating ambivalent attitude formation. The first manuscript addresses ambivalent attitude formation from previously univalent attitudes. The results indicate that responding to a univalent attitude object incongruently leads to ambivalence measured via mouse tracking but not ambivalence measured via self-report. The second manuscript addresses whether the same number of positive and negative statements presented block-wise in an impression formation task leads to ambivalence. The third manuscript also used an impression formation task and addresses the question of whether randomly presenting the same number of positive and negative statements leads to ambivalence. Additionally, the effect of block size of the same valent statements is investigated. The results of the last two manuscripts indicate that presenting all statements of one valence and then all statements of the opposite valence leads to ambivalence measured via self-report and mouse tracking. Finally, I discuss implications for attitude theory and research as well as future research directions.
The daily dose of health information: A psychological view on the health information seeking process
(2021)
The search for health information is becoming increasingly important in everyday life, as well as socially and scientifically relevant Previous studies have mainly focused on the design and communication of information. However, the view of the seeker as well as individual
differences in skills and abilities has been a neglected topic so far. A psychological perspective on the process of searching for health information would provide important starting points for promoting the general dissemination of relevant information and thus improving health behaviour and health status. Within the present dissertation, the process of seeking health information was thus divided into sequential stages to identify relevant personality traits and skills. Accordignly, three studies are presented that focus on one stage
of the process respectively and empirically test potential crucial traits and skills: Study I investigates possible determinants of an intention for a comprehensive search for health information. Building an intention is considered as the basic step of the search process.
Motivational dispositions and self-regulatory skills were related to each other in a structural equation model and empirically tested based on theoretical investigations. Model fit showed an overall good fit and specific direct and indirect effects from approach and avoidance
motivation on the intention to seek comprehensively could be found, which supports the theoretical assumptions. The results show that as early as the formation of intention, the psychological perspective reveals influential personality traits and skills. Study II deals with the subsequent step, the selection of information sources. The preference for basic characteristics of information sources (i.e., accessibility, expertise, and interaction) is related to health information literacy as a collective term for relevant skills and intelligence as a personality trait. Furthermore, the study considers the influence of possible over- or underestimation of these characteristics. The results show not only a different predictive
contribution of health literacy and intelligence, but also the relevance of subjective and objective measurement.
Finally, Study III deals with the selection and evaluation of the health information previously found. The phenomenon of selective exposure is analysed, as this can be considered problematic in the health context. For this purpose, an experimental design was implemented in which a varying health threat was suggested to the participants. Relevant information was presented and the selective choice of this information was assessed. Health literacy was tested
as a moderator in a function of the induced threat and perceived vulnerability, triggering defence motives on the degree of bias. Findings show the importance of the consideration of the defence motives, which could cause a bias in the form of selective exposure. Furthermore, health literacy even seems to amplify this effect.
Results of the three studies are synthesized, discussed and general conclusions are drawn and implications for further research are determined.
Academic achievement is a central outcome in educational research, both in and outside higher education, has direct effects on individual’s professional and financial prospects and a high individual and public return on investment. Theories comprise cognitive as well as non-cognitive influences on achievement. Two examples frequently investigated in empirical research are knowledge (as a cognitive determinant) and stress (as a non-cognitive determinant) of achievement. However, knowledge and stress are not stable, what raises questions as to how temporal dynamics in knowledge on the one hand and stress on the other contribute to achievement. To study these contributions in the present doctoral dissertation, I used meta-analysis, latent profile transition analysis, and latent state-trait analysis. The results support the idea of knowledge acquisition as a cumulative and long-term process that forms the basis for academic achievement and conceptual change as an important mechanism for the acquisition of knowledge in higher education. Moreover, the findings suggest that students’ stress experiences in higher education are subject to stable, trait-like influences, as well as situational and/or interactional, state-like influences which are differentially related to achievement and health. The results imply that investigating the causal networks between knowledge, stress, and academic achievement is a promising strategy for better understanding academic achievement in higher education. For this purpose, future studies should use longitudinal designs, randomized controlled trials, and meta-analytical techniques. Potential practical applications include taking account of students’ prior knowledge in higher education teaching and decreasing stress among higher education students.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected schooling worldwide. In many places, schools closed for weeks or months, only part of the student body could be educated at any one time, or students were taught online. Previous research discloses the relevance of schooling for the development of cognitive abilities. We therefore compared the intelligence test performance of 424 German secondary school students in Grades 7 to 9 (42% female) tested after the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., 2020 sample) to the results of two highly comparable student samples tested in 2002 (n = 1506) and 2012 (n = 197). The results revealed substantially and significantly lower intelligence test scores in the 2020 sample than in both the 2002 and 2012 samples. We retested the 2020 sample after another full school year of COVID-19-affected schooling in 2021. We found mean-level changes of typical magnitude, with no signs of catching up to previous cohorts or further declines in cognitive performance. Perceived stress during the pandemic did not affect changes in intelligence test results between the two measurements.
Stress gilt als zentrales Gesundheitsrisiko des 21. Jahrhunderts und wird in der Forschung als multidimensionales Konstrukt auf psychologischer und biologischer Ebene untersucht. Wäh-rend die subjektive Wahrnehmung von Stress nicht mit der biologischen Stressreaktivität zu-sammenhängen muss, ist der negative Einfluss stressassoziierter biologischer Prozesse auf Wohlbefinden und Gesundheit gut belegt. Bereits im Grundschulalter zeigen Kinder eine mit Erwachsenen vergleichbare Stressbelastung und gesundheitliche Folgen, Bewältigungsstrategien sind in diesem Alter allerdings noch nicht vollständig entwickelt. Präventionsprogramme im Grundschulalter sollen Kinder in ihren sich entwickelnden Stressbewältigungsfähigkeiten fördern, wobei sowohl emotionsfokussierte und problemorientierte Ansätze als auch soziale Unterstützung wichtige Faktoren darstellen könnten.
Das einleitende Literatur-Review evaluiert bisherige Stresspräventionsstudien und verdeutlicht, dass zwar die Wirksamkeit und Anwendbarkeit von mehrfaktoriellen Stresspräventionsprogrammen im Rahmen psychometrischer Erhebungen gezeigt werden konnten, biologische Prozesse in der Forschung bisher allerdings nicht erhoben und außer Acht gelassen wurden.
Die empirische Untersuchung in Studie 1 zeigt, dass eine multidimensionale psychobiologische Betrachtungsweise sinnvoll ist, indem sowohl die Psychometrie, als auch psychobiologische Prozesse der Stressreaktion miteinbezogen und die Auswirkungen von Stressprävention auf den verschiedenen Ebenen untersucht wurden. Zwei Kurzinterventionen wurden dazu miteinander verglichen und ihre Wirkung auf psychophysiologischen Ebenen (z.B. Kortisol, α-Amylase und Herzrate) in einem Prä-Post Design geprüft. Eine statistisch signifikante Abnahme psychophysiologischer Stressreaktivität, sowie stressassoziierter psychologischer Symptome verdeutlichte die multidimensionale Wirksamkeit von Stressmanagementtrainings.
Studie 2 wurde im Rahmen der Covid-19-Pandemie entworfen. Die in Studie 1 trainierten Kinder wurden mittels Online-Fragebogenerhebung mit einer Kontrollgruppe hinsichtlich ihrer Stressbelastung verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten eine geringere Belastung und vermehrte günstige Bewältigungsstrategien trainierter Kinder im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe.
Diese Ergebnisse heben die Relevanz einer multidimensionalen Betrachtung kindlichen Stresses hervor. Es wurde gezeigt, dass Stresspräventionsprogramme auf den unterschiedlichen Ebenen der Stressreaktion wirken und sogar in gesamtgesellschaftlichen Krisensituationen stresspro-tektiv wirken können. Zukünftige Studien sollten Stresspräventionen im Grundschulalter psychophysiologisch evaluieren und deren Wirkung in Längsschnittstudien beurteilen, um das Verständnis der zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen zu verbessern.
Die publikationsbasierte Dissertation untersucht die Bedeutung sozialer Bewegungen für die Entwicklung der Sozialen Arbeit am Ende des 19. und den ersten Jahrzehnten des 20. Jahrhunderts als Profession und Disziplin in den USA und in Deutschland. Dabei wird die entstehende Soziale Arbeit als ‚Formbildung‘ sozialer Bewegungen verstanden und gefragt, wie sich die Bewegungen in die sich etablierende und institutionalisierende Profession und Wissenschaft Soziale Arbeit einschreiben, welche Anliegen dabei verfolgt werden und wie dadurch Wissen in der Sozialen Arbeit auch über nationalstaatliche Grenzen hinweg zirkuliert.
Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf Prozesse der Pädagogisierung, also unterschiedliche ‚Formbildungen des Pädagogischen‘, die die Bewegungsanliegen zum Thema von Aufklärung, (Selbst)Bildung und Pädagogik machen, und auf solche der Verwissenschaftlichung, die sich auf den Aufbau einer Wissensgrundlage zur Bearbeitung von sozialen Problemen richten und dabei alternative Formen der Wissensproduktion ausbilden. Diese Prozesse werden in drei Teilstudien – zur Charity Organization Movement und der Settlement House Movement in den USA sowie der bürgerlichen Frauenbewegung in Deutschland – in sieben Einzelbeiträgen näher untersucht. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei die Handlungsmethoden und das Praxisverständnis sowie Forschungskonzepte und –projekte exemplarisch ausgewählter sozialbewegter Initiativen der Sozialen Arbeit. Dabei werden unter anderem nicht-intendierte Effekte untersucht, die zum Beispiel in Konservierungen normativer Vorstellungen und Ideologien in als demokratisierend angelegten Ansätzen, aber auch in ‚differenzverstärkenden‘ Effekten bestehen können.
Social innovation became a widely discussed topic in politics, research funding programs, and business development. Recent European and US economic and science policies have set aside significant funds to generate and foster social innovation. In view of current challenges such as digitization, Work 4.0, inclusion or migrant integration, the question of how organizations can be empowered to develop new and innovative approaches and service models to social challenges is becoming increasingly urgent. This especially applies to organizations in the fields of education and social services. In education, implementing new ideas and concepts is usually discussed as educational reform, which mostly addresses changes in policy agendas with consequences for national and international education systems. The concept of social innovation however has a different starting point: the source of new ideas and services are identified new, emergent needs in society or re-conceptualized. Such need-based perspectives might bring new impulses to the field of education. Therefore, this paper identifies important existing strands of social innovation research, which need to be considered in the emerging academic discourse on social innovation in education. Looking at social innovation through an education research lens reveals the close relation between learning, creativity, and innovation. Individuals, teams, and even organizations learn, engage in creative problem solving to create new and innovative products and services. From an organizational education perspective, the questions arise, how social innovation emerges and even more important, how the process of developing social innovation can be supported. After a brief introduction in the concept of social innovation, the paper discusses therefore the sites, where social innovation emerges, social innovators, approaches to foster social innovation as well as promoting and hindering factors for social innovation.
Optimal mental workload plays a key role in driving performance. Thus, driver-assisting systems that automatically adapt to a drivers current mental workload via brain–computer interfacing might greatly contribute to traffic safety. To design economic brain computer interfaces that do not compromise driver comfort, it is necessary to identify brain areas that are most sensitive to mental workload changes. In this study, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy and subjective ratings to measure mental workload in two virtual driving environments with distinct demands. We found that demanding city environments induced both higher subjective workload ratings as well as higher bilateral middle frontal gyrus activation than less demanding country environments. A further analysis with higher spatial resolution revealed a center of activation in the right anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The area is highly involved in spatial working memory processing. Thus, a main component of drivers’ mental workload in complex surroundings might stem from the fact that large amounts of spatial information about the course of the road as well as other road users has to constantly be upheld, processed and updated. We propose that the right middle frontal gyrus might be a suitable region for the application of powerful small-area brain computer interfaces.
Every action we perform, no matter how simple or complex, has a cognitive representation. It is commonly assumed that these are organized hierarchically. Thus, the representation of a complex action consists of multiple simpler actions. The representation of a simple action, in turn, consists of stimulus, response, and effect features. These are integrated into one representation upon the execution of an action and can be retrieved if a feature is repeated. Depending on whether retrieved features match or only partially match the current action episode, this might benefit or impair the execution of a subsequent action. This pattern of costs and benefits results in binding effects that indicate the strength of common representation between features. Binding effects occur also in more complex actions: Multiple simple actions seem to form representations on a higher level through the integration and retrieval of sequentially given responses, resulting in so-called response-response binding effects. This dissertation aimed to investigate what factors determine whether simple actions form more complex representations. The first line of research (Articles 1-3) focused on dissecting the internal structure of simple actions. Specifically, I investigated whether the spatial relation of stimuli, responses, or effects, that are part of two different simple actions, influenced whether these simple actions are represented as one more complex action. The second line of research (Articles 2, 4, and 5) investigated the role of context on the formation and strength of more complex action representations. Results suggest that spatial separation of responses as well as context might affect the strength of more complex action representations. In sum, findings help to specify assumptions on the structure of complex action representations. However, it may be important to distinguish factors that influence the strength and structure of action representations from factors that terminate action representations.
This dissertation focusses on research into the personality construct of action vs. state orientation. Derived from the Personality-Systems-Interaction Theory (PSI Theory), state orientation is defined as a low ability to self-regulate emotions and associated with many adverse consequences – especially under stress. Because of the high prevalence of state orientation, it is a very important topic to investigate factors that help state-oriented people to buffer these adverse consequences. Action orientation, in contrast, is defined as a high ability to self-regulate own emotions in a very specific way: through accessing the self. The present dissertation demonstrates this theme in five studies, using a total of N = 1251 participants with a wide age range, encompassing different populations (students, non-student population (people from the coaching and therapy sector), applying different operationalisations to investigate self-access as a mediator or an outcome variable. Furthermore, it is tested whether the popular technique of mindfulness - that is advertised as a potent remedy for bringing people closer to the self -really works for everybody. The findings show that the presumed remedy is rather harmful for state-oriented individuals. Finally, an attempt to ameliorate these alienating effects, the present dissertation attempts to find theory-driven, and easy-to-apply solution how mindfulness exercises can be adapted.
Das Ideal einer lebendigen Demokratie mit engagierten Bürger/innen lässt nach Wegen suchen, um die Partizipationsbereitschaft nachkommender Generationen zu fördern. Ausgehend von der Prämisse, dass das Wohlbefinden einen zentralen Motivator darstellt, der sich auch bei jungen Menschen mithilfe der Konzepte der Positiven Psychologie gezielt fördern lässt (Brohm & Endres, 2015), nähert sich der vorliegende Beitrag den beiden folgenden Forschungsfragen: Erstens, lässt sich ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem Wohlbefinden Jugendlicher und ihrer politischen Partizipationsbereitschaft respektive ihrem politischen Interesse empirisch nachweisen? Zweitens, in welchen Kontexten und in welchem Maße erleben Jugendliche Wohlbefinden in der Auseinandersetzung mit politischen Themen, Akteur/innen und Prozessen?
Da bisherige bundesweite und regionale Studien zu den Themen Jugend, Politik und politisch-gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe nur in bedingtem Maße Rückschlüsse auf die fünf Elemente des Wohlbefindens nach Seligman (2012) zuließen, wurde im Vorfeld des vorliegenden Beitrags eine schriftliche Befragung von 100 Jugendlichen aus dem saarländischen Landkreis Saarlouis durchgeführt.
Die Befragten charakterisieren sich mehrheitlich als allgemein aufgeschlossen und interessiert, doch es gelingt der Politik und ihren Mittler/innen nur eingeschränkt, dieses Potenzial in aktive politische Teilhabe zu übersetzen. Unter anderem persönliche Kontakte zu politisch Engagierten und eigene Erfahrungen in politischen Verbänden erweisen sich indes als positiv und korrelieren mit dem politischen Interesse und der Offenheit der Jugendlichen gegenüber politischer Partizipation.