Cognitive appraisal and bias

وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ أَكۡثَرُهُمۡ إِلَّا ظَنًّاۚ إِنَّ ٱلظَّنَّ لَا يُغۡنِي مِنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ شَيۡـًٔاۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمُۢ بِمَا يَفۡعَلُونَ

Most of them follow nothing but assumptions, but assumptions can be of no value at all against the Truth: God is well aware of what they do

أَلَآ إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَن فِي ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَن فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِۗ وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدۡعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ شُرَكَآءَۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ هُمۡ إِلَّا يَخۡرُصُونَ

indeed, all who are in the heavens and on the earth belong to Him. Those who call upon others beside God are not really following partner-gods; they are only following assumptions and telling lies

إِذۡ جَآءُوكُم مِّن فَوۡقِكُمۡ وَمِنۡ أَسۡفَلَ مِنكُمۡ وَإِذۡ زَاغَتِ ٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرُ وَبَلَغَتِ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ ٱلۡحَنَاجِرَ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِٱللَّهِ ٱلظُّنُونَا۠

They massed against you from above and below; your eyes rolled [with fear], your hearts rose into your throats, and you thought [ill] thoughts of God

وَقَوۡلِهِمۡ إِنَّا قَتَلۡنَا ٱلۡمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمۡۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكࣲّ مِّنۡهُۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينَۢا

and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition: they certainly did not kill him)

وَإِن تُطِعۡ أَكۡثَرَ مَن فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ هُمۡ إِلَّا يَخۡرُصُونَ

If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would lead you away from the path of God. They follow nothing but speculation; they are merely guessing

سَيَقُولُ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشۡرَكُواْ لَوۡ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَآ أَشۡرَكۡنَا وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمۡنَا مِن شَيۡءࣲۚ كَذَٰلِكَ كَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡ حَتَّىٰ ذَاقُواْ بَأۡسَنَاۗ قُلۡ هَلۡ عِندَكُم مِّنۡ عِلۡمࣲ فَتُخۡرِجُوهُ لَنَآۖ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ أَنتُمۡ إِلَّا تَخۡرُصُونَ

The idolaters will say, ‘If God had willed, we would not have ascribed partners to Him- nor would our fathers- or have declared anything forbidden.’ In the same way, those before them continually denied [the truth] until they tasted Our punishment. Say, ‘Have you any knowledge that you can show us? You follow only supposition and tell only lies.’

Wert thou to obey most of those in the earth, they would misguide thee from the path of God. In terms of number, God's delegates are few, but they have weight and gravity. The folk of false- hood are many, but they have no weight or meaning. For a world of metaphor, one iota of reality is enough. For a world of foolishness and falsehood, one breath of the lords of finding is enough. One swat of the Lion for a world full of carrion-eaters, one blast of the Trumpet for a hundred thousand Pharaoh-natures! [DS 184] “O MuḤammad! If you see them in terms of number and manyness, they will throw you into trouble. If you seek to get along with them, they will hold you back from the Real. Obey Our command, and turn away from them. So shout out what thou art commanded, and turn away from the associaters” [15:94].

And for their saying boastfully ‘We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary the Messenger of God’ as they claim in other words for all of these reasons We have punished them. God exalted be He says in repudiating their claim to have killed him And yet they did not slay him nor did they crucify him but he the one slain and crucified who was an associate of theirs the Jews was given the resemblance of Jesus. In other words God cast his Jesus’s likeness to him and so they thought it was him Jesus. And those who disagree concerning him that is concerning Jesus are surely in doubt regarding the slaying of him for some of them said when they saw the slain man the face is that of Jesus but the body is not his and so it is not he; and others said no it is he. They do not have any knowledge of the slaying of him only the pursuit of conjecture illā ittibā‘a l-zann is a discontinuous exception in other

If you obey most of those on earth that is the disbelievers they will lead you astray from the way of God from His religion; they follow only supposition when they dispute with you concerning the status of carrion saying ‘What God has killed is more worthy of your consumption than what you kill yourselves!’; they are merely guessing speaking falsehood in this matter.

The idolaters will say ‘Had God willed we would not have been idolaters neither we nor our fathers nor would we have forbidden anything’ in other words our idolatry and our forbidding of things are by His will and so He must be satisfied with it. God exalted be He says So in the same way that these have lied those who were before them gave the lie to their prophets until they tasted Our might Our chastisement. Say ‘Have you any knowledge that God is satisfied with this such that you can adduce for us? that is you have no such knowledge. You follow only supposition in this matter merely guessing’ telling lies therein.

Because of their breaking the covenant, and their rejecting the Ayat of Allah, and their killing the Prophets unjustly, and their saying: "Our hearts are Ghulf," nay, Allah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, so they believe not but a little (155)And because of their disbelief and uttering against Maryam a grave false charge (156)And because of their saying, "We killed Al-Masih 'Isa, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah," but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared as that to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not (157)But Allah raised him up unto Himself. And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise (158)And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he wil

Those who committed Shirk say: "If Allah had willed, we would not have commited Shirk, nor would our fathers, and we would not have forbidden anything (against His will)." Likewise belied those who were before them, till they tasted Our wrath. Say: "Have you any knowledge (proof) that you can produce before us? Verily, you follow the Zann and you do nothing but lie. (148)Say: "With Allah is the perfect proof and argument; had He so willed, He would indeed have guided you all. (149)Say: "Bring forward your witnesses, who can testify that Allah has forbidden this." Then if they testify, do not testify with them. And do not follow the vain desires of those who belie Our Ayat, and such as believe not in the Hereafter, and they hold others as equal with their Lord (150) A False Notion and its Rebuttal Here Allah mentioned a debate with the idolators, refuting a false notion they have over t

حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادٌ، ح وَحَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ حَكِيمٍ الأَثْرَمِ، عَنْ أَبِي تَمِيمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏"‏ مَنْ أَتَى كَاهِنًا ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُوسَى فِي حَدِيثِهِ ‏"‏ فَصَدَّقَهُ بِمَا يَقُولُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ اتَّفَقَا ‏"‏ أَوْ أَتَى امْرَأَةً ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُسَدَّدٌ ‏"‏ امْرَأَتَهُ حَائِضًا أَوْ أَتَى امْرَأَةً ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُسَدَّدٌ ‏"‏ امْرَأَتَهُ فِي دُبُرِهَا فَقَدْ بَرِئَ مِمَّا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone resorts to a diviner and believes in what he says (according) to the version of Musa), or has intercourse with his wife (according to the agreed version) when she is menstruating, or has intercourse with his wife through her anus, he has nothing to do with what has been sent down to Muhammad (ﷺ) - according to the version of Musaddad

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَمُسَدَّدٌ، - الْمَعْنَى - قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الأَخْنَسِ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ يُوسُفَ بْنِ مَاهَكَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ مَنِ اقْتَبَسَ عِلْمًا مِنَ النُّجُومِ اقْتَبَسَ شُعْبَةً مِنَ السِّحْرِ زَادَ مَا زَادَ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone acquires any knowledge of astrology, he acquires a branch of magic of which he gets more as long as he continues to do so

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَهَّابِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَيُّوبُ، عَنْ أَبِي قِلاَبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا مَالِكٌ، قَالَ أَتَيْنَا النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَنَحْنُ شَبَبَةٌ مُتَقَارِبُونَ، فَأَقَمْنَا عِنْدَهُ عِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً، وَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم رَفِيقًا، فَلَمَّا ظَنَّ أَنَّا قَدِ اشْتَهَيْنَا أَهْلَنَا أَوْ قَدِ اشْتَقْنَا سَأَلَنَا عَمَّنْ تَرَكْنَا بَعْدَنَا فَأَخْبَرْنَاهُ قَالَ ‏ "‏ ارْجِعُوا إِلَى أَهْلِيكُمْ، فَأَقِيمُوا فِيهِمْ، وَعَلِّمُوهُمْ، وَمُرُوهُمْ ـ وَذَكَرَ أَشْيَاءَ أَحْفَظُهَا أَوْ لاَ أَحْفَظُهَا ـ وَصَلُّوا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُونِي أُصَلِّي، فَإِذَا حَضَرَتِ الصَّلاَةُ فَلْيُؤَذِّنْ لَكُمْ أَحَدُكُمْ، وَلْيَؤُمَّكُمْ أَكْبَرُكُمْ ‏"‏‏.‏

Narrated Malik:We came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and we were young men nearly of equal ages and we stayed with him for twenty nights. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was a very kind man and when he realized our longing for our families, he asked us about those whom we had left behind. When we informed him, he said, "Go back to your families and stay with them and teach them (religion) and order them (to do good deeds). The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned things some of which I remembered and some I did not. Then he said, "Pray as you have seen me praying, and when it is the time of prayer, one of you should pronounce the call (Adhan) for the prayer and the eldest of you should lead the prayer

حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، عَنْ يَحْيَى، عَنِ التَّيْمِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِي عُثْمَانَ، عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ لاَ يَمْنَعَنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ أَذَانُ بِلاَلٍ مِنْ سَحُورِهِ، فَإِنَّهُ يُؤَذِّنُ ـ أَوْ قَالَ يُنَادِي ـ لِيَرْجِعَ قَائِمَكُمْ، وَيُنَبِّهَ نَائِمَكُمْ، وَلَيْسَ الْفَجْرُ أَنْ يَقُولَ هَكَذَا ـ وَجَمَعَ يَحْيَى كَفَّيْهِ ـ حَتَّى يَقُولَ هَكَذَا ‏"‏‏.‏ وَمَدَّ يَحْيَى إِصْبَعَيْهِ السَّبَّابَتَيْنِ‏.‏

Narrated Ibn Mas`ud:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The (call for prayer) Adhan of Bilal should not stop anyone of you from taking his Suhur for he pronounces the Adhan in order that whoever among you is praying the night prayer, may return (to eat his Suhur) and whoever among you is sleeping, may get up, for it is not yet dawn (when it is like this)." (Yahya, the sub-narrator stretched his two index fingers side ways)

حَدَّثَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا مَالِكُ بْنُ أَنَسٍ، حَدَّثَنِي إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي طَلْحَةَ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ ‏ "‏ الرُّؤْيَا الْحَسَنَةُ مِنَ الرَّجُلِ الصَّالِحِ جُزْءٌ مِنْ سِتَّةٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ جُزْءًا مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

It was narrated from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“A good dream from a righteous man is one of the forty-six parts of prophecy.”

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الأَعْلَى، عَنْ مَعْمَرٍ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ ‏ "‏ رُؤْيَا الْمُؤْمِنِ جُزْءٌ مِنْ سِتَّةٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ جُزْءًا مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:“The dream of a believer is one of the forty-six parts of prophecy.”

والظن بأحمد بن حنبل رضي الله عنه أنه علم أن الاستواء ليس هو الاستقرار والنزول ليس هو الانتقال ولكنه منع من التأويل حسما للباب ورعاية لصلاح الخلق

والظن ما تركن إليه النفس ويميل القلب، فليس لك أن تظن بالمسلم شرا، إلا إذا انكشف أمر لا يحتمل التأويل فإن أخبرك بذلك عدل، فمال قلبك إلى تصديقه، كنت معذورا، لأنك لو كذبته كنت قد أسأت الظن بالمخبر، فلا ينبغي أن تحسن الظن بواحد وتسيئه بآخر، بل ينبغي أن تبحث، هل بينهما عداوة وحسد؟ فتتطرق التهمة حينئذ بسبب ذلك، ومتى خطر لك خاطر سوء على مسلم، فينبغي أن تزيد في مراعاته وتدعو له بالخير، فإن ذلك يغيظ الشيطان ويدفعه عنك، فلا يلقى إليك خاطر السوء خيفة من اشتغالك بالدعاء والمراعاة.

ففعل هذه الرخص أرجح وأفضل من تركها النوع الثاني : رخص التأويلات واختلاف المذاهب فهذه تتبعها حرام ينقص الرغبة ويوهن الطلب ويرجع بالمترخص إلى غثاثة الرخص

ولا يتكلف لها تأويلا أراد بالتأويل ههنا : التأويل الاصطلاحي وهو صرف اللفظ عن ظاهره عن المعنى الراجح إلى المعنى المرجوح

وهذا أحد التأويلات في الأثر الإسرائيلي اعرف نفسك تعرف ربك

ومن تأمل كيفية ورود آيات الصفات في القرآن والسنة علم قطعا بطلان تأويلها بما يخرجها عن حقائقها فإنها وردت على وجه لا يحتمل معه التأويل بوجه

Perfectly imperfect: The use of cognitive bias modification to reduce perfectionism.: Background and objectives: Perfectionism is a transdiagnostic risk and maintenance factor for psychopathology. The current study developed and evaluated a cognitive bias modification, interpretation retraining (CBM-I) intervention targeting maladaptive perfectionistic beliefs. Methods: Participants were undergraduate students randomized to complete the perfectionism CBM-I (n = 33) or control condition task (n = 36) at two time points. Additionally, participants completed measures of perfectionis

Guided self-help concreteness training as an intervention for major depression in primary care: a Phase II randomized controlled trial.: Background: The development of widely accessible, effective psychological interventions for depression is a priority. This randomized trial provides the first controlled data on an innovative cognitive bias modification (CBM) training guided self-help intervention for depression. Method: One hundred and twenty-one consecutively recruited participants meeting criteria for current major depression were randomly allocated to treatment as usual (TAU) or to TAU plus concreteness training (CNT) guided

Assessing treatments used to reduce rumination and/or worry: a systematic review.: Perseverative cognitions such as rumination and worry are key components of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Given the frequent comorbidity of conditions in which rumination and worry are present, it is possible that they are underpinned by the same cognitive process. Furthermore, rumination and worry appear to be part of a causal chain that can lead to long-term health consequences, including cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. It is important therefore to under

Mind-wandering, cognition, and performance: a theory-driven meta-analysis of attention regulation.: The current meta-analysis accumulates empirical findings on the phenomenon of mind-wandering, integrating and interpreting findings in light of psychological theories of cognitive resource allocation. Cognitive resource theory emphasizes both individual differences in attentional resources and task demands together to predict variance in task performance. This theory motivated our conceptual and meta-analysis framework by introducing moderators indicative of task-demand to predict who is more li

Physiological concomitants of perseverative cognition: A systematic review and meta-analysis.: Rumination about the past and worries about the future (perseverative cognition) are extremely common, although pervasive and distressing, dysfunctional cognitive processes. Perseverative cognition is not only implicated in psychological health, contributing to mood worsening and psychopathology but, due to its ability to elicit prolonged physiological activity, is also considered to play a role in somatic health. Although there is emerging evidence that such negative and persistent thoughts hav

Cognitive appraisals and emotions predict cortisol and immune responses: a meta-analysis of acute laboratory social stressors and emotion inductions.: Models of stress and health suggest that emotions mediate the effects of stress on health; yet meta-analytic reviews have not confirmed these relationships. Categorizations of emotions along broad dimensions such as valence (e.g., positive and negative affect) may obscure important information about the effects of specific emotions on physiology. Within the context of the integrated specificity model, we present a novel theoretical framework that posits that specific emotional responses associat

The effects of modifying interpretation bias on worry in generalized anxiety disorder.

This study investigated whether facilitating a benign interpretive bias decreases negative thought intrusions in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Clients were randomly allocated to an interpretation modification condition in which they repeatedly accessed benign meanings of emotionally ambiguous homographs and scenarios, or to a control condition in which they accessed threat and benign meanings with equal frequency. Worry frequency was assessed using a breathing focus task that involved categorising the valence of thought intrusions before and after an instructed worry period. Interpretation bias was assessed during the modification tasks, and on a different measure of interpretation bias (sentence completion) following a period of worry. The experimental procedure modified interpretations made during training, and in the later sentence completion task. Furthermore, compared to the c…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Differential effects of mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving-kindness meditation on decentering and negative reactions to repetitive thoughts.

Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions. In the present study, we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternative stress-management techniques: progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) to test whether decentering is unique to mindfulness meditation or common across approaches. Novice meditators (190 female undergraduates) were randomly assigned to complete one of three 15-min stress-management exercises (MB, PMR, or LKM) presented by audio recording. Immediately after the exercise, participants completed measures of decentering, frequency of repetitive thoughts during the exercise, and degree of negative reaction to thoughts. As predicted…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Ruminative self-focus, negative life events, and negative affect.

Ruminative thinking is believed to exacerbate the psychological distress that follows stressful life events. An experience-sampling study was conducted in which participants recorded negative life events, ruminative self-focus, and negative affect eight times daily over one week. Occasions when participants reported a negative event were marked by higher levels of negative affect. Additionally, negative events were prospectively associated with higher levels of negative affect at the next sampling occasion, and this relationship was partially mediated by momentary ruminative self-focus. Depressive symptoms were associated with more frequent negative events, but not with increased reactivity to negative events. Trait rumination was associated with reports of more severe negative events and increased reactivity to negative events. These results suggest that the extent to which a person eng…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

All in the mind's eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal.

Research on rumination has demonstrated that compared with distraction, rumination intensifies and prolongs negative emotion. However, rumination and distraction differ both in what one thinks about and how one thinks about it. Do the negative outcomes of rumination result from how people think about negative events or simply that they think about them at all? To address this question, participants in 2 studies recalled a recent anger-provoking event and then thought about it in 1 of 2 ways: by ruminating or by reappraising. The authors examined the impact of these strategies on subsequent ratings of anger experience (Study 1) as well as on perseverative thinking and physiological responding over time (Study 2). Relative to reappraisal, rumination led to greater anger experience, more cognitive perseveration, and greater sympathetic nervous system activation. These findings provide compe…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Sleep deprivation reduces perceived emotional intelligence and constructive thinking skills.

Background and purpose: Insufficient sleep can adversely affect a variety of cognitive abilities, ranging from simple alertness to higher-order executive functions. Although the effects of sleep loss on mood and cognition are well documented, there have been no controlled studies examining its effects on perceived emotional intelligence (EQ) and constructive thinking, abilities that require the integration of affect and cognition and are central to adaptive functioning. Patients and methods: Twenty-six healthy volunteers completed the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi) and the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI) at rested baseline and again after 55.5 and 58 h of continuous wakefulness, respectively. Results: Relative to baseline, sleep deprivation was associated with lower scores on Total EQ (decreased global emotional intelligence), Intrapersonal functioning (reduced self-rega…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation versus relaxation training: effects on distress, positive states of mind, rumination, and distraction.

Background: Although mindfulness meditation interventions have recently shown benefits for reducing stress in various populations, little is known about their relative efficacy compared with relaxation interventions. Purpose: This randomized controlled trial examines the effects of a 1-month mindfulness meditation versus somatic relaxation training as compared to a control group in 83 students (M age = 25; 16 men and 67 women) reporting distress. Method: Psychological distress, positive states of mind, distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors, and spiritual experience were measured, while controlling for social desirability. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling reveals that both meditation and relaxation groups experienced significant decreases in distress as well as increases in positive mood states over time, compared with the control group (p < .05 in all cases). There were …

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Pain perception as a function of self-focused rumination.

Pain sensitivity and tolerance were studied using the cold-pressor technique. A 3 independent groups design was employed using rumination as the independent variable. Group 1 was given a situation in which anger-related self-rumination was introduced. Group 2 was given a self-related rumination task in which anger was not induced. Group 3 received a rumination task not related to the self. In addition, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory was given prior to the experiment to test the hypothesis that ratings on the Anger-In subtest would correlate with pain sensitivity. In each group were 6 men and 6 women. Each participant took the anger and another inventory not relevant to the present study before the experiment. An anger measure was taken before and after the experiment for each group to see if the anger induction in Group 1 actually increased anger. There were no differences am…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Benefits of expressive writing in lowering rumination and depressive symptoms.

Depression-vulnerable college students (with both elevated prior depressive symptoms and low current depressive symptoms) wrote on 3 consecutive days in either an expressive writing or a control condition. As predicted, participants scoring above the median on the suppression scale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) showed significantly lower depression symptoms at the 6-month assessment when they wrote in the expressive writing versus the control condition. Additional analyses revealed that treatment benefits were mediated by changes in the Brooding but not the Reflection scale of the Ruminative Response Scale (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). A "booster" writing session predicted to enhance treatment benefits failed to have a significant effect.

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Does working memory training work? The promise and challenges of enhancing cognition by training working memory.

A growing body of literature shows that one's working memory (WM) capacity can be expanded through targeted training. Given the established relationship between WM and higher cognition, these successful training studies have led to speculation that WM training may yield broad cognitive benefits. This review considers the current state of the emerging WM training literature, and details both its successes and limitations. We identify two distinct approaches to WM training, strategy training and core training, and highlight both the theoretical and practical motivations that guide each approach. Training-related increases in WM capacity have been successfully demonstrated across a wide range of subject populations, but different training techniques seem to produce differential impacts upon the broader landscape of cognitive abilities. In particular, core WM training studies seem to produce…

matched on Judgment (mesh), Cognition (mesh)

Adaptive and maladaptive components of rumination? Diagnostic specificity and relation to depressive biases.

The present study investigated the validity of the two-factor solution of items selected from the Rumination Scale of the Response Style Questionnaire proposed by Treynor, Gonzalez, and Nolen-Hoeksema (2003). In the first part of this study we used samples of currently depressed (MDD), formerly depressed (FD), socially anxious (SP), and healthy control participants to examine whether the brooding and reflective pondering components differentiate participants with an anxiety disorder from participants with depression. In the second part of this study we examined whether these components of rumination were differentially related to cognitive biases in depression. Overall, the MDD group exhibited higher brooding scores than did all other groups; SP and FD groups did not differ from each other but obtained higher brooding scores than did the control participants. Only the MDD and the control…

matched on Thinking (mesh), cognitive bias (text)

[French validation of the Anger Rumination Scale].

Background: The aim of this study was to propose a French version of the Anger Rumination Scale (ARS). The main contribution of this scale is to evaluate cognitive responses involved in rumination experience related to anger. The rumination experience is assessed through four scales: angry afterthoughts, thoughts of revenge, angry memories and understanding of causes. Because anger rumination is related to anger experience, it is usually understood to be a dysfunctional or unconstructive behavior. However, because the rumination involves cognitive activity, it can be assimilated as a cognitive strategy to cope with a negative event in a specific context. The ARS seems to be useful in understanding the rumination effects both on anger experience as well as on aggressive behaviors. Method: The original scale was translated following scientific recommendations for cultural adaptation of que…

matched on Thinking (mesh), Cognition (mesh)

Brooding and reflective rumination among suicide attempters: cognitive vulnerability to suicidal ideation.

Previous research suggests that the brooding subtype of rumination is associated with increased suicidal ideation, but findings are inconsistent with respect to reflection, considered to be the more adaptive form of rumination. This study investigated the circumstances under which reflective rumination might be associated with increased suicidal ideation by examining whether a suicide attempt history moderated the relationship between the ruminative subtypes and current suicidal ideation. Thirty-seven young adults who reported a past suicide attempt and fifty-nine young adults without a suicide attempt history completed measures of rumination and depression symptoms in an initial study session. They then completed a measure of suicidal ideation and hopelessness during a second study session. Overall, brooding was associated with higher self-reported suicidal ideation, whereas reflection …

matched on Thinking (mesh), Cognition (mesh)

Rumination predicts longer sleep onset latency after an acute psychosocial stressor.

Objectives: Rumination has been linked to self-reported sleep quality. However, whether rumination is related to an objective sleep parameter has not been tested. This study examined whether rumination predicts sleep onset latency (SOL) on the night after an acute psychosocial stressor. We hypothesized that those who ruminate (assessed with both trait and stressor-specific measures) would have longer SOL (assessed with objective and subjective methods). Methods: Seventy participants delivered a 5-minute speech in front of an evaluative panel during an afternoon laboratory session. Trait rumination was assessed before the stressor. Stressor-specific rumination was captured with the frequency of task-related thoughts participants experienced during a 10-minute rest period after the stressor. Participants wore actigraphs on their wrists on the night after the laboratory session to measure o…

matched on Thinking (mesh), Cognition (mesh)

Posttraumatic stress and growth: the contribution of cognitive appraisal and sense of belonging to the country.

The study has three aims: (1) to compare the effect of the Qassam attacks in two types of communities: development town and kibbutz; (2) to examine the relationship between posttraumatic stress (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG); and (3) to examine the contribution that level of exposure, cognitive appraisal, and sense of belonging to the country make to PTS and PTG. The sample consisted of 134 residents, 67 living on two kibbutzim and 67 living in the development town of Sderot. Results revealed that the development town residents reported more PTS symptoms and more PTG than did the kibbutz residents, and the association between PTS and PTG was positive. In addition, the findings show that most of the predictors contribute to either PTS or PTG, or predicted them differently. The discussion examines the results in light of the current literature on PTS and PTG.

matched on cognitive appraisal (text), Cognition (mesh)

Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken.

Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence. In this paper, I examine the peer-reviewed scientific data on the leading edge of cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities in these areas with other birds and other vertebrates, particularly mammals. My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas, and that there is …

matched on Thinking (mesh), cognitive bias (text), Cognition (mesh)

Acceptance versus reappraisal: Behavioral, autonomic, and neural effects.

Emotion regulation (ER) is an important skill for well-being. Cognitive reappraisal is a goal-oriented cognitive change strategy. Acceptance involves decentering from immediate habits of reactivity, observing moment-to-moment shifts in thoughts, emotions, and sensations. These two regulation strategies are thought to have different effects on emotion; however, no study has examined the differential effects of reappraisal and acceptance on behavioral, autonomic, and brain responses in the context of ideographic personally salient negative self-beliefs. Thirty-five right-handed, healthy adults were presented idiographic negative self-beliefs embedded in autobiographical scripts. We measured negative emotion ratings, autonomic psychophysiology, and functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen-level dependent responses while participants read neutral statements, reacted to their own ne…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Group metacognitive therapy for repetitive negative thinking in primary and non-primary generalized anxiety disorder: an effectiveness trial.

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common and highly comorbid anxiety disorder characterized by repetitive negative thinking (RNT). Treatment trials tend to exclude individuals with non-primary GAD, despite this being a common presentation in real world clinics. RNT is also associated with multiple emotional disorders, suggesting that it should be targeted regardless of the primary disorder. This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of brief group metacognitive therapy (MCT) for primary or non-primary GAD within a community clinic. Methods: Patients referred to a specialist community clinic attended six, two-hour weekly sessions plus a one-month follow-up (N=52). Measures of metacognitive beliefs, RNT, symptoms, positive and negative affect, and quality of life were completed at the first, last, and follow-up sessions. Results: Attrition was low and large …

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Mindfulness and rumination: does mindfulness training lead to reductions in the ruminative thinking associated with depression?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 1982, 1990) training on a self-selected adult community sample in the areas of mindfulness, rumination, depressive symptomatology and overall well-being. Targeting rumination was considered particularly important because a tendency toward rumination in nondepressed populations has been found to be predictive of subsequent onset of depression. As hypothesized, completers of the MBSR class showed increases in mindfulness and overall wellbeing, and decreases in rumination and symptoms of depression. Limitations of the study are discussed, as are the implications of these findings.

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Children's Judgments of Epistemic and Moral Agents: From Situations to Intentions.

Children's evaluations of moral and epistemic agents crucially depend on their discerning that an agent's actions were performed intentionally. Here we argue that children's epistemic and moral judgments reveal practices of forgiveness and blame, trust and mistrust, and objection or disapproval and that such practices are supported by children's monitoring of the situational constraints on agents. Inherent in such practices is the understanding that agents are responsible for actions performed under certain conditions but not others. We discuss a range of situational constraints on children's early epistemic and moral evaluations and clarify how these situational constraints serve to support children's identification of intentional actions. By monitoring the situation, children distinguish intentional from less intentional action and selectively hold epistemic and moral agents accountabl…

matched on Judgment (mesh), Cognition (mesh), Thinking (keyword)

Development and Validation of the Self-Compassion Scale for Youth.

We present a series of studies on the development and validation of the Self-Compassion Scale-Youth version (SCS-Y), which is intended for use with early adolescents in middle school. Study 1 (N = 279, Mage = 12.17) describes the selection of 17 items out of a pool of 36 potential items, with three items each representing the subscales of self-kindness, mindfulness, common humanity, self-judgment, isolation, and two items representing over-identification. Using state-of-the-art psychometric analyses ideal for examining multidimensional constructs like self-compassion-bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (bifactor-ESEM)-findings supported the use of a general self-compassion score and six subscale scores. Study 2 cross-validated the factor structure of the SCS-Y with a second sample of youths (N = 402, Mage = 12.43). Study 3 found support for the test-retest reliability of th…

matched on Judgment (mesh)

Wise reasoning benefits from emodiversity, irrespective of emotional intensity.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 148(5) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (see record 2019-25114-002). In the original article, all references to Study 6 in the text and Table 5 should be omitted. The resulting corrections are included in the erratum. All versions of this article have been corrected.] The role of emotions in wise reasoning is not well understood. On the one hand, work on emotional regulation suggests that downregulating intense emotions may lead to wiser reasoning. On the other hand, emerging work suggests that recognizing and balancing emotions provides critical insights into life experiences, suggesting an alternative path to wiser reasoning. We present a series of observational, diary, and experimental studies (N = 3,678 participants) addressing these possibilities, examining how wisdom-related characteristics of reasoni…

matched on Judgment (mesh)

Rethinking stress: the role of mindsets in determining the stress response.

This article describes 3 studies that explore the role of mindsets in the context of stress. In Study 1, we present data supporting the reliability and validity of an 8-item instrument, the Stress Mindset Measure (SMM), designed to assess the extent to which an individual believes that the effects of stress are either enhancing or debilitating. In Study 2, we demonstrate that stress mindsets can be altered by watching short, multimedia film clips presenting factual information biased toward defining the nature of stress in 1 of 2 ways (stress-is-enhancing vs. stress-is-debilitating). In Study 3, we demonstrate the effect of stress mindset on physiological and behavioral outcomes, showing that a stress-is-enhancing mindset is associated with moderate cortisol reactivity and high desire for feedback under stress. Together, these 3 studies suggest that stress mindset is a distinct and meani…

matched on Judgment (mesh)

Gender differences in teachers' perceptions of students' temperament, educational competence, and teachability.

Background: Student's temperament plays a significant role in teacher's perception of the student's learning style, educational competence (EC), and teachability. Hence, temperament contributes to student's academic achievement and teacher's subjective ratings of school grades. However, little is known about the effect of gender and teacher's age on this association. Aims: We examined the effect of teacher's and student's gender and teacher's age on teacher-perceived temperament, EC, and teachability, and whether there is significant same gender or different gender association between teachers and students in this relationship. Sample: The participants were population-based sample of 3,212 Finnish adolescents (M= 15.1 years) and 221 subject teachers. Methods: Temperament was assessed with Temperament Assessment Battery for Children - Revised and Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey b…

matched on Judgment (mesh)

Neural development of mentalizing in moral judgment from adolescence to adulthood.

The neural mechanisms underlying moral judgment have been extensively studied in healthy adults. How these mechanisms evolve from adolescence to adulthood has received less attention. Brain regions that have been consistently implicated in moral judgment in adults, including the superior temporal cortex and prefrontal cortex, undergo extensive developmental changes from adolescence to adulthood. Thus, their role in moral judgment may also change over time. In the present study, 51 healthy male participants age 13–53 were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they viewed pictures that did or did not depict situations considered by most individuals to represent moral violations, and rated their degree of moral violation severity. Consistent with predictions, a regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between age and hemodynamic activity in the temporo-p…

matched on Judgment (mesh)

Amygdala volume and nonverbal social impairment in adolescent and adult males with autism.

Background: Autism is a syndrome of unknown cause, marked by abnormal development of social behavior. Attempts to link pathological features of the amygdala, which plays a key role in emotional processing, to autism have shown little consensus. Objective: To evaluate amygdala volume in individuals with autism spectrum disorders and its relationship to laboratory measures of social behavior to examine whether variations in amygdala structure relate to symptom severity. Design: We conducted 2 cross-sectional studies of amygdala volume, measured blind to diagnosis on high-resolution, anatomical magnetic resonance images. Participants were 54 males aged 8 to 25 years, including 23 with autism and 5 with Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, recruited and evaluated at an academic center for developmental disabilities and 26 age- and sex-matched communi…

matched on Judgment (mesh)