Appraisal Profile Research Articles

Secondary school students' appraisal profiles and their relations with academic emotions in mathematics

This study adopted a person-centered method to investigate the latent profiles of students' cognitive appraisals based on control-value theory, providing a picture of their academic emotional landscape. Students' appraisal profiles regarding academic emotions were also compared. The data were collected from 1762 students (50.7 % male; Mage = 13.88, SD = 0.84) in 68 mathematics classrooms across 11 secondary schools in Jiangsu, China. Latent profile analysis identified four patterns based on academic control and value: extrinsic value orientation (4.9 %) and low (13.4 %), medium (41.3 %), and high appraisal profiles (40.4 %). Students in the high appraisal profile showed the highest level of positive emotions and the lowest level of negative emotions, followed by those with the medium appraisal profile. Those in the extrinsic value orientation profile, however, displayed the lowest level of positive emotions and the highest level of negative emotions. The four profiles also showed significant correlations with the students' background characteristics. Educational relevance statementThis study aims to explore possible subgroups of control and value appraisals and their relationships with academic emotions in mathematics classrooms. This study suggests that students in the high appraisal profile (i.e., high academic control and value) tend to report high levels of positive emotions and low levels of negative emotions, followed by students in the medium profile (i.e., medium academic control and value). Additionally, students in the extrinsic value orientation profile (i.e., high extrinsic value but low academic control and intrinsic value) performed worse than the students in other three appraisal profiles both emotionally and academically. Therefore, it is crucial to foster students' competence beliefs and intrinsic value in mathematics to enhance their positive learning experiences.

Mental health after lumbar spine surgery: cognitive appraisal processes and outcome in a longitudinal cohort study

BACKGROUND CONTEXTA not uncommon finding following spine surgery is that many patients do not achieve mental health improvement up to population norms for their age cohort, despite improvement in pain and functioning. PURPOSEThis study examined how patients who were categorized as depressed versus not depressed think about health-related quality of life as assessed by cognitive-appraisal processes. It examined cross-sectional and longitudinal differences over 12 months postsurgery. DESIGNProspective longitudinal cohort study with data collected at presurgery and at ∼3- and ∼12-months postsurgery from August 2013 to August 2023. PATIENT SAMPLEWe included 173 adults undergoing lumbar spine surgery for degenerative spinal conditions at an academic medical center. The study sample was 47% female, with a mean age of 61 (SD=15.0), and a median level of education of college graduate. OUTCOME MEASURESDepression was defined as a Mental Component Score (MCS)≤38 on the Rand-36, building on studies that equated MCS scores with significant depression as assessed by clinically validated depression scales. The Quality-of-Life Appraisal Profile assessed the cognitive-appraisal domains of Experience Sampling and Standards of Comparison. METHODSThe analysis focused on two comparisons: cross-sectionally comparing those who were not depressed (n=82) to those who were depressed (n=77) at baseline; and comparing longitudinal trajectories among those depressed before surgery and improved (n=54) versus did not improve (n=23). T-tests characterized group differences in appraisal endorsement; analysis of variance evaluated appraisal items in terms of explained variance; and Pearson correlation coefficients assessed direction of association in predicting mental health. RESULTSThere were presurgical and longitudinal differences in both cognitive appraisal domains. Before surgery, depressed patients were less likely than nondepressed patients to endorse emphasizing the positive; more likely to focus on worst moments, recent flare-ups, their spinal condition, and the future; and more likely to compare themselves to high aspirations (eg, perfect health). Over time, among those who were depressed before surgery, those who improved focused decreasingly on worst moments and on the time before their spinal condition, and increasingly on emphasizing the positive and balancing the positives/negatives. Appraisal explained more variance in mental health among those who did not improve as compared to those who did, at all timepoints. All appraisal items were more highly correlated with mental health among those who remained depressed as compared to those who improved, particularly over time. CONCLUSIONSEndorsement of cognitive appraisal processes was different for depressed versus nondepressed spine-surgery patients before surgery and distinguished those who were depressed before surgery and improved versus those who did not improve. These findings suggest that targeted interventions could be beneficial for addressing mental health concerns during the spine surgery recovery trajectory. These interventions might use appraisal measures to identify patients likely to remain depressed after surgery, and then focus on helping these patients shift their focus and standards of comparison.

Latent profiles of challenge, hindrance, and threat appraisals on time pressure and job complexity: Antecedents and outcomes

This research challenges the a priori classification of time pressure and job complexity as challenge stressors and seeks to illuminate the emergence of different appraisal configurations using a latent profile approach. The sample consisted of 629 employees (66.1% male). Employees who appraised time pressure and job complexity as challenges reported higher job satisfaction and work engagement and felt less emotionally exhausted and mentally stressed compared to those with dominant hindrance/threat appraisals. Employees who report to be more resilient and have autonomy are more likely to fall into a Dominant Challenge Appraisal profile. Those who face high emotional demands are more likely to be in a Dominant Hindrance/Threat Appraisal profile. This research offers a fresh perspective on why it is essential for employers to consider their teams’ perceptions and resources when introducing new tasks or deadlines. By providing employees with adequate resources, organizations can promote a more adaptive approach to work challenges. JEL Classification: L20, L29, L00

"Heart strings and purse strings" revisited: A preregistered replication and extension.

The Appraisal-Tendency Framework outlines that discrete emotions of similar valence behave differently, based on each emotion's specific appraisal profile. In the domain of pricing decisions, a seminal paper by Lerner and colleagues report incidental, negative emotions of disgust and sadness to show a divergent effect on spending decisions based on the perceived ownership of a commodity. Specifically, disgust-reduced spending while sadness increased spending on a new product. However, these researchers theorized, but did not statistically test the effects of emotion-induced motivational goals for sadness ("change circumstances") and disgust ("expel and avoid") as the drivers behind their divergent effects on spending. This study (N = 403) sought to replicate these primary findings in close adherence to the original protocol with better measurement properties in a different geographical location. It further extended the examination by empirically testing the distinct mediating processes for sadness and disgust by utilizing measures identified from a pilot study (N = 169) based on the original protocol. We found support for the effect of sadness (vs. disgust and neutral) in inducing higher choice prices through the motivational goal of changing circumstances, but the expected pattern of results for disgust was not replicated. Additionally, we examined the role of arousal in this context as a factor driving the effect of these emotions on spending. Our research offers new insights regarding the well-known "misery-is not miserly" effect for practitioners while also providing impetus for future research on the endowment effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Challenge and threat appraisal of entrepreneurial errors: a latent profile analysis and examination of coping responses

According to transactional stress theory (TST), the extent to which entrepreneurs cope with errors by engaging in error damage control or ruminating about disengaging from their business goals depends on whether they interpret action errors as predominantly challenging or threatening. Using latent profile analysis (LPA), the current study investigates the existence of latent profiles of challenge and threat appraisal of entrepreneurial errors and their relationship with error damage control and rumination about business goal disengagement in a sample of 649 entrepreneurs. The results identify five appraisal profiles characterized by different challenge and threat appraisal intensities. The levels of error damage control and rumination about business goal disengagement differed between the profiles. Specifically, entrepreneurs high in challenge and threat appraisal showed higher levels of both forms of coping than those low in appraisal. Entrepreneurs falling into a high challenge and low threat appraisal profile exhibited the lowest level of business goal disengagement. Still, they showed similar levels of error damage control to those high on challenge and threat appraisal. Implications for the further development of TST and the development of effective error management interventions are discussed.

The curious case of threat-awe: A theoretical and empirical reconceptualization.

Threat-based awe, or threat-awe, has been conceptualized as a fear-centric, negative-valenced variant of awe, although awe is a positive emotion embodying wonder and amazement. This research, however, argues that threat-awe is a mixed emotion rather than a negatively valenced subaspect of awe. We tested this conceptualization using two methodologies: (a) the theoretical framework of cognitive appraisals and (b) measures of ambivalence (an emotion co-occurrence index of bivalence, the Evaluative Space Grid, and a four-item scale to measure mixed emotions). Five studies (N = 1,140) compared threat-awe's appraisal profile and valence perceptions to univalenced, positive (awe, pride, happiness) and negative (fear) emotions. Research suggests that appraisal profiles of mixed emotions are close to their component emotions but distinct on certain appraisal dimensions. The empirical measures of valence demonstrate that threat-awe is felt as awe and fear in concert. Further, in terms of appraisals, threat-awe's appraisal profile is distinct from awe and fear on the dimensions of vastness, pleasantness, and situational control. Together, the two approaches-cognitive appraisals and measures of valence-provide convergent evidence that threat-awe is a mixed emotion. In conceptually clarifying threat-awe, we contribute to the nascent literature on mixed emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Today's challenge may be tomorrow's hindrance (and vice versa): Longitudinal changes in employee’s appraisals of job demands and their outcomes

Researchers have long been interested in understanding how appraisals influence stressor–outcome relationships. Most studies in this area employ a variable‐centred approach, which ignores the possibility that there may be subpopulations of employees who differ in the combined use of challenge and hindrance appraisals. Building on transactional stress theory, we investigated (a) the potential existence of distinct latent appraisals profiles of job demands (i.e. time urgency, role conflict and emotional demands), (b) the outcomes associated with particular appraisal profiles and (c) the stability of these profiles over time. In a two‐wave study with a one‐year time interval (T1, N = 535, T2, N = 152) among Chinese workers, we identified three distinct appraisals profiles in both study waves (i.e. ‘positivists’, ‘negativists’ and ‘indifferent workers’). The positivists reported the highest levels of engagement, job satisfaction and the lowest levels of burnout. Interestingly, most participants appeared to change their appraisal profile over time (i.e. very often from ‘negativist’ and ‘positivist’ to ‘indifferent worker’, while they were less likely to change their appraisal profile to ‘positivist’). Furthermore, job demands influenced employees' appraisal profiles. Taken together, our results shed light on the nature of the appraisal of demands in the work context and how different employees use distinct combinations of appraisal to address their work demands.Practitioner points Managers should be aware that there are subgroups of employees that appraise their job demands differently: positivists, negativists and indifferent workers. Positivists tend to have higher well‐being than negativists and indifferent workers. Employees appear to change their appraisals of job demands over time. In particular, positivists tend to become indifferent workers. It is important that organizations provide sufficient resources and support to their employees to promote high challenge appraisals.

Capturing patient experience: does quality-of-life appraisal entail a new class of measurement?

BackgroundTwo decades of research on quality-of-life (QOL) appraisal have demonstrated links between patient experience and health outcomes and have accounted for both intra-individual change and inter-individual differences in a wide range of research contexts. The present work investigates patterns across diagnostic and demographic groupings to demonstrate how population-specific circumstances drive the structure of QOL appraisal.MethodsThis secondary analysis (N = 6448) utilized data from six patient groups: spine surgery, multiple sclerosis, heterogeneous chronically ill, heterogeneous cancer, bladder cancer, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We explored patterns of inter-item correlation across patient samples, using items from the Standards of Comparison and Sampling of Experience subsections of the QOL Appraisal Profile v1 and v2. Similar matrices were compared by demographic characteristics.ResultsPatterns of inter-item correlations for Standards of Comparison items varied sharply across disease groups and racial groups while being similar across age, gender, and education levels. Inter-item correlation matrices for Sampling of Experience items revealed marked differences among disease groups and educational and racial categories but were similar across age and gender groups.ConclusionsAppraisal parameters showed evidence of shared and unique aspects across samples and circumstances, findings which make sense in light of sample differences in health status and demographic influences. Tools to assess patient experience and meaning may be best understood as idiometric instruments. We discuss their distinctions from psychometric and clinimetric tools at theoretical, statistical, and applied levels.

Evolution of social power over influence networks containing antagonistic interactions

Individual social power in the opinion formation process over social influence networks has been under intense scientific investigation. Most related works assume explicitly or implicitly that the interpersonal influence weights are always non-negative. In sharp comparison, we argue that such influence weights can be both positive and negative since there exist various contrasting relationships in real-world social networks. Hence, this article studies the evolution of opinion dynamics and social power on cooperative-competitive networks whose influence structure changes via a reflected appraisal mechanism along a sequence of issue discussions. Of particular focus is on identifying the pathways and effects of social power on shaping public opinions from a graph-theoretic perspective. Then, we propose a dynamic model for the reflected self-appraisal process, which enables us to discuss how the individual social power evolves over sequential issue discussions. By accommodating differential Lyapunov theory, we show the global exponential convergence of the self-appraisal model for almost all network topologies. Finally, we conclude that the self-appraisals and social powers are eventually dependent only on an interpersonal appraisal profile.

A latent profile analysis of moral injury appraisals in refugees

ABSTRACT Background: Refugees often exhibit reactions to traumatic events that may be conceptualized as moral injury (i.e. the impact of events that violate important moral values). There have been two types of moral injury appraisals found in refugees: transgressions by others and transgressions by oneself. Objective: To examine whether these types of moral injury appraisals co-occur or whether one form is usually predominant. Additionally, to investigate what types of events (trauma, living difficulties) and outcomes (PTSD, depression, anger, suicidality) were associated with each moral injury appraisal profile. Method: Participants included 221 refugees and asylum seekers residing in Australia. Data was collected online, and via pen and paper. A latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of moral injury appraisals. Results: Results indicated a three-profile solution: Moral Injury-Other (MI-O; 37.8%), Moral Injury Other + Self (MI-OS; 35.2%), and no moral injury (No-MI; 26.9%). MI-O and MI-OS were predicted by both trauma experience and living difficulties. MI-O and MI-OS were also associated with greater psychopathology across all outcome variables compared to No-MI. MI-OS was also associated with greater anger and depression, compared to the MI-O profile. Conclusions: The association between the moral injury appraisal profiles and traumatic events, living difficulties and psychopathology, will have important clinical implications.

An appraisal profile of nostalgia.

The authors aimed to (a) identify the cognitive appraisals underlying nostalgia and (b) compare nostalgia with other emotions in terms of its appraisal profile. In Study 1, participants (N = 1,125) generated narratives. Next, they reported the level of nostalgia and 31 other emotions that these narratives elicited. Subsequently, participants evaluated the narrative events on several cognitive appraisals. Events that elicited nostalgia were pleasant, involved an irretrievable loss, felt psychologically distant, and were unique-an appraisal profile that differed from all other emotions. In Study 2 (N = 1,261), the authors experimentally varied these appraisals in a vignette paradigm and measured anticipated nostalgia and 10 other emotions. Participants anticipated most nostalgia when events were pleasant, involved irretrievable loss, were distant, and were unique-a profile shared only with longing. In Study 3 (N = 994), the authors used a guided autobiographical recall procedure in which they manipulated appraisals and measured the resultant emotions. Corroborating Studies 1-2, nostalgia was most intense for events that were pleasant, irretrievably lost, temporally distant, and unique. This appraisal profile was not shared by other emotions. The findings delineate the distinguishing cognitive appraisal profile of nostalgia. Nostalgia occupies a special place in the pantheon of emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for An Appraisal Profile of Nostalgia

Supplemental Material for An Appraisal Profile of Nostalgia

A model of appraisal: Spanish interpretations of President Trump’s inaugural address 2017

ABSTRACTThis article analyses President Trump’s inaugural speech (2017) from the point of view of appraisal theory. It compares the source text appraisal profile with that of six Spanish target texts (five simultaneous interpretations and one written translation) in order to identify critical points of interpreter/translator intervention. The article replicates analysis of President Obama’s 2009 inaugural speech, enabling further generalisation of the earlier findings and a refinement of methodology. This new study concurs with the earlier one in revealing that expressions of attitude rarely shift; by contrast, shifts in graduation are less frequent in Trump’s speech, possibly because the reduced speed of delivery does not force the interpreter into so many omissions. More sensitive are shifts in engagement, particularly counter-expectancy indicators and pronouns, which affect deictic positioning. The article concludes with a discussion of the methodology and the role played by speech mode, since problems described by interpreters are found more frequently in Trump’s impromptu or unscripted speeches than in the more formal scripted inauguration.

Distinguishing appraisal and personality influences on quality of life in chronic illness: introducing the quality-of-life Appraisal Profile version 2.

Cognitive appraisal of quality of life (QOL) differs across individuals in ways that explain otherwise paradoxical findings, such as similar QOL ratings among individuals in highly divergent health states. Although warranted by a growing body of evidence, routine assessment of appraisal in QOL research has been impeded by measurement challenges. This study describes the QOL Appraisal Profile-version 2 (QOLAPv2), a new measure that addresses these challenges. A heterogeneous, on-line cohort of chronic disease patients and caregivers completed the QOLAPv2, along with demographics, PROMIS10 and Brief NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). Analyses address the psychometric properties and construct validity of this new measure using principal components, bivariate, canonical correlation, and linear regression analyses. Analysis including 4173 respondents yielded 12 second-order QOLAPv2 principal components. Appraisal components varied with age and disease duration. Appraisals involving "Wellness," "Health," and "Recent Challenges" were correlated with QOL and with NEO-PI scales of "Agreeableness" and "Conscientiousness." Canonical correlation analysis revealed that QOL scales were associated with appraisals involving "Spirituality," "Anticipating Decline," and "Lightness of Being." Appraisal dimensions of "Relationships," "Maintaining Roles," "Independence," "Pursuing Dreams," and "Lightness of Being" were also associated with personality scales. Appraisal measures accounted for significantly more variance in QOL than personality and demographics alone. Findings corroborate the Rapkin and Schwartz QOL appraisal theory. QOL appraisal measures correlate as expected with personality scales, and explain more variance in QOL than does personality. The QOLAPv2 can be used across populations to provide insight into patients' concerns, salient experiences, and comparators.

Appraisal assessment in patient-reported outcome research: methods for uncovering the personal context and meaning of quality of life.

Recent work on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) focuses on precise, brief measures, which generally convey little about what an individual's rating actually means. Individual differences in appraisal are important and relevant to PRO research. This paper highlights the advantages of integrating appraisal assessment into clinical research. The most comprehensive method for assessing appraisal, the quality of life (QOL) Appraisal Profile, includes open-ended and multiple choice questions to assess four appraisal parameters: frame of reference, sampling of experience, standards of comparison, and combinatory algorithm. We illustrate with empirical findings four classes of investigation that would benefit from appraisal assessment: methodological, interpretation of change, the backstory of resilience, and clinical applications. A methodological investigation of HIV/AIDS patients revealed a range of cognitive schemas induced by the then-test response shift detection method, only 15% of which reflected the presumed process invoked. In this same study and in a study of people with multiple sclerosis (MS), interpretation of change in positive versus negative mental-health response shifts was characterized by different appraisal processes. In studying resilience in MS patients, patients with more reserve-building activities were more likely to use appraisals that emphasized the positive and more controllable aspects of their illness experience, as compared to lower-reserve patients. In underserved cancer patients, the QOL Appraisal Profile was used as a clinical interview to articulate current concerns and for personalized treatment decision-making to reduce burden and promote adherence. Integrating appraisal assessment can provide a more textured, person-centered understanding of person-factors not captured by standard PROs.

When global rating of change contradicts observed change: Examining appraisal processes underlying paradoxical responses over time.

Interpreting change scores is challenging when patients' global rating of change (GRC) scores contradict their observed change scores. We examine appraisal processes associated with having GRC-observed change contradictions. This secondary analysis of longitudinal multiple sclerosis (MS) registry data examined predictors of GRC scores in the whole sample (n=858). Logistic modeling then examined predictors of membership in one of two paradoxical subgroups (n=525): (a) Worsened GRC with unchanged observed Rand-12 Mental Component scores (MCS) (Symptom-Maximizers, n=171) versus no change GRC among stable MCS subsample; and (b) same GRC with declined observed MCS scores (Symptom-Minimizers, n=84) versus declining GRC among declining MCS subsample. Independent variables were cognitive appraisal processes from the Quality of Life (QOL) Appraisal Profile. GRC scores were more strongly associated with appraisal processes than with change in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) (R 2=11 and 2%, respectively). Symptom-Maximizers tended to focus on MS-related experiences and emphasize big changes; over time, they decreasingly defined QOL in terms of independence, increasingly focused on their MS, and increasingly compared themselves to doctor's predictions (Pseudo R 2=0.20). In contrast, Symptom-Minimizers tended not to recall recent episodes; over time, they focused increasingly on goals related to living situation and emphasized long-term concerns (Pseudo R 2=0.25). Appraisal explains more variance in GRC scores than do changes in PROs. People whose GRC assessment contradicts their observed change can be characterized by distinct cognitive appraisal processes reflecting response shift.

Refining a Web-based goal assessment interview: item reduction based on reliability and predictive validity.

Goals are an important basis for patients' cognitive appraisal processes underlying quality-of-life (QOL) assessment because they are the foundation to one's frame of reference. We sought to identify the best of six goal delineation items and relevant themes for two new versions of the QOL Appraisal Profile: an interview tool using a subset of the best open-ended goal delineation items, and a shorter close-ended version for use in survey research. This is a secondary analysis of longitudinal data (n=1126) of participants in the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) registry. The open-ended data were coded by at least two trained coders with moderately high inter-rater agreement. There were 31 themes reflecting goal content such as health, interpersonal, independence, mental health, and financial themes. Descriptive statistics identified most prevalent themes. Reliability analysis (alpha, item-total correlations) and hierarchical linear modeling identified the best goal items. Based on these qualitative and quantitative analyses, Solve (item 2) is the best single item because it is clear anchor for about a third of the goal themes, and explains the most variance in outcomes and demographic characteristics, suggesting that it taps into and reveals diversity in the sample. The next best items are Accomplish and Maintain (items 1 and 4), which are useful in tapping into and revealing diversity among people reporting cognitive deficits (Accomplish), and demographic factors (both Accomplish and Maintain items). The goal delineation items identified as best performers in this study will be used to develop a shorter open-ended version of the QOL Appraisal Profile, and an entirely close-ended version of the QOL Appraisal Profile for use in more standard survey research settings. These tools will enable coaching patients in medical decision making as well as investigations of appraisal and response shift in QOL research.

Distilling the essence of appraisal: a mixed methods study of people with multiple sclerosis.

This study aimed to identify the essential parts of the Quality of Life (QOL) Appraisal Profile that capture the most important differences in the ways that people with multiple sclerosis respond to patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures. This process will enable the eventual development of a more practical, less resource-intensive version of the QOL Appraisal Profile to facilitate its use in clinical research and practice. This is a secondary analysis of longitudinal PRO data (n = 859) of participants in the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis registry. Following the Rapkin and Schwartz (Health Qual Life Outcomes 2(1):14, 2004) model, we computed a "standard QOL model," and then multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminant function (DF) analysis to identify patterns of appraisal measures associated with group differences in response to each QOL outcome. The "standard QOL model" explains a moderate amount of variance (i.e., 15-17 %) in physical functioning and disease-specific disability, and very little variance in mental health functioning. The MANOVAs identified the appraisal variables that mattered by PRO, and the DF analysis included 10-16 of the 83 potential appraisal variables in two DFs per outcome that distinguished groups with better, average, and worse expected scores, as well as groups with better-than-expected, as-expected, and worse-than-expected scores. The dominant appraisal parameters were more similar between the generic and disease-specific measure of physical functioning and disability, respectively, than between the mental health measure and the former two measures. The practical implications of this work all revolve around a fundamental recommendation: Whenever one measures QOL, one should measure appraisal.

Fluctuations in appraisal over time in the context of stable versus non-stable health

This study seeks to estimate clinically significant change in quality of life (QOL) appraisal by comparing changes in appraisal over 6months of follow-up in people with multiple sclerosis who experienced no change in symptoms versus those with worsening symptoms. This estimation is important for enabling valid interpretation of longitudinal change, both in terms of ensuring the comparison of scores and for response shift estimation. This is a secondary analysis of longitudinal data (N=859) of participants in the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis registry. Patient groupings were characterized on the basis of self-reported symptom change over 1year of follow-up and compared in terms of their responses to the QOL Appraisal Profile. Bonferroni adjustments reduced the type I error rate, and interpretation was restricted to those comparisons with small or larger effect sizes using Cohen's criteria. The Symptoms Unchanged group evidenced more change in Frame of Reference goal delineation themes and Combinatory Algorithm, whereas the Symptoms Worse group evidenced more change in Sampling of Experience and Standards of Comparison items. The group differences were, however, not large or statistically significant in most cases, likely due to being under-powered to detect interaction effects. Many aspects of appraisal are relatively constant in the context of unchanging and changing symptom experience, but symptom changes led patients to make substantial shifts in what experiences they sample when thinking about their health-related QOL. These underlying cognitive processes may help people to maintain homeostasis in their perceived QOL.

How to Evaluate Capital Projects that Offer Environmental/Carbon Reduction Benefits

In many cases, projects that have strong environmental / carbon reduction benefits may be neglected due to biases associated with traditional project appraisal approaches. To reduce the level of rejections for such projects, the authors apply an innovative methodology, the financial appraisal profile (FAP) model. FAP is a normative model that seeks to address some of the issues and limitations posed by standard appraisal and evaluation approaches. By making the right decision in the first place and involving senior managers in the appraisal process, the organisation is better placed to achieve project success. The adoption of a management team approach to investment appraisals will not only enhance the information base but will also result in greater managerial commitment to a project. By adopting the FAP model with the inclusion of an environmental assessment in the form the ‘environmental score index’, will help focus top management on an increasingly important corporate strategy issue. An illustrative case study is used to outline the important aspects of this new approach. The paper concludes that this approach fills a gap in the environmental / carbon reduction investment literature, where there is a paucity of comprehensive, structured, and transparent methodologies that can prove acceptable to management decision-makers from a variety of functions and viewpoints. Keywords: Carbon Reduction, Environmental Score Index, Environmental Sustainability, Financial Appraisal Profile (FAP) Model, Investment Appraisal