Conceptual Breadth Research Articles

Are younger people more accurate at identifying mental health disorders, recommending help appropriately, and do they show lower mental health stigma than older people?: Age differences in mental health disorder recognition

IntroductionMental health awareness initiatives and expansion in the concept breadth of mental health disorders have been suggested as potential contributors to the increased prevalence of mental disorders and help-seeking in younger people. Consistent with positive effects of mental health awareness campaigns, this study explored whether younger people show greater accuracy at recognising mental health disorders from written vignettes, lower mental health stigma and appropriate help-seeking recommendations. MethodParticipants (n = 134 participants <40 years and n = 105 participants ≥40 years of age) were randomised to see three vignettes (Schizophrenia, social anxiety and grief) depicting a ‘young’ character (in their 20 s) or an ‘older’ character (in their 50 s). After each vignette, they were asked whether the character had a mental health disorder, whether they should seek help and questions focused on mental health stigma. They were also asked questions about their own mental health. ResultsYounger participants were more likely to identify a mental health problem and recommend help-seeking for social anxiety and grief than older participants. There were no differences for Schizophrenia. Younger people showed greater stigma towards the vignettes depicting Schizophrenia and social anxiety and rated their own mental health significantly worse than older participants. ConclusionResults are consistent with better sensitivity, but lower specificity in the recognition of mental disorders in younger people. Perceptions of whether distressing experiences are considered a mental health disorder that requires professional help (but not the severity of the experiences themselves) may be different in younger compared to older age groups.

Otherness and stigma: The public understanding of what mental illness is moderates the association of continuum beliefs and social acceptance

Belief in a continuum of symptoms from mental health to mental illness (MI) has an impact on the social acceptance of people with MI. However, little is known about whether people's conception of MI itself and in particular how broad that conception is, has an impact on the social acceptance of individuals with MI or affects continuum beliefs. To address this research gap, it is necessary to capture and monitor public understanding of MI. Using 17 different statements that describe behaviors on a spectrum from mentally healthy to ambiguous to indicative of MI, we examine how the German public conceptualizes MI. Specifically, we develop a measure to capture the breadth of an individual's conception of MI. We find that a broader concept of MI is associated with greater social acceptability. In addition, we show that continuum beliefs and the breadth of the concept of MI interact – continuum beliefs are especially important for stigma reduction when individuals have a narrow concept of MI. For future research, this finding implies that with regard to social acceptance of people with MI, individuals with a narrow concept benefit from continuum interventions in particular.

Broad concepts of mental disorder predict self-diagnosis

Understanding why people identify themselves as having a mental disorder is crucial for making sense of recent rises in self-diagnosis and help-seeking. Previous studies have implicated factors such as levels of distress, mental health literacy, and stigma. Motivated by concept creep research, we tested whether self-diagnosis is also associated with the expansiveness of people's concepts of mental disorder. A nationally representative sample of 474 Americans completed measures of distress, impairment, mental health literacy, stigma, and newly validated concept breadth scales, in addition to current and lifetime mental disorder (both self- and professionally-diagnosed) and help-seeking. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that participants with broader concepts of disorder were more likely to self-diagnose and seek help, independent of distress and impairment, mental health literacy, and low stigma. Holding broader concepts also partially accounted for higher levels of self-diagnosis among younger and more liberal participants and predicted self-diagnosis independently of formal diagnosis. Implications for the surge in self-diagnosis and concerns about pathologization of everyday life are discussed.

A Flexible Inventory of Survey Items for Environmental Concepts Generated via Special Attention to Content Validity and Item Response Theory

We demonstrate how many important measures of belief about the environmental suffer from poor content validity and inadequate conceptual breadth (dimensionality). We used scholarship in environmental science and philosophy to propose a list of 13 environmental concepts that can be held as beliefs. After precisely articulating the concepts, we developed 85 trial survey items that emphasized content validity for each concept. The concepts’ breadth and the items’ content validity were aided by scrutiny from 17 knowledgeable critics. We administered the trial items to 449 residents of the United States and used item response theory to reduce the 85 trial items to smaller sets of items for use when survey brevity is required. The reduced sets offered good predictive ability for two environmental attitudes (R2 = 0.42 and 0.46) and indices of pro-environmental behavior (PEB, R2 = 0.23) and behavioral intention (R2 = 0.25). The predictive results were highly interpretable, owing to their robust content validity. For example, PEB was predicted by the degree to which one believes nature to be sacred, but not by the degree of one’s non-anthropocentrism. Concepts with the greatest overall predictive ability were Sacredness and Hope. Belief in non-anthropocentrism had little predictive ability for all four response variables—a claim that previously could not have been made given the widespread poverty of content validity for items representing non-anthropocentrism in existing instruments. The approach described here is especially amenable to incremental improvement, as other researchers propose more informative survey items and potentially important concepts of environmental beliefs we overlooked.

Gender and conceptual breadth of barriers to higher education in Asian countries

AbstractPsychological studies of the denial of prejudice and discrimination have suggested that although members of target groups are sensitive to episodes of discrimination, they may deny episodes of discrimination to maintain a positive self‐image. Here, through two studies, we investigated the role of the perceiver and target gender in shaping perceived barriers to education from a transnational feminist perspective. The participants were 132 Japanese university students (Study 1) and 1143 students from four Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, and Japan) (Study 2). They read three vignettes depicting different types of obstacles to higher education and rated the extent to which each example constituted a barrier to education. Our results support the sensitivity hypothesis. Regardless of their cultural background, the female participants tended to perceive more barriers to education than their male counterparts. However, the denial hypothesis was not consistently supported. The authors discuss the meaning of denial of educational barriers among female students and future directions.

Individual differences in the expansiveness of mental disorder concepts: development and validation of concept breadth scales

BackgroundWhat people consider to be a mental disorder is likely to influence how they perceive others who are experiencing problems and whether they seek help for their own problems. However, no measure is available to assess individual differences in the expansiveness or breadth of concepts of mental disorder. Four studies aimed to develop and validate two such measures. The Concept Breadth-Vertical (CB-V) scale assesses variability in the severity threshold at which unusual behavior or experience is judged to reflect disorder, whereas the Concept Breadth-Horizontal (CB-H) scale assesses variability in the range of phenomena judged to be disorders.MethodsIn a pilot study (N = 201) for the CB-V, participants read vignettes of varying severity for each of the 10 mental disorders, and rated whether the subject had a disorder. Study 1 (N = 502) used exploratory factor analyses to examine 10 CB-V items from the pilot study and 20 vignette-based items for constructing the CB-H. Study 2 (N = 298) employed confirmatory factor analysis to validate the scales’ structure and examined their convergent validity with a measure of harm concept breadth and their discriminant validity with measures of mental health literacy. Study 3 (N = 298) explored associations of the scales with other mental health variables, including stigma and help-seeking attitudes.ResultsStudy 1 supported the unifactorial structure of each item set, refined each set into a scale, and demonstrated acceptable reliabilities. Study 2 provided support for the scales’ convergent and discriminant validities. Study 3 showed that the scales were associated negatively with stigma, and positively with help-seeking attitudes and self-reported mental health problems. Studies 2 and 3 further indicated that younger and more politically liberal participants hold broader concepts of mental disorder.ConclusionsThe new concept breadth scales are psychometrically sound measures of a promising new concept in the study of beliefs and attitudes about mental health. Potential future research directions are discussed.

Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes

Mixed-species groups of birds, fishes and mammals have traditionally been described in taxa-specific journals. However, mixed-species systems are actually more widely found when one includes aggregative (non-moving) systems, such as those common in amphibians and invertebrates. The objective of this special issue is to dispel the idea that mixed-species phenomena are a 'niche topic' to ecology and instead explore how taking a mixed-species perspective can change our conception of important ecological patterns and processes. A mixed-species perspective starts by understanding the relative abundance and positioning of individuals of different species and their behavioural synchrony; it is enriched by understanding differences between species in their vulnerability/attractiveness to predators, their potential for competing with other group participants and their use as a source of public information. Contributions to the special issue show how the mixed-species perspective can change our ideas about invasion ecology, island biogeography, keystone species, mimicry, predator eavesdropping and more. Rather than seeking synthesis, the special issue celebrates the taxonomic and conceptual breadth of the field of mixed-species groups, with detailed descriptions of many distinctive systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes'.

Neo-Victorian

Despite neo-Victorianism's theoretical awareness of how colonial structures continue to infuse imaginations of the long nineteenth century, and how neo-Victorian culture might challenge both Victorian and contemporary ideological structures, common practices of neo-Victorian scholarship too often remain constricted in their geographical and conceptual breadth. In thinking about the structural convergences and challenges between Victorian studies and neo-Victorian studies, this keyword entry emphasizes texts and cultural traditions that have rarely been the purview of the neo-Victorian. Informed by Ronjaunee Chatterjee, Alicia Mireles Christoff, and Amy R. Wong's analysis of race as a central function in Victorian studies, it charts alternative neo-Victorian genealogies in anglophone African and Black British literatures and cultures. On this basis, it asks how conceptions of the neo-Victorian will need to change if the field is to take seriously its anticolonial potential.

Individual differences in naturally occurring affect predict conceptual breadth: evidence for the importance of arousal by valence interactions

Several studies have investigated the effect of induced mood state on conceptual breadth (breadth and flexibility of thought). Early studies concluded that inducing a positive mood state broadened cognition, while inducing a negative mood state narrowed cognition. However, recent reports have suggested that valence and arousal can each influence conceptual breadth. Individual differences in affective dispositions may bias perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors and, in turn, may be biased by them. Here, we examine whether individual differences in valence and arousal dimensions of self-reported, naturally occurring affect relate to conceptual breadth (using the Remote Associates Test, the Object Categorization Task, and the Alternative Uses Task), with no mood manipulations or cues. The three conceptual breadth tasks loaded onto a latent conceptual breadth factor that was predicted significantly by the interaction of valence and arousal. For participants low in arousal, greater positive affect was associated with greater conceptual breadth. For participants high in arousal, greater positive affect was associated with reduced conceptual breadth. In contrast to most existing theories of conceptual breadth that highlight the importance of valence or arousal alone, the present results suggest that the interaction between arousal and valence is key to predicting individual differences in conceptual breadth. We posit that positive mood states predict greater conceptual breadth in the presence of low versus high arousal due to a relaxation of cognitive control under low arousal.

Do Concepts Creep to the Left and the Right? Evidence for Ideologically Salient Concept Breadth Judgments Across the Political Spectrum

Concept creep explains how established social concepts expand to incorporate new phenomena, with such expansions fundamentally changing conceptual definitions and contributing to a loss of a shared social understanding. However, the existing work has focused on concept creep within a small number of categories that are typically more salient for those on the political left. In this work, we examined whether concept creep is a predominantly leftist phenomenon, or whether the same conceptual expansion is present for typically conservative-salient categories, by exploring judgments of concept breadth for a range of social topics. We found evidence for such symmetry when considering concept breadth for categories such as sexual deviance, terrorism, and personal responsibility—with some nuanced exceptions. We discuss our findings in relation to growing political polarization, intergroup relations, and the study of partisan differences using a variety of politically salient stimuli.

Breadth, polarity, and emergence of character strengths and their relevance for assessment

ABSTRACT Research activity on correlates of character strengths has been steadily increasing in the past years. However, very little is known about basic properties of character strengths, such as their conceptual breadth (narrow versus broader strengths), polarity (unipolar versus bipolar strengths), and emergence (phasic versus tonic strengths). These properties are relevant to the operationalization of character strengths and likely also for related interventions. We therefore asked a sample of N = 249 psychologists to rate the breadth, polarity, and emergence of the 24 character strengths. The results provide a first account of these properties and suggest a considerable variety in them. Our analysis suggests that the content validity of the VIA-IS and VIA-IS-R may be limited as these variety was apparently not sufficiently accounted for in these instruments. We call for further research on such basic properties and propose that these findings are considered for the future assessment of character strengths.

Creatividad, innovación pedagógica y educativa: análisis de la percepción de un grupo de docentes chilenos

Abstract This study is circumscribed to the scope of education, didactics, and classroom methodology. The results of an investigation with a quantitative approach will be analyzed, whose aim was to identify the perception and experiences related to creativity, as well as to pedagogical and educational innovation - the two latter concepts not always clear and distinguishable in theory and empirical studies. The research was done in a group of teachers who were just beginning their training process in a Graduate Degree in Didactics, taught in the School of Education at the Los Angeles Campus of the Universidad de Concepción, in the region of Biobío, Chile. The investigation had a descriptive approach and the main method for data collection was an opinion questionnaire with open questions. The main findings show that teachers in general and in a high percentage appreciate creativity, understand the concept of pedagogical innovation, but have difficulties to identify the difference between the latter and educational innovation due to its conceptual breadth. Furthermore, the results show that while teachers believe that innovation is necessary and that they are willing to do it in their pedagogical teaching activity, favorable conditions to implement it in schools are not always generated.

Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism has been the subject of scientific inquiry for nearly a century, yet the vast majority of authoritarianism research has focused on right-wing authoritarianism. In the present studies, we investigate the nature, structure, and nomological network of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), a construct famously known as "the Loch Ness Monster" of political psychology. We iteratively construct a measure and data-driven conceptualization of LWA across six samples (N = 7,258) and conduct quantitative tests of LWA's relations with more than 60 authoritarianism-related variables. We find that LWA, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation reflect a shared constellation of personality traits, cognitive features, beliefs, and motivational values that might be considered the "heart" of authoritarianism. Relative to right-wing authoritarians, left-wing authoritarians were lower in dogmatism and cognitive rigidity, higher in negative emotionality, and expressed stronger support for a political system with substantial centralized state control. Our results also indicate that LWA powerfully predicts behavioral aggression and is strongly correlated with participation in political violence. We conclude that a movement away from exclusively right-wing conceptualizations of authoritarianism may be required to illuminate authoritarianism's central features, conceptual breadth, and psychological appeal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Inclusiveness of the Concept of Mental Disorder and Differences in Help-Seeking Between Asian and White Americans.

Ethnic and racial group differences in help-seeking are a barrier to the effective and equitable delivery of mental health services. Asian American populations demonstrate relatively low levels of help-seeking. Explanations for this effect typically point to elevated levels of stigma in these populations. An alternative explanation is that low help-seeking might also reflect holding a relatively circumscribed concept of mental disorder. Individuals and groups with less inclusive concepts of disorder may be less likely to identify problems as appropriate for mental health treatment. This study aimed to test whether group differences in the breadth of the mental disorder concept account for group differences in help-seeking attitudes. A sample of 212 American participants (102 Asian Americans and 110 White Americans) were assessed on personal stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and mental disorder concept breadth. Mediation analyses examined whether stigma and concept breadth mediated group differences in attitudes. Compared to White Americans, Asian Americans reported higher levels of stigma and narrower concepts of mental disorder, both of which were associated with less positive help-seeking attitudes. Stigma and concept breadth both partially mediated the group difference in attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications for mental health promotion and culturally sensitive clinical practices are explored.

The development and psychometric validation of the interpersonal geriatric care relationship (InteGer) tool.

To develop and psychometrically test the Interpersonal Geriatric care relationship tool. The quality of nursing care is highly influenced by the quality of the interpersonal care relationship, yet there are no tools available that capture the conceptual breadth of the interpersonal care relationship. Instrument development and psychometric testing of the content and construct validity, factor structure and reliability. A four-phased validation procedure was conducted (January 2016-April 2019): defining the construct measured by the tool, tool development, content validation and psychometric evaluation. The 30-item Interpersonal Geriatric care relationship tool was subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Four components (humanization, attentiveness, interest and accessibility) were extracted. The tool demonstrated discriminating power and good internal consistency. Cronbach's alphas for the components ranged between 0.69 and 0.84. The Interpersonal Geriatric care relationship tool is a valuable measure that can be used by scientists, educators and healthcare professionals to benchmark the interpersonal care relationship culture in hospitals and optimize the quality of care.

The New Paradigm of Data Protection Law: The Principle of Accountability

The inadequacy of classical data protection approaches have been uncloaked by the evolving nature of cyber risks, the tremendous increase in personal data processing through analytics and artificial intelligence technologies, the diversification of data processing and storage environments and the proliferation of sectoral regulations. The principle of accountability is proposed as the most efficacious solution to tackle new emerging risks and challenges in the changing landscape of data protection and privacy contexts. The principle of accountability is a paradigm shift in data protection which has a conceptual breadth and magnitude that goes far beyond mere compliance. It requires data controllers to implement appropriate and effective measures to comply with the principles and obligations set out under data protection regulations and to further demonstrate this compliance on request. This is a process of proving that the protection of personal data is an essential value that is constantly observed, effectively applied, and regularly audited by data controllers. This article aims to provide a thorough analysis of the principle of accountability in the context of data protection law by adopting a comparative approach. The article aims to scrutinise the scope and underpinnings of the principle, identify its relationship with other data protection principles, and discuss the normative effects of such a principle has on data controllers and data processors.

Development and validation of the Harm Concept Breadth Scale: Assessing individual differences in harm inflation.

Three studies (Ns = 350, 301 & 341) examined the reliability, validity, and correlates of a new measure of harm inflation, the individual differences counterpart of ‘concept creep’. The Harm Concept Breadth Scale (HCBS) assesses variability in the expansiveness of concepts of harm (i.e., bullying, mental disorder, prejudice, trauma), such that these concepts refer to a wider range of phenomena among people scoring high on the scale. Study 1 developed 66 vignettes representing potential instances of the four concepts, selected optimal subsets of 10 vignettes for each concept, and demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency of the subscales. Study 2 demonstrated that the HCBS had excellent internal consistency, and established construct validity through associations with measures of moral foundations, justice sensitivity, general category inclusiveness, and political orientation. Study 3 employed participants from a different national background and further clarified the correlates of the HCBS via measures of empathy, moral expansiveness, and the Big Five personality traits. The findings indicate that concept breadth is a reliably measurable individual difference variable with weak to moderate associations with harm-based morality, prosocial concern, political liberalism, female gender, and negative emotionality. The HCBS is a valid psychometric instrument for examining the causes and implications of harm inflation.

Not Just Numbers: Mathematical Modelling and Its Contribution to Anaerobic Digestion Processes

Mathematical modelling of bioprocesses has a long and notable history, with eminent contributions from fields including microbiology, ecology, biophysics, chemistry, statistics, control theory and mathematical theory. This richness of ideas and breadth of concepts provide great motivation for inquisitive engineers and intrepid scientists to try their hand at modelling, and this collaboration of disciplines has also delivered significant milestones in the quality and application of models for both theoretical and practical interrogation of engineered biological systems. The focus of this review is the anaerobic digestion process, which, as a technology that has come in and out of fashion, remains a fundamental process for addressing the global climate emergency. Whether with conventional anaerobic digestion systems, biorefineries, or other anaerobic technologies, mathematical models are important tools that are used to design, monitor, control and optimise the process. Both highly structured, mechanistic models and data-driven approaches have been used extensively over half a decade, but recent advances in computational capacity, scientific understanding and diversity and quality of process data, presents an opportunity for the development of new modelling paradigms, augmentation of existing methods, or even incorporation of tools from other disciplines, to ensure that anaerobic digestion research can remain resilient and relevant in the face of emerging and future challenges.

Summary of Working Group 5: Plasma devices, plasma and beam diagnostics

The presentations and proceedings of Working Group 5 (plasma devices, plasma and beam diagnostics) at the fourth European Advanced Accelerator (EAAC) Workshop reported on experimental demonstrations and simulation studies for new concepts in the field of plasma/beam diagnostics and plasma devices. New schemes, as well as the development of those already well benchmarked, were described, covering a breadth of concepts ranging from the diagnosis of how both hot and cold plasmas evolve in time to how in time they may be applied to future high-energy-physics and photon science facilities.

Understanding the Strategic Consequences of Customer Privacy Concerns: A Meta-Analytic Review

Despite noteworthy advances in theory and retail practice, the extant scholarship on customer privacy concerns is scattered across a wide range of academic domains and remains fragmented, in terms of both conceptual breadth and empirical results. This lack of convergence creates a pertinent need for a comprehensive synthesis to guide to further theory-building and managerial practice with respect to customer concerns about privacy. Unlike earlier meta-analysis studies, this paper reports on a comprehensive meta-analytic review of customer privacy concerns literature, which focuses on strategic retail-relevant variables. Based on 1,103 effects in 304 papers, we offer several key insights that are pertinent to retail scholars and managers who wish to empirically capture and mitigate the impact of customer privacy concerns. We identify two substantive moderators—retail channels and data sensitivity—that wield significant influence in attenuating or strengthening the impact of customer privacy concerns on key retail outcomes. Retail researchers should also consider the significant influences of the research setting, including region, measurement scale, participant selection, and research design. Considering these findings, we conclude the paper by offering a future research agenda that identifies key areas requiring further scrutiny.