Cognitive Appraisal Research Articles

The Challenge-Hindrance-Threat Appraisal Framework and the Differential Effects on Employees' Work Well-Being and Behaviors.

Considering the current economic and employment landscape, marked by high levels of uncertainty and challenges, this study introduces the challenge-hindrance-threat appraisal (CHTA) framework to examine workplace stress, with a particular focus on the often-overlooked role of threat appraisal. Across three studies using independent samples and multi-wave survey data, our research provides evidence supporting the CHTA framework and reveals the differential effects of three types of stress appraisals on the work-related well-being and behaviors of individuals. Specifically, Study 1 establishes the three-factor structure of CHTA, confirming its robust psychometric properties in each appraisal dimension. Study 2 demonstrates that threat appraisals offer unique insights into stress-related outcomes, beyond challenge and hindrance appraisals. Study 3 reveals that challenge appraisals foster learning behavior through enhancing work engagement and reduce turnover intentions through alleviating emotional exhaustion. Conversely, threat appraisals escalate turnover intentions through intensifying emotional exhaustion. Interestingly, hindrance appraisals exhibit no significant effect on either work engagement or emotional exhaustion, precluding any indirect influence on learning behavior or turnover intentions. In conclusion, this research underscores the importance of differentiating between the three types of cognitive appraisals of stress-namely, challenge, hindrance, and threat appraisals-in stress management in order to enhance employee well-being and organizational effectiveness.

Service robots in hospitality: a cognitive appraisal perspective on job insecurity, turnover intentions, and generational differences

Service robots in hospitality: a cognitive appraisal perspective on job insecurity, turnover intentions, and generational differences

Designing affective workplace environments: The impact of typology, contour, ceiling and partition height on cognitive and aesthetic appraisal

Up to 90 % of our time is spent indoors, with 40 % of a full-time employee's waking hours spent at work, underscoring the critical importance of workplace environments in promoting health and well-being. While there is substantial knowledge about the impact of spatial design on environmental satisfaction and productivity, there is a gap in understanding its effect on employees' aesthetic and cognitive experiences. This study addresses these gaps by investigating how variations in typical workplace design elements—such as partition height, ceiling height, and contour shape—across three workplace typologies (Open plan, Cellular, and Bürolandschaft) influence both aesthetic (beauty, attention, pleasure) and cognitive (safety, distraction, interaction) appraisals. Thirty-six virtual models of workplace environments were generated using parametric modeling methods, and a total of 713 participants provided ratings and rankings for these dimensions. Our findings indicate that higher partitions are associated with greater perceived safety and reduced distractions, while curved contours are perceived as more aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable compared to angular designs. The Bürolandschaft typology significantly enhances perceived safety and interaction. Moreover, isovist analysis revealed that spatial features such as isovist compactness and circularity positively correlate with beauty, pleasure, and attention, while higher dispersion is linked to lower safety perceptions. These insights are crucial for designing affective workplace environments that balance openness and privacy, enhance safety, and support a science-informed approach to workplace design that promotes positive cognitive and aesthetic experiences.

Unveiling the forces behind exercise intent in sports and fitness live streaming: a combination of symmetric and asymmetric modeling approaches

PurposeThis study aims to answer the following research questions: (1) How do features of sports and fitness live streaming content influence individuals’ viewing experiences? (2) How do these antecedents interact with each other to influence individuals’ intentions to exercise in the context of sports and fitness live streaming?Design/methodology/approachWe employed both symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) analyses using data from 886 participants. A mixed approach addresses the complex nature of the decision-making process among sports and fitness live streaming users.FindingsThe findings reveal that individuals’ appraisal of their interactions with sports and fitness streamers (i.e. instant feedback, interactivity) significantly affects their perceptions of telepresence, entertainment, and flow. These, in turn, positively influence their intention to exercise in live sports and fitness streaming sessions. The study also uncovers various combinations of causal conditions leading to exercise intention, a detail overlooked by the PLS-SEM method alone.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature on cognitive appraisal theory, particularly in the context of sports and fitness live streaming, by integrating symmetric and asymmetric analyses. Practically, strategic implications are provided for practitioners in sports and fitness industry.

Who is easier to please? A cognitive appraisal mechanism of tourists’ hierarchical experiences

ABSTRACT The ethnic ancient cities, as ‘cultural contact zone’, carries a large number of tourists, who may have the same or different cultural background from the host culture. Combining experience economy theory and cognitive appraisal theory, this study constructed a cognitive appraisal mechanism of tourist’ hierarchical experiences in ethnic ancient cities. The PLS-SEM results of 489 tourists in Kashgar Ancient City and 474 tourists in Qingzhou Ancient City reveal that cognate cultural destinations require more effort to please tourists than non-cognate cultural destinations. In non-cognate cultural contexts, the cultural contact has a greater impact on interaction immersion, while in cognate cultural contexts, the authenticity experience has a greater impact on interaction immersion. Moreover, compared to other experiential types, the impact of escapist experience, which has high-level engagement and high-level connection, on destination satisfaction is negatively moderated by destination familiarity. These findings provide practical insights for managers to innovate experiential forms and promote tourists’ revisits in different cultural destinations.

Cognitive and affective appraisal of online impulse buying: a multi-mediation approach

Cognitive and affective appraisal of online impulse buying: a multi-mediation approach

Role of Cognitive Appraisal in Coping, Adapting and Psychological Well-Being of Chinese Teachers: A Concept Paper

Teachers are considered a nucleus of educational institutes, their dire efforts act as the accelerating engine of the students' minds that nurture their minds with the best, most incumbent, authentic, resilient and creative thoughts, knowledge, reasoning and information that play a back-supporting role to the future emperors of the countries in their professional life. To do such a huge and exhaustive job, teachers often encounter various challenging situations and circumstances in which stress can be placed at the top among all other issues. This delicate issue has been identified as common among Chinese university lecturers and this issue has been influencing their mental states causing a damaging effect on their job performance. To understand this deliberate scenario, this study has reviewed the previous literature to explore the level of stress and psychological well-being and some helping strategies to sustain psychological well-being and stress adaptation as it is a part of every job and propose a conceptual framework. This proposed framework will have many useful settings for the literature scholars and the targeted units which have been illustrated in the concluding remarks section.

The Effect of Growth Mindset on Work Engagement and Performance via Cognitive Appraisals

The Effect of Growth Mindset on Work Engagement and Performance via Cognitive Appraisals

A sense of space in the core of the bore: Enhancing the MRI experience through use of spatial audio

BackgroundMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) continues to be an imaging technique that causes anxiety and concern for many patients. One longstanding approach that helps many patients is listening to music as a distraction technique during a scan. However, despite improvements in scanner technology itself, the means of providing music in this way has hardly changed, and so there may be opportunity to utilise emerging approaches in audio technology to further enhance the positive effect beyond simple distraction alone. ObjectivesThe aim of this technical note is to introduce spatial audio and its potential application in the MRI setting to create a sense of space within the confined environment of a scanner. FindingsInitial feedback from a few patients indicate that spatial audio music may indeed enhance the perception of space within the MRI scanner, potentially mitigating or lowering feelings of claustrophobia and anxiety. ConclusionSpatial audio could enhance the sense of space felt within an MRI scanner, but research is needed to evidence whether this would indeed have an improved effect compared to rot conventional audio. Implications for practiceThis technical note sets the stage for further exploration of spatial audio technology within the setting of MRI to help adjust cognitive appraisal and concern over its confined nature. Providing music through this means could be another approach to help patients manage a scan and improve their experience of it.

Positive minds, inclusive minds: PsyCap’s potential in overcoming resistance to DEI initiatives in organizations

The discourse around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has gained significant traction over the past decade, yet the effectiveness of DEI initiatives in organizations remains modest at best, sparking a debate on why most diversity programs fail and what are the main challenges associated with them. DEI efforts, similar to any organizational change, often trigger resistance, especially from members of the majority group who face distinct psychological threats. This resistance fosters anti-diversity responses that can undermine DEI initiatives. This article proposes that Psychological Capital (PsyCap) can play a key role in facilitating DEI initiatives and diminishing resistance as it can (a) influence individuals’ cognitive appraisals of change initiatives, and (b) mitigate intergroup bias and prejudice towards individuals seen as “out-groups”, particularly those constituted by minority populations.

Exploring Cognitive Appraisal as a Mediator between Stress Coping Strategies and Psychological Well-Being: A Conceptual Framework for Adaptation to Stress among Chinese University Teachers

Exploring Cognitive Appraisal as a Mediator between Stress Coping Strategies and Psychological Well-Being: A Conceptual Framework for Adaptation to Stress among Chinese University Teachers

How the perfectionistic climate of a sports team predicts the athletic performance of elite athletes: a case study of the CUBAL women's basketball team.

In competitive sports, understanding how the perfectionistic climate within teams influences the performance of elite female athletes can provide valuable insights for enhancing coaching practice and athletic achievement. Based on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, this study constructs a dual-path model using stressors and coping strategies as mediators, referred to as the Perfectionistic Climate on Athletic Performance model (PCPM). The study explores the predictive role of the perfectionistic climate within sports teams on the athletic performance of elite female basketball players. The empirical study the relationships among the variables in the model using a sample of 125 core players from the top-level women's basketball teams in the 24th CUBAL24 tournament in 2022. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted using AMOS 20.0, primarily employing the bias-corrected Bootstrap method to test the dual-path model. The findings reveal double-edged paths towards a perfectionistic climate on athletic performance. In the positive pathway, a perfectionistic climate can positively predict athletic performance through challenge-related sources of stress and positive coping strategies. In the negative pathway, a perfectionistic climate can negatively predict athletic performance through threat-related sources of stress and negative coping strategies. Coaches need to pay attention to athletes' cognitive evaluations of the perfectionistic climate as a source of pressure. By setting challenging goals, coaches can guide athletes to view the perfectionistic climate of the sports team as a source of challenging pressure, thus unleashing their potential. Coaches should actively guide athletes in coping with the pressure brought about by the perfectionistic climate, enhancing their ability to handle stress. This will enable athletes to better adapt to the team's perfectionistic climate and further improve individual and team athletic performance.

Modelling Chinese EFL learners’ engagement in language MOOCs: a control-value perspective

Drawing on the control-value theory, this study attempts to examine the effects of cognitive appraisals (perceived control, intrinsic and extrinsic value) and achievement emotions (pride, anxiety, and boredom) on Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ engagement in LMOOCs. In doing so, several hypotheses were proposed and validated from a survey of 520 Chinese EFL undergraduates who used LMOOCs. Based on the structural equation modelling analysis, results revealed that (1) perceived control and intrinsic value had a positive and direct impact on engagement in LMOOCs; (2) perceived control and intrinsic value had a positive effect on pride and a negative effect on anxiety and boredom, while extrinsic value only had a positive impact on pride and anxiety; (3) while pride had a positive effect on engagement, boredom negatively affected engagement in LMOOCs; (4) perceived control and intrinsic value had a positive and indirect effect on engagement mediated by pride and boredom, while extrinsic value positively affected engagement in LMOOCs through pride. Implications regarding the causal relations of cognitive appraisals, achievement emotions, and engagement in LMOOCs have been discussed for further research.

Why are socioeconomic health inequalities unacceptable? Studying the influence of explanatory framings on cognitive appraisals

AbstractStudies of aversion to health inequality have found that this is often greater when health outcomes are presented as varying with socioeconomic conditions. We sought to understand better why this is by studying the cognitive appraisals made about health inequality when presented with distinct explanatory framings. Across two pre‐registered studies (N = 1321), UK and US participants judged the acceptability of life expectancy differences attributed to distinct framings: income, education, social class, neighborhood, lifestyle choices, and genetics. Health inequality was least acceptable when attributed to the four socioeconomic framings, and most acceptable for lifestyle choices and genetics. Six appraisal dimensions—complexity, malleability, inevitability, and extent driven by biological, psychological, and sociocultural causes—varied with framing and predicted views on health inequality. These dimensions could explain most of the drop in acceptability for health inequality attributed to socioeconomic factors relative to a condition with no framing. This work illustrates for the first time the cognitive appraisals and causal intuitions that link different explanatory framings to views on health inequality. These framings are viewed as least acceptable because they reduce the perceived involvement of biological causes while increasing the perception that sociocultural and psychological factors contribute to health inequality.Public significance statement: Academics use different socioeconomic variables to describe health inequalities. We show that different explanatory framings change appraisals about the causes, malleability, and inevitability of health inequalities. Socioeconomic explanations (income, education, social class, and neighborhood) reduce acceptability because they reduce the perception that health is biologically caused and increase the perceived role of socio‐cultural factors. Public support for intervention on health inequalities will be best served by framings that emphasize these differences

Associations of cognitive appraisal and patient activation on disability and mental health outcomes: a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing spine surgery

BackgroundWith the increased use of patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) to assess spine surgery outcomes, it is important to understand how patients interpret their health changes over time. The measurement of cognitive-appraisal processes enables the quantification of how individuals think about quality of life (QOL). This study examined how appraisal processes were associated with patients’ views of their role in managing their health—patient activation.MethodsThis longitudinal cohort study from August 2019 to January 2022 included 222 adults undergoing spine surgery for cervical (n = 107) and/or lumbar (n = 148) pathology at an academic medical center. PROMs assessed disability (Neck Disability Index for cervical or Oswestry Disability Index for lumbar) and mental health (PROMIS-29 v2.0), cognitive-appraisal processes (QOLAPv2-SF), and patient activation (Patient Activation Measure). ANOVA models were used to examine the relationships between QOL and cognitive appraisal processes before and after surgery, overall and stratified by patient-activation stage. Effect sizes facilitated interpretation.ResultsThere were significant improvements in pain-related disability and mental health following surgery. Cognitive appraisal processes explained substantial amounts of variance, particularly with changes in mental health (45% before surgery, 75% at three months, and 63%, at 12-months after surgery). With respect to physical disability, less disability was associated with a lesser focus on negative aspects of QOL. Appraisal explained the most variance before surgery for high-activation patients. At 12-months post-surgery, however, appraisal explained the most variance for the low-activation patients. Appraisal explained similar amounts of variance in mental health at baseline and three-months post-surgery for all activation groups, but substantially more variance in the low-activation group at 12-months post-surgery. There were differences in the direction of appraisal-outcome associations by activation group in selected appraisal items/domains.ConclusionsCognitive-appraisal processes demonstrate a significant relationship with QOL among spine surgery patients. These processes explain substantial variance in pain-related disability and mental health, especially among those high in activation before surgery and those low in activation at 12-months post-surgery. Our findings suggest that patients’ ways of thinking about their health may be effective targets of motivational coaching, to help them become more engaged over the recovery trajectory.

How do you treat your ‘big fish’? The joint effect of perceived subordinates’ overqualification and managers’ personalities on knowledge hiding

ABSTRACT By integrating the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping and the conservation of resources theory, this paper explores the interactions and the mechanism of perceived subordinate’ overqualification and personalities on managers’ knowledge hiding in the service industry. Using a multi-stage research design supported by data collected from upscale hotels in China in three waves (n = 453), the results suggests that when perceiving subordinates’ overqualification, managers with highly cooperative personality decrease knowledge hiding. Conversely, managers with highly competitive personality increase knowledge hiding. Moreover, self-protection motivation mediates the positive relationship between perceived subordinates’ overqualification and managers’ knowledge hiding. This study not only contributes to a better understanding of the psychological mechanism of managers’ knowledge hiding but also responds to the call for multilevel effects research on overqualification. The study’s findings can also serve as important references for hotels’ human resources practices to maximize the values and contributions of human capital.

"Why (Zebra)fish May Get Ulcers": Cognitive and Social Modulation of Stress in Fish.

In the bestseller book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers", Robert Sapolsky argues that animals do not suffer from stress-related diseases like humans because for them, stress is episodic, while humans in contrast suffer from chronic psychological stress. In particular, the idea that fish cannot experience psychological stress is still prevalent, partly due to the lack of a homologous brain area to the neocortex. However, emerging evidence suggests that teleosts can undergo psychological stress, defined as a subjective and perceptual experience of the stressor, and in recent years, the underlying mechanisms started to be unveiled. The occurrence of cognitive appraisal in the assessment of stressors has been demonstrated in fish, indicating that the subjective evaluation of stimulus valence and salience, rather than absolute intrinsic characteristics of the stimulus itself, play a key role in the activation of the stress response. Moreover, individual biases (i.e., cognitive bias) in the cognitive appraisal of stimuli have also been described in fish, with some individuals consistently evaluating ambiguous stimuli as positive (aka optimists) whereas other individuals (aka pessimists) appraise them as negative. As a result, optimists and pessimists show consistent differences in stress reactivity and susceptibility/resilience to disease. Finally, social context has also been shown to modulate the response to aversive stimuli with the behavior of conspecifics either buffering or enhancing the response (i.e., social buffering vs. social contagion). Cognitive appraisal of stressors occurs in fish, implying that the stress response is modulated by a subjective and perceptual experience of the stressor. Moreover, interindividual consistent cognitive biases in the appraisal of stressors are also present in fish making some individuals more susceptible to stress-related diseases. Therefore, psychological stress has a health toll in fish, and psychologically stressed fish can potentially have ulcers.

Symptom burden and quality of life among patient and family caregiver dyads in advanced cancer.

Symptom management among patients diagnosed with advanced cancer is a high priority in clinical care that often involves the support of a family caregiver. However, limited studies have examined parallel patient and caregiver symptom burden and associations with their own and each other's quality of life (QOL). This study seeks to identify patient and caregiver symptom clusters and investigate associations between identified clusters and demographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors (cognitive appraisals and QOL). This study was a secondary analysis of self-reported baseline survey data collected from a randomized clinical trial of 484 adult advanced cancer patients and their caregivers. Latent class analysis and factor analysis were used to identify symptom clusters. Bivariate statistics tested associations between symptom clusters and demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables. The most prevalent symptom for patients was energy loss/fatigue and for caregivers, mental distress. Low, moderate, and high symptom burden subgroups were identified at the patient, caregiver, and dyad level. Age, gender, race, income, chronic conditions, cancer type, and treatment type were associated with symptom burden subgroups. Higher symptom burden was associated with more negative appraisals of the cancer and caregiving experience, and poorer QOL (physical, social, emotional, functional, and overall QOL). Dyads whose caregivers had more chronic conditions were more likely to be in the high symptom burden subgroup. Patient and caregiver symptom burden influence their own and each other's QOL. These findings reinforce the need to approach symptom management from a dyadic perspective.

Resilience and mental health among perinatal women: a systematic review.

This review aimed to assess the current evidence on the relationship between resilience and mental health employed in response to the impacts of mental health. This review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). The protocol of this review was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO: CRD42023470966). Three authors searched peer-reviewed articles using several electronic databases, including Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, Psych Info, EMBASE, and Web of Science, from September to October 2023 and included all the studies from any time until November 1, 2023. The review included all eligible quantitative observational and qualitative studies, irrespective of geographical boundaries. Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders were found to be the most common, but not the only, mental health disorders during the perinatal period, and higher maternal resilience during perinatal periods was found to reduce mental health disorders. It was also found that pregnant women were more resilient to mental health disorders than postpartum women. Tolerance of uncertainty and a positive cognitive appraisal, women's self-behavior and family functioning, and protective psychosocial resources such as dispositional optimism, parental sense of mastery, self-esteem, gratitude, and forgiveness were found to be the most common mechanisms of resilience among perinatal women. Older age, having an adolescent partner, family income, and distress were found to affect resilience. Noting that women's resilience is an important tool to prevent perinatal mental health disorders, maternal healthcare providers need to counsel perinatal women on resilience-boosting mechanisms, such as applying self-behavior and having social support or close family relationships. It is recommended to counsel or provide psychosocial interventions for the woman's companion or partner to give strong support for the woman in each of the perinatal periods. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=470966, identifier CRD42023470966.

Long-term and ongoing food safety issues: Theorising consumers’ long-term coping strategies

This study aims to conceptualise and empirically explore consumers’ long-term coping strategies and to achieve an in-depth understanding of the factors that may predict and influence consumer coping behaviours in the context of a long-term and ongoing food safety situation. 848 consumer questionnaires were collected in China and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results suggest that the interplay of stress and cognitive appraisal, and stress and personality traits, relate to different consumer long-term coping strategies. This study contributes to the study of food safety and consumer coping by conceptualising a multidimensional consumer long-term coping framework, providing a sound theoretical foundation for how consumers deal with chronic stressful consumption situations. This study also contributes to coping theory by theorizing and incorporating cognitive appraisals and dispositional personality traits into the examination of the relationships between stress and consumers’ long-term coping, underscoring the importance of inquiry into the complex and nuanced coping process.