Cognitive Distancing Research Articles

Cognitive Distancing Language in Parent-Child Book Sharing Among Low-Income Mexican American and Chinese American Families: Cultural Group Comparisons and Links to Children’s Executive Functions

ABSTRACT Research Findings: In the context of parent-child book sharing, cultural influences on cognitive distancing language and associations with child executive function (EF) have been understudied. This study examined cultural group similarities/differences in parent and child book-sharing distancing language among preschool-aged dual language learners from low-income Mexican American (MA) and Chinese American (CA) families. We further tested concurrent relations between parent/child distancing language and children’s EF. The sample consisted of 88 children (45 MAs, 43 CAs, age = 38–68 months) enrolled in Head Start preschools and their parents. To assess distancing language, utterances were coded for cognitive demand and classified as referential (low demand), behavioral (moderate demand), or inferential (high demand). Cognitive tasks tapping inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility were used to assess child EF. Results showed parents and children from both cultural groups produced comparable numbers of story-related utterances. MA dyads used higher proportions of parent/child inferential statements and a lower proportion of parent referential questions. The proportions of parent behavioral questions and child behavioral statements were positively related to child cognitive flexibility. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight heterogeneity in parent-child verbal interactions among low-income multilingual families and have implications for promoting preschoolers’ cognitive/language development in diverse populations.

Coping strategies in response to peer victimization: Comparing adolescents in the United States and Korea.

We examined cultural specificity in how adolescents' coping strategies in response to peer victimization are associated with adjustment with a sample of 7th-8th graders from the United States (n = 292, 60% female, Mage = 13.6, SD = 0.65) and South Korea (n = 462, 50.2% female, Mage = 13.7, SD = 0.58). Participants read scenarios describing victimization and rated the likelihood of utilizing different coping strategies. US adolescents rated conflict resolution, cognitive distancing, and revenge higher than Korean adolescents, while Korean adolescents endorsed social support seeking more than US adolescents. Social support seeking was positively associated with global self-worth in both countries; however, social support seeking was negatively related to depression and social anxiety only for Korean youth.

A core component of psychological therapy causes adaptive changes in computational learning mechanisms.

Cognitive distancing is an emotion regulation strategy commonly used in psychological treatment of various mental health disorders, but its therapeutic mechanisms are unknown. 935 participants completed an online reinforcement learning task involving choices between pairs of symbols with differing reward contingencies. Half (49.1%) of the sample was randomised to a cognitive self-distancing intervention and were trained to regulate or 'take a step back' from their emotional response to feedback throughout. Established computational (Q-learning) models were then fit to individuals' choices to derive reinforcement learning parameters capturing clarity of choice values (inverse temperature) and their sensitivity to positive and negative feedback (learning rates). Cognitive distancing improved task performance, including when participants were later tested on novel combinations of symbols without feedback. Group differences in computational model-derived parameters revealed that cognitive distancing resulted in clearer representations of option values (estimated 0.17 higher inverse temperatures). Simultaneously, distancing caused increased sensitivity to negative feedback (estimated 19% higher loss learning rates). Exploratory analyses suggested this resulted from an evolving shift in strategy by distanced participants: initially, choices were more determined by expected value differences between symbols, but as the task progressed, they became more sensitive to negative feedback, with evidence for a difference strongest by the end of training. Adaptive effects on the computations that underlie learning from reward and loss may explain the therapeutic benefits of cognitive distancing. Over time and with practice, cognitive distancing may improve symptoms of mental health disorders by promoting more effective engagement with negative information.

Stoic Cognitive Theories and Contemporary Neuropsychological Treatments

During the Hellenistic period the value of philosophical systems was to be judged by a meta-philosophical criterion, i.e., by their ability to lead practitioners towards the pursuit of good or happiness, albeit treating pain and sorrow, since all human beings are supposed to be able to reach the state of happiness via their own efforts. By emphasizing the role of thoughts or judgments, Stoics placed cognition in the intermediate phase between an event and the reaction that somebody has due to the event, rendering it both the cause and the cure of emotional disorders. This viewpoint is also fundamental in modern cognitive psychotherapy, although the parallelism goes beyond theory to the practical character in both approaches. Rational and non-rational aspects of human psychology cannot be isolated from each other, allowing thus adults to actively engage in their moral development by altering their beliefs. In this frame, cognitive distancing, the practice of awareness, attention to the present moment, and the Socratic dialogue become valuable tools in structuring emotional self-regulation.

Study protocol and methods for Easing Pelvic Pain Interventions Clinical Research Program (EPPIC): a randomized clinical trial of brief, low-intensity, transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy vs education/support for urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS)

BackgroundUrologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) encompasses several common, costly, diagnoses including interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome that are poorly understood and inadequately treated with conventional medical therapies. Behavioral strategies, recommended as a first-line treatment for managing symptoms, are largely inaccessible, time and labor intensive, and technically complex. The Easing Pelvic Pain Interventions Clinical Research Program (EPPIC) is a clinical trial examining the efficacy of low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy (Minimal Contact CBT or MC-CBT) for UCPPS and its durability 3 and 6 months post treatment. Additional aims include characterizing the operative processes (e.g., cognitive distancing, context sensitivity, coping flexibility, repetitive negative thought) that drive MC-CBT-induced symptom relief and pre-treatment patient variables that moderate differential response.MethodsUCPPS patients (240) ages 18–70 years, any gender, ethnicity, and race, will be randomized to 4-session MC-CBT or a credible, non-specific education comparator (EDU) that controls for the generic effects from simply going to treatment. Efficacy assessments will be administered at pre-treatment, 2 weeks, and 3 and 6 months post treatment-week acute phase. A novel statistical approach applied to micro-analytic mediator assessment schedule will permit the specification of the most effective CBT component(s) that drive symptom relief.DiscussionEmpirical validation of a low-intensity self-management therapy transdiagnostic in scope has the potential to improve the health of chronic pelvic pain patients refractory to medical therapies, reduce social and economic costs, conserve health care resources, as well as inform evidence-based practice guidelines. Identification of change mechanisms and moderators of treatment effects can provide proactive patient-treatment matching fundamental to goals of personalized medicine.Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT05127616. Registered on 9/19/21.

Longitudinal associations between coping and peer victimization: Moderation by gender and initial peer victimization.

Stress coping theories suggest that the effectiveness of coping depends on the level of stress experienced. Existing research shows that efforts to cope with high levels of peer victimization may not prevent subsequent peer victimization. Additionally, associations between coping and peer victimization often differ between boys and girls. The present study included 242 participants (51% girls; 34% Black, 65% White; Mage = 15.75 years). Adolescents reported on coping with peer stress at age 16 and on overt and relational peer victimization at ages 16 and 17. Greater use of primary control engaged coping (e.g., problem-solving) was associated positively with overt peer victimization for boys with higher initial overt victimization. Primary control coping was also associated positively with relational victimization regardless of gender or initial relational peer victimization. Secondary control coping (e.g., cognitive distancing) was associated negatively with overt peer victimization. Secondary control coping was also associated negatively with relational victimization for boys. Greater use of disengaged coping (e.g., avoidance) was associated positively with overt and relational peer victimization for girls with higher initial victimization. Gender differences and the context and level of stress should be considered in future research and interventions related to coping with peer stress.

Interactive effects of coping strategies and emotion dysregulation on risk for peer victimization

The aim of the current longitudinal study was to examine the interactive effects of six common coping strategies (i.e., adult support seeking, friend support seeking, problem solving, humor, passive coping, and cognitive distancing) and emotion (i.e., anger and sadness) dysregulation on concurrent levels and subsequent trajectories of peer victimization over a 2-year period. Participants were 287 predominantly Caucasian students (53.7% boys; ages 6–9) from an elementary school located in the Midwestern United States. Self-reported coping strategies and emotion dysregulation were assessed at baseline; children also provided ratings of peer victimization annually over a 2-year period. Results indicated that the effectiveness of particular coping strategies may depend on children's overt, undercontrolled displays of anger and sadness. Consistent with recent recommendations, these findings suggest that some youth may require interventions that focus on both enhancing emotion regulation skills and teaching strategies for responding to peer victimization in a more adaptive manner.

Can dissimilarity in product category be an opportunity for cross-gender brand extension?

Leveraging cross-gender brand extensions (new product offerings under the same brand name for customers of the opposite sex) can facilitate brand growth. However, how such strategies should be implemented remains unanswered. A popular approach is to launch a brand extension in the same or a similar product category (high fit). However, for cross-gender brand extension, this strategy can dilute the gender personality of the parent brand (i.e. masculinity or femininity). We propose that launching cross-gender brand extensions in a product category with low fit is an effective strategy as it enables cognitive distancing of the extension from the parent brand. Two experiments confirm that introducing low (versus high) fit cross-gender brand extensions mitigate the parent brand’s gender personality dilution, leading to more positive evaluations of the parent brand amongst existing customers and higher purchase intention amongst new target customers for the cross-gender brand extension.

How Adolescents Cope with Bullying at School: Exploring Differences Between Pure Victim and Bully-Victim Roles

The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of specific coping strategies by bullied adolescents, taking account of the distinction between pure victims and bully-victims, as well as gender-specific patterns. Participants were 967 adolescents aged 11–16 years, who responded to self-report questionnaires on school bullying victimization, cognitive coping, and situational coping. Adolescents in the pure victim, bully-victim, and noninvolved groups did not differ in their use of approach coping. However, pure victims and bully-victims used more avoidance coping than noninvolved adolescents. Compared with the latter, pure victims reported greater use of avoidance coping strategies such as internalizing and self-blame, while female pure victims also reported greater use of rumination. Both male and female bully-victims were characterized by higher use of blaming others and self-blame strategies, compared with the noninvolved group. In addition, rumination, catastrophizing, cognitive distancing, and externalizing scores were higher for male bully-victims than for either noninvolved participants or pure bullies. Identifying these differing coping strategies may be useful in developing more effective counselling strategies for the victims of bullying.

The canned food drive: What do students learn?

PurposeNumerous studies have shown that community service during adolescence is associated with positive youth outcomes and future civic engagement (Reinders and Youniss, 2006; Yates and Youniss, 1996). However, less is known about the ways in which students participate in and perceive intermittent, noncurricular community service. The purpose of this study is to examine seventh and eighth grade students' (N = 22) experiences during a common school-wide community service event: the canned food drive.Design/methodology/approachData include students' journal responses to questions about the food drive including their feelings about the event, learning that took place, positive parts of the drive and challenges. An inductive qualitative analysis was used.FindingsAnalysis of students' responses revealed that most students perceived themselves and their classmates as being very helpful to the community and described feeling happiness and pride from the event, even when participation was minimal or nonexistent. While some students reported awareness of poverty and inequality after the food drive, many of their comments about those receiving the donations included deficit-oriented terminology and cognitive distancing by positioning those experiencing food insecurity as “the other” and different from themselves.Practical implicationsFindings highlight the benefits and shortcomings of community service, as class biases and surface-level ideas about helping may be unintentionally reinforced. Recommendations to address these issues are discussed.Originality/valueGiven the prevalence of community service in schools, qualitative research is needed to understand firsthand how students experience these events.

From the Self to the Other and Back Again: Intersubjectivity as a Perpetual Motion Around the Self

Summary In the methodology of science, intersubjectivity is usually associated with replicability of experimental results. A related, judicial conception of objectivity as impartiality has it that a theory or judgment is objective if it covers all the relevant angles of the object or phenomenon in question, ensuring that the latter is not ephemeral and the concepts referring to them are valid. Based on the assumption that in the social sciences, the researcher is also a participant, an alternative view was conceived, according to the notion that intersubjectivity rests on either sharing of a lifeworld and its associated practices or on empathy, or on some form of direct social cognition. My aim in this paper is to bring some elements of the Gestalt theory – and more specifically, Rudolf Arnheim’s (1988) adapted model of field dynamics – to bear on the problematic of intersubjectivity. The proposed model suggests that intersubjectivity is a dynamic phenomenon, best described as a product of two vectors: a vector describing a movement across the circumference combined with a vector describing the movement from the center to the circumference. While the first vector corresponds to impartiality, the second represents the tension between cognitive distancing and direct experience. Overall, it is argued that intersubjectivity cannot be divorced from either subjectivity or objectivity and it amounts to skillful navigation within different frames of reference.

Perceived social stigmatisation of gambling disorders and coping with stigma.

Aim:This study concerns perceived social stigmatisation of gambling disorder and its determinants, the self-perceptions of people with gambling disorder (self-stigma) and how they cope with stigma.Design:In total, 30 interviews with persons with gambling disorder and 60 with professionals were conducted. Selective sampling procedures were employed in the recruitment phase. In the case of professionals, the inclusion criteria were employment in facilities where treatment of gambling disorder is offered, and profession. For people with gambling disorder, the criterion was a diagnosis confirmed by a psychiatrist.Results:Elements revealed in past research on stigma-creation processes were reflected in respondents’ statements. The type of gambling, the occurrence of negative consequences, the possibility of hiding, personal responsibility, social status and contact with stigmatised populations are perceived determinants of problem gamblers’ stigmatisation. Gambling disorder sufferers experience anxiety associated with the possibility of rejection and a fear related to their condition being revealed to others. Various manifestations of cognitive distancing and hiding were coping mechanisms identified in the study.Conclusions:People with gambling disorder experience anxiety associated with the possibility of rejection, and they often conceal their disorder, which may hinder their treatment. Therefore the issue of stigma should be addressed in therapy.

Bullying bystander behaviors: The role of coping effectiveness and the moderating effect of gender.

Researchers have suggested that bystander behaviors and victim coping play an important role in counteracting the negative effects of bullying. The current study investigated the relationship between students' ratings of coping effectiveness when addressing bullying and their behaviors as bystanders when witnessing bullying. Surveys were administered in a Midwestern, suburban school district. Some associations between perceptions of coping effectiveness and bystander behavior supported our hypotheses (e.g., constructive coping associated with defending bystander behaviors, externalizing associated with pro-bullying behaviors). However, some findings did not support hypothesized relationships. For example, higher ratings of effectiveness for cognitive distancing as a coping strategy were associated with increased defending behaviors as a bystander. Gender moderated some of these relationships. Pro-bullying bystander behavior was associated with increased ratings of cognitive distancing and decreased reports of constructive coping effectiveness for girls. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Prevalencia de Síndrome de Burnout en un Centro de Cirugía Académico-Asistencial Público en Chile

Aim: To assess the degree of emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment and depersonalization in the work of physicians of the Hospital Hernan Henriquez Aravena surgery service and department of surgery of the Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. Material and Method: Cross-sectional study. 19 medical interns, 11 surgical residents and 15 surgeons of Hernan Henriquez Aravena Hospital and surgery department of Universidad de La Frontera were included. Applied instrument: MBI questionnaire in its adaptation of the Spanish population. Calculation of measures of central tendency and percentage, as well as comparison of variables through t Student and values of Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were performed. Results: Regarding the MBI scale, the overall prevalence of the syndrome was 64.4%, whereas, by dimensions, emotional exhaustion showed a prevalence of 76%; Low personal accomplishment at work, 55%, and depersonalization 62%. Statistically significant differences were found in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization according to socio-demographic variables: men and women, single and married, subjects without children and with children, whether or not they take emergency room shifts, obtaining higher levels in women, unmarried, subjects without children and those who take emergency shifts. Conclusions: It is accepted that the central triggering factor is the high emotional exhaustion that gradually leads to a state of emotional and cognitive distancing in their daily activities, with the consequent inability to respond to demands of the service. In this distancing occurs depersonalization, indifference and cynical attitudes toward responsibilities or towards people. Therefore, measures should be taken to try to reduce the prevalence of this syndrome in our medical interns and residents, mainly.

Cognitive distancing between the author and the creative work: Dynamics of development of the methodology from Tristan Tzara to William Burroughs

The idea of «death of the author» was laid out by Roland Barthes in the same sense of the 1967 essay. It proclaims the epoch of the reader, which replaces the epoch of the author’s monopoly to determine the content and nature of the work. It is the reader who now decrypts the voice of the text, according to its own cultural code, and determines the volume of its values. The proclamation of «the death of the author» was the logical conclusion of the long-term process of its desacralization, turning into an abyss of the cognitive dis­ tance between the author and the work, and the tendencies of introducing conscious contingent chaos to reflect the torn and alienated world. To track the dynamics of the cognitive distance between the author and the work, the development of the methodology of avant-garde art of the 1910–1950s and the accompanying leveling of author’s control over the final meaning and appearance of the work is considered. An analysis of the artistic and literary experiments of dadaists, in particular Tristan Tzara; techniques of «automatic writing» and «au­tomatic drawing» of surrealists; factor of spontaneity in the literature of the representatives of «beat genera­tion»; action painting of abstract expressionists; conceptual understanding and use of the «cut-ups» method by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs.

Coping with bullying: The moderating effects of self-reliance

ABSTRACTStudent responses to bullying have an effect on subsequent outcomes. Dichotomous theories of coping suggest that self-reliance plays a role in responding to stress. In order to investigate the multidimensional nature of coping with bullying, the authors developed the Coping with Bullying Scale for Children. The current study also examined the relationships between bullying experiences (i.e., victimization and perpetration) and coping with bullying, with self-reliance as a potential moderator. Participants who reported higher rates of victimization or engagement in bullying reported greater use of cognitive distancing, externalizing, and self-blame strategies. Victimization was associated with higher reported rates of constructive coping. Self-reliance moderated the relationship between cognitive distancing and both types of bullying involvement. Self-reliance also moderated the relationship between self-blame and bullying perpetration. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are included.

The Impact of Teachers’ Commenting Strategies on Children’s Vocabulary Growth

ABSTRACTWe examined the relations between teachers’ use of comments during book reading sessions in preschool classrooms and the vocabulary growth of children with low and moderately low language ability. Using data from a larger randomized controlled trial, we analyzed comments defined as utterances that give, explain, expand, or define. Comments were coded for strategies, which were distinguished by the amount of cognitive distancing required for understanding. Strategies were divided into three levels: low, medium, and high. Videos of whole-class book reading sessions conducted in the fall were transcribed and analyzed for 489 children attending the classrooms of 52 Head Start preschool teachers. Descriptive analyses revealed that teachers largely used medium-level strategies, but relatively small amounts of low- and high-level comments. Logistic regressions revealed relationships between curriculum condition and teachers’ use of instructional strategies, such that those assigned to the intervention curriculum used more high-level strategies. Multilevel models found significant relationships between medium-level comments and children’s receptive vocabulary growth across one year of Head Start preschool instruction, such that children in classrooms where teachers used more medium-level comments experienced greater growth than those hearing fewer. No moderating effects were found based on children’s initial language abilities. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Patient Experiences of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): A Qualitative Study about Diagnosis, Illness Understanding, and Treatment Decision-Making

Background: Many patients with AML lack prognostic understanding, which may limit their ability to participate in shared decision-making about treatments. The underlying drivers of this misunderstanding are not well understood, so we sought to characterize the experience of being diagnosed with AML, receiving information, and making a treatment decision. We expected to discover areas for improvement in clinical practice.Methods: We developed a semi-structured qualitative interview guide to explore patients' experiences at diagnosis, satisfaction with clinical communication, factors related to prognostic understanding, and the treatment decision-making process. We enrolled 33 hospitalized patients with AML within 7 days of starting a new treatment regimen, and interviewed only those with high-risk AML due to either age >59, relapsed/refractory disease, or complex cytogenetics. We audio recorded interviews and transcribed them for qualitative analysis. Using cycles of open and axial coding, we developed a codebook that was sequentially applied to all transcripts. Further refinement of codes and development of themes occurred via group discussion.Results: Four themes emerged from this analysis, relating to: (1) uncertainty, (2) suddenness, (3) difficulty processing information, and (4) need for better communication. Patients frequently described uncertainty related to their prognosis, the number and nature of available treatments, and even the definition of the term "prognosis." In some cases this uncertainty was a source of hope, leaving open the possibility of a positive outcome. In other cases this uncertainty was crippling and frustrating. In terms of suddenness of the AML diagnosis, many patients described it as "overwhelming," "devastating," and "blindsiding," making them unable to process information and make a treatment decision. Many had not anticipated this severe change in health status. Compounding the suddenness for several patients was the need to travel far from home to be treated at a tertiary center. Many patients found processing the complex information about their diagnosis and treatment options too difficult, which negatively impacted their understanding of available treatments. It was common for patients to dichotomize options into either "do or die," when there were actually several available options of varying intensity and risk. Thus, patients perceived a lack of treatment choices and frequently exhibited negative coping behaviors, such as cognitive distancing and denial. In terms of communication, most described their physicians as providing adequate information, yet sometimes described a mismatch between their needs and the type of information physicians provided. In the cases of mismatch, patients were less satisfied. Receiving bad news from a doctor they did not know stood out as a difficult and negative experience for many patients, and several described poor communication around the time of diagnosis.Conclusions: Patients with AML face a unique, difficult situation characterized by sudden changes in health and pressure to make quick treatment decisions. This results in difficulty processing information, and is sometimes complicated by a mismatch between patients' informational preferences and clinicians' communication styles. This scenario appears to compound the difficulty of processing complex information, and probably impairs patients' abilities to make a truly informed decision. The recommended model of shared decision-making may be of limited utility in the AML setting. Targeted interventions are needed to improve AML patients' understanding of their illness and treatment options, and their experiences with diagnosis and treatment decision-making. DisclosuresLeBlanc:Helsinn Therapeutics: Honoraria, Research Funding; Epi-Q: Consultancy; Boehringer Ingelheim: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Flatiron: Consultancy.

Decentering and Related Constructs

The capacity to shift experiential perspective—from within one’s subjective experience onto that experience—is fundamental to being human. Scholars have long theorized that this metacognitive capacity—which we refer to as decentering—may play an important role in mental health. To help illuminate this mental phenomenon and its links to mental health, we critically examine decentering-related constructs and their respective literatures (e.g., self-distanced perspective, cognitive distancing, cognitive defusion). First, we introduce a novel metacognitive processes model of decentering. Specifically, we propose that, to varying degrees, decentering-related constructs reflect a common mental phenomenon subserved by three interrelated metacognitive processes: meta-awareness, disidentification from internal experience, and reduced reactivity to thought content. Second, we examine extant research linking decentering-related constructs and their underlying metacognitive processes to mental health. We conclude by proposing future directions for research that transcends decentering-related constructs in an effort to advance the field’s understanding of this facet of human experience and its role in (mal)adaptation.

Toward a more nuanced conceptualization of interpersonal distancing: Differential relationships of adaptive and dysfunctional detachment to stress-based anxiety in college students

This study investigates the utility of a model for disambiguating the risk vs. protective features associated with detachment in moderating stress-based anxiety. The model distinguishes adaptive detachment (the ability to engage in flexible, goal-directed cognitive distancing accompanied by the capacity to moderate affective arousal and maintain functional levels of interpersonal connectedness) from dysfunctional detachment (a more generalized detached interpersonal style characterized by pervasive social isolation and negative emotionality). College students (N=104, 71.4% female, mean age=19.20 (SD=3.54)) completed measures of detachment, mental health symptoms, and daily hassles; moderator hypotheses were tested by conducting a series of regression analyses. Findings indicate that individuals who report higher levels of adaptive detachment—but not dysfunctional detachment—experienced reduced anxiety in the context of elevated daily stressors. Results suggest that certain aspects of detachment may serve protective functions by reducing anxiety in the context of stressful events.