Subjects: Psychology >> Clinical and Counseling Psychology submitted time 2023-05-09
Abstract： The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift from in-person face-to-face counseling (F2F) to online videoconferencing counseling (VCP), which poses the question: how does VCP affect treatment outcomes compared to F2F? Existing research has demonstrated the equivalence of VCP and F2F in terms of effectiveness. However, the working alliance, a key common factor in F2F, has been found to be lower in quality in VCP than in F2F in a recent meta-analysis. Moreover, only one study has examined the reciprocal relationship between working alliance and treatment outcomes in VCP at the within-patient level. The present study aims to (a) compare the treatment outcomes between VCP and F2F using longitudinal data from a naturalistic setting; and (b) explore the mutual influence of working alliance and treatment outcomes in VCP and F2F at the within-patient level.
This study was conducted in a counseling center of a university in central China, and participants were arranged to receive VCP or F2F. The final sample consisted of 525 college students, of whom 117 received VCP and 408 received F2F. The only difference between the two conditions was the mode of delivery (VCP vs. F2F). Participants completed the CORE-OM-10 before each session and the Session Alliance Inventory (SAI) after each session. They also completed the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and CORE-OM-34 at pre- and post-treatment. The data from sessions 1 to 6 were analyzed using the Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM). A multi-group RI-CLPM comparison was conducted to examine the alliance-outcome relationship in VCP and F2F at the within-patient level.
The within-patient analysis revealed that SAI was a significant predictor of CORE-OM in the subsequent session, and CORE-OM was a significant predictor of SAI in the same session. The multi-group comparison indicated that the predictive effect of SAI on CORE-OM did not differ significantly between VCP and F2F. However, the working alliance quality in VCP was significantly lower than that in F2F after the first and the fourth sessions, but not after the other sessions. The post-treatment analysis, using Propensity Score Matching with pretest CORE-OM34, PHQ-9 and GAD-7 as predictor variables, showed no significant difference in PHQ-9, GAD-7, and CORE-OM34 between VCP (N = 89) and F2F (N = 336).
These findings indicate that VCP is as effective as F2F in reducing psychological distress, and that clients can establish a stable working alliance in VCP over time, even if they initially experience difficulties in adapting to the online mode. Moreover, the reciprocal influence of working alliance and treatment outcomes in VCP is similar to that in F2F. This study offers empirical support for the use of VCP, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The Gradedness of consciousness refers to whether conscious processing follows an “all-or-none” or “gradual” mode. The Richness of consciousness refers to whether conscious representations are “rich” or “sparse”. Our consciousness experience is explored from these two perspectives, i.e., the quality and the scope of processing, respectively. These two topics represent two important pathways toward decoding one of the basic scientific inquiries of mankind, i.e., Consciousness, in that any theory of consciousness formation must provide comprehensive, accurate, and reasonable explanations to them. In this review article, we first performed a thorough analysis of recent research progress for these two topics, aiming to clarify existing contradictions and ongoing debates between different explanatory views. Next, we indicated that these two research topics are intrinsically connected since each can be traced back to the long-standing disputations on whether cognitive access is necessary for the formation of consciousness. Finally, we carried out detailed analyses and discussions on how to advance the studies of the Gradedness and Richness of consciousness, and on how to provide an integrated interpretation to the complex performance of them under different experimental situations.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Shared and private aesthetic tastes represent universal and idiosyncratic aesthetic processing, respectively. The new trending that combines both aesthetic tastes are challenging pre-existing “universal” aesthetic principles. Previous research focused mainly on whether aesthetic principles were statistically universal, neglecting the fact that aesthetic attributes can cause different reactions among individuals. This contradictory relationship between generality and particularity concerns one long-standing but essential topic in aesthetics: is beauty universal and objective or idiosyncratic and highly subjective? If an aesthetic principle is only based on the average aesthetic judgment and is able to ignore the differences of aesthetic experience among individuals, can such an aesthetic principle support the proposition that "beauty is universal"? This is a reflection on empirical aesthetics brought by research on aesthetic tastes. Therefore, if private taste does play a role in aesthetic tastes, then there's no doubt that future studies on empirical aesthetics will have to take into consideration both dependent variables: the average aesthetic reactions and the extent to which such aesthetic reactions differ among individuals. Recent studies on aesthetic tastes have revealed many factors that can modulate the relative weights between shared and private tastes, the most typical of which is stimulus domain. Studies have shown that the proportion of shared taste in artificial stimuli (such as architecture and art) is less than that in natural stimuli (such as faces and landscapes). Other studies further demonstrated that high-level object categories (e.g., faces vs landscapes) can override aesthetic principles based on low-level stimulus features (e.g., symmetry). Besides stimulus domain, other factors, including expertise, cultural backgrounds, previous experience and age, can affect the relative weights between shared and private tastes. Recent fMRI and EEG studies have explored the neural mechanisms of shared and private aesthetic tastes, the basis of which includes sensory pathways and the reward system. Similar sensory “impressions” among individuals triggered by the same aesthetic stimuli may be the prerequisite that aesthetic responses share some commonality among individuals. Meanwhile, the reward system, especially medial orbitofrontal cortex(mOFC), shows homologous activation patterns across different stimulus domains. Therefore, both sensory pathways and the reward system might be the neural basis of shared aesthetic taste. What’s more, studies found that default-mode network (DMN) are suppressed in a task requiring external focus, and are engaged in tasks requiring internally directed thought, such as autobiographical memory and autistic thinking. Given that DMN is typically activated in self-directed thinking, it is possible that DMN is more related to individual differences in aesthetic responses, and plays a more important role in private aesthetic tastes. Furthermore, take example for the PIA model and the VIMAP model, contemporary aesthetic processing models still owe an explanation for aesthetic tastes. And it is yet to clear how different aesthetic processing stages lead to changes in relative weights between shared and private tastes. Two completely opposite predictions and explanations can be reached by these models. The first one is that early stages in aesthetic models are driven more by stimuli, thus leading to more homogeneity in aesthetic responses and greater proportion of shared taste due to the objectivity of stimulus characteristics; in contrast, late aesthetic stages are driven more by perceivers, leading to more proportion of private taste. The other one also makes some sense: in stimulus-driven stages, the general “gist” formed by different perceivers can also be heterogeneous because at these stages individuals process the stimuli incompletely and insufficiently. However, in perceiver-driven stages, individuals process stimuli more intactly and sufficiently, thus it is possible that in these stages perceivers have more similar impressions of the targeted stimuli, resulting in higher proportions of shared taste. In the future, more relevant studies are required to expand stimulus domain of aesthetic evaluation and to explore the corresponding relationship between aesthetic tastes and different aesthetic processing stages.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Serial dependence effect (SDE) refers to a stable and systematic attractive bias in which cognitive processing of the current stimuli is pulled toward the stimuli presented moments ago. Existing studies have revealed many factors modulating serial dependence effects. The first one is attention. Only stimuli that are consciously perceived can produce serial dependence effects. Secondly, sensory uncertainty of stimuli also affects serial dependence effects. Particularly, previous studies had found that stimuli with higher sensory uncertainty produced higher SDE intensity. The physical characteristics of stimuli also affect serial dependence effects. In addition, the spatial and temporal distances between the neighboring stimuli also have a tuning effect on serial dependence effects. All these distinctive features and special effects (caused perception bias, but did not influence reaction times) showed that the serial dependence effect is a brand new "history effect" (the influence of past stimuli on the current stimulus). The cognitive and neural mechanisms of serial dependence effects have received much attention. There are currently several mainstream views since 2014. The earliest view, i.e., the “continuity field” theory, believes that serial dependence is an effect purely at the perceptual level and occurs before the stage at which sensory signals are transformed into conscious representations. Some researchers also believe that serial dependence effects occur at the perceptual level and further they are modulated by neural feedback signals from higher levels. Another view attributes serial dependence effects to dynamic biases in working memory, while some researchers believe that serial dependence effects stem from decision-making processes. Finally, some researchers propose that serial dependence effects may exist at multiple cognitive processing stages and cannot be explained by a single mechanism. Recently, empirical progress had been made upon the neural mechanism of serial dependence effects. For example, Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies had revealed electrophysiological signals that can represent serial dependence effects starting from early stages of perceptual processing in adaptation paradigms. Evidence from fMRI studies also demonstrated an attractive bias at the level of early sensory representation imposed by previous perceptions. The latest research had discovered abnormal serial dependence effects in patients with brain injury. In addition, it was found that the dorsal premotor cortex had significant influence on visual movement-based serial dependence. The underlying mechanism of serial dependence effects is being uncovered gradually. Since been proposed, the serial dependence effect is thought to be a mechanism that promotes stability for visual processing by integrating visual input along the temporal dimension. However, some results are still controversial. Thus, there is still large space left for studies on serial dependence effects. In the future research, it is necessary to tackle the origin of serial dependence effects with multiple strategies, including innovation of experimental paradigms, data analysis approaches, and various cognitive neuroscience technologies. Further, future studies can focus on the modulating factors on serial dependence effects, and provide explanations to inconsistent results and individual differences of serial dependence effects in previous studies. Finally, it is also important to note that any psychological experimental design involving sequential visual stimuli in the future will have to consider the potential effects of serial dependence that may exist between past and current stimuli.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Progress feedback involves collecting patients’ ratings on treatment outcome by session and providing feedback to therapists on patient progress. Research has indicated that the positive effect of progress feedback on psychotherapy outcome is a promising advancement. However, a recent meta-analysis showed that progress feedback may only have a small to medium effect for non-severe patients. Also, the theory which explains the effect of progress feedback is very much limited. Before implementing progress feedback in China, it is necessary to test its effect on working alliance and treatment outcomes in a natural setting.It is believed that Chinese are taught to obey their parents, respect elders, and restrain themselves to keep family harmony. Such schemas are subsequently transferred to their social life in the forms of respecting authority/superior, maintaining interpersonal harmony, which will lead to an indirect style of communication. Progress feedback from patients’ weekly reports can be used as a correction method for incongruences between therapists and patients without discussing it immediately and face-to-face, and thus can improve the quality of working alliance and treatment outcomes. The current study used a culturally-adapted version of progress feedback in a university counseling center. Research assistants collected patients’ ratings on working alliance and treatment outcomes and emailed the results with interpretations to the therapists, who were then encouraged to use feedback information to improve treatment outcomes.The participants included 48 therapists and 445 patients (of which 350 were used for analysis). Post survey indicated that 80% therapists read progress feedback information based on which they were divided into feedback and non-feedback group. CORE-OM10 was used to evaluate symptoms before each session, and WAQ was used to evaluate the working alliance after each session. PHQ-9, GAD-7, and CORE-OM-34 were used before and after treatment. Multi-level structural equation models were used to analyze the data. Results showed that progress feedback had a medium effect on working alliance but no effect on treatment outcomes (measured by CORE-OM) at the between-person level. At the within-person level, the results affirmed the reciprocal model of alliance-outcome, which indicated that the model is consistent and steady across cultures. In addition, the feedback group had better treatment outcomes measured by PHQ-9 and self-rated helpfulness measured after treatment.The results were discussed under the three possible mechanisms of progress feedback. Progress feedback may correct the bias of the therapist’s self-evaluation on treatment process, as well as the incongruence and alliance ruptures between therapists and patients. The cultural-specific factors may also contribute to the effect of progress feedback (e.g., indirect communication style). The support from regular supervision for therapists under progress feedback was emphasized as well. Overall, the present study suggested the positive effect of progress feedback on the working alliance and treatment outcomes in a Chinese counseling center based on practical evidence.
submitted time 2023-03-20 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The Gradedness of consciousness refers to whether conscious processing follows an “all-or-none” or “gradual” mode. The Richness of consciousness refers to whether conscious representations are “rich” or “sparse”. Our consciousness experience is explored from these two perspectives, i.e., the quality and the scope of processing, respectively. These two topics represent two important pathways toward decoding one of the basic scientific inquiries of mankind, i.e., Consciousness, in that any theory of consciousness formation must provide comprehensive, accurate, and reasonable explanations to them. In this review article, we first performed a thorough analysis of recent research progress for these two topics, aiming to clarify existing contradictions and ongoing debates between different explanatory views. Next, we indicated that these two research topics are intrinsically connected since each can be traced back to the long-standing disputations on whether cognitive access is necessary for the formation of consciousness. Finally, we carried out detailed analyses and discussions on how to advance the studies of the Gradedness and Richness of consciousness, and on how to provide an integrated interpretation to the complex performance of them under different experimental situations.
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Personality Psychology submitted time 2022-01-02
Abstract： In today’s Chinese society, where materialistic values prevail, the promotion of green consumption is a matter of concern. Previous studies have drawn contradictory conclusions regarding the relationship between materialism and green consumption. Apropos this, the current research takes the conspicuous and inconspicuous characteristics of green products themselves as the breakthrough point. This study first examines the boundary conditions of materialism affecting green consumption, namely the moderating role of green products’ conspicuous characteristics. It further explores the psychological mechanisms of materialism promoting conspicuous green consumption and inhibiting inconspicuous green consumption, and finally investigates the intervening effects of nature contact on this basis. These studies provide new ideas for solving existing research differences and make management suggestions for enterprises and the government to guide green consumption."
Subjects: Psychology >> Clinical and Counseling Psychology submitted time 2020-12-10
Abstract： Progress feedback involves collecting patients’ ratings on treatment outcome session by session and providing feedback to therapists on patient progress. Research has indicated that the positive effect of progress feedback on psychotherapy outcome is a promising advancement. However, a recent meta-analysis showed that progress feedback may only have a small to medium effect for non-severe patients. Also, there is a limited theory in explaining the effect of progress feedback. Before implementing the progress feedback in China, it is necessary to test its effect on working alliance and treatment outcomes in a natural setting. It is believed that Chinese are taught to obey their parents, respect elders, and restrain themselves to keep family harmony. Such schemas are subsequently transferred to their social life in the forms of respecting authority/superior, maintaining interpersonal harmony, which will lead to an indirect style of communication. Progress feedback from patients’ weekly reports can be used as a correction method for incongruences between therapists and patients without discussing it immediately and face-to-face, and thus can improve the quality of working alliance and treatment outcomes. The current study used a culturally-adapted version of progress feedback procedure in a university counseling center. Research assistants collected patients’ ratings on working alliance and treatment outcomes and sent the results with interpretations to therapists’ email address. Therapists were encouraged to use feedback information to improve treatment outcomes. The participants included 48 therapists and 445 patients (350 were used for analysis). Post survey indicated that 80% therapists read progress feedback information based on which feedback group was determined. CORE-OM10 was used to evaluate symptoms before each session and WAQ was used to evaluate the working alliance after each session. PHQ-9, GAD-7, and CORE-OM-34 were used before and after treatment. Multi-level structural equation models were used to analyze the data. Results showed that progress feedback had a medium effect on working alliance but no effect on treatment outcomes (measured by CORE-OM) at the between-person level. At the within-person level, the results affirmed the reciprocal model of alliance-outcome which indicated that the model is consistent and steady across cultures. In addition, the feedback group had better treatment outcomes measured by PHQ-9 and self-rated helpfulness measured after treatment. The results were discussed under the possible three mechanisms of progress feedback. Progress feedback may correct the blindness of the therapist’s self-evaluation on treatment process, can correct the incongruence and alliance ruptures between therapists and patients. The cultural-specific factors may also contribute to the effect of progress feedback (e.g., indirect communication style). The support from regular supervision for therapists under progress feedback was emphasized as well. Overall, the present study suggested the positive effect of progress feedback on the working alliance and treatment outcomes in a Chinese counseling center based on practical evidence.
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