scholarly journals Enhancing Nature Connection and Positive Affect in Children through Mindful Engagement with Natural Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4785
Author(s):  
Alexia Barrable ◽  
David Booth ◽  
Dylan Adams ◽  
Gary Beauchamp
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Nature Connection ◽  
Mindful Engagement

Nature connection, which describes a positive relationship between humans and the rest of nature, has been recognised as a worthwhile goal of all education. Given its association with wellbeing, as well as the fact that it can predict ecological behaviours in children, there have been several calls for it to become central to environmental education, and an important tool in tackling climate change. Previous research has reported the success of short-term interventions in increasing nature connection in children, but to date no empirical studies have looked at how mindful engagement with nature can promote both nature connection and positive affect. This study took place in a nature reserve in Wales and included n = 74 children, aged 9–10, who took part in three mindful activities. Pre- and post- measures included nature connection and positive/negative affect. Analysis showed a significant small to medium effect of the activity on nature connection. Moreover, positive affect significantly increased post-activity, while negative affect showed a small decrease.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Attachment Security Priming in Improving Positive Affect and Reducing Negative Affect: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela C. Rowe ◽  
Emily R. Gold ◽  
Katherine B. Carnelley
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Attachment Style ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Study Designs ◽  
Positive Effect

Attachment security priming has been extensively used in relationship research to explore the contents of mental models of attachment and examine the benefits derived from enhancing security. This systematic review explores the effectiveness of attachment security priming in improving positive affect and reducing negative affect in adults and children. The review searched four electronic databases for peer-reviewed journal articles. Thirty empirical studies met our inclusion criteria, including 28 adult and 2 child and adolescent samples. The findings show that attachment security priming improved positive affect and reduced negative affect relative to control primes. Supraliminal and subliminal primes were equally effective in enhancing security in one-shot prime studies (we only reviewed repeated priming studies using supraliminal primes so could not compare prime types in these). Global attachment style moderated the primed style in approximately half of the studies. Importantly, repeated priming studies showed a cumulative positive effect of security priming over time. We conclude that repeated priming study designs may be the most effective. More research is needed that explores the use of attachment security priming as a possible intervention to improve emotional wellbeing, in particular for adolescents and children.

scholarly journals Possible New Symptoms of Tobacco Withdrawal III: Reduced Positive Affect—A Review and Meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias M Klemperer ◽  
John R Hughes ◽  
Catherine E Peasley-Miklus ◽  
Peter W Callas ◽  
Jessica W Cook ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Tobacco Withdrawal ◽  
Medium Effect Size ◽  
Baseline Effect ◽  
New Research ◽  
Offset Effect

Abstract Introduction Most descriptions of tobacco withdrawal have not changed in >30 years despite new research. This meta-analysis tested whether abstinence leads to decreased positive affect (PA) because abstinence-induced symptom changes are a core feature of the tobacco withdrawal syndrome. In addition, we examined whether reduced PA was due to withdrawal (ie, temporary decrease in a “U-shaped” curve) or offset (ie, return to baseline) effect. Methods Our main inclusion criterion was a prospective within-participant test of change in PA during abstinence conditions among people who smoke cigarettes daily who were not using a cessation medication. Our search of PubMed, PsycINFO, and personal libraries yielded a total of 32 tests with 2054 participants. Results There was a medium effect size indicating an overall decrease in PA following abstinence from cigarettes (Cohen’s d = −0.40, 95% CI = −0.30 to −0.49). There was large heterogeneity (I2 = 70.7%). Most (79%) of the 24 trials that conducted significance tests reported that reduction in PA was significant. Seven tests were adequately designed to detect a withdrawal versus offset effect. Over half (57%) displayed a U-shaped curve for abstinence-induced change in PA indicative of a withdrawal symptom rather than offset effect. Conclusions Abstinence from cigarettes is associated with a decrease in PA. Whether low PA should be added to withdrawal measures and diagnostic criteria requires replication of the time-course of change in PA and tests of whether abstinence-induced changes in PA and negative affect occur independently. Implications Though there was substantial heterogeneity among trials, our findings suggest that (1) abstinence from cigarettes decreases positive affect and (2) this decrease may represent a withdrawal effect (vs. an offset effect). However, it is unclear whether abstinence-induced losses in positive affect are independent from increased negative affect.

scholarly journals Hedonism and the choice of everyday activities

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (35) ◽  
pp. 9769-9773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Taquet ◽  
Jordi Quoidbach ◽  
Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye ◽  
Martin Desseilles ◽  
James J. Gross
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Everyday Activities

Most theories of motivation have highlighted that human behavior is guided by the hedonic principle, according to which our choices of daily activities aim to minimize negative affect and maximize positive affect. However, it is not clear how to reconcile this idea with the fact that people routinely engage in unpleasant yet necessary activities. To address this issue, we monitored in real time the activities and moods of over 28,000 people across an average of 27 d using a multiplatform smartphone application. We found that people’s choices of activities followed a hedonic flexibility principle. Specifically, people were more likely to engage in mood-increasing activities (e.g., play sports) when they felt bad, and to engage in useful but mood-decreasing activities (e.g., housework) when they felt good. These findings clarify how hedonic considerations shape human behavior. They may explain how humans overcome the allure of short-term gains in happiness to maximize long-term welfare.

Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Negative Affect, Positive Affect, Stress, and Depression

1992 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jagdish Dua ◽  
Lorette Hargreaves
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Aerobic Exercise ◽  
Short Term ◽  
General Stress

Three groups of subjects, 15 Longer-term Exercisers, 14 Short-term Exercisers, and 18 Nonexercisers completed questionnaires designed to measure negative affect associated with thoughts, negative affect associated with day-to-day experiences, positive affect associated with thoughts, and positive affect associated with day-to-day experiences, depression, and stress. All the subjects also provided a rating of their over-all general stress. The Longer-term Exercisers reported more positive affect associated with their thoughts and day-to-day experiences than the Nonexercisers. There also was a trend for the Longer-term Exercisers to report less over-all stress than the Nonexercisers.

Taking care with self-care during COVID-19: Affect-behavior associations during early stages of the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Disabato ◽  
Pallavi Aurora ◽  
Pooja Gupta Sidney ◽  
Jennifer M Taber ◽  
Clarissa A. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Daily Diary ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Stressful Environments

Although evidence exists for a feedback loop between positive affect and self-care behaviors, it is unclear if findings generalize to the COVID-19 pandemic. A 10-day daily diary was completed by 324 adult participants in the United States during spring 2020 when national stay-at-home orders were in effect. We hypothesized a reciprocal within-person process whereby positive affect increased self-care behaviors (Aim 1) and self-care behaviors increased positive affect (Aim 2). Lagged analyses for Aim 1 indicated that greater negative affect, rather than positive affect, predicted increased self-care behaviors from one day to the next day. For Aim 2, concurrent analyses, but not lagged analyses, indicated self-care behaviors was associated with more positive affect and less negative affect afterwards. We discuss the ways negative affect might function differently than normal during stressful environments and conclude self-care behaviors continue to have only a short-term (within a day) impact on positive and negative affect.

scholarly journals Fluctuations in affective states and self-efficacy to resist non-suicidal self-injury as real-time predictors of non-suicidal self-injurious thoughts and behaviors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Kiekens ◽  
Penelope Hasking ◽  
Matthew Nock ◽  
Mark Edward Boyes ◽  
Olivia J Kirtley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Self Injury ◽  
And Behaviors

Introduction: Although research over the past decade has resulted in significantly increased knowledge about distal risk factors for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), little is known about short-term (proximal) factors that predict NSSI thoughts and behaviors. Drawing on contemporaneous theories of NSSI, as well as the concept of ideation-to-action, the present study clarifies (a) real-time factors that predict NSSI thoughts and (b) the extent to which theoretically important momentary factors (i.e., negative affect, positive affect, and self-efficacy to resist NSSI) predict NSSI behavior in daily life, beyond NSSI thoughts.Methods: Using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM), intensive longitudinal data was obtained from 30 young adults with frequent NSSI episodes in the last year. Participants completed assessments up to eight times per day for 12 consecutive days (signal-contingent sampling). This resulted in the collection of 2,222 assessments (median compliance = 79.2%) during which 591 NSSI thoughts and 270 NSSI behaviors were recorded. Using the dynamic structural equation modeling framework, multilevel vector autoregressive models were constructed. Results: Within the same assessment, negative affect was positively associated with NSSI thoughts, whereas positive affect and self-efficacy to resist NSSI were each negatively associated with NSSI thoughts. Across assessments, higher-than-usual negative affect and self-efficacy to resist NSSI were predictive of short-term change in NSSI thoughts. While fluctuations in both negative affect and positive affect prospectively predicted NSSI behavior, these factors became non-significant in models that controlled for the predictive effect of NSSI thoughts. In contrast, self-efficacy to resist NSSI incrementally predicted a lower probability of engaging in NSSI, above and beyond NSSI thoughts. Discussion: This study provides preliminary evidence that affective fluctuations may uniquely predict NSSI thoughts but not NSSI behaviors, and point to the role of personal belief in the ability to resist NSSI in preventing NSSI behavior. These findings illustrate the need to differentiate between the development of NSSI thoughts and the progression from NSSI thoughts to behavior, as these are likely distinct processes, with different predictors.

Relationship of Love, Affect and Wellbeing

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Thiyam Kiran Singh ◽  
Aastha Dhingra
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Interpersonal Relationship ◽  
Significant Positive Relationship ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Close Friendship ◽  
Major Facilitator ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Love is more than a close friendship. It acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationship. Love is positive in nature and leaves a positive affect on every individual. An individual in love not only feels positive but spreads positivity around. They smile, be kind to other people, behave compassionately with everyone. If the person is happy then he is likely to be psychologically and emotionally healthy. The current study aimed at understanding the relationship between love, affect and wellbeing among young females aged between 20-25 years. The study reported a significant positive relationship between love and positive affect with the significant correlation of 0.29 at 0.05 levels (p<0.05). It was also found a significant positive relationship between love and wellbeing with the significant correlation of 0.58 at 0.01 level (p<0.01). This means that people in love experience positive emotions and healthy wellbeing. The correlation between love and negative affect came out to be insignificant. The correlation turned out to be -0.13. This means that people in love do not experience negative emotions.

scholarly journals Short-term load forecasting using Theta method

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 01004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Dudek
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Load Forecasting ◽  
Seasonal Cycles ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Forecasting Accuracy ◽  
Forecasting Methods ◽  
Short Term Load Forecasting ◽  
Data Definition ◽  
System Data ◽  
Theta Method

The Theta method attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners in recent years due to its simplicity and superior forecasting accuracy. Its performance has been confirmed by many empirical studies as well as forecasting competitions. In this article the Theta method is tested in short-term load forecasting problem. The load time series expressing multiple seasonal cycles is decomposed in different ways to simplify the forecasting problem. Four variants of input data definition are considered. The standard Theta method is uses as well as the dynamic optimised Theta model proposed recently. The performances of the Theta models are demonstrated through an empirical application using real power system data and compared with other popular forecasting methods.

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