Michael J. Strube

Self-Evaluation: To Thine Own Self Be Good, To Thine Own Self Be Sure, To Thine Own Self Be True, and To Thine Own Self be Better

Publisher Summary This chapter tries to accomplish three objectives. Firstly, it defines the four motives and provides a selective review of research that indicates their prevalence. Secondly, it addresses the issue of the operation of four motives together to regulate self-evaluation. This chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the interplay of the four motives. This framework serves as a useful heuristic for consideration of potential moderators that govern the expression of the four motives. Finally, this chapter discusses several problems related to the self-evaluation motives that one believes are in need of empirical attention. This chapter serves to justify the claim that four basic self-evaluation motives have been demonstrated convincingly. Finally, the speculations of this chapter are meant to remind researchers that empirical work to date has taken certain aspects of the self-evaluation process for granted or has neglected other important issues.

Weight Changes, Exercise, and Dietary Patterns During Freshman and Sophomore Years of College

Weight gain and behavioral patterns during college may contribute to overweight and obesity in adulthood. The aims of this study were to assess weight, exercise, and dietary patterns of 764 college students (53% women, 47% men) during freshman and sophomore years. Students had their weight and height measured and completed questionnaires about their recent exercise and dietary patterns. At the beginning of freshman year, 29% of students reported not exercising, 70% ate fewer than 5 fruits and vegetables daily, and more than 50% ate fried or high-fat fast foods at least 3 times during the previous week. By the end of their sophomore year, 70% of the 290 students who were reassessed had gained weight (4.1 ± 3.6 kg, p> .001), but there was no apparent association with exercise or dietary patterns. Future research is needed to assess the contributions of fat, muscle, and bone mass to observed weight gain and to determine the health implications of these findings.

Resting interhemispheric functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity predicts performance after stroke

Focal brain lesions can have important remote effects on the function of distant brain regions. The resulting network dysfunction may contribute significantly to behavioral deficits observed after stroke. This study investigates the behavioral significance of changes in the coherence of spontaneous activity in distributed networks after stroke by measuring resting state functional connectivity (FC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Effect of Achilles tendon lengthening on neuropathic plantar ulcers. A randomized clinical trial.

Background:Limited ankle dorsiflexion has been implicated as a contributing factor to plantar ulceration of the forefoot in diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes for patients with diabetes mellitus and a neuropathic plantar ulcer treated with a total-contact cast with

Polychronicity and the Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV)

The ten‐item Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV), a psychometric measure of polychronicity (the extent to which people in a culture prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events simultaneously and believe their preference is the best way to do things), was developed using data from 11 samples (N = 2,190) collected from bank employees, undergraduate students, hospital personnel, dentists and their staffs, and state agency managers. Principal components, alpha, correlation, and confirmatory factor analyses supported the IPV in its internal consistency, test‐retest reliability, content adequacy, construct validity (both discriminant and convergent), and nomological validity.

Changes in Weight and Health Behaviors from Freshman through Senior Year of College.

OBJECTIVE To assess weight changes, exercise and diet behaviors among college students from the beginning of freshman year until the end of senior year. DESIGN Longitudinal observational study. SETTING Private university in St. Louis, Missouri. PARTICIPANTS College students (138 females, 66 males). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Weight and height were measured, body mass index (BMI) was calculated, and exercise and dietary behaviors were assessed by questionnaire. ANALYSIS Changes in weight, BMI, exercise, and dietary patterns from the beginning of freshman year to the end of senior year. RESULTS Females gained 1.7 +/- 4.5 kg (3.75 +/- 9.92 lb) [mean +/- SD] from freshman to senior year, and males gained 4.2 +/- 6.4 kg (9.26 +/- 14.11 lb) (both P < .001). Weight changes were highly variable between students, however, ranging from -13.2 kg to +20.9 kg (-29.10 to +46.08 lb). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Weight gain was common but variable among college students. Importantly, exercise and dietary patterns did not meet the recommended guidelines for many college students, which may have long-term health implications.

Meta-analysis of non-medical treatments for chronic pain

&NA; A meta‐analysis was conducted on 109 published studies which assessed the outcome of various non‐medical treatments for chronic pain. Of these studies, 48 provided sufficient information to calculate effect sizes. The remainder were examined according to proportion of patients rated as improved. Studies were compared as a function of type of treatment, type of pain, and type of outcome variable. In general, effect sizes were positive and of modest magnitude indicating the short‐term efficacy of most treatments for most types of pain. This finding suggests that the effectiveness of treatments may be attributable not to the differences between treatments, but to the features they have in common. Mood and number of subjective symptoms consistently showed greater responses to treatment than did pain intensity, pain duration, or frequency of pain, indicating the importance of using a multidimensional framework for pain assessment. This finding also suggests that the benefit of psychological approaches to pain management may lie in reducing the fear and depression associated with pain, rather than relieving the pain itself. The present study also highlights the advantages of meta‐analytic reviews.

A test of value congruence effects

This study investigated value congruence effects on organizational commitment and job satisfaction. We used the competing values framework to measure values, and response-surface methodology employing polynomial regression equations to investigate congruence effects. Our sample, 1,358 hospital employees, made judgments about their personal preferences for the four competing value sets—internal process, open systems, rational goal, and human relations. They also rated how much the same values were operating in the organization. We predicted that organizational commitment and job satisfaction would be maximized when a ‘match’ or ‘congruence’ occurred between the two component value measures. We evaluated congruence effects using the following criteria: (1) the proportion of variance explained by the overall equation was significant; (2) the quadratic and interaction terms were significant individually and as a set, and their signs were in the right direction; (3) the implied constraints were valid; and (4) no higher-order terms beyond those indicated by the model were significant. The results indicated that although quadratic and interaction components were present in all eight models, they were weak in their support for congruence. The studys findings suggested that congruence effects were relatively unimportant compared to main effects in explaining variance in organizational commitment and job satisfaction, at least in the large organization we investigated in this study. Copyright

The Multiply Motivated Self

Research on self evaluation revolves around four major themes: How many motives guide self-evaluation, in what circumstances does each motive become activated, are motives differentially prevalent in different people, and how can research on the self-evaluation motives become integrated? The discussion is structured on the basis of these four themes.

Upstream Dysfunction of Somatomotor Functional Connectivity After Corticospinal Damage in Stroke

Background. Recent studies have shown that focal injuries can have remote effects on network function that affect behavior, but these network-wide repercussions are poorly understood. Objective. This study tested the hypothesis that lesions specifically to the outflow tract of a distributed network can result in upstream dysfunction in structurally intact portions of the network. In the somatomotor system, this upstream dysfunction hypothesis predicted that lesions of the corticospinal tract might be associated with functional disruption within the system. Motor impairment might then reflect the dual contribution of corticospinal damage and altered network functional connectivity. Methods. A total of 23 subacute stroke patients and 13 healthy controls participated in the study. Corticospinal tract damage was quantified using a template of the tract generated from diffusion tensor imaging in healthy controls. Somatomotor network functional integrity was determined by resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging. Results. The extent of corticospinal damage was negatively correlated with interhemispheric resting functional connectivity, in particular with connectivity between the left and right central sulcus. Although corticospinal damage accounted for much of the variance in motor performance, the behavioral impact of resting connectivity was greater in subjects with mild or moderate corticospinal damage and less in those with severe corticospinal damage. Conclusions. Our results demonstrated that dysfunction of cortical functional connectivity can occur after interruption of corticospinal outflow tracts and can contribute to impaired motor performance. Recognition of these secondary effects from a focal lesion is essential for understanding brain–behavior relationships after injury, and they may have important implications for neurorehabilitation.