Memory and mood changes in pregnancy: a qualitative content analysis of women's first-hand accounts.

OBJECTIVE: This qualitative study aimed to explore how pregnant women and new mothers self-report changes to their mood and memory during pregnancy. BACKGROUND: Researchers have investigated the various changes that women report throughout their pregnancy. Despite this evidence base, there is a notable lack of studies that take a qualitative approach to understanding how pregnant women and women in the postpartum period experience memory and mood changes through their pregnancy. METHOD: The present study involved a qualitative content analysis of women's first-hand accounts. Of the 423 participants who responded, 118 participants provided textual responses to questions about their memory and 288 participants provided textual responses to questions about their mood. Data were collected online via a free-text survey and analysed using both deductive inductive open coding. RESULTS: A qualitative content analysis generated four overall categories: two typologies of self-reported memory changes in pregnancy ('short-term memory lapses' and 'chronic memory fog') and two typologies of self-reported mood changes ('mood instability and constant change' and 'low mood and parenting anxiety'). CONCLUSION: These typologies represent unique profiles of the memory and mood changes that women experience during pregnancy and serve to accompany and expand the quantitative literature, which documents the changes women experience during pregnancy.

Blame it on her 'baby brain'? Investigating the contents of social stereotypes about pregnant women's warmth and competence.

The Stereotype Content Model proposes that social stereotypes broadly exist along two dimensions: warmth and competence. This framework has been used to investigate the contents of stereotypes of gendered groups in a range of contexts. However, it has not been extensively applied to perceptions of pregnant women. This is important, given how pregnant women are typically framed by society to have 'baby brain' or reduced competence. Therefore, we investigated the contents of social stereotypes of pregnant women. In Study 1, participants (N = 590) rated a target group (pregnant women) and thirteen other comparison groups on perceptions of warmth (compassion, empathy and comfort) and competence (mathematics ability, logic and memory). Pregnant women were generally stereotyped to have low competence and high warmth, relative to other groups. Study 2 (N = 54) then descriptively investigated the wider contents of stereotypes related to pregnant women, new mothers, men and women using a trait generation task. Generated traits were coded within the dimensions of warmth and competence. This showed, again, that pregnant women were assigned traits related to warmth and poor competence. Taken together, these studies confirmed that perceptions of low competence and 'baby brain' in pregnancy is broadly held by a non-pregnant sample.

Goal prioritization and behavior change: Evaluation of an intervention for multiple health behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: Goal prioritization is a promising strategy for promoting health behavior change. The present research (a) tested whether goal prioritization engenders change in multiple health behaviors, (b) compared the effectiveness of prioritizing one versus two health behavior goals, and (c) assessed whether prioritization compromises the performance of nonprioritized behaviors. METHOD: Participants (N = 1,802) were randomly allocated to one of two intervention conditions (prioritize one vs. two behaviors) or two no-prioritization, control conditions. Participants in the intervention conditions self-selected the behavior(s) to prioritize from a given set. Goal priority and behavioral performance were assessed 8 weeks later. RESULTS: The prioritization interventions were successful in promoting goal priority and led to significantly greater behavior change compared to both control conditions. Prioritizing two health behavior goals led to increased behavioral performance compared to prioritizing a single goal. Goal prioritization did not lead to a decline in rates of performance of nonprioritized behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings offer new evidence that goal prioritization is effective in promoting health behavior change. Prioritizing health goals engenders behavior change for both one and two focal behaviors and does so without adversely affecting the performance of nonprioritized health behaviors. Further tests of interventions to promote the priority of health goals are warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Women's stereotype threat-based performance motivation and prepotent inhibitory ability.

According to the mere effort account of performance, stereotype threat motivates disproval of the negative performance stereotype, which in turn potentiates the overproduction of prepotent responses. In mathematics (maths), prepotent responding facilitates solve type question (e.g., equations) performance, but reduces comparison type question (e.g., estimations) performance. Problematically, the mere effort account indexes performance motivation as task performance. Also, this account posits that performance reduction on non-prepotent tasks derives from the overproduction of prepotent responses, as opposed to failed inhibition of prepotent responses associated with the alternative, namely, the working memory interference perspective. We investigated motivational and prepotent responding as applied to stereotype threat. In Experiment 1, a maths question selection task indexed motivation (independently of performance). Stereotype threat led female test takers to select more solve than comparison maths questions, in accord with the mere effort account. In Experiment 2, higher inhibitory ability protected overall maths performance following stereotype threat, but it did not protect non-prepotentiated comparison question performance (inconsistent with the working memory interference perspective). The results support the mere effort account.

Varying cognitive targets and response rates to enhance the question-behaviour effect: An 8-arm Randomized Controlled Trial on influenza vaccination uptake.

RATIONALE: The question-behaviour effect (QBE) refers to the finding that survey questions about a behaviour can change that behaviour. However, little research has tested how the QBE can be maximized in behavioural medicine settings. The present research tested manipulations of cognitive targets (questions about anticipated regret or beneficence) and survey return rates (presence vs. absence of a sticky note requesting completion of the questionnaire) on the magnitude of the QBE for influenza vaccination in older adults. METHOD: Participants (N = 13,803) were recruited from general practice and randomly allocated to one of eight conditions: control 1 (no questionnaire); control 2 (demographics questionnaire); intention and attitude questionnaire (with or without a sticky note); intention and attitude plus anticipated regret questionnaire (with or without a sticky note); intention and attitude plus beneficence questionnaire (with or without a sticky note). Objective records of subsequent influenza vaccination from general practice records formed the dependent variable. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analyses indicated that receiving an influenza vaccination questionnaire significantly increased vaccination rates compared to the no questionnaire, OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.36 and combined control conditions, OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.25. Including the sticky note significantly increased questionnaire return rates, OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.50. However, there were no differences in vaccination rates between questionnaires containing different cognitive targets, a sticky note or not, and no interactions. There were no significant differences in the per-protocol analyses, i.e. among respondents who completed and returned the questionnaires. CONCLUSION: The QBE is a simple, low-cost intervention to increase influenza vaccination rates. Increasing questionnaire return rates or asking anticipated regret or beneficence questions in addition to intention and attitude questions did not enhance the QBE.

Impact of goal priority and goal conflict on the intention-health-behavior relationship: Tests on physical activity and other health behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: Goal intentions are the key proximal determinant of behavior in a number of key models applied to predicting health behavior. However, relatively little previous research has examined how characteristics of goals moderate the intention-health-behavior relations. The present research examined the effects of goal priority and goal conflict as moderators of the intention-health-behavior relationship. METHOD: The main outcome measures were self-reported performance of physical activity (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and other health behaviors (Study 4), and objectively measured physical activity (Study 3). Studies 1 and 4 used prospective correlational designs to predict later behavior from earlier cognitions. Studies 2 and 3 were experimental studies manipulating goal priority and goal conflict. Studies 1 and 2 used between-subjects designs while Studies 3 and 4 used within-subjects designs. RESULTS: Goal priority significantly moderated the intention-health-behavior relationship for physical activity (Study 1) and a range of protective and risk health behaviors (Study 4). Manipulations of goal priority significantly increased the intention-physical-activity relationship when self-reported (Study 2) and objectively measured (Study 3). In contrast, inconsistent effects were observed for goal conflict as an intention-behavior moderator. CONCLUSIONS: When goal priority is high, then intentions are strong predictors of health behaviors. Further studies testing manipulations of goal conflict and in particular goal priority in combination with goal intentions are required to confirm their value as a means to change health behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Testing the role of action and inaction anticipated regret on intentions and behaviour.

Anticipated regret (AR) has been suggested as a useful addition to the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that captures affective influences. However, previous research has generally (1) assessed the impact of AR in relation to one behaviour (action or inaction) when considering TPB variables in relation to the alternative behaviour, (2) not controlled for affective attitudes or past behaviour, and (3) examined only one or two behaviours. In two studies across several behaviours, the present research showed that even when controlling for affective attitudes, past behaviour, and other TPB variables towards action, action and inaction AR each added to the prediction of intentions across multiple behaviours. The two studies also showed that inaction regret was generally the stronger predictor, although action regret was important for some types of behaviour. Implications and issues for further research are discussed.

The formation of novel social category conjunctions in working memory: A possible role for the episodic buffer?

Recent research (e.g., Hutter, Crisp, Humphreys, Waters, & Moffit; Siebler) has confirmed that combining novel social categories involves two stages (e.g., Hampton; Hastie, Schroeder, & Weber). Furthermore, it is also evident that following stage 1 (constituent additivity), the second stage in these models involves cognitively effortful complex reasoning. However, while current theory and research has addressed how category conjunctions are initially represented to some degree, it is not clear precisely where we first combine or bind existing social constituent categories. For example, how and where do we compose and temporarily store a coherent representation of an individual who shares membership of "female" and "blacksmith" categories? In this article, we consider how the revised multi-component model of working memory (Baddeley) can assist in resolving the representational limitations in the extant two-stage theoretical models. This is a new approach to understanding how novel conjunctions form new bound "composite" representations.

Tackling student binge drinking: Pairing incongruent messages and measures reduces alcohol consumption.

OBJECTIVES: Excessive alcohol consumption is a persistent problem in Northern European cultures. Across a 2-week period, we tested the effect of varying message frames, message types, and response measures, in reducing alcohol consumption. DESIGN: Three hundred and twenty-three respondents were allocated to a 2 (message frame: gain vs. loss) × 2 (message type: health vs. social) × 2 (response type: engaging vs. refraining) mixed design. METHOD: Binge drinking and units consumed were measured at Time 1 and Time 2 (2 weeks later). Participants read (following Time 1) a gain- or loss-framed message on binging emphasizing either social or health consequences and answered engaging in or refraining from drinking attitude measures. RESULTS: No main effects were identified. The key finding was that gain-framed messages, when used in conjunction with engage response measures (an incongruous pairing), were highly effective in reducing alcohol consumption 2 weeks later compared with the other message frame/response measure combinations. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that for prevention behaviours, gain-framed messages, when paired with engage response measures, initiate an inconsistency resolution process. Together, our findings emphasize the importance of message frame and response type when seeking to reduce alcohol consumption using persuasive health messages.

Resolving conflicting social categories: the role of age-related executive ability.

We investigated the effect of age-related decline in executive ability on the application of emergent features to incongruent social category conjunctions (e.g., male midwife). When forming an impression of an incongruent conjunction, older adults used more emergent attributes (attributes associated exclusively with the category conjunction and not the constituents), relative to younger adults. Moreover, this relationship was mediated by a reduction in inhibitory ability (measured using a Stroop task) and processing speed (measured using a Digit Symbol Substitution Test, DSST). These findings are consistent with the notion that executive ability is pivotal in understanding social functioning in older adults. We discuss the implications of these findings for the continuing development of models outlining the processes and stages involved in perceiving social category conjunctions.

When mere exposure leads to less liking: the incremental threat effect in intergroup contexts.

In two experiments we tested the hypothesis that repeated exposure to out-group-relevant attitude objects would lead to less liking following a threat to identity. In Experiment 1 exposure to abstract artwork ostensibly created by a member of an out-group university led to more liking under baseline conditions, but not following a manipulation of threat. In Experiment 2 we observed a negative relationship between exposure and liking following threat: liking reversed the typical mere exposure effect. Reported emotion mediated the interactive effect of threat and exposure on liking. These findings illustrate how social identity threat can be experienced incrementally as a function of exposure. We discuss the findings in the context of an integration of research on exposure, identity, attitudes, and contact.

Reduced constituent category application in surprising combinations.

In a previous study (R. R. C. Hutter & R. J. Crisp, 2005), the authors suggested that one way in which perceivers resolve the dilemma of shared membership of incongruent category combinations is by generating emergent attributes. However, the authors also found evidence that a corresponding process of reduced constituent facilitation occurs. In the present research, the authors aimed to isolate this phenomenon using a response-time methodology. Participants were exposed to subliminal unsurprising or surprising gender-occupation category-combination primes. The authors observed facilitation in overall response times on a subsequent lexical decision task to constituent attributes when the combination primed was unsurprising compared with surprising, but only for female and not for male combinations. The authors suggest that perceivers reduce their application of constituent attributes when processing surprising versus unsurprising combinations.

The composition of category conjunctions.

In three experiments, the authors investigated the impression formation process resulting from the perception of familiar or unfamiliar social category combinations. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to generate attributes associated with either a familiar or unfamiliar social category conjunction. Compared to familiar combinations, the authors found that when the conjunction was unfamiliar, participants formed their impression less from the individual constituent categories and relatively more from novel emergent attributes. In Experiment 2, the authors replicated this effect using alternative experimental materials. In Experiment 3, the effect generalized to additional (orthogonally combined) gender and occupation categories. The implications of these findings for understanding the processes involved in the conjunction of social categories, and the formation of new stereotypes, are discussed.