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The power behavioural system is a neurobehavioral system that motivates a person to acquire and control resources that are important for survival and reproductive success. When activated, its function is to protect or restore the sense of power, influence, or dominance. Repeated experiences of failure in achieving this goal may result in hyperactivation or deactivation of power-oriented behaviours (analogous to the secondary strategies observed with respect to the attachment behavioural system). Gaining a reliable and valid measure of hyperactivation and deactivation of the power system can be important for understanding an individual's responses to different social contexts and, in clinical settings, can help the therapist identify the client's difficulties that may undermine the therapeutic process. In the present study, we developed the Italian version of the Power Behavioural System Scale (PBSS), a self-report measure developed by Shaver et al. (2011) to assess individual differences in hyperactivation and deactivation of the power system. Results indicated an adequate fit to the expected two-factor model, and the measure proved to be reliable and had good convergent and structural validity, allowing the quantification of individual differences in power system hyperactivation and deactivation.

Attachment theory emphasizes both the importance of the availability of caring, supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, for developing a sense of safety and security, and the beneficial effects of this sense of security on psychosocial functioning and physical and mental health. In this article, we briefly review basic concepts of attachment theory, focusing on the core construct of attachment security and present evidence concerning the ways in which this sense can be enhanced in adulthood. Specifically, we review findings from laboratory experiments that have momentarily enhanced the sense of attachment security and examined its effects on emotion regulation, psychological functioning, and prosocial behavior. We then review empirical findings and ideas concerning security enhancement by actual relationship partners, non-human symbolic figures, and societal systems in a wide variety of life domains, such as marital relationships, psychotherapy, education, health and medicine, leadership and management, group interactions, religion, law, and government.

This paper demonstrates that an overlooked personality ability – storytelling – plays a significant psychological role: individuals proficient in storytelling exhibit a stronger sense of meaning in life (MIL) and endorsement of high-level goals (EHG) compared to their less adept counterparts. We employ two distinct methods to assess the storytelling ability: we developed a self-report scale for storytellers and also gathered assessments from listeners. The listeners comprise three categories: (a) close friends, (b) strangers who listen to the storyteller’s narratives, and (c) trained coders who observe videos of these stories. The relationship between storytelling and both the sense of meaning-in-life and endorsement of high-level goals is consistent across all measures. Additionally, this relationship persists whether the narrative concerns a personality trait or is constructed from three random words. Furthermore, the results are consistent across two different cultures (US and Middle Eastern). Finally, these relationships are most pronounced among introverts and least evident among extraverts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership plays a key role in the well-being of military personnel, either contributing to health improvement or, conversely, becoming a source of stress. In the present study we propose that security providing leadership can reduce work stress in the military context. Furthermore, we suggest that security-providing leaders exert their positive influence on work stress by creating a psychological safety climate and preventing organizational dehumanization. A sample of 204 members (72.5% men) of the Spanish Air Force volunteered to participate in this empirical study and completed an online questionnaire and both the direct and indirect structural equation models were analyzed. Results show a negative relationship between security providing leadership and work stress. Additionally, organizational dehumanization and psychological safety climate act as mediators in this relationship. These results support this novel approach to leadership in the military context. They also offer new ways to create better organizational environments. By treating their subordinates in a personalized manner and supporting them, security-providing leaders can improve employees' perceptions of psychological safety climate and combat feelings of organizational dehumanization, which, in turn, can reduce work stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: One's sense of entitlement—the subjective perception of what one deserves from another person—can contribute to social attitudes and behaviour in positive or negative ways, depending on the way in which one construes this subjective sense. Previous work has examined how adolescents' sense of entitlement towards their parents contributes positively or negatively to their well‐being. In this study, we extend this line of research and focus on adolescents' sense of entitlement towards another important authority figure—teachers, while examining its associations with both students' and teachers' characteristics and implications for students' functioning at school. Method: We adapted the Adolescents' Sense of Relational Entitlement towards Parents scale to tap students' relational entitlement towards their teachers. We then examined the factor structure of the adapted scale and its associations with students' and teachers' relevant psychological measures in three samples (N = 1588). Results: Findings confirmed the three‐factor structure of student–teacher entitlement. Studies 2–3 also revealed that students' sense of entitlement was associated with both students' variables (e.g., psychological well‐being, self‐esteem, perceptions of teachers' acceptance of them and students' school engagement) and teachers' emotional difficulties. Study 3's findings indicated that students' sense of entitlement was associated with their school engagement. Conclusion: Students' sense of entitlement towards teachers seems to be associated with teachers' emotional makeup and attitudes towards students. In addition, this subjective sense is associated with students' school engagement. These findings suggest that there is theoretical value and practical implications for further unpacking both teachers' and students' factors associated with students' sense of entitlement and examining its association with academic functioning at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of the study was to evaluate Orbach's multidimensional model of mental pain in Italy, while constructing a reliable and valid Italian version of the 40-item Orbach and Mikulincer Mental Pain scale (OMMP) in a non-clinical sample. The sample consisted of 544 Italian adults. Findings indicated that the original 8-factor structure of the OMMP scale was not validated in our Italian version of the scale. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a 31-item solution, with five main factors (Irreversibility, Lack of control and Freezing, Narcissistic wounds, Emotional flooding, Emptiness). Women scored higher than men in emotional flooding and lack of control, age was inversely related to the reported level of mental pain, and participants who were married or had a long, stable couple relationship showed lesser emotional suffering than singles. This study has shown the OMMP to be a valid and reliable scale for assessing mental pain in the general population. Future studies are needed in order to examine the replicability of the 5-factor model as well as the validity of the OMMP factors in clinical samples in the Italian context., Author(s): Eliana Tossani [sup.1] [sup.2] , Maria Grazia Ricci Garotti [sup.1] , Mario Mikulincer [sup.3] , Sara Giovagnoli [sup.2] , Gloria Calzolari [sup.1] , Giulia Landi [sup.1] [sup.2] , Silvana [...]

Unfortunately, in recent years, wars have forced many civilians to evacuate their homes and move to safe zones. The event of October the seventh that took place in many Kibbutzim near the Gaza strip, exposed families who were on a Jewish holiday, to the murder of family and community members. They had to leave their burned houses and move to hotels and apartment buildings in other parts of Israel. Many people, also from the Northen parts of the country, are still in new safe zones, and have huge difficulties in returning to their houses (and not only because of objective security reasons). In this "perspective" article we propose a Virtual Reality (VR) application, which is based on past and current research in the fields of attachment theory and traumatic grief. We propose that in addition to the use of exposure therapy, a VR simulation which will activate the attachment system, can reorganize the evacuees' figure and place attachment representations. We suggest that such a simulation will revive the evacuees' sense of safe-haven and secure base and enable them to return to their home place, or to adjust to a new place, thereby leading to optimal adjustment. We start with a presentation of the theory of attachment, place attachment, attachment and loss and the two-track model of bereavement. Then, we describe the design of our VR intervention that aims to address this challenge from the attachment theory perspective with the evacuees. Finally, we discuss the challenges that need to be dealt with to implement the VR interventions through resilience centers in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of attachment-based factors (children's attachment style, children's appraisal of teacher as a secure base, and teacher's feelings of closeness to child) in explaining differences in Israeli children's socioemotional adjustment (self-rated sense of coherence, loneliness) and academic functioning (teacher-rated). The sample comprised 98 children with learning disorders from general education classes in four public elementary schools and 107 typically developing children from the same classes. Significant intergroup differences emerged in socioemotional and academic adjustment as well as attachment-based factors. Moreover, attachment-based factors were significantly correlated with adjustment measures and significantly mediated the association between learning disorders and socioemotional adjustment. The findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical and practical implications rendered by children's experiences in close relationships on socioemotional adjustment among school-age children with learning disorders.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in heightened feelings of loneliness due to lockouts and social restrictions. In the present study, we examined the association of loneliness during the pandemic with anxiety and depression, while exploring the moderating role of the tendency to use two emotion-regulation strategies (expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal). We chose to examine these associations in a sample of older adults, because they faced higher risk for loneliness and health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, 174 Israeli veterans and ex-prisoners of wars from the 1973 Yom Kippur war (mean age = 69) completed self-report scales tapping loneliness, depression, anxiety, and emotion regulation strategies at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak (April-May 2020). Findings revealed a stronger association between loneliness and depression among participants who had a greater tendency of using suppression. The tendency to use suppression did not significantly moderate the link between loneliness and anxiety. Additionally, a weaker association between loneliness and depression was found among participants who has a greater tendency of using reappraisal. However, these participants showed a stronger association between loneliness and anxiety. These findings highlight the complexity of reappraisal and adds to the growing body of work on emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the contribution of executive functioning (EF) to improvements in psychiatric symptomatology following I Can Succeed (ICS; Kopelman-Rubin, 2012) psychotherapy, a skill-enhancement intervention designed to target EF and socio-emotional aspects of specific learning disabilities (SLD). Forty adolescents with SLD underwent ICS in an open clinical trial. Executive functions and psychiatric symptomatology were measured before and after treatment plus at a six-month followup. Findings indicated that greater improvement in EF (specifically inhibitory control and semantic fluency) during psychotherapy was linked with lower severity of internalizing symptoms at the end of treatment. In addition, only better baseline inhibitory control was linked to greater improvement in the severity of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms from the end of treatment to the six-month followup. The findings highlight the importance of addressing EF and psychopathology symptoms in psychotherapy with adolescents with SLD.

According to the motivated helplessness hypothesis, parental feelings of helplessness regarding vaccinating children against COVID-19 may serve a protective function against vaccine fear and hesitancy. Two correlational studies conducted among Israelis (Study 1) and an international sample (Study 2), examined whether self-reported perceived helplessness in vaccinating children may be related to lower vaccine-fear, and higher perceived vaccine-effectiveness, trust in authorities' recommendations and willingness to vaccinate. Results indicated parents who felt they had no other choice but to vaccinate their children, exhibited less vaccine-fear, higher vaccine-effectiveness and greater intentions to vaccinate. Additionally, the relationships between vaccine-helplessness, vaccine-effectiveness and willingness to vaccinate were partially mediated by vaccine-fear. In Study 2, vaccine-helplessness was found related to higher trust in authorities' recommendations, which was partially mediated by vaccine-fear. The implications of these findings for research on the psychological function of helplessness in the parental decision-making process of vaccinating children during a pandemic are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]