Mental Exercising Through Simple Socializing: Social Interaction Promotes General Cognitive Functioning

Ybarra, Oscar; Burnstein, Eugene; Winkielman, Piotr; Keller, Matthew C.; Manis, Melvin; Chan, Emily; Rodriguez, Joel

doi:10.1177/0146167207310454

Cited by 192 publications

(181 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…This finding corresponded to work suggesting that even brief social interactions can trigger cognitive resources (as indicated by performance on executive function tasks) that are necessary to maintain smooth social interactions (Ybarra et al, 2008). To the extent that praying is experienced as a social interaction it may thus trigger cognitive resources and facilitate subsequent self-control performance.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Personal prayer counteracts self-control depletion

Friese

Schweizer

Arnoux

et al. 2014

Consciousness and Cognition

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a b s t r a c tPraying over longer time spans can foster self-control. Less is known about the immediate, short-term consequences of praying. Here we investigated the possibility that praying may counteract self-control depletion. Participants suppressed or did not suppress thoughts about a white bear before engaging in a brief period of either personal prayer or free thought. Then, all participants completed a Stroop task. As expected, thought suppression led to poorer Stroop performance in the free thought, but not in the prayer condition. This effect emerged on a dependent variable devoid of any religious or moral associations (Stroop task). Possible mediating mechanisms and directions for future research are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Personal prayer counteracts self-control depletion

Friese

Schweizer

Arnoux

et al. 2014

Consciousness and Cognition

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show abstract

“…Second, based on reports that individuals pray to gain subjective strengthening (Janssen et al, 1990), we investigated whether the extent to which individuals try to find strength during praying would mediate the hypothesized effect. Finally, previous research showed that (a) people interpret praying as a social interaction with God (Bremner, Koole, & Bushman, 2011;Schjoedt, Stødkilde-Jørgensen, Geertz, & Roepstorff, 2009), and (b) even brief social interactions can trigger cognitive resources and enhance executive control (Ybarra et al, 2008). We therefore investigated engagement in social interaction as a third potentially mediating factor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Personal prayer buffers self-control depletion

Friese

Wänke

2014

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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• Several factors can counteract self-control depletion • Less is known about factors that can prevent depletion effects • We tested the assumption that personal prayer would buffer depletion effects • Participants in the control group showed the regular depletion effect • Participants who had prayed at the beginning of the study did not a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o The strength model of self-control has inspired large amounts of research and contributed to a deeper understanding of the temporal dynamics underlying self-control. Several studies have identified factors that can counteract self-control depletion, but relatively little is known about factors that can prevent depletion effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that a brief period of personal prayer would buffer self-control depletion effects. Participants either briefly prayed or thought freely before engaging (or not engaging) in an emotion suppression task. All participants completed a Stroop task subsequently. Individuals who had thought freely before suppressing emotions showed impaired Stroop performance compared to those who had not suppressed emotions. This effect did not occur in individuals who had prayed at the beginning of the study. These results are consistent with and contribute to a growing body of work attesting to the beneficial effects of praying on self-control.

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“…Children growing up with less face-to-face interactions could have difficulty developing relationships with the people they interact with on a daily basis, and could suffer from limited social skills in faceto-face interactions. In addition, there is evidence that participation in social interactions facilitates general cognitive functioning [339].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction Design and Children

Hourcade

2007

FNT in Human-Computer Interaction

232

121

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Children are increasingly using computer technologies as reflected in reports of computer use in schools in the United States. Given the greater exposure of children to these technologies, it is imperative that they be designed taking into account children's abilities, interests, and developmental needs. This survey aims to contribute toward this goal through a review of research on children's cognitive and motor development, safety issues related to technologies and design methodologies and principles. It also provides and overview of current research trends in the field of interaction design and children and identifies challenges for future research.To understand children's developmental needs it is important to be aware of the factors that affect children's intellectual development. This survey analyzes the relevance of constructivist, socio-cultural, and other modern theories with respect to the design of technologies for children. It also examines the significance of research on children's cognitive development in terms of perception, memory, symbolic representation, problem solving, and language. Since interacting with technologies most often involves children's hands this survey also reviews literature on children's fine motor development including manipulation and reaching movements. Just as it is important to know how to aid children's development it is also crucial to avoid harming development. This survey summarizes research on how technologies can negatively affect children's physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development. Following is a review of design methodologies for children's technologies organized based on the roles children may play during the design process including a description of cooperative inquiry and informant design methods. This is followed by a review of design principles obtained through experiences in developing technologies for children as well as research studies. It includes design principles related to visual design (e.g., icons, visual complexity), interaction styles (e.g., direct manipulation, menus), and the use of input devices (e.g., pointing, dragging, using mouse buttons). The latter half of this survey summarizes research trends in the field of interaction design and children, grouping research efforts in the following areas: supporting creativity and problem solving, supporting collaboration and communication, accessing, gathering and exploring content, learning from simulations, supporting children with special needs, interacting with intelligent characters, supporting healthy lifestyles, learning skills, mobile, tangible, and ubiquitous computing, and designing and evaluating technologies. This survey concludes by formulating research challenges for the future and identifying three information age "plagues" children are in danger of facing in the near future.

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Mental Exercising Through Simple Socializing: Social Interaction Promotes General Cognitive Functioning

Cited by 192 publications

References 71 publications

Personal prayer counteracts self-control depletion

Personal prayer counteracts self-control depletion

Personal prayer buffers self-control depletion

Interaction Design and Children

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