Teachers' achievement goal orientations and associations with teachers' help seeking: Examination of a novel approach to teacher motivation.

It was proposed that achievement goal theory can be applied to conceptualizing motivation not only for learning but also for teaching. As predicted, responses of 320 teachers to a new self-report measure of goal orientations for teaching yielded 4 factors reflecting distinct mastery, ability-approach, ability-avoidance, and work-avoidance goals. Data from 212 teachers who also completed measures of help seeking confirmed that mastery goals predicted positive perceptions of help seeking, preferences for receiving autonomous help, and frequency of help seeking; ability avoidance predicted negative perceptions and help avoidance; and work avoidance predicted expedient help seeking. Results validate the proposed structure and measure of teacher goal orientations and open new directions for research on teacher cognitions and behaviors, teachers' influences on students, and school influences on teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental effects of reward on creativity.

The authors examined 2 ways reward might increase creativity. First, reward contingent on creativity might increase extrinsic motivation. Studies 1 and 2 found that repeatedly giving preadolescent students reward for creative performance in 1 task increased their creativity in subsequent tasks. Study 3 reported that reward promised for creativity increased college students' creative task performance. Second, expected reward for high performance might increase creativity by enhancing perceived self-determination and, therefore, intrinsic task interest. Study 4 found that employees' intrinsic job interest mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and creative suggestions offered at work. Study 5 found that employees' perceived self-determination mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and the creativity of anonymous suggestions for helping the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help seeking.

Research on men's help seeking yields strategies for enhancing men's use of mental and physical health resources. Analysis of the assumptions underlying existing theory and research also provides a context for evaluating the psychology of men and masculinity as an evolving area of social scientific inquiry. The authors identify several theoretical and methodological obstacles that limit understanding of the variable ways that men do or do not seek help from mental and physical health care professionals. A contextual framework is developed by exploring how the socialization and social construction of masculinities transact with social psychological processes common to a variety of potential help-seeking contexts. This approach begins to integrate the psychology of men and masculinity with theory and methodology from other disciplines and suggests innovative ways to facilitate adaptive help seeking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' attitudes toward seeking help for their children from school and private psychologists.

What inhibits parents from seeking psychological help for their children? This study examined the attitudes of mothers of school-age children toward seeking psychological help from school psychological services and from private psychologists. Mothers express greater and more intense worries in relation to seeking help from school psychological services as compared to private psychologists. Hypothetical vignettes about a problematic child also showed that mothers prefer to refer both their own child and that of a friend to a private psychologist. Reducing the threat aroused by public sector psychologists should increase the utilization of psychological help for children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workplace substance abuse prevention and help seeking: Comparing team-oriented and informational training.

Employees fail to seek help for alcohol or drug (AOD) abuse because of unhealthy work climates, stigma, and distrust in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). To address such problems, the authors randomly assigned groups of municipal employees (N?=?260) to 2 types of training: a 4-hr informational review of EAPs and policy and an 8-hr training that embedded messages about AOD reduction in the context of team building and stress management. Pre- and posttraining and 6-mos follow-up surveys assessed change. Group privacy regulation, EAP trust, help seeking, and peer encouragement increased for team training. Stigma of substance users decreased for information training. EAP/policy knowledge increased for both groups. A control group showed little change. Help seeking and peer encouragement also predicted EAP utilization. Integrating both team and informational training may be the most effective for improving help seeking and EAP utilization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of help seeking for emotional distress among Chinese Americans: Family matters.

Using data from the Chinese American Psychiatric Epidemiological Study, the authors examined longitudinal predictors of help seeking for emotional distress in a community sample of 1,503 Chinese Americans. Specifically, they assessed the relative contribution of family relational variables (e.g., levels of family support and family conflict) in predicting help seeking for medical, mental health, and informal services. After traditional need, predisposing, and enabling factors were controlled for in hierarchical logistic regression analyses, family conflict predicted both mental health and medical service use, whereas family support was not predictive of help seeking. In addition to family conflict, mental health service use was predicted by negative life events, emotional distress, and insurance coverage. Implications of the findings for assessing and treating Asian American clients are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation, enculturation, and Asian American college students' mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help.

In the present study, we tested a theoretically and empirically derived partially indirect effects acculturation and enculturation model of Asian American college students' mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Latent variable path analysis with 296 self-identified Asian American college students supported the partially indirect effects model and demonstrated the ways in which behavioral acculturation, behavioral enculturation, values acculturation, values enculturation, and acculturation gap family conflict related to mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help directly and indirectly through acculturative stress. We also tested a generational status moderator hypothesis to determine whether differences in model-implied relationships emerged across U.S.- (n = 185) and foreign-born (n = 107) participants. Consistent with this hypothesis, statistically significant differences in structural coefficients emerged across generational status. Limitations, future directions for research, and counseling implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Should I ask for help?" The role of motivation and attitudes in adolescents' help seeking in math class.

The present study investigated motivational influences on help-seeking behavior in math classrooms, focusing on early adolescents' perceptions of the benefits and threats associated with such behavior. Seventh and 8th graders (N?=?203) responded to a questionnaire on perceptions of social and cognitive competence, achievement goals, attitudes, and avoidance of and adaptive help-seeking behavior in math class. Both threats and benefits were important influences on avoidance of help-seeking behavior, whereas only benefits predicted adaptive help seeking. Findings indicated that perceived threats and benefits partially mediated the effects of relative ability goals, task-focused goals, extrinsic goals, and perceptions of cognitive competence on avoidance of help seeking. Perceived benefits partially mediated the effects of task-focused goals on adaptive help seeking. Social competence had an indirect effect on avoidance of help seeking. Results illustrate the importance of linking cognitive, motivational, and social characteristics of students to provide a fuller understanding of adolescent help seeking in math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of clients' attributional explanations and reasons for seeking help on counselors' impressions.

On the basis of an impression-management view of the counseling interaction, the effects of clients' initial self-presentations on counselors' impressions were investigated. It was predicted that a client offering personal attributional explanations (claiming responsibility for his/her problematic behavior) would be seen in a more favorable light than would one who attributed his/her predicament to others or to the situation. It was also expected that the client who expressed an intrinsic (self-improvement) reason for seeking help would make a better impression than would one who offered an extrinsic (nontherapeutic) reason. Ratings by 77 graduate psychology or social work students of stimulus tapes that manipulated these variables supported the hypotheses. The client who expressed personal attributions was viewed as more motivated and attractive than was the client who made situational attributions. When the reason for seeking help was intrinsic, Ss perceived the client to be more motivated and as having a better prognosis for change. There were, however, no uniquely significant effects on specific outcome expectancies or on judgments of problem severity. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived Achievement Goal Structure and College Student Help Seeking.

Two studies examined associations between college students' help seeking and perceptions of their classes' achievement goal structure. Study 1 established that students' help seeking (N = 883 in 6 chemistry classes) could be parsimoniously described by distinct approach (intentions to seek autonomous help from teachers) and avoidance patterns (threat, avoidance intentions, seeking expedient help). In Study 2, after controlling for students' personal achievement goal orientations (N = 852 in 13 psychology classes), within-class differences in perceived class emphasis on mastery positively predicted help-seeking approach and negatively predicted help-seeking avoidance patterns, whereas perceived class emphasis on performance-avoid goals positively predicted help-seeking avoidance. Students in classes with greater perceived emphasis on performance-avoid goals had higher levels of help-seeking avoidance patterns. Results complement previous research on help seeking and achievement goals with younger learners and provide support for the role of classroom achievement goal structure in student motivation and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychobiology of novelty seeking and drug seeking behavior

There is considerable evidence that high novelty seekers are at increased risk for using drugs of abuse relative to low novelty seekers. This review examines the potential biological mechanism that may help explain the relationship between novelty seeking and drug seeking behavior. Evidence is summarized to suggest that exposure to novelty activates, at least in part, the same neural substrate that mediates the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. It is argued that individual differences in response to novelty and drugs may relate to individual differences in the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system of the brain. Individual differences in both novelty seeking and drug seeking behavior, while under some degree of genetic control, appear to be modifiable by early development experiences and this modification may relate to alterations in activity of the mesolimbic DA system. Within the context of this biological formulation, implications for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse are discussed.     

Social affiliation cues prime help-seeking intentions.

Over and Carpenter (2009) recently found that 18-month-old infants who had been primed with a social affiliation cue were more likely to offer to help another person. The present research investigated whether similar affiliation cues affect intentions to seek help rather than offer help. Undergraduate psychology students (N = 122) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions in which they viewed a photograph of 2 people who were either holding hands (affiliation condition) or not holding hands (nonaffiliation condition). Participants then indicated their intention to ask other people for help when they worked on a university coursework assignment. Participants in the affiliation condition had significantly stronger intentions to seek help than participants in the nonaffiliation condition. These results are consistent with the idea that social affiliation cues activate a broad prosocial orientation that applies not only to others (i.e., help giving) but also to the self (i.e., help seeking). Future research should investigate the potential influence of attachment style on the relationship among affiliation cues, help giving, and help seeking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seeking help in the shadow of doubt: The sensemaking processes underlying how nurses decide whom to ask for advice.

Although scholars often assume that individuals seek out experts when they need help, recent research suggests that seeking help from experts can be costly. The authors propose that perceiving potential help providers as accessible or trustworthy can reduce the costs of seeking help and thus encourage individuals to seek help from experts. They further predict that perceptions of potential help providers’ expertise, accessibility, and trustworthiness are shaped by their experience, formal roles, and organizational commitment. They investigated their theoretical model in a study of 146 nurses on the front lines of healthcare. They found that the decision to seek out help depends on help-seekers’ perceptions of experts’ accessibility and trustworthiness, and that these perceptions are predicted by experience, formal roles, and affective organizational commitment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mediating roles of anticipated risks, anticipated benefits, and attitudes on the decision to seek professional help: An attachment perspective.

This study examined the mediating effects of anticipated risks, benefits, and attitudes toward seeking counseling on the link between adult attachment and help-seeking intentions for psychological and interpersonal concerns in a sample of 821 undergraduates. The structural equation modeling results indicated that the link between higher attachment avoidance and less intent to seek help was mediated by lower anticipated benefits, higher anticipated risks, and less positive attitudes toward seeking help. Conversely, the link between higher attachment anxiety and greater intent to seek help was mediated by higher anticipated benefits and risks and more positive attitudes toward seeking help. Thus, attachment contributed to perceptions of the benefits and risks of counseling, which, in turn, influenced help-seeking attitudes and, eventually, help-seeking intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If you need help, just ask: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help.

A series of studies tested whether people underestimate the likelihood that others will comply with their direct requests for help. In the first 3 studies, people underestimated by as much as 50% the likelihood that others would agree to a direct request for help, across a range of requests occurring in both experimental and natural field settings. Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated that experimentally manipulating a person's perspective (as help seeker or potential helper) could elicit this underestimation effect. Finally, in Study 6, the authors explored the source of the bias, finding that help seekers were less willing than potential helpers were to appreciate the social costs of refusing a direct request for help (the costs of saying "no"), attending instead to the instrumental costs of helping (the costs of saying "yes"). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of problem solving, social support seeking, and avoidance: A path analytic model.

This study used Structural Equation Modeling to test a theoretical model linking stress, self-efficacy, trait resilience, secure attachment, and motivation to 3 coping responses: problem solving, social support seeking, and avoidance. Participants were 326 Taiwanese college students. The results, interpreted based on theory, seemed to show that self-efficacy, trait resilience, and motivation could influence students’ problem solving; stress, secure attachment, and motivation could affect their social support seeking; and stress, self-efficacy, and trait resilience could influence their avoidance (the latter 2 were negatively correlated with avoidance). Mediational effects were also found. The effect of stress on problem solving seemed to be mediated by self-efficacy, trait resilience, and motivation; the effect of stress on social support seeking seemed to be mediated by secure attachment; and the effect of stress on avoidance seemed to be mediate by trait resilience. Other mediating effects were also found and discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity.

Researchers have obtained conflicting results about the role of prosocial motivation in persistence, performance, and productivity. To resolve this discrepancy, I draw on self-determination theory, proposing that prosocial motivation is most likely to predict these outcomes when it is accompanied by intrinsic motivation. Two field studies support the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation moderates the association between prosocial motivation and persistence, performance, and productivity. In Study 1, intrinsic motivation strengthened the relationship between prosocial motivation and the overtime hour persistence of 58 firefighters. In Study 2, intrinsic motivation strengthened the relationship between prosocial motivation and the performance and productivity of 140 fundraising callers. Callers who reported high levels of both prosocial and intrinsic motivations raised more money 1 month later, and this moderated association was mediated by a larger number of calls made. I discuss implications for theory and research on work motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concealment, avoidance of psychological services, and perceived likelihood of seeking professional help.

Undergraduate students (N?=?732) completed questionnaires about their perceived likelihood of seeking professional psychological help, attitudes toward psychotherapy, fears of psychotherapy, psychological distress, social support, and self-concealment. Self-concealment (a person's tendency to keep intimate information secret) was positively associated with self-reported distress and avoidance of needed psychological treatment. Although low social support was associated with greater perceived likelihood of seeking help, this effect was canceled at high levels of self-concealment. Specific types of distress selectively predicted perceived likelihood of seeking help as a function of the type of problem for which help would have been sought. Overall, the data contradicted previous findings and conclusions that suggested high self-concealers were more inclined than low self-concealers to seek psychological services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional openness as a predictor of college students' attitudes toward seeking psychological help.

Fear of emotions is hypothesized to be a primary reason for individuals' negative attitudes toward seeking psychological treatment. This study examined the effects of emotional openness and other potential predictors of attitudes toward seeking psychological help in a sample of 311 college students. Results of simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that gender (male), perception of stigma, discomfort with emotions, and lower psychological distress accounted for 25% of variance in attitudes toward seeking psychological help. The implications of the findings and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of public education efforts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)