Problematic social media use (PSMU) has been conceptualized within process-based models linking individual vulnerabilities to affective-cognitive processes. This cross-sectional study examined whether verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration differentially characterized the indirect associations of distress tolerance and experiential avoidance with PSMU. A sample of 388 university students (66.2% women; M = 25.61 years) completed self-report measures. Parallel indirect associations were tested using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples. Distress tolerance was negatively, and experiential avoidance positively, associated with PSMU. Verbal perseveration showed a stronger unique association with PSMU (β = .373, p < .001), whereas imaginal prefiguration was not statistically supported (β = .057, p = .320). Indirect associations through verbal perseveration were supported for distress tolerance (estimate = −.080, 95% CI [−.127, −.036]) and experiential avoidance (estimate = .081, 95% CI [.028, .143]); corresponding pathways through imaginal prefiguration were not supported. Contrast analyses supported stronger indirect associations through verbal perseveration. These findings indicate differential statistical relevance across desire-thinking components without establishing causal mediation.
This study examined how social media is associated with mind wandering and emotional and intellectual overexcitability among college students. Understanding these relationships is important because excessive engagement with social media may influence attention, emotional regulation, and cognitive functioning during a critical stage of academic development. Data were collected from 904 students (260 females) using self-report measures of screen time, mind wandering, and overexcitability. The findings showed that students who spent more time on social media reported greater mental distraction, more frequent automatic thoughts, and higher levels of emotional and intellectual overexcitability. In addition, automatic thoughts and mental restlessness helped explain the relationship between social media use and psychological overexcitability. These results suggest that heavy social media use may contribute to difficulties in attentional control and emotional regulation among university students. Moreover, the study highlights the potential role of digital media environments in shaping cognitive and emotional experiences in young adults and contributes to a better understanding of the links among imagination, cognition, personality, and everyday technology use.
Decisiveness, the capacity to commit to difficult choices, has traditionally been studied through cognitive and motivational frameworks, leaving the role of one's relationship to inner experience open. Two studies examine dispositional mindfulness, acceptance, and regret sensitivity as predictors of decisiveness. In Study 1 ( n = 64), all three significantly predicted decisiveness. In Study 2 ( n = 49), regret sensitivity and mindfulness remained significant, though acceptance's association attenuated, coinciding with a stronger acceptance-mindfulness correlation. Across both studies, regret sensitivity was the strongest and most consistent predictor ( β = −.31 in Study 1 and −.50 in Study 2), suggesting that an unwillingness to accept the irreversibility of past choices may undermine confident commitment to future ones. Mindfulness and acceptance predicted decisiveness independently of their association with regret. These findings extend decision avoidance research beyond cognitive and affective accounts, positioning decisiveness as an expression of practical wisdom within a broader psychology of character.
Empathy is widely regarded as a social asset, yet it may also confer emotional risk. This study examines when empathy becomes maladaptive by testing the moderating roles of emotion regulation and self–other boundaries. In a sample of 205 adults (61% female; M age = 25.01, SD = 8.92), participants completed measures of affective and cognitive empathy, emotion regulation, self–other boundary protection, and emotional distress (depression, anxiety, stress). Affective empathy was positively associated with all distress outcomes, except for depression, whereas cognitive empathy showed no direct effects. Moderation analyses (PROCESS Model 1) indicated a significant interaction between cognitive empathy and emotion suppression, such that cognitive empathy was positively associated with distress at higher levels of suppression but not at lower levels. In addition, self–other boundary difficulties significantly moderated the association between affective empathy and distress, with the positive relationship weakening or reversing as boundary protection increased. These findings challenge uniformly positive views of empathy, demonstrating that its psychological consequences depend on regulatory processes and the capacity to maintain self–other differentiation.
This study uses imagined-interaction theory as an interpretive lens for understanding three psychological resources that may be associated with teacher resilience and well-being: cultural identity affirmation, daily spiritual experience, and metacognitive cultural intelligence. We are explicit that imagined interactions themselves were not measured; the tradition instead supplies a vocabulary for interpreting why these culturally situated resources matter for occupational adaptation. A cross-sectional survey of 312 in-service Indian school teachers was analysed using structural equation modelling and conditional process analysis. Cultural identity and spirituality predicted resilience; metacognitive cultural intelligence predicted well-being; and a three-way interaction indicated that teachers high on all three resources reported the strongest resilience. Spirituality partially mediated the identity–resilience path, and cultural intelligence moderated the indirect effect of identity on well-being. We interpret these associations cautiously, as consistent with a view of resilient teaching as a narrative and imaginal accomplishment, not only a behavioural one.
