Last Update: November 21, 2003
Department of Psychology, Division of Science, University of Toronto at
Mississauga
Objective of the Research
Cluster
A few years ago, Nobel-prize-winner Daniel Kahneman edited a book entitled “Well-Being” that called for an interdisciplinary research program on the determinants of happiness. That book exemplifies the purpose of the cluster, which brings together scholars whose research focuses on understanding the correlates and causes (and ultimately the promotion) of the psychological welfare of individuals. Scientific definitions of well-being include an objective component and a subjective component. The objective component can be defined at the level of societies (GDP, average life-expectancy, infant mortality) and individuals (longevity, health status). Subjective well-being refers to individuals’ happiness. Although the two components of well-being are correlated, they are distinct. For example, over the past few decades, GDP in Canada has increased dramatically, but indicators of subjective well-being have remained unchanged. This gap suggests that we need a better understanding of the psychological determinants of subjective well-being to promote psychological wellness in an affluent and peaceful society such as Canada.
The title of our cluster, “Adjustment and Well-being,” reflects the idea that subjective well-being requires constant adaptation, or adjustment, to challenges and threats to well-being. These challenges may have many different sources, emanating both from the culture or society and from individual experiences. For example, modern societies have dramatically reduced the pain and suffering caused by many illnesses. However, this modern life style, with its abundant supply of food, has created new diseases such as obesity and anorexia, which produce their own kinds of pain and suffering, both physical and psychological. Other societal changes requiring adjustment include increasing mobility and dual-income families. At the individual level, individuals must constantly adjust to new situations resulting from day-to-day fluctuations in the positive and negative events they experience, from both normal and abnormal processes of development, and from unforeseen crises (e.g., illness, death of a loved one, disability).
The concept of subjective well-being is also receiving important recognition within the medical field. Traditionally, medical research defined treatment outcomes in terms of objective indicators (longevity). Today, the incorporation of quality of life (subjective well-being) is increasingly more common as doctors realize that many patients would prefer a shorter life with high well being over a long life of suffering. Hence, treatment decisions by both clinicians and patients frequently include discussions of potential impact on quality of life. This concept includes not only a person’s own perception of his or her health status and its affective concomitants but also encompasses other objectively measurable dimensions of life such as social, emotional, behavioural, and educational/vocational function. The importance of the concept of quality of life in the health of Canadians is exemplified by the recent announcement that the Canadian Institute of Health Research has launched a special initiative for research proposals on the topic.
The influence of adjustment on well-being is best studied from a wide range of perspectives within psychology and from those that transcend the traditional psychological experiment. The “Adjustment and Well-Being” cluster is as much committed to a methodology involving the ecological study of behavior and experiences in naturalistic settings as it is defined by its theoretical focus. As examples of such methodologies, people record their daily activities or experiences for a few weeks or are observed in their homes or other natural environments.
ONGOING RESEARCH ON ADJUSTMENT AND WELL-BEING BY CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE CLUSTER
In traditional cultures, eating was regulated by a simple rule: eat as much as you can when food is available. This rule is no longer applicable in many modern societies, which provide an abundance of food, and people are still trying to adjust to this new reality. Drs. Janet Polivy and Patricia Pliner are leading experts in the study of some aspects of this adjustment process. On the one hand, some individuals try to adjust to the problem by restraining their food intake, or dieting. Dr. Polivy is the leading international expert in the study of dieting and its consequences for well-being. Due to the increasing problem of obesity, modern societies increasingly promote thinness. However, the thinness norm has created new problems such as anorexia and other eating disorders. Dr. Polivy also examines how media images and social norms influence women’s self-images and eating behaviors.
Another potential problem produced by the abundance of diverse foods is that consumers have more and more choice about what to eat instead of relying on traditional diets that have evolved over millennia. Increasingly, research in nutrition focuses on the quality of individuals’ diets as they relate to such aspects of health as cardiovascular function and bone density. Although much is known about what food choices people should make for optimal health, much less is known about how to get them to make those choices. Dr. Pliner is an expert in the investigation of this question. In sum, healthy eating, both in terms of quantity consumed and what is selected, is an important contributor to both objective and subjective well-being.
Dr. Ulrich Schimmack examines the contribution of emotions to well-being. One explanation for the discrepancy between measures of objective well-being (e.g., income) and subjective well-being (happiness) is that increeasing objective well-being will increase subjective well-being only if it increases the occurrence of positive experiences and decreases the occurrence of negative experiences. However, a higher income may also necessitate that less time be spent with family and in other pleasurable activities, and, as a result, subjective well-being will not increase or may even decrease. Dr. Schimmack uses experience-sampling methodology to study these issues. For example, in one recent study, married couples completed emotion reports several times a day for two weeks. These data provide insights into the conditions that lead to higher or lower well-being in a marriage, which requires constant adjustment to the changing needs of the partner.
In recent research Dr. Kirk Blankstein has used a daily diary methodology and multilevel modeling to determine how self-critical perfectionism (a cognitive-personality risk factor) in students affects the stressfulness of daily events, appraisals of those events, use of specific coping strategies, perceptions of social support and daily affect. Dr. Blankstein also uses concurrent verbalization and thought-listing methodologies to assess the thinking patterns and positive and negative affect of students during actual and simulated exam situations.
Dr. Blankstein studies adjustment to one particular
developmental transition, namely the transition from high school to university
attendance, as well as students’ adjustment and well-being throughout their
university years. Of particular interest are the processes that create optimal
outcomes or contribute to negative outcomes (e.g., self-esteem, enjoyment,
academic success) for adolescents during university. For example, the UTM
Longitudinal Study of Adjustment and Academic Performance tracks “successful”
and “troubled” students for as long as six years. Recent findings indicate that
troubled students are less likely than their successful counterparts to (1) set
high standards for achievement; (2) take a positive perspective when faced with
challenging situations; (3) put studying ahead of socializing; (4) set aside
time for test preparation and assignment completion; (5) use the basic
cognitive strategy of rehearsal; (6) plan, regulate, and monitor their
activities (metacognition). For troubled males, academic performance is often
associated with substance use. These findings can contribute to the development
of prevention and intervention programs that will maximize the academic
potential and well-being of all students.
Dr. Mary Lou Smith investigates developmental outcomes in two groups of children with chronic medical conditions, severe epilepsy and HIV infection. She is recognized internationally for her work on the outcome of pediatric epilepsy surgery, and she is one of the few researchers in Canada investigating the development of children with HIV and those born to HIV-infected mothers (and thus exposed in utero to powerful antiretroviral medications). Dr. Smith is interested in the neurological, treatment, and individual difference factors that determine quality of life in these populations, from both the objective and the subjective perspective.
UTM offers a unique
undergraduate program in Exceptionality in Human Learning. The program provides students with a strong
understanding of both typical and atypical human development and prepares them
for careers in education, social services and healthcare professions. The program includes a 4th year
practicum in Exceptionality during which students are placed in schools and
social services agencies working with people with disabilities. The program has close ties with OISE-UT, the
ETP (Early Teaching Program) at UTM, the Peel District School Board, the
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, Peel Infant Development, Peel
Behavioural Services and many other partners in the community who are
interested in joint ventures involving student placements, teaching, and
research. Dr. Stuart Kamenetsky
develops and maintains these contacts and is interested in further involvement
in research concerning the roles impairment and social attitudes play in
adjustment and well being of persons with disabilities.
Dr. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller examines the adjustment to hearing problems that afflict many people in old age…
Adjustment can be a short-term process, but difficulties in achieving it can have long-term consequences. Maladjustment, especially during the early years of childhood, may have negative consequences for well-being later in life. To examine such issues, our research cluster is in the process of hiring a developmental psychologist (for the year 2004), whose research will focus on social and/or emotional development. Such an addition to the cluster complement will provide links to existing research programs and potentially will overlap with the research interests of other members of the cluster, including issues related to the early etiology of eating disorders (Pliner, Polivy), academic performance (Blankstein), and developmental outcomes of children with chronic medical conditions (Smith).
Kirk R. Blankstein (Professor of Psychology, UTM)
Kirk Blankstein interned at Duke University Medical Center
and received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (with a minor specialization in
Child Psychology) from the University of Waterloo in 1972. He has taught at the
University of Toronto since 1970. The focus of his research has been on the
factors associated with the adjustment and well-being of university students
and people with psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety (test or
evaluation anxiety and panic disorder), eating disorders, psychophysiological
symptoms, and academic performance. A major focus of current research is on the
factors (e.g., self-esteem, coping) that mediate and moderate the link between
evaluative concerns perfectionism/self-critical perfectionism and negative
adaptational outcomes and the link between personal standards perfectionism and
positive adaptational outcomes. In addition to co-authoring the most widely
used textbook on Abnormal Psychology in Canada
(Davison, Neale, Blankstein, & Flett, Abnormal Psychology, Canadian Edition) and co-editing several
volumes related to Communication and
Affect, he has published over 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and book
chapters. He is a regular reviewer for numerous journals, including Personality and Individual Differences and
Cognitive Therapy and Research. He is
principal investigator of the UTM Longitudinal Study of Adjustment and Academic
Performance
Stuart Kamenetsky (Senior Lecturer in Psychology, UTM)
Stuart Kamenetsky received his Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University in 2001 and currently serves as the Director of the Psychology Undergraduate Program at UTM. His primary responsibilities include teaching, student advising and supervision of placement students. He teaches courses in social development, cross cultural psychology and exceptionality and serves as an interface between the UTM PSY undergraduate program and schools and social services agencies through student placements, committee work, and research projects. Dr. Kamenetsky is actively involved in research concerning the relation between risk taking tendencies, risk taking behaviour, and psychological well being. He is also interested in research concerning the role that both cognitive and social factors play in risk behaviour.
Kathleen Pichora-Fuller (Associate Professor of Psychology, UTM)
Patricia Pliner (Professor of Psychology, UTM)
Patricia Pliner received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Columbia University in 1970 and has taught at the University of Toronto since 1969. She studies food selection; in particular, she is interested in food neophobia, the unwillingness to consume novel foods. In addition, she does research on the effects of nonphysiological factors on food intake. She is a former executive editor of the journal Appetite and member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and the Journal of Research in Personality and is currently on the editorial boards of the journals, Appetite and Food Quality and Preference. She is co-editor of a series of books with the general title Communication and Affect as well as author of many papers and chapters. She is principal investigator on an SSHRC grant ($78,000) to study the effects of social influence on eating.
Janet Polivy (Professor of Psychology, UTM)
Janet Polivy received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1975. She taught from 1974-1976 at Loyola University of Chicago, moving to the University of Toronto in 1976. She studies eating behavior and its determinants and effects in restrained and unrestrained eaters (chronic dieters and nondieters), as well as etiological contributors to eating disorders. In addition, she does research on emotion recognition and communication. Dr. Polivy is an author of Breaking the Diet Habit: The Natural Weight Alternative, as well as the 3rd and 4th editions of Psychology, and well over a hundred journal articles and book chapters. She is also a consulting editor for the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, the Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, the International Journal of Eating Disorders, the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, and Eating Behavior. She was elected to the Council of the College of Psychologists of Ontario from 1994-2000, where she served as Chair of the Registration, Fitness to Practice, and Government Relations Committees and as the Vice-President of the Council. She is also active in other professional associations, and has served on several Canadian and US government panels. She is supported by an SSHRC grant ($117, 632) to study the effects of expectancies on attempted self-change, such as dieting, an SSHRC grant ($78,000) to study the effects of social influence on eating (co-investigator with Patricia Pliner and C. Peter Herman) and an MRC grant ($434,280) studying prospective influences of diet and other factors on bone density in premenopausal women (co-investigator with G. Hawker, R. Rideout, L. Thompson, and R. Casper).
Ulrich Schimmack (Assistant Professor of Psychology, UTM)
After receiving his Ph.D. in 1997 at the Free University Berlin, Ulrich Schimmack spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow in Edward Diener’s Subjective Well-Being laboratory at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He was appointed assistant professor at UTM in 2000. He examines the determinants of pleasant and unpleasant feelings and has published 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including several first-author publications in the field’s top journal. He uses a variety of methods including controlled experiments and ecological studies. His main contribution to the cluster will be his expertise in experience-sampling studies, which require participants to record their experiences in everyday life on palm pilot computers. This methodology can be used to examine well-being and adjustment in diverse areas. Schimmack received a University of Toronto matching grant ($25,000) to study well-being and adjustment in married couples, and he also received an SSHRC grant ($75,000) to study the emotional reactions to conflicting situations.
Mary Lou Smith (Associate Professor of Psychology, UTM)
Mary Lou Smith completed her PhD in Neuropsychology at McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1985. She worked for one year as a clinical neuropsychologist, joining the faculty at UTM in 1986. She has published 58 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Epilepsy Network and of the Neuropsychology Subcommission of the Diagnostic Strategies Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy. Her research career has been focused largely on studying the cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial consequences of brain dysfunction in humans, with work in the more recent years being primarily within two disorders, epilepsy and pediatric HIV/AIDS. She is interested in understanding the neural, disease-specific, and individual difference factors that determine outcomes in these disorders. Her work has addressed the clinical nature of the impairments associated with these disorders, theoretical issues for understanding outcome in development, and has implications for clinical treatment decisions and expectations for the impact of treatment. More recently she has expanded her interests to include the investigation of the determinants of self-perception of quality of life and of the emotional and psychological disorders in epilepsy. She is a co-investigator in a grant funded by CIHR on quality of life in children with epilepsy, and she is a co-investigator in the Canadian Perinatal Exposure to Antiretrovirals Study.