The ImPActS model of principled living:

Measuring the extent that people view principles to be Important, Pressured by others, Activated, and Successfully engaged.

The ImPActS model of principled living:

Measuring the extent that people view principles to be Important, Pressured by others, Activated, and Successfully engaged.

Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi, School of Psychology, University of Wollongong

Contributors to the research reviewed in this presentationJess FrearsonKate Williams

Stephenie Veage Natalie StefanicPeter Leeson

Patrick Heaven

Core hypothesis 1Core hypothesis 1

• Human happiness and vitality will be determined by four components of valued living

• Importance—What people find to be important and unimportantPressure from others –to what extent do people feel their principles are driven by what others want?Activation—How many principles do people put into play in life?Successfully engagement—Are people successfully living their principles?

The ImPActS intervention modelThe ImPActS intervention model

Importance ACT can be used to help people discover what principles are or are not important to them.

Pressure ACT can be used to undermine the power of unhelpful, pliance-based principles

Activity ACT can be used to increase the amount of principle-congruent activity and the likelihood of contacting reinforcers

Success ACT can be used to increase people’s success at living principles (e.g., via overcoming barriers and reinforcing commitment)

Label Description Possible Example

Principles

Values Done for their own sake Never permanently realized

Cannot be evaluated; must be chosen

Being a loving parent

Being physically active

Having a loving, authentic relationship

Abstract

Goals

In the service of values

Never permanently realized

Often broadly applicable; does not refer to one specific type of behavior

Being honest and loyal

Acting with courage

Concrete goals & actions

Concrete behaviors in the service of a goal

Play game with child after work today

Get up at 7 am on Monday to go to the gym

Express honest feelings to partner over dinner tonight

Measuring and using principles in therapyMeasuring and using principles in therapy

ACT intervention Survey of Life Principles

•Card sorting task• Life in general• Work

•SLP guides clinical focus

SLP as an outcome measure, focusing on valued activity instead of symptoms

Past research in principlesPast research in principles

• Values work (Schwartz, et al., Rokeach et al.).

– What is most important to you?

– Are there Universal values?

• Personal strivings (Sheldon, Emmons, Deci).

– What do you strive for

– Why do you strive? Is it for authentic or controlled reasons?

• We will call both of these “guiding principles” for ease of reference

Recasting Self-Determination Theory in behavioural terms.

Recasting Self-Determination Theory in behavioural terms.

Deci and Ryban, 2000, psychological science

Pliance Tracking

Research on valuesResearch on values

The structure of values (Schwarz)The structure of values (Schwarz)

MethodsMethods

SLP contentSLP content• The SLP seeks to capture all the dimensions in the

Schwarz circumplex.

• It also sought to expand the range of items to include principles related to career, health, experiential control, sexuality, and other important domains.

• Items focus on what could personally be put into play– “Creating beauty” instead of “A world of beauty”

• Items have a verb focus, in keeping with the ACT notion that values are patterns of behavior that are never permanently realized.

SLP rating scalesSLP rating scales• Go beyond importance scale used in

values research

• Importance

• Pressure

• Activity

• Success

• N1 = 300 University sample

• N2= 240 adolescents in Grade 12

Top 10 most important valuesTop 10 most important values

1 Having genuine and close friends

2 Being loyal to friends, family, and/or my group

3 Maintaining the safety and security of my loved ones

4 Having relationships involving love and affection

5 Feeling good about myself (experiential control item)

6 Striving to be a better person

7 Experiencing positive mood states (experiential control item)

8 Being Honest

9 Having an enjoyable, leisurely life

10 Being safe from danger

Top 10 most pressured valuesTop 10 most pressured values

1 Meeting my obligations

2 Being ambitious and hardworking

3 Being physically fit

4 Showing respect to parents and elders

5 Eating healthy food

6 Being honest

7 Being self-sufficient

8 Striving to be a better person

9 Being competent and effective

10 Being safe from danger

Top 10 most successful valuesTop 10 most successful values

1 Being loyal to friends, family, and/or my group

2 Enjoying food and drink

3 Being safe from danger

4 Having genuine and close friends

5 Being honest

6 Maintaining the safety and security of my loved ones

7 Making sure to repay favors and not be indebted to people

8 Showing respect to parents and elders

9 Having relationships involving love and affection

10 Enjoying music, art, and/or drama

Top 10 failuresTop 10 failures1 Leading a stress free life (experiential control)

2 Having a sense of accomplishment and making a lasting contribution

3 Promoting justice and caring for the weak

4 Gaining wisdom and a mature understanding of life

5 Being wealthy

6 Being at one with god or the universe

7 Feeling good about myself (experiential control)

8 Striving to be a better person

9 Being physically fit

10 Having an enjoyable, leisurely life

13 Experiencing positive mood states (experiential control)

Note: Failure index= Importance – success.

Does the SLP cover important domains?

Does the SLP cover important domains?

• As expected, SLP importance scale correlates in expected ways to well-accepted Schwarz value measure (Williams and

Ciarrochi, 2009).

• We will be assessing whether it correlates with key dimensions on a job interest survey

Does the SLP cover important domains?

Does the SLP cover important domains?

• SLP and personality (Steph Veage thesis).

• If the SLP has comprehensive coverage, then it should be able to distinguish between types of personality

• Grade 12 high school students; n = 240

Neur Extro Open Conscien Agree Psycho(Unsoci-Impulsiv)

Relationship principles Friendship .14* .34** -.22** Love .21** .39** -.14* Benevolence (loyalty and security of loved ones)

.30** .37** -.32**

Power .27** .17* .14*Conscientious Achievement .21** .37** .17*Lasting achievement .22** .22** .31** -.17*Stimulation .17* .17* .15*Health -.16* .17* .22**Tradition Religious values .15* .25** .19** -.16* Showing respect for tradition

-.14* .20** .29** .29** -.19**

Sex (being sexually desirable and sexually active)

.25** -.19** .31**

Neur Extro Open Conscien Agree Psycho (UnsocialImpulsiv)

Hedonism .21** .24**

Universalism and self-direction Artistic .47** .18** Connecting with nature .29** Promoting justice .24** .18** .31** -.27** Self-sufficient .20** .33** .17* .24** Wisdom .30** .24** .26** -.16*Conformity Being self-disciplined -.14* .15* .33** .29** Meeting my obligations .34** .28** -.28**Security Being safe from danger .18** .30** -.29** Reciprocation of favours, not being in debt

.15* .23** .24** -.18**

Experiential control .18** .31**Being Wealthy .17*

Other findingsOther findings

• Neurotics tend to feel more external pressure to put their principles into play, and are less successful at their principles

• Neurotics feel they are much worse at experiential control

• Agreeable and C look similar in achievement motivation. However, C are more successful at achievement (both lasting and conscientious)

SLP relations to well-beingSLP relations to well-being

300 University Students– We focused on variables of interest to clinicians: e.g.,

measures of emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social support, and relationship satisfaction

We observed four patterns between principles and well-being

We observed four patterns between principles and well-being

• 1) Happy people find the principle to be important and tend to be successful at it (relationship principles, stimulation principles, hedonism, health, achievement)

• 2) Happy people were indifferent to the principle or found it unappealing, but nevertheless were somewhat more successful at it (power)

• 3) Happy people do not find the principle to be particularly important but nevertheless succeed at it. (sex)

• 4) Happy people do not find the principle to be particularly important, nor do they succeed at it. (being wealthy, tradition principles, security principles, conformity principles)

• Importance and success well-being

Emotional Well-being Psychological Well-being

Social well-being

Relationship Pos emot

Hostil Sad Auto Relat Purp SocialAmnt

SocialSat

RelatSat

Love .14* .14* .16*

Friends .26** .14* .18** .22** Benevol. .14* -.12* .15* .23** .16** .21** .26**Last Achieve .14* .29**Con Achieve .34**Stimulation .30** .22** .15**Hedonism .26** .20**

Health .26** -.13* .23** .27** .15*

The Link between principle importance and three forms of well-being

Emotional Well-being Psychological Well-being

Social well-being

Relationship Pos emot

Hostil Sad Auto Relat Purp SocialAmnt

SocialSat

RelatSat

Love .27** -.19** -.33** .17** .30** .21** .34** .49**

Friends .25** -.17** -.19** .21** .62** .17** .26** .28** .25** Benevol. .15* -.14* -.13* .19** .17** .13* .13** .30**Last Achieve .23** -.24** -.24** .19** .16** .42** .15*Con Achieve .24** -.25** -.22** .16** .19** .51** .24** .20**Stimulation .41** -.16** -.22* .37** .35** .23** .18* .27* .20*Hedonism .27** -.18** .13* .28** .13* .15*

Health .20** -.12* .23* .18* .15* .14*

The Link between principle success and three forms of well-being

Power principlesPower principles

• People who valued power tended to be more hostile.

• If these people were in an intimate relationship, their partner tended to be less satisfied in the relationship

Sex principlesSex principles

• Valuing sex was unrelated to well-being

• But getting sex was related to emotional, psychological, and social well-being

Emotional control principleEmotional control principle

• Most likely to be underachieved• Valuing emotional control linked slightly to

higher well-being

• Succeeding at emotional control tended to have the strongest correlate of all aspects of well-being

Correlation, causality, and a core ACT hypothesis

Correlation, causality, and a core ACT hypothesis

• When experiential control principles are inconsistent with important behavior-focused principles, you get the following:

Can the SLP substitute for well-being measures?

Can the SLP substitute for well-being measures?

• Positive affect = 41% variance explained by SLP

• Hostility = 18%

• Sadness = 28%

• Autonomy = 30%

• Positive relations with others = 43%

• Purpose = 37%

• Amount of social support = 9%

• Satisfaction with social support = 18%

• Relationship satisfaction = 8%

Using the SLP in ACT interventions

Using the SLP in ACT interventions

Importance ratingsImportance ratings

1. What do clients value most? What is likely to be the focus of therapy

2. Principle themes. Social. Power. Art? Achievment

3. Look out for low importance ratings involving relationships, stimulation, hedonism, health, and achievement

Likely intervention: Values clarification (see card sorting task)

Low principle ActivityLow principle Activity

• Clients may endorse several principles as important, but state that they have not tried to put them into play.

• What are the barriers to putting the principles into play?

Likely interventions: acceptance, defusion, or overcoming practical barriers?

Dominance of experiential control items

Dominance of experiential control items

• High importance on experiential control dimension

• Nothing inherently wrong with experiential control, unless in conflicts with other important principles

Likely interventions: Creative hopelessness, acceptance

Presence of strong compliance pressurePresence of strong compliance pressure

• Research suggests that pressured principles tend not to lead to vital living or well-being (Sheldon & Kasser, 1995) and tend to be associated with hostility and sadness (Ciarrochi, 2008).

• Danger of contercompliance: In reaction to pressure, the client refuses to act according to the principle, or acts contrary to the principle

Presence of strong pressure: InterventionsPresence of strong pressure: Interventions

• Therapist behaviours: acting with humility in session, undermining your own authority, encouraging clients to not believe anything you say

• Remove source of pressure. E.g., imagine nobody knew you were living the principle. Would you still live it?

• Seek to identify past experience that was vital. E.g., sweet spot exercise. Connect their valued statements to this vital past

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