Graham Davey
University of Sussex, UK www.papersfromsidcup.com
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-we-worry/
Follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/GrahamCLDavey

Frances Meeten
Suzanne Dash
Fergal Jones
Benie MacDonald
Helen Startup
Gary Britton
Jack Hawksley
Jason Chan
Chris Brewin
Collaborators

Introduction
• Perseveration is a defining element of many psychopathologies
• Examples include worrying (GAD), checking (OCD), rumination (in major depression)
• Perseverative activities are usually ‘neutralizing’ activities
• Linked to meta-cognitive and global beliefs about how to deal with distressing emotions

What is mood-as-input?
• Stop Rules
• The Role of Mood as Information
• Vulnerability of Clinical populations to using
Mood as Information

What are ‘stop rules’?
• Relate to Task Motivation
• Performance Focused OR
Task Focused
• Decision Rules
• ‘As Many as Can’ (AMA) OR
‘Feel Like Continuing’ (FL)

Worry Stop Rule Check
List
AMA
• I must find a solution to this problem, so keep thinking about it.
• I must try and think about the worst possible outcome, just in case it happens
• I must think everything through properly
FL
• What’s done is done, so what’s the point in worrying?
• I don’t have time to think about this now
• Stop worrying, things always work out for the best.

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The Catastrophizing
Interview
I
’ m worried about not being able to move
That I would be attacked in some way
That I would not be able to fight back
That I would not be able to control what other people did to me
That I would feel inadequate
That other people would begin to think I was inadequate
That in my relationship with those people I would not be respected
That I would not have any influence over others
That other people would not listen to me
That it would cause a loss of self-esteem
That this loss of self-esteem would have a negative effect on my relationships with others
That I would lose friends
That I would be alone
That I would have no-one to talk to
Because it would mean that I would not be able to share any thoughts/problems with other people
That I would not get advice from others
That none of my problems would be adequately sorted out
That they would remain and get worse
That eventually I would not be able to cope with them
That eventually my problems would have more control over me than I had over them
That they would prevent me from doing other things
That I would be unable to meet new people and make friends
That I would be lonely

What do we know about stop rules?
• Often not easily verbalizable
• Can often be derived from dispositional characteristics or meta-beliefs about emotional control strategies
• Stop Rules represent the way that metacognitive beliefs are operationalized
• Stop rule type is linked to mood
• Stop rules interact with mood to determine perseveration at a task (the ‘Mood-as-Input
Hypothesis’, Davey, 2006, Meeten & Davey, 2011).

Stop Rules &
Psychopathology
• High Worriers more likely to endorse AMA Stop Rules
(Davey et al., 2005)
• Deployment of AMA stop rules is increased with
Negative or Distressed Mood (Dash & Davey, 2012)
• Clinically Depressed individuals report preferential use of AMA stop rules for Rumination (Chan, Davey
& Brewin, 2013)
• BDI Scores are significantly associated with AMA use for Rumination (Vappling et al., unpub)

30
20
10
0
40
50
Dash & Davey (2012)
Mood & Worrying Stop
Rules
AMA
Negative Mood Neutral Mood Cognitive Priming

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30
20
10
0
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60
50
Britton & Davey (2011)
Mood & Checking Stop
Rules
Negative Mood
Positive Mood
AMA FL

Stop Rules & Depressive
Rumination
Chan, Davey & Brewin, 2013

Stop Rules &
Metacognitive Beliefs
• Positive Beliefs about Rumination predict AMA stop rule use (Chan, Davey & Brewin, 2013)
• Positive Beliefs (but not Negative Beliefs) about
Rumination predict Rumination length (Meeten et al., submitted)
• Positive Beliefs (but not Negative Beliefs) about
Worry are predicted by Negative Mood (Adams et al., unpublished)

Stop Rule interaction with
Mood stoprule
AMA
FL
12.00
10.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
8.00
6.00
POSITIVE MOOD NEGATIVE MOOD
Experimental Condition
Error bars: 95% CI
Hawksley & Davey, 2010

Mood-as-input & Clinical
Populations
• Negative moods and ‘perfectionist’ styles are common – so why don’t most people acquire perseverative psychopathologies?
• What is special about clinical populations that puts them at risk of developing perseverative psychopathologies?

Factors affecting the informational value of mood
• The discounting hypothesis (Schwarz & Clore, 1983)
• Knowledge & Expertise
• Cognitive Load (Siemer & Reisenzein (1998)

Knowledge & Expertise:
The Example of Worry
• Clinical Populations possess characteristics that potentially impair an objective assessment of solutions for worries: o Poor problem-solving confidence (Davey, 1994) o Feelings of Personal Inadequacy (Davey & Levy, 1998) o Possess an Intolerance of Uncertainty (Dugas et al., 2004) o Have a Narrow Negative Focus (Gasper & Clore, 2002) o Possess an Avoidance Coping Style (Davey, 1993)

Low Problem-Solving
Confidence & Worry
• Individuals low on Problem-Solving Confidence are more likely to deploy AMA Stop Rules
• Individuals low on Problem-Solving Confidence are more likely to show a strong correlation between mood and ratings of goal attainment in a social problem-solving task

Implications for
Interventions
• Socialization to the Mood-as-Input Model: Explain the Dynamics of how Stop Rules interact with Mood
• Identify any AMA Stop Rules and help the Client to change those Rules
• Help the Client to become aware of Negative
Moods and find ways to Manage those Moods

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-10
-15
-20
5
0
A brief 4-session intervention for high worriers
MAI 1 MAI 2 MAI+Bf Bf
10
Outcome
4-week follow-up
Dash et al., submitted

Conclusions
• Goal-Guided Stop Rules can be Identified in Many
Types of Perseverative Psychopathology
• Stop Rules are linked to Positive Metacognitive
Beliefs
• Stop Rules interact with Concurrent Mood to generate perseveration
• Clinical Populations possess characteristics that will tend them towards using Mood as Information
• Interventions that target Stop Rules and Negative
Mood can successfully reduce Symptoms