This suggests that feelings of heightened control buffer against stress, and points to control beliefs as a potential target for intervention to reduce the detrimental impact of stressors in everyday life. Stay tuned for more of my PhD work on how these beliefs may be modified! 👀 8/8

We found that those who performed the highly controllable Wheel Stopping task had less of an increase in stress in response to the stressor, and a greater decrease in stress after being debriefed that they didn’t have to complete the stressor task after all. 7/n

In Study 2, we tested whether inducing heightened control from the Wheel Stopping task compared to watching videos (neutral control) buffered against the negative impact of a later stressor, which was of either high or low intensity (preparing a speech or studying a baking recipe). 6/n

Feeling more in control was tightly coupled with feeling less stressed during the task, even after accounting for perceived task difficulty. Higher mean subjective control and lower subjective stress were also associated with lower initial state and trait anxiety and depressive symptom severity. 5/n

We developed a Wheel Stopping task to measure and manipulate subjective feelings of control by changing the wheel’s speed, segment size, and deceleration. A linear model showed that trial-by-trial variation in task parameters captured fluctuations in subjective control at the individual level. 4/n

Decades of learned helplessness research has shown that stress is most potent when uncontrollable, but clear evidence on the impact of *heightened* control over stress in humans is lacking. 3/n

Stress is a major cause of mental illness across the lifespan. Importantly though, subjective dimensions of stress, such as perceived control, shape the response and later impact that stress can have. 2/n

6) British Psychological Society Undergraduate Research Assistantship Scheme - 6 or 8 weeks for penultimate year undergrads. Must find a host (society member) at the same institution and write a project proposal. Deadline 9th March

5) University of Cambridge MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit Summer Internship scheme - 6 weeks for undergrads of any year. Deadline typically mid-end April

4) British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) Summer Internship scheme - 6-8 weeks for undergrads (or masters students if no PhD funding secured). Must find a host (society member) and write a project proposal. Deadline 21st March. @bapsych.bsky.social

3) Experimental Psychology Society Research Bursaries - 10 weeks for penultimate year undergrads or just graduated (see new graduate bursary on EPS website for the latter). Must find a host (society member) and write a project proposal. Deadline 1st March. @exppsychsoc.bsky.social

2) University of Cambridge Science & Policy Internship Scheme - 12 weeks for a current undergrad. Project about screen usage with @orbenamy.bsky.social and UK Government Department for Science. Deadline 14th February

1) University of Cambridge Life Sciences Internship - 8 weeks for penultimate year undergrads. Includes research theme “Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour”. Deadline 16th January