A fuzzy logic modelling approach on psychological data

Issue title: Soft Computing Applications

Guest editors: Valentina Emilia Balas

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Rad, Dana^{a; *} | Rad, Gavril^{a; *} | Maier, Roxana^{a; *} | Demeter, Edgar^{a; *} | Dicu, Anca^b | Popa, Mihaela^{c; d} | Alexuta, Daniel^{c; d} | Floroian, Dan^e | Mărineanu, Vasile Doru^f

Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences, Center of Research Development and Innovation in Psychology, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania, B-dul Revolutiei, Arad, Romania | [b] Faculty of Food Engineering, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, B-dul Revolutiei, Arad, Romania | [c] Petroleum-Gas University, B-dul Bucureşti, Ploieşti, Romania | [d] Faculty of Engineering, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, B-dul Revolutiei, Arad, Romania | [e] Department of Automation, Transilvania University of Brasov, B-dul Eroilor, Braşov, Romania | [f] University of Bucharest, B-dul Regina Elisabeta, Bucureşti, Romania

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Dana Rad, Gavril Rad, Roxana Maier and Edgar Demeter, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences, Center of Research Development and Innovation in Psychology, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania, B-dul Revolutiei, no.77, Arad, Romania. E-mail: dana@xhouse.ro (Dana Rad); E-mail: radgavrilarad@gmail.com (Gavril Rad); E-mail: roxanamaierpsiho@gmail.com (Roxana Maier); E-mail: eddemeter@yahoo.com (Edgar Demeter).

Abstract: Meeting basic psychological needs could be difficult to maintain in current pandemic times, mainly due to preventive measures involving social distancing or full quarantine, which seem to play a very important role in well-being. The theory of basic psychological needs is a sub-theory of human motivation theory known as the theory of self-determination. This theory argues that meeting the needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence is crucial for motivation, optimal development, efficient functioning and health. Several research, examining the effects of basic psychological needs on well-being, concluded that changes in meeting the three needs had a significant effect on well-being. Because perceived stress plays a vital role in daily life, several coping strategies have been shown to effectively manage stress and reduce its negative consequences. In this study, coping mechanisms refer to both cognitive and behavioral efforts to alleviate or overcome stressful situations, especially when an automatic response is not readily available. The present study aims to examine a predictive model of competence need satisfaction based on adaptive coping mechanisms: active coping and positive reframing, on a convenience sampling of 403 Romanian respondents. Results show that 3% of the variance in competence need satisfaction is explained by active coping and positive reframing. In this work, we have used fuzzy logic modelling on our psychological data to deal with the imprecision and vagueness inherent in input data and build a more reliable model for estimating psychological variables relations. Implications and conclusions are discussed.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic modeling, self-determination theory, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, competence need satisfaction, adaptative coping mechanisms, active coping, positive reframing

DOI: 10.3233/JIFS-219274

Journal: Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 1727-1737, 2022