## **Identification, development, and testing of interventions that engage discounting, self-efficacy, and executive control** ##
Following testing of the effects of stress on discounting, self-efficacy, and executive control, we will identify and develop interventions to engage our targets of interest and test empirically whether they are successful.
**Literature review of existing interventions and development of new interventions**
We begin by conducting a literature review to identify interventions that have previously been shown to affect our targets. Where we cannot identify existing interventions, we will develop new ones. Both in identifying and developing interventions, we will focus on three delivery mechanisms: interventions can be delivered to participants as computerized games, as videos followed by prompted writing exercises, and as in-person training.
**Testing target engagement with our interventions**
Once we have identified these interventions, we will test empirically whether they actually engage our targets. To this end, we will conduct a field study in which participants are first exposed to one of the interventions, or a control intervention, and then tested on the measures for our targets identified previously. This step is crucial in understanding whether our targets are malleable.
**Endline and outcome measures**
One week and 3 months after the end of the intervention period, we will assess the effect of
stress on our targets through both psychological (questionnaires) and behavioral (incentivized computer tasks) outcome measures, as
identified in Study 1 and used in Study 2. Each subject will be tested on the outcome measures for all of the targets,
with the order of tasks counterbalanced across subjects. We will additionally measure salivary cortisol, positive/negative affect
(PANAS) (Watson et al., 1988), subjective stress and pain (visual analog scales), and perceived stress (Cohen et al., 1983). These
measures will allow us to test the secondary hypothesis that our interventions affect stress levels.
