Self-stereotyping: the central role of an ingroup threatening identity

Self-stereotyping is a process by which people belonging to a stigmatized social group tend to describe themselves more with stereotypical traits as compared with traits irrelevant to the ingroup stereotype. The present work analyzes why especially members of low-status groups are more inclined to self-stereotype compared to members of high-status groups. We tested the hypothesis that belonging to a low-, rather than a high-status group, makes low-status members feel more threatened and motivates them to protect their self-perception by increasing their similarity with the ingroup. Specifically, we investigated the effects of an experimental manipulation that was conceived to either threaten or protect the natural group membership of participants from either a low- or a high-status group on the level of self-stereotyping. The findings supported the idea that only low-status group members protected themselves when their group identity was threatened through increased self-stereotyping.     

Relationship between heart rate variability and cognitive function during threat of shock

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between resting heart rate variability (HRV) and cognitive functions during threat of shock. A Continuous Performance Task and a Working Memory Task were used to measure cognitive functions. Sixty-five male participants from the Royal Norwegian Navy participated. HRV was measured during baseline, test conditions and recovery. Participants were randomly assigned into non-threat and threat groups. Based on the median split of the high frequency (HF) spectral power, groups were divided into two additional groups. Overall, the high HRV participants showed superior performance on cognitive tasks independent of non-threat or threat conditions. During threat condition the low HRV group showed improved performance. Thus, individuals with high HRV were more stress tolerant and resilient in the face of environmental changes. The results from the study might have implications with regard to performance in operational settings, but also for other fields of psychological research such as individual differences, anxiety and coping.     

Attention to faces and gaze-following in social anxiety: preliminary evidence from a naturalistic eye-tracking investigation

Social attentional biases are a core component of social anxiety disorder, but research has not yet determined their direction due to methodological limitations. Here we present preliminary findings from a novel, dynamic eye-tracking paradigm allowing spatial–temporal measurement of attention and gaze-following, a mechanism previously unexplored in social anxiety. 105 participants took part, with those high (N?=?27) and low (N?=?25) in social anxiety traits (HSA and LSA respectively) entered into the analyses. Participants watched a video of an emotionally-neutral social scene, where two actors periodically shifted their gaze towards the periphery. HSA participants looked more at the actors’ faces during the initial 2s than the LSA group but there were no group differences in proportion of first fixations to the face or latency to first fixate the face, although HSA individuals’ first fixations to the face were shorter. No further differences in eye movements were found, nor in gaze-following behaviour, although these null effects could potentially result from the relatively small sample. Findings suggest attention is biased towards faces in HSA individuals during initial scene inspection, but that overt gaze-following may be impervious to individual differences in social anxiety. Future research should seek to replicate these effects.     

Effect of anxiety on behavioural pattern separation in humans

Behavioural pattern separation (BPS), the ability to distinguish among similar stimuli based on subtle physical differences, has been used to study the mechanism underlying stimulus generalisation. Fear overgeneralisation is often observed in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. However, the relationship between anxiety and BPS remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of anxiety (threat of shock) on BPS, which was assessed across separate encoding and retrieval sessions. Images were encoded/retrieved during blocks of threat or safety in a 2?×?2 factorial design. During retrieval, participants indicated whether images were new, old, or altered. Better accuracy was observed for altered images encoded during periods of threat compared to safety, but only if those images were also retrieved during periods of safety. These results suggest that overgeneralisation in anxiety may be due to altered pattern separation.     

The role of avoidance of emotional material in the anxiety disorders

Many psychotherapeutic traditions have conceptualized clinical levels of anxiety as resulting from the avoidance of threatening or emotional material. In this paper, we examine behavioral models of avoidance of emotions and emotional material, integrating findings that support established behavioral theories of emotional avoidance and anxiety, and that extend these theories to further explain the intense, intrusive, and interfering nature of clinical anxiety. Research on the suppression and avoidance of emotional material suggests that emotional avoidance and thought suppression may not only hinder the learning process and maintain anxious responding, but may also (a) paradoxically heighten anxious responding to threatening cues and (b) interfere with emotion functionality, thereby further impeding adaptive responding. Findings are discussed in terms of future research and implications for clinical treatment of anxiety disorders.     

焦虑、建议者善意程度对个体建议采纳的影响

通过两个实验探讨焦虑和建议者的善意程度对建议采纳的影响。实验一采用电影片段来诱发被试的焦虑情绪,实验二采用特质焦虑量表选取高低特质焦虑的被试参加实验。研究发现：（1）焦虑情绪对建议采纳有影响,焦虑情绪下的被试,其建议采纳程度大于处于中性情绪状态的被试。（2）高低特质焦虑的被试建议采纳程度没有显著差异。（3）建议者的善意程度会影响建议采纳,高善意建议者的建议更多地被采纳。     

Effect of attention control on sustained attention during induced anxiety

Anxiety has wide-reaching and complex effects on cognitive performance. Although it can intrude on cognition and interfere with performance, it can also facilitate information processing and behavioural responses. In a previous study, we showed that anxiety induced by threat of shock facilitates performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task, a vigilance test, which probes response inhibition to infrequent nogo stimuli. The present study sought to identify factors that may have contributed to such improved performance, including on- and off-task thinking (assessed with thought probes) and individual differences in attention control, as measured with the Attention Control Scale. Replicating our prior finding, we showed that shock threat significantly reduced errors of commission on the nogo trials. However, we extended this finding in demonstrating that this effect was driven by subjects with low attention control. We therefore confirm that anxiety increases inhibitory control of prepotent responses—a mechanism which is adaptive under threat—and show that this effect is greater in those who rely more upon such prepotent responding, i.e., those with low attentional control.     

Smoking and social anxiety: the role of false safety behaviors

ABSTRACT

Despite the negative health consequences associated with smoking, most smokers find it difficult to quit. This is especially true for smokers with elevated social anxiety. One factor that may play a role in maintaining smoking with elevated anxiety is false safety behavior (FSB), behaviors geared toward decreasing anxiety short-term but that maintain or increase anxiety long-term. The present study tested whether FSB explained the relation of social anxiety severity with smoking among 71 current smokers. Avoidance-related FSB was the only type of FSB related to cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) and it was robustly related to more CPD. Further, social anxiety was related to CPD indirectly via FSB-Avoidance. Findings suggest that more frequent use of avoidance behaviors to manage anxiety may maintain smoking and may partially explain the high rates of smoking among those with elevated social anxiety. Thus, FSB may be a promising target in smoking cessation interventions, especially among those with elevated social anxiety.     

The role of anxiety and perspective-taking strategy on affective empathic responses

Empathy is an important pro-social behaviour critical to a positive client–therapist relationship. Therapist anxiety has been linked to reduced ability to empathise and lower client satisfaction with therapy. However, the nature of the relationship between anxiety and empathy is currently unclear. The current study investigated the effect of experimentally-induced anxiety on empathic responses elicited during three different perspective-taking tasks. Perspective-taking was manipulated within-subjects with all participants (N = 52) completing imagine-self, imagine-other and objective conditions. A threat of shock manipulation was used to vary anxiety between-subjects. Participants in the threat of shock condition reported higher levels of anxiety during the experiment and lower levels of empathy-related distress for the targets than participants in the control condition. Perspective-taking was associated with higher levels of empathy-related distress and concern compared to the objective condition. The present results suggest that perspective-taking can to a large extent mitigate the influence of heightened anxiety on an individual’s ability to empathise.     

Moderating effects of the valence of social interaction on the dysfunctional consequences of perseverative cognition: an ecological study in major depression and social anxiety disorder

Background and Objectives: Major depression disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are characterized by the use of perseverative cognition (PC) as a dysfunctional coping strategy. We sought to investigate the dysfunctional physiological and psychological consequences of PC and how the valence of social interactions moderates such consequences in these psychopathological conditions.

Design/Methods: The study combined 24-hour heart rate variability (HRV) and ecological momentary assessments in 48 individuals with MDD, SAD, and sex-matched controls.

Results: In all participants, PC was associated with mood worsening and reduced ability of the parasympathetic nervous system, mainly the vagus, to inhibit sympathetic arousal (i.e., reduced HRV). Individuals with SAD had the highest frequency of daily PC, while those with MDD reported that PC interfered more with their ongoing activities. In SAD, daily PC was associated with significantly lower HRV after negative social interactions. Individuals with MDD reported higher levels of sadness during PC irrespective of the valence of the preceding social interaction but higher levels of anxiety and efforts to inhibit PC following positive interactions.

Conclusions: Results highlight the need to account for important moderators like the valence of social interaction when looking at the physiological consequences of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.     

Influence of obstetrical events on satisfaction and anxiety during childbirth: a prospective longitudinal study

The aim of this study was to investigate the feelings of anxiety and satisfaction among 79 primiparas who had uncomplicated pregnancies, at the time of hospital admission and after birth, considering the mode of delivery, analgesia, and pain levels. Questionnaires were completed at admission to the hospital and two months after delivery, using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) state scale and the Labour Agentry Scale. The mean (SD) STAI state score was higher at admission (36.7 (10.7)) than 4 months after childbirth (32.1 (9.7)) (paired Student’s t-test, t = 2.93; df = 78; p = .004). However, the postnatal anxiety was not associated with the mode of delivery, epidural or pain. Regarding the satisfaction with the expectations of control during childbirth, the mean (SD) score was higher before childbirth (166.0 (21.8)) than after (157.5 (33.5)) (paired Student’s t-test, t = ?2.28; df = 77; p = .03). The satisfaction with the childbirth experience was significantly associated with the expectations of childbirth and the mode of delivery, but not with analgesia or pain. The postnatal anxiety was associated with physical health, pain and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score during the postpartum period. It is important to consider the temporality of perinatal anxiety in order to understand its causes. Our results indicate that the experience of childbirth was predicted in this sample by the antenatal expectations and delivery outcomes.     

Attentional prioritisation of threatening information: Examining the role of the size of the attentional window

In line with most models of emotion, research has shown that threatening information receives attentional priority over neutral information. Recently, it has been suggested that the degree to which participants divide their attention across the visual field (the attentional window) may modulate the extent to which salient objects are attentionally prioritised. In the current study, participants were required to identify a target inside one of a variable number of coloured circles. One colour (Conditioned Stimulus, CS +) was fear-conditioned using an electrocutaneous stimulus at tolerance level. This search task was combined with a go/no-go task that required participants to either divide attention across the visual field to create a broad attentional window (global group), or focus their attention on the fixation point to create a narrow attentional window (local group). The results showed that only in the global group was the CS + colour prioritised over the neutral colours, indicating that a broader attentional window leads to enhanced attentional prioritisation of threat. Implications for research on attentional bias to threat are discussed.     

The moderating role of emotional stability in the relationship between exposure to violence and anxiety and depression

This study investigated the associations among exposure to violence, emotional stability, and psychological symptoms. The moderating role of emotional stability in the relationship between exposure to violence and anxiety and depression was examined in a sample of 482 high school students in Hong Kong. Results showed that both witnessing violence and low levels of emotional stability were positively associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Low levels of emotional stability exacerbated the relation between witnessing violence and symptoms of anxiety and depression; the opposite pattern was found among adolescents with high levels of emotional stability. This study sheds light on the role of emotional stability in ameliorating the detrimental effects of witnessing violence on symptoms of anxiety and depression among adolescents. Findings of this study also have implications for the development of emotionally healthy personalities.     

Factor structure and stability of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index in a longitudinal study of anxiety disorder patients

The past decade witnessed considerable debate over the factor structure of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), with an eventual consensus emerging that supported a hierarchically organized factor structure. The present study attempted to replicate and examine the overall stability and utility of the hierarchical ASI factor pattern using a large sample of outpatients participating in an ongoing longitudinal study of anxiety disorders. Results supported a hierarchical factor structure for the ASI consisting of three lower-order factors measuring physical concerns, mental incapacitation concerns, and social concerns, all of which loaded significantly on a single second-order factor. Correlational analyses show good test-retest reliability and consistent patterns of intercorrelation for these factor-derived subscales across a 10-month time frame. Additional analyses provide support for the discriminant validity of the ASI subscales with regard to individuals with specific anxiety disorders. The theoretical implications of these findings for future evaluations of anxiety sensitivity are discussed.     

Perception of control over anxiety mediates the relation between catastrophic thinking and social anxiety in social phobia

Cognitive models of social phobia (social anxiety disorder) assume that individuals with social phobia experience anxiety in social situations in part because they overestimate the social cost associated with a potentially negative outcome of a social interaction. Some emotion theorists, on the other hand, point to the perception of control over anxiety-related symptoms as a determinant of social anxiety. In order to examine the relationship between perceived emotional control (PEC), estimated social cost (ESC), and subjective anxiety, we compared three alternative structural equation models: Model 1 assumes that PEC and ESC independently predict social anxiety; Model 2 assumes that ESC partially mediates the relationship between PEC and anxiety, and Model 3 assumes that PEC partially mediates the relationship between ESC and anxiety. We recruited 144 participants with social phobia and administered self-report measures of estimated social cost, perceived anxiety control, and social anxiety. The results support Model 3 and suggest that "costly" social situations are anxiety provoking in part because social phobic individuals perceive their anxiety symptoms as being out of control.     

Orders to Shoot (a Camera): Effects of Ostracism on Obedience

Research suggests that ostracism increases susceptibility to indirect forms of social influence (e.g., conformity). Yet, no study to date has explored whether the effects of ostracism extend to the most direct form of social influence—obedience. We investigated whether ostracized individuals would be more likely to obey a direct command to do something effortful in uncomfortable conditions. Participants (N = 62) were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized in Cyberball, or assigned to a control condition. They were then approached by the experimenter and commanded to go outside when temperatures were below 30°F and take 39 unique and creative photographs in the cold of winter. Ostracized participants were more likely to obey the experimenter’s command to be creative when taking photographs. No differences in obedience emerged between the inclusion and the control condition. We provided evidence completing the social influence “trifecta”: ostracism increases susceptibility to conformity, compliance, and now, obedience.     

The role of social categorization and identity threat in the perception of migrants

This paper investigates how the categorization of migrant workers shapes their reception. In an experiment with Northern Irish Protestants we manipulated the representation of Poland to make the Catholicism of Polish migrants either more, or less, salient. Furthermore, judgements of Polish migrants were obtained under conditions designed to encourage participants to believe that sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland was either resolved, or still a strong feature of the present social landscape. Overall, results showed that when Poland's Catholicism was salient, participants were less welcoming of Polish migrants. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by increases in the level of symbolic threat participants believed the migrants posed to participants' (Protestant) community identity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some Comments on the Methodological Significance of the Definition of a Response

Evidence in the present study, in conjunction with evidence in previous studies, indicates that sensory or perceptual factors do not account for the slowing that occurs in later life. Elderly Ss are slower than young adult Ss, but, up to the point of fairly weak stimulation (55 db), they are as slow in relation to auditory stimuli that are loud and easy to perceive as they are to stimuli more difficult to perceive. An unanticipated interaction involving stimulus intensity was observed which warrants further attention. When, in the course of the study, the intensity of stimulation was systematically decreased, reaction times (RTs) of older Ss with a .5 second preparatory interval (PI) were much slower than when the intensity of stimulation was systematically increased.

An exploratory study was also carried out. In this study, the pacing of stimulus events was predictable, and Ss were instructed to take advantage of this. RTs were quicker with this procedure than with traditional RT procedures, but not significantly more for old adult Ss than for younger ones. However, the level of significance was such as to suggest that timing may be an important clue to the slowing in later life.     

A closer look at the role of social influence in the development of attitudes to eating

The relationship between social influence and the development of attitudes to eating was explored in an experimental study. Schoolgirls (n=59, median age=15 years) listened to an interview in which the interviewee (identified as a radical feminist, a sportswoman or a women's magazine journalist) gave either a pro-diet or an anti-diet message. Following the interview, participants completed a questionnaire which examine their attitudes to eating and their judgements of the interviewee. The results supported predictions that influence would vary as an interactive function of the message and the normative ingroup–outgroup status of the message source. However, different patterns of influence were observed on two factors that emerged from an analysis of the eating disorder items, suggesting that there were important differences in the shaping of subjects' beliefs about appropriate eating behaviour, (a) for themselves personally and (b) for the community in general. The findings suggest that social influence has a significant but complex impact upon the development of potentially harmful attitudes to eating. It also appears that, for a variety of reasons, certain anti-diet messages may actually be a counter-productive means of improving female body satisfaction. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unique contributions of anxiety sensitivity to avoidance: a prospective study in adolescents

Examination of the prospective relation between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and behavioral avoidance is largely absent from the literature. In a longitudinal study of a community sample of 2246 adolescents, participants completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; Reiss, Peterson, Gursky, & McNally (1986). Behaviour Research & Therapy, 24, 1-8), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger (1983). STAI: Manual for the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press), and the Fear Questionnaire (Marks & Matthews (1979). Behaviour Research & Therapy, 17, 263-267) on an annual basis. To stringently test AS's ability to prospectively predict behavioral avoidance, linear regression was used to test whether AS factors predicted variance in follow-up behavioral avoidance scores after controlling for gender, trait anxiety, panic attacks, and baseline avoidance. Results indicted that the mental and physical subscales of the ASI predicted change in behavioral avoidance. The findings of the study are consistent with the view that AS may serve as a precursor to avoidant behavior and that, regardless of whether or not acute panic has been experienced, those who fear autonomic arousal may be more likely to avoid situations in which those sensations may be present.