Anxiety,anger and depression: Relationships at the trait level

Abstract

The relationship between anxiety and depression has been extensively researched at the state and clinical syndrome levels. However, relatively few studies have directed their attention to the interrelations between the constructs at the trait level. The present two studies investigated the interrelationships between anxiety, anger and depression at the trait level in nonclinical, subclinical and clinical samples. The results showed anxiety and depression to be highly correlated in students, adults, medical and psychiatric in-patients. As to the relationship of anger with both anxiety and depression, results, especially between anxiety and anger, were likewise significant although much weaker than commonly reported at the affective state level. Moreover, partial correlations suggested the results on the anger-depression relationship to be mainly due to the mediating (causal) influence of anxiety. The results are discussed with reference to the discrepancy of distinctions commonly made between the constructs at the theoretical level and lack of such distinction found at the empirical level. The possible mediating role of both trait-anxiety and trait-anger-in in the development of a depressive disposition is offered as an alternative explanation for the interrelatedness of the three constructs at the trait level.     

Context-specific control and context selection in conflict tasks

This study investigated whether participants prefer contexts with relatively little cognitive conflict and whether this preference is related to context-specific control. A conflict selection task was administered in which participants had to choose between two categories that contained different levels of conflict. One category was associated with 80% congruent Stroop trials and 20% incongruent Stroop trials, while the other category was associated with only 20% congruent Stroop trials and 80% incongruent Stroop trials. As predicted, participants selected the low-conflict category more frequently, indicating that participants avoid contexts with high-conflict likelihood. Furthermore, we predicted a correlation between this preference for the low-conflict category and the control implementation associated with the categories (i.e., context-specific proportion congruency effect, CSPC effect). Results however did not show such a correlation, thereby failing to support a relationship between context control and context selection.     

Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (a)synchronous collaborative groups.

The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socioemotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group dynamics. Though now known to be important, this aspect is often ignored, denied or forgotten by educators and researchers who tend to concentrate on cognitive processes and on-task contexts. This "one-sided" educational focus largely determines the set of requirements in the design of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments resulting in functional CSCL environments. In contrast, our research is aimed at the design and implementation of sociable CSCL environments which may increase the likelihood that a sound social space will emerge. We use a theoretical framework that is based upon an ecological approach to social interaction, centering on the concept of social affordances, the concept of the sociability of CSCL environments, and social presence theory. The hypothesis is that the higher the sociability, the more likely that social interaction will take place or will increase, and the more likely that this will result in an emerging sound social space. In the present research, the variables of interest are sociability, social space, and social presence. This study deals with the construction and validation of three instruments to determine sociability, social space, and social presence in (a)synchronous collaborating groups. The findings suggest that the instruments have potential to be useful as measures for the respective variables. However, it must be realized that these measures are "first steps."     

Automatic response activation of implicit spatial information: Evidence from the SNARC effect

In the present paper, we focus on how irrelevant implicit spatial information is processed. By irrelevant we mean information that is not required to fulfill the task and by implicit we mean information that is not directly available in the external stimulus. A good example of a task in which such information exists is the SNARC task [Dehaene, S., Bossini, S., & Giraux, P. (1993). The mental representation of parity and number magnitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 371-396]. The SNARC effect shows that the magnitude of a number, although irrelevant to the task, activates spatial codes that may interfere with the task-related response. These spatial associations exist both for the horizontal and the vertical direction. In Experiment 1, response keys were discriminating in the vertical or the horizontal direction. It is shown that the impact of the numerical spatial codes on overt behavior, although automatic, depends on the response discrimination of the horizontal or the vertical dimension. In Experiment 2, response keys were assigned such that both the horizontal and the vertical direction of the response were discriminating. In this case, the horizontal and the vertical dimension of the irrelevant numerical spatial codes were shown to interact. In general, the results are in line with the response-discrimination account [Ansorge, U., & Wühr, P. (2004). A response-discrimination account of the Simon effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 365-377].     

Sustained suppression in congruency tasks

In a list version of the Stroop task, Thomas (1977) observed that Stroop interference was smaller when the irrelevant word was repeated through parts of the list. MacLeod (1991) formulated the sustained-suppression hypothesis for this effect. It is assumed that the automatic response activation on the basis of the irrelevant word is selectively suppressed. In this paper this hypothesis is further investigated. In a serial Stroop task with short response-stimulus interval (RSI) we demonstrate that the Stroop effect disappears when the irrelevant word is repeated, whereas the Stroop effect is evident when the word changes. With a long RSI, there is no influence of the sequence of the irrelevant word. The same pattern of results is observed in a flanker task. The results are discussed in terms of the activation-suppression model (Ridderinkhof, 2002) and the sustained-suppression hypothesis.     

Effects of LMX and differential treatment on work unit commitment

The Leader-Member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership states that leaders do behave differently towards the various members in their work unit. Relatively little attention has been devoted to the question of whether members' perceptions of differential treatment on the part of the leader affects their commitment to the work unit. Perceptions of the amount of differential treatment within their work unit did not explain additional variance in members' work unit commitment after the effects of LMX quality were accounted for. There was, however, a significant interaction effect of LMX quality and differential treatment on work unit commitment. The perception of a large number of differential treatment incidents seems to act as a neutralizer with respect to the positive effects LMX quality may have.