Empirical validation and psychometric evaluation of the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale in patients with social anxiety disorder

The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE; M. R. Leary, 1983a) is often used to assess fear of negative evaluation, the core feature of social anxiety disorder. However, few studies have examined its psychometric properties in large samples of socially anxious patients. Although the BFNE yields a single total score, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a 2-factor solution to be more appropriate, with the 1st factor consisting of all straightforwardly worded items (BFNE-S) and the 2nd of all reverse-scored items (BFNE-R). Support was obtained for the convergent and discriminant validity of the BFNE and BFNE-S, but not the BFNE-R. These results suggest that standard scoring of the BFNE may not be optimal for patients with social anxiety disorder.     

Gender Role Traits Among Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder

The present study investigated differences between individuals with and without social anxiety disorder (SAD) in instrumentality and expressiveness, personality traits traditionally linked to the male and female gender roles, respectively. Based on evolutionary and self-discrepancy theories, it was hypothesized that individuals with SAD would score lower on instrumentality and report a discrepancy between their perceived and ideal level of instrumentality compared to control participants. Sixty-four patients with SAD and 31 non-anxious control participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including ratings of their perceived and ideal gender role attributes and current psychosocial distress. Results supported the hypotheses, and provided initial evidence that a discrepancy between perceived and ideal instrumentality may be linked to social anxiety severity, depression and lower quality of life. No differences were detected between groups in expressiveness. The present findings suggest that individuals with SAD perceive themselves to be deficient in instrumentality. They also suggest that increasing instrumentality among individuals with SAD may be beneficial for treatment.     

Is Disgust Prepared? A Preliminary Examination in Young Children

Children may be prepared to associate adult disgust reactions with adult disgust elicitors. To test this, three-year olds (and adults) were presented with two images and an emotive vocalization. The images and vocalizations included stimuli adults found disgusting, fear-provoking, and sad. On one set of trials, the main dependent variable (DV) was time spent looking at each image and on a second set of repeat trials the DV was knowledge of image-sound matches. Fear and disgust vocalizations were both more effective at orienting a child's attention to adult fear and disgust images, than sad vocalizations. Parental disgust sensitivity was associated with this effect, moderated by explicit matching knowledge. Matching knowledge was poor in children and good in adults. These data suggest that in children, fear and disgust vocalizations may both promote attention to stimuli that adults find disgusting and/or fear-provoking, suggesting that “preparedness” may not be wholly emotion-specific.     

通过发展区域规划建设更加健康的未来

论述有关城市在这个更大范围的地区和全球系统中的位置,以及这些系统对城市和城市居民“健康”的影响。提出倡议:为了建设更健康的未来,城市需要参与并且对其地域生态的发展产生影响,而作为一个全方位的改革的一部分,城市应该将健康和人类的发展作为关注的重点。     

Investigating the Role of Goal Orientation in Job Seekers’ Experience of Value Congruence

There is still limited understanding of how goal orientations influence the association between value congruence (VC) and organisational attraction for job seekers. We address this issue by investigating the impact of individuals’ goal orientations on the VC–attraction relationship. Our investigation using different measurement approaches to congruence across two studies also allowed us to examine the implications of different methods to operationalising VC in job search contexts. Two prominent types of goal orientation in job search—learning-approach goal orientation (LAGO) and performance-avoid goal orientation (PAGO)—were hypothesised to moderate the relationship between VC and organisational attraction. In study 1, value congruence based on direct molar perceptions displayed a stronger positive relationship with attraction among low LAGO individuals. Study 2, using separate atomistic judgments of person and organisational values, also demonstrated that LAGO moderates the effects of VC on attraction. However, the form of moderation effects varied across different types of work values (i.e., relationships and security). These findings demonstrate the need to contextualise the study of job seekers’ VC within a goal-striving context, where different ways of operationalising VC can also shed more light on the psychological processes underlying judgments of congruence.     

Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether or nor the floating form of Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique (REST) may be exploited within the field of competitive archery to reinforce primary process (inner-directed) orientation and thereby enhance the quality of coaching and training. Floatation REST consists of a procedure whereby an individual is immersed in a water-tank filled with saltwater of an extremely high salt concentration. The experiment was performed over the course of two weekends with a 6-week interval. Twenty participating archers, 13 male and 7 female, were recruited. The between-group factor was “adjudged skill.” The within-group factor was provided by an Armchair condition in which the participants sat in an armchair for 45 min after which they were required to shoot four salvo series of three shots each, as a comparison to the Flotation-Rest condition whereby the participants were required to lie in a floating-tank for 45 min just prior to shooting. Results indicated that: (a) the participants experienced less perceived exertion during marksmanship in the floating condition, (b) the elite archers performed more consistently in the Flotation-REST condition, (c) the least and most proficient archers had lower muscle tension in the Extensor Digitorum in the Flotation REST condition.