Psychometric evaluation of the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale in patients with social anxiety disorder

The Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES; J. W. Weeks, R. G. Heimberg, & T. L. Rodebaugh, 2008) was designed to assess fear of positive evaluation, a proposed cognitive component of social anxiety. Although previous findings on the psychometric properties of the FPES have been highly encouraging, only 1 previous study has examined the psychometric profile of the FPES in a sample of patients with social anxiety disorder (T. A. Fergus et al., 2009). The primary purpose of the present study was to conduct a large multisite examination of the psychometric profile of the FPES among patients with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (n = 226; generalized subtype = 97.8%). Responses of nonanxious control participants (n = 42) were also examined. The factorial validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and treatment sensitivity of the FPES were strongly supported by our findings. Furthermore, an FPES cutoff score was identified for distinguishing levels of fear of positive evaluation characteristic of patients with social anxiety disorder from those characteristic of the control group. Results provide additional support for the psychometric properties of the FPES in clinical samples.     

The bivalent fear of evaluation model of social anxiety: further integrating findings on fears of positive and negative evaluation

Accumulating evidence supports the premise that fear of evaluation in general is important in social anxiety, including fear of positive evaluation (FPE) as well as fear of negative evaluation (FNE). This study tested various hypotheses pertaining to a novel, expanded conceptualization of social anxiety involving these two distinct fears: the bivalent fear of evaluation (BFOE) model. Responses from a large undergraduate sample (N = 585) were examined. In addition, responses from a subsample of participants qualifying for a probable diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 133) were examined, via mediational analyses, for potential mechanisms underlying FPE within highly socially anxious individuals. FPE exhibited a unique and significantly stronger relationship with concerns of social reprisal due to making positive impressions than did FNE. FPE related uniquely and negatively to trait positive affect/automatic thoughts, whereas FNE, FPE, and social anxiety all related uniquely and positively to trait negative affect/automatic thoughts. FPE, FNE, and social anxiety all related uniquely and positively to disqualification of positive social outcomes (DPSO). However, FPE related most strongly to DPSO attributions at the level of the self, and these attributions mediated the relationship between FPE and negative automatic thoughts in an analog clinical sample. Concerns of social reprisal due to making positive impressions on others mediated the relationship between FPE and DPSO attributions to others in an analog clinical sample. The obtained findings replicate and extend support for the BFOE model of social anxiety. Implications for the theoretical conceptualization and treatment of SAD are discussed.     

Complicating race: the relationship between prejudice, race, and social class categorizations

Although racial stereotyping and prejudice research have received considerable attention, the important element of social class has been largely excluded from social psychological research. Using the Statement Recognition Procedure, two experiments investigated social categorization along race and social class dimensions, the influence of racial and social class prejudice on these categorizations, and differences between White and Black perceivers. Analyses conducted at the subtype of race and social class memberships demonstrated differing patterns of categorization based on subtype membership. For example, lowerclass Black targets were primarily categorized by race, whereas middle-class Black targets were primarily categorized by social class. The results demonstrate the importance of considering social class membership independent of and in conjunction with race. Theoretical and methodological implications regarding the study for race and social class categorizations are discussed.     

Temporal constraints in the control of prehensile movement

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the control of the manipulation (i.e., finger-thumb aperture) and transportation (i.e., wrist velocity) components in prehensile movement (Jeannerod, 1981, 1984). In all experiments, subjects were seated and instructed to grasp a dowel mounted on a joystick following a discrete movement over a set distance. Thus, the amount of dowel movement following the grasp could be determined. In Experiment 1, the tolerance (i.e., the amount of allowable dowel movement) was manipulated using a computer-generated boundary around the dowel. The results indicated that the transportation component changed dependent on the tolerance condition, and there were trends that maximum aperture was also affected. Experiment 2 manipulated both tolerance and dowel size (i.e., diameter) factorially in a within-subject design. Dowel size affected only the manipulation component, supporting Jeannerod's (1981) earlier work, but tolerance clearly influenced both components. Experiment 3 investigated Wing, Turton, and Fraser's (1986) proposition that speed of movement influences aperture size. Distance and movement time were combined factorially to produce conditions with different average velocities. Maximum aperture was dependent on the movement time rather than the speed of movement. The relation between the control of the components was examined by using a new method of calculating within-trial correlations between aperture size and wrist velocity in Experiments 2 and 3. The correlations were related to the temporal aspects of the movement with higher correlations in the rapid movement time conditions. Also, the temporal occurrence of maximum aperture remained invariant across the different movement conditions. In general, the results suggest a strong functional linkage between the two components, which may be dependent on the temporal characteristics of the movement.     

The virtues of scientific psychology: A reply to Harzem

Harzem recently expressed the opinions that, beginning in the 1960s, the progress of scientific psychology has been deferred and that psychological research has failed to address important social issues. He proposed that progress be resumed by taking up, anew, the experimental analysis of behavior. The present reply provides evidence inconsistent with Harzem's assertions regarding the state of contemporary, scientific psychology and questions the wisdom of disregarding the significant body of data and theory that currently are available to pursue the, as yet, unfulfilled promises of the experimental analysis of human behavior.     

CDAscal: An algorithm for assessing the correspondence of one or more vectors to a symmetric matrix using ordinal regression

An algorithm for assessing the correspondence of one or more attribute rating variables to a symmetric matrix of dissimilarities is presented. The algorithm is useful as an alternative to fitting property variables into a multidimensional scaling space. Rather than requiring a two step process of first deriving a multidimensional space and then fitting variables individually into the space, the algorithm directly assesses the correspondence of each variable to the symmetric matrix and permits a regression extension such that a set of variables can be considered simultaneously. The relation between the matrix and the variables is determined by evaluating pairs of pairs relations, . Though the algorithm requires only ordinal assumptions, the correspondence may be computed intervally also. Multiple ordinal regression is performed with the values derived from the matrix serving as the dependent variable and those derived from the attribute ratings serving as the independent variables. Standard multiple regression statistics forR-square,F, andt are calculated as well as measures of ordinal association between the vectors and the matrix.     

Salience of stimulus and response features in choice-reaction tasks.

A pattern of differential reaction time (RT) benefits obtained in spatial-precuing tasks has been attributed to translation processes that operate on mental codes formed to represent the stimulus and response sets. According to the salient-features coding principle, the codes are based on the salient stimulus and response features, with RTs being fastest when the two sets of features correspond. Three experiments are reported in which the stimulus and response sets were manipulated using Gestalt grouping principles. In the first two experiments, stimuli and responses were grouped according to spatial proximity, whereas in the last experiment, they were grouped according to similarity. With both types of manipulations, the grouping of the stimulus set systematically affected the pattern of precuing benefits. Thus, in these experiments, the organization of the stimulus set was the primary determinant of the features selected for coding the stimulus and response sets in the translation process.     

Premovement posture and focal movement velocity affects on postural responses accompanying rapid arm movement

Coordination of intentional upper limb movement concurrent with supporting postural activity was investigated in adult males under varying task conditions. Seven subjects performed a 60 deg rapid elbow flexion (focal movement) to a target in movement times of 170, 195, or 220 ms while standing. Measurement of center of pressure via a force platform revealed that subjects adopted individual premovement postural preferences such that locus of center of pressure resided in one predominant quadrant of the foot. Each premovement postural preference was accompanied by one most common postural muscle onset sequence as indicated by bilateral EMG analysis of rectus femoris and biceps femoris. In addition, onset times for postural muscles exhibiting anticipatory postural activity occurred earlier relative to biceps branchii as focal movement velocity increased. The finding that each premovement postural condition was accompanied by one particular postural muscle onset sequence suggested that postural synergies were flexibly organized with respect to onset sequence.     

TASK DIFFICULTY AND ABERRANT BEHAVIOR IN SEVERELY HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

The influence of task difficulty on aberrant behavior was investigated with three severely handicapped students. Noticeably higher rates of problem behavior occurred in demand compared to no-demand conditions. In addition, there were higher rates of problem behaviors on difficult versus easy tasks. Both these findings were validated with visual discrimination and perceptual motor tasks. An errorless learning procedure effectively minimized errors and aberrant behavior in visual discrimination tasks but not in perceptual motor tasks. It was conceptualized that aberrant behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement contingencies. Difficult tasks were aversive to the children, who emitted aberrant responses to escape or avoid such tasks. By contrast, conditions in which no demands were made, easy tasks, and, in visual discrimination learning, errorless tasks, were less aversive and resulted in little or no problem behavior. Implications for reducing maladaptive behaviors through curricular modifications are discussed and contrasted to more traditional consequence manipulation approaches.     

Effects of proactive interference and rehearsal on the primary and secondary components of short-term retention

Under the conditions of the distractor paradigm, short-term retention declines to a minimum in a very brief period. The rapid forgetting can be said to reflect the declining contribution of the short-term store or primary memory and the asymptote can be taken as a measure of the contribution of the long-term store or secondary memory. It was shown that manipulating proactive effects by varying the recency of prior material affected only the primary memory component of the short-term retention function. On the other hand manipulating the difficulty of the subsidiary task performed during the retention period with proactive effects held constant affected both the primary and the secondary components. The results were discussed with respect to the relation between the two memory components and the idea that proactive effects are limited to long-term store.