The influence of anxiety on action-specific perception

Abstract

Recent empirical research suggests that performance modulates perception. For example, baseball players judge the ball to be bigger when performing well as compared to when performing less successfully. Yet, the underlying processes that mediate the emergence of action-specific effects on perception are still largely unknown. To this end, we aimed to examine the impact of anxiety on the action-specific influence on perception as anxiety has been shown to affect both performance and perception. Thirty participants threw darts at a circle-shaped target and were then asked to judge the size of the target. The task was performed under conditions of low and high anxiety. Results replicated previously reported action-specific effects on perception under levels of low anxiety. However, these effects vanished in the high anxiety condition. Results seem to suggest that anxiety has a direct influence on the relation between performance and perception. Attentional control theory is discussed to explain the current findings.     

The durability of beneficial health effects associated with expressive writing

Abstract

This study examined the durability of benefits associated with expressive writing. Sixty-eight college undergraduates completed measures of physical and psychological health at the beginning of their first year and were then randomized to either an expressive writing or a control writing condition. Changes in physical health, psychological health (i.e., depression, stress, and anxiety), and academic performance were assessed two, four, and six months later. Findings indicated that participants assigned to the expressive writing condition reported less depression symptom severity at the two-month follow-up assessment relative to participants assigned to the control condition. However, these symptom reductions were not observed at any of the subsequent follow-up assessments. No significant changes were reported for physical health complaints, stress symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or academic performance. These findings suggest that, among first-year college students, expressive writing may provide some short-term relief for certain symptoms.     

Self-compassion and social anxiety disorder

Abstract

Self-compassion refers to having an accepting and caring orientation towards oneself. Although self-compassion has been studied primarily in healthy populations, one particularly compelling clinical context in which to examine self-compassion is social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD is characterized by high levels of negative self-criticism as well as an abiding concern about others’ evaluation of one's performance. In the present study, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) people with SAD would demonstrate less self-compassion than healthy controls (HCs), (2) self-compassion would relate to severity of social anxiety and fear of evaluation among people with SAD, and (3) age would be negatively correlated with self-compassion for people with SAD, but not for HC. As expected, people with SAD reported less self-compassion than HCs on the Self-Compassion Scale and its subscales. Within the SAD group, lesser self-compassion was not generally associated with severity of social anxiety, but it was associated with greater fear of both negative and positive evaluation. Age was negatively correlated with self-compassion for people with SAD, whereas age was positively correlated with self-compassion for HC. These findings suggest that self-compassion may be a particularly important target for assessment and treatment in persons with SAD.     

Anxiety,self-discrepancy,and regulatory focus theory: acculturation matters

Previous research has found that Asians (vs. Caucasians) exhibit higher levels of ought and undesired self-discrepancies and prevention focus, all of which have been linked with anxiety. We examined these ethnic differences in the context of acculturation. Participants (N=155) completed two sessions scheduled a week apart. In Session 1, participants completed a computer task to measure self-discrepancy and prevention focus. In Session 2, participants' ought self-discrepancies and closeness to an undesired self were primed. Moderation analyses indicated that Asian participants who were highly assimilated to an Asian culture exhibited higher levels of a prevention focus. Acculturation also had significant moderation effects for affect when self-discrepancies were primed. Our results suggest that interventions based on these systems (i.e., self-system therapy) should consider acculturation when treating diverse individuals.     

Performing well in an evaluative situation: The roles of perceived competence and task-irrelevant interfering thoughts

Abstract

This research expands on previous research by arguing and demonstrating that high perceived competence buffers the detrimental effects of an evaluative situation. In Study 1 (n=75, 38.7% male), the situation (evaluative vs. non-evaluative) and perceived competence (high vs. low) were manipulated, whereas in Study 2 (n=42, 33.3% male), perceived competence relied on naturally occurring differences in perceived competence. The results of Study 1 indicate that people may underachieve in an evaluative situation. More importantly, in Study 2 it was demonstrated that such an evaluative situation had only a negative effect on test performance among individuals low in perceived competence. The occurrence of task-irrelevant interfering thoughts during task completion accounted for this inimical effect of an evaluative situation on test performance among these individuals.     

Establishing a trait anxiety threshold that signals likelihood of anxiety disorders

Abstract

Evidence suggests that the State Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA) may be a more pure measure of anxiety than other commonly used scales. Further, the STICSA has excellent psychometric properties in both clinical and nonclinical samples. The present study aimed to extend the utility of the STICSA – Trait version by identifying a cut-off score that could differentiate a group of clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder patients (n=398) from a group of student controls (n =439). Two receiver operating characteristic curve analyses indicated cut-off scores of 43 (sensitivity=.73, specificity=.74, classification accuracy=.74) and 40 (sensitivity=.80, specificity=.67, classification accuracy=.73), respectively. In a large community sample (n =6685), a score of 43 identified 11.5% of individuals as probable cases of clinical anxiety, while a score of 40 identified 17.0% of individuals as probable cases of clinical anxiety. As a result of differences in sensitivity and specificity, the present findings suggest a cut-off score of 43 is optimal to identify probable cases of clinical anxiety, while a cut-off score of 40 is optimal to screen for the possible presence of anxiety disorders.     

Psychiatric Symptoms as a Predictor of Sexual Aggression among Male College Students

The goal of this investigation was to examine psychiatric symptoms as predictors of the frequency and severity of sexually aggressive behaviors that had been perpetrated by college-aged men in the past year. Over 400 undergraduate males completed an assessment of sexual aggression, athletic involvement, fraternity affiliation, alcohol and drug use, mistrust of women, depression, and social anxiety. More than 40% of the undergraduate men reported having participated in some form of sexual aggression within the past 12 months, 6% of whom reported having attempted or completed rape. Sexually aggressive behavior (both frequency and severity) was predicted by alcohol use, mistrust of women, and social anxiety. Results are the first to indicate that psychiatric symptoms might contribute to sexual aggression among college men.     

Learning beyond the known

In this paper issues related to adult learning, such as self-directed and experiential learning are shown to hold a trace of the unknown, which has implications for psychotherapy training and practice. The unknown is traced through the problematic of individualistic approaches that restrict the emergence of unknowns by limiting possibility of the other, hindering recognition of our own cultural position and seeking to avoid anxiety. Learning is also shown to have links with experiences of change and loss, having in common the generation of anxiety, seen as both the driving force to know and the need to close down unknowing. Subsequently, learning is viewed as involving the potential to repeat the already known as well as opening up the possibility for something new. Psychoanalysis and continental philosophy are shown, in different ways, to help our understanding of the reasons for the anxiety occurring in times of transition, also showing the way fragmentary experiences act as a reminder of death. It is proposed that the relational aspects of learning are an important factor in learning to tolerate the anxiety and adult learning is thus seen as requiring possibility of the other, in relationship, in order to permit the unknown.     

The relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and competitive anxiety

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the relationship between religiosity and competitive anxiety in college athletes and whether there were differences in competitive anxiety for intrinsically religious and extrinsically religious individuals. College athletes (N?=?95) from three separate sports from the NCAA completed a questionnaire that included the Age-Universal I/E Scale, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised, open-ended questions on habits related to religion, and demographic items. Results revealed no significant relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and competitive anxiety. Extrinsically religious athletes had higher somatic anxiety than intrinsically religious athletes. The majority of participants (77%) reported praying before games primarily for comfort. Athletes turn to religion to calm their nerves but it is important to understand that their approach to religion may relate to increased anxiety. This information is useful for sport practitioners and coaches as they seek to help their athletes seek an intrinsic approach to religion in sport.     

Freud's atonement

The authors explore Freud's preoccupations with death and dying. In particular, they focus on the day of Freud's death, which was the Jewish Day of Atonement and the Jewish Sabbath. The significance of this event, which the authors think was “planned,” was not just in order to obliterate years of pain and suffering from cancer, but also to overcome a lifelong burden of conflict and guilt about his relations with his family and colleagues as well as his Jewish cultural/religious upbringing. The authors consider whether the timing of Freud's death represented a premeditated return to his cultural and religious roots.