Effects of multiple contexts and context similarity on the renewal of extinguished conditioned behaviour in an ABA design with humans

The ABA renewal procedure involves pairing a conditional stimulus (CS) and an unconditional stimulus (US) in one context (A), presenting extinction trials of the CS alone in a second context (B), and nonreinforced test trials of the CS in the acquisition context (A). The renewal of extinguished conditioned behaviour is observed during test. The current study tested the effects of multiple extinction contexts and context similarity in attenuating renewal. Participants (N = 99) took part in a fear conditioning ABA renewal procedure. Using a measure of self-reported expectancy of the US, ABA renewal was observed when a single extinction context that was dissimilar to the test context was used. Renewal was attenuated, though still present, when extinction occurred in multiple dissimilar extinction contexts or in a single extinction context that was similar to the test context. Renewal was completely abolished when multiple extinction contexts that were similar to the test context were combined. Multiple extinction contexts and context similarity act additively in their effect on attenuating renewal. The results are discussed in relation to the design of exposure therapy programs that seek to reduce relapse that can occur via renewal.     

The Effect of Counterconditioning on Evaluative Responses and Harm Expectancy in a Fear Conditioning Paradigm

In fear conditioning, extinction targets harm expectancy as well as the fear response, but it often fails to eradicate the negative affective value that is associated with the conditioned stimulus. In the present study, we examined whether counterconditioning can serve to reduce evaluative responses within fear conditioning. The sample consisted of 70 nonselected students, 12 of whom were men. All participants received acquisition with human face stimuli as the conditioned stimuli and an unpleasant white noise as the unconditioned stimulus. After acquisition, one third of the sample was allocated to an extinction procedure. The other participants received counterconditioning with either a neutral stimulus (neutral tone) or a positive stimulus (baby laugh). Results showed that counterconditioning (with both neutral and positive stimuli), in contrast to extinction, successfully reduced evaluative responses. This effect was found on an indirect measure (affective priming task), but not on self-report. Counterconditioning with a positive stimulus also tended to enhance the reduction of conditioned skin conductance reactivity. The present data suggest that counterconditioning procedures might be a promising approach in diminishing evaluative learning and even expectancy learning in the context of fear conditioning.     

Reducing Muslim/Arab Stereotypes Through Evaluative Conditioning

ABSTRACT

This study replicated and extended Olson and Fazio (2006 Olson, M. A. and Fazio, R. H. 2006. Reducing automatically activated racial prejudice through implicit evaluative conditioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32: 421–433. doi:10.1177/0146167205284004[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by testing whether evaluative conditioning is a means to reduce negative stereotypes about Muslim and other Arab persons. Specifically, evaluative conditioning was hypothesized to lower implicit biases against Muslim and Arab persons. The FreeIAT was used to measure implicit biases. Participants in the evaluative conditioning group showed a significant lowering in implicit biases. Explicit measures of bias were not affected by the conditioning procedure.     

Identifying the situational triggers underlying avoidance of communication situations and individual differences therein

People are actively involved in the selection and avoidance of the situations they face during everyday life. Moreover, such selection/avoidance behavior is subject to sizeable individual differences. Yet, to a large extent this phenomenon has been underinvestigated, and a full understanding of selection/avoidance remains lacking. In the present paper, we take a first step to a more in-depth understanding of situation avoidance, which is conceptualized in terms of individual profiles or signatures across situations. Two key objectives with regard to those signatures are being addressed, that is: (a) identifying the critical situational triggers that elicit avoidance behavior, and (b) identifying the most important individual differences in the link between these situational triggers and avoidance, along with their underlying process dynamics. To achieve these objectives, we performed an empirical study on avoidance of communication situations. This study revealed a set of person types that meaningfully differ in sensitivity to a few key situational features. These person types further appeared to differ from one another on several dispositional cognitive/affective forecast variables.     

澳门和东北地区夫妻沟通模式与婚姻满意度研究

采用问卷调查法对澳门（118对）和东北地区（266对）夫妻进行研究,以检验两地夫妻沟通模式的差异,及其对婚姻满意度的主客体效应。结果发现：澳门夫妻双方回避沟通显著少于东北夫妻;两地夫妻报告的妻子要求/丈夫回避行为多于丈夫要求/妻子回避行为;建设性沟通对两地夫妻婚姻满意度正向预测力最强;要求/回避沟通只对澳门夫妻的婚姻满意度有负向预测力。两地妻子的建设性沟通都能显著正向预测丈夫的婚姻满意度,而只有东北地区丈夫的建设性沟通能正向预测妻子婚姻满意度。     

Keeping it all without being buried alive: Understanding product retention tendency

This research introduces product retention tendency, a consumer lifestyle trait characterized by an individual's propensity to retain consumption-related possessions. We develop a parsimonious measure of product retention tendency. Next, we report on the results of two studies designed to contrast product retention tendency with clinical compulsive hoarding, examining the relationships between these different types of keeping behavior as related to waste avoidance and product attachment tendencies. Three experimental studies examine the relationship between product retention tendency and the decision to retain versus relinquish different types of possessions, including used and in- need-of-repair durables, as well as perishable possessions.     

回避与趋近性负性人格特质对应激心血管反应模式的不同影响

本研究考察了回避与趋近性负性特质对不同强度心理社会应激刺激重复暴露的心血管反应、应激后心血管反应恢复、重复应激心血管反应的影响,并探讨了应激认知评价在其中的作用。167名大学生被试被随机分配到中/高强度应激条件中,连续采集其在基线期、首次应激期、恢复期、重复应激期四个阶段的心血管反应数据。结果发现:(1)无论应激强度如何,回避性负性特质预测首次和重复应激中较低(钝化)的心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复,而趋近性负性特质预测较大的心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复。(2)重复应激个人资源感知在回避性负性特质与重复应激心率反应之间起中介作用。因此,回避性负性特质与持续较低(钝化)的应激心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复相联系,而趋近性负性特质与较大的应激心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复相联系,即两类负性特质均表现出不适应的固化的应激心血管反应模式,这可能构成了两类不同负性特质增加罹患心血管疾病风险的生理机制。     

大学生安全感对手机成瘾的影响:回避现实社交的中介作用

为有效预防和干预大学生的手机成瘾，本研究在失补偿假说的视角下探讨了安全感与手机依赖的关系，并检验现实社交回避在手机成瘾者和一般手机使用者中的中介作用。对420名在校大学生进行安全感量表、社交回避与苦恼量表、手机成瘾指数量表调查，结果发现此次调查中49.8%的大学生被界定为手机成瘾者，手机成瘾者的安全感显著低于一般手机使用者。手机成瘾者和一般手机使用者的安全感都显著负向预测手机依赖；但回避现实社交的中介效应只在手机成瘾者的安全感与手机依赖中显著，在一般手机使用者中不显著。本研究揭示了回避现实社交在手机成瘾者的安全感与手机依赖中的独特作用机制，为失补偿假说提供了实证支持，并为手机成瘾行为治疗开展安全感和社交干预提供了心理学依据。     

Experiential avoidance in adolescents with borderline personality disorder: comparison with a non-BPD psychiatric group and healthy controls

ABSTRACT

Previous research has identified experiential avoidance (EA) as related to a host of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as borderline personality disorder, suggesting that it is a crosscutting factor for adolescent psychopathology. It remains unclear whether EA differs among adolescents with BPD compared to adolescents with other psychiatric disorders and healthy adolescents. The aims of this study were to 1) examine EA in adolescents with BPD compared to non-BPD inpatient adolescents and healthy adolescents, and 2) to evaluate whether EA has a unique relationship to borderline pathology over and above internalizing and externalizing. Self-report measures of BPD features, EA, and psychopathology were completed by 692 adolescents (64.5% female, M_age= 15.20). This sample included a group of psychiatric inpatient youth (n = 197 BPD; n = 403 non-BPD) and a group of healthy adolescents (n = 92). Results revealed that EA differed significantly across all three groups, with the highest level of EA evidenced in adolescents who had BPD. Furthermore, there was a significant, unique association between BPD symptoms and EA over afnd above internalizing and externalizing pathology. These findings pinpoint EA as an important risk marker and possible target of prevention or intervention for adolescent BPD.     

依恋焦虑对大学生囤积行为的影响:无法忍受不确定性与经验性回避的序列中介作用

为探讨依恋焦虑、无法忍受不确定性、经验性回避与大学生囤积行为的关系，本研究构建了一个序列中介模型。采用问卷法对黑龙江等地高校的610名大学生进行调查研究。结果发现：（1）无法忍受不确定性和经验性回避在依恋焦虑与大学生囤积行为之间均起部分中介作用；（2）无法忍受不确定性和经验性回避在依恋焦虑和大学生囤积行为之间构成序列中介，即依恋焦虑个体通过增强无法忍受不确定性，从而提高经验性回避倾向，进而增加大学生的囤积行为。研究进一步从认知和应对手段角度来考察依恋焦虑对大学生囤积行为的作用机制，对囤积行为的预防和干预具有启示意义。