Fear of Failure Biases Affective and Attentional Responses to Lexical and Pictorial Stimuli

The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether attentional biases would be noticed among individuals differing in levels of fear of failure (FF) as they viewed pictorial and lexical stimuli depicting various affective content. Indices of natural selective attention, namely, viewing time and self-reported affect, were assessed in 137 college students during free viewing picture and word presentation conditions. As hypothesized, FF was (a) negatively associated with self-reported dominance and valence for failure- and unpleasant-themed stimuli, and (b) positively associated with arousal ratings for unpleasant pictures. Although initially suppressed by neuroticism, partial correlation coefficients revealed a significant positive relationship between FF and viewing time for failure pictures. Results are discussed in the context of current theories of emotional reactivity and attentional biases pertaining to the nature of FF. Recommendations are provided for future research to elaborate the mechanisms involved in detrimental effects of FF.     

The reluctance to generalize corrective experiences in chronic low back pain patients: a questionnaire study of dysfunctional cognitions

The present study investigated whether pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear is related to a reluctance to generalize an experience of lesser pain than expected to other similar situations. Eighty-five patients with chronic low back pain (40 males; 45 females; age range=21-63 years) completed a series of vignettes assessing catastrophizing, overgeneralization, personalization and selective abstraction related to general life experiences and to low back pain (LBP) experiences. Three vignettes also assessed the lack of generalization of corrective experiences related to LBP. Our results showed that dysfunctional cognitions related to general life experiences were the strongest predictor of the self-denigration subscale of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), whereas only dysfunctional cognitions related to LBP had a unique contribution in the prediction of the somatic and physical function subscale of the BDI. Furthermore, dysfunctional cognitions related to LBP were significantly correlated with interference with daily life due to pain. As predicted, pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear had a unique contribution in predicting the lack of generalization of corrective experiences, over and above sociodemogaphic variables, pain severity and pain duration.     

Effects of varied-stimulus exposure on overpredictions of pain and behavioural performance in low back pain patients

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the benefits of exposure to a variety of movements versus exposure to the same movements on overprediction of pain and behavioural performance on a final behavioural test in a sample of chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. Eighty-four CLBP patients were requested to perform four behavioural tests. Patients were assigned to two experimental conditions. The final behavioural test was the same for all patients. The first three behavioural tests consisted of three different movements in condition 1 and of three times the same movement in condition 2. During each behavioural test, baseline pain, expected pain and experienced pain were recorded. Furthermore, the peak torque and the variability of the produced muscle strength during the final behavioural test were assessed. Replicating and extending previous research, we found that patients overpredicted pain during a threatening behavioural test. Furthermore, pain-related fear and pain catastrophizing showed to be unique predictors of the peak torque of the final behavioural test. No support was found for our hypothesis that varied exposure facilitates generalization of exposure effects. Possible reasons for the failure to find an advantageous effect of varied-stimulus exposure and ideas for future research are discussed.     

Time course of attentional bias for fear-relevant pictures in spider-fearful individuals

The time course of attentional biases for spider stimuli was assessed in two groups of individuals with high or low levels of spider fear. Pairs of photographs of spiders and cats were presented in a visual probe task with three exposure durations: 200, 500 and 2000 ms. Results indicated greater attentional bias for spider stimuli in high fear, than in low fear, individuals in the 200 ms condition. The attentional bias in the high fear group significantly reduced as stimulus exposure duration increased, with no significant biases found in the longer exposure conditions. Results support the view that high fear is associated with an enhanced initial attentional bias for fear-relevant stimuli, but that this attentional bias is not maintained over time.     

Gender,economic context,perceptions of safety,and quality of life: a case study of Lowell,Massachusetts (U.S.A.), 1982-96

From 1982 through 1996, 840 structured interviews about urban quality of life (QOL) were conducted with residents of Lowell, Massachusetts, by graduate students in a seminar about the city. Perceptions of safety and general QOL were analyzed by social status (gender) and social contexts (economic and historic) using multivariate and univariate ANOVAS. Main effects were obtained for gender, area income, and time. Subsequent analyses revealed that men felt safer than did women at night in neighborhoods and downtown, and that residents of lower income areas perceived both neighborhood QOL and safety more negatively than residents of higher income areas did. Small effects were found for downtown safety by area income in the opposite direction. Differences over time for downtown safety and city QOL (but not for neighborhood) suggest that the early and mid-1980s were viewed somewhat more favorably than the 1990s, with some improvement in the most recent period. Results suggest that economic context and time were related to perceived safety and QOL, though in different ways, whereas gender was related to perceived safety but not to QOL. Respondents' comments and community psychology principles are used to elaborate on and suggest interpretations for quantitative results.     

Kainic acid lesions disrupt fear-mediated memory processing

Previous research has shown that hippocampal lesions impair the expression of fear conditioning. This fear conditioning deficit may be due to memory impairment or a reduction in fear in lesioned animals. To address these possibilities, the authors examined unconditioned and conditioned fear in male Sprague-Dawley rats that had received intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusions of kainic acid (KA) 30 days prior to testing. Animals that had received bilateral ICV infusions of KA (1.0 microl of 0.8 mg/ml solution per side) exhibited cell loss that was primarily confined to the CA3 region of the dorsal hippocampus. Kainic acid lesions impaired contextual and cued fear conditioning but did not affect unconditioned fear in a light:dark test of anxiety. Moreover, animals with KA lesions did not habituate to the light:dark apparatus when tested over a 3-day period. These data suggest that decreases in fear conditioning produced by hippocampal lesions reflect a memory deficit and not a lack of fear.     

All you fear is love: The roles of rejection by intimate others

Interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory) asserts that recollections of parental rejection in childhood tend to result in psychological maladjustment and intimacy problems in later romantic relationships. Informed by IPARTheory, we investigated the association between maternal & paternal rejection, and fear of intimacy by the mediating role of psychological maladjustment in a Turkish sample with 462 mostly young adults. We further explored the moderator role of gender in Model 1 and the moderating roles of both gender and intimate partner rejection in Model 2. Model 1 revealed that adults who had experienced maternal and paternal rejection in childhood tended to be psychologically maladjusted. Consequently, they also tended to have a fear of intimacy, regardless of gender. Model 2 revealed that women who recall having been rejected in childhood by their mothers tended to be psychologically maladjusted and to have a significant fear of intimacy when they also experienced moderate or more than moderate intimate-partner rejection. However, both women and men who experienced paternal rejection in childhood tended to be psychologically maladjusted and to experience a greater fear of intimacy when they perceived any degree of intimate partner rejection. Implications of the results for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

The effects of social comparison,emotion induction,and parent vaccination status on parental intentions for COVID-19 vaccine uptake in children

Parental vaccine hesitancy—delays in vaccine uptake for children—is a significant public health concern. Using an online adult sample of U.S. parents (N = 183), the current research experimentally examined how exposure to cautious or risky social comparison models on social media (in terms of their COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors) influenced parental intentions to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic. Additionally, we examined whether the influence of social comparison models was moderated by emotional state (fear or contentment) and parental vaccination status. Overall, we found that parents exposed to cautious (vs. risky) comparison models and vaccinated (vs. unvaccinated) parents reported greater vaccine intentions for their children. We further found that vaccination intentions were highest among unvaccinated parents after exposure to cautious (vs. risky) comparison models, whereas intentions were highest among vaccinated parents after exposure to risky (vs. cautious) comparison models (but only when induced to feel content). Overall, our findings highlight the importance of understanding the additive and interactive impact of psychological and situational factors in shaping parental vaccine hesitancy.