社交焦虑注意偏向的动态变化

注意偏向是社交焦虑障碍(Social Anxiety Disorder, SAD)个体症状维持的重要因素, 其中注意警觉、注意回避、注意脱离困难三种注意模式得到了研究者最广泛的研究与讨论。随着研究深入, 有研究者提出SAD个体的注意模式不是单一、静态模式, 更有可能在不同注意模式间切换, 表现为动态的过程。目前, 依据相关研究结果和理论假设, 证据均指向SAD个体的注意偏向具有随着焦虑水平提高和注意控制能力受损而动态变化的倾向, 从注意警觉过渡到注意回避与注意脱离困难均如此。此观点还需研究进一步证实, 并且基于研究结果提出更具有针对性的干预方式。     

自我隐瞒对消防员创伤后应激反应的影响：经验回避和反刍的链式多重中介作用

人格特质和情绪调节策略是创伤后应激反应的重要影响因素。作为一种在个人感到痛苦时有意地向他人隐藏自身状况的人格特质,自我隐瞒会通过适应不良的情绪调节策略影响心理健康。然而,鲜有研究考察自我隐瞒、适应不良的情绪调节策略与创伤后应激反应的关系。对创伤后应激反应的情绪调节策略的研究发现,经验回避和反刍是两种有重要影响的适应不良的情绪调节策略。在创伤后应激反应的研究对象上,前人主要关注在创伤事件中幸存的直接受害者身上,而对频繁处理各类突发事件而成为创伤后应激反应高危人群的消防员一直缺乏研究。因此,本研究意在考察自我隐瞒对经历职业创伤的消防员创伤后应激反应的影响以及经验回避和反刍这两种适应不良的情绪调节策略的中介作用。 研究被试为215名将个人经历的职业创伤作为首要创伤事件的一线消防员。他们来自我国3个城市,均为男性,平均年龄22.90±3.38岁。使用中文修订版的埃森创伤问卷、自我隐瞒量表、反刍反应量表、接受与承诺问卷第二版和事件影响量表进行现场调查。被试均匿名填写调查问卷。使用SPSS20.0进行描述性统计和相关性分析。使用Mplus7.4进行结构方程模型的分析。采用Harman单因子检验的方法进行共同方法偏差检验。采用偏差矫正的百分位Bootstrap方法进行中介效应的显著性检验。 结果表明,自我隐瞒、经验回避、反刍和创伤后应激反应之间存在两两显著正相关;自我隐瞒对创伤后应激反应具有直接效应;自我隐瞒通过反刍对创伤后应激反应产生间接效应;自我隐瞒通过经验回避-反刍的中介链对创伤后应激反应产生间接效应;自我隐瞒影响创伤后应激反应的总效应值为0.427,其中总间接效应值为0.217,占总效应值的50.82%。本研究还发现,64名(29.77%)将个人经历的职业创伤作为首要创伤事件的一线消防员达到了严重创伤后应激反应的水平。 总之,自我隐瞒可以通过三条路径影响创伤后应激反应：直接影响、反刍的中介作用和经验回避-反刍的系列中介作用。在理论层面,这拓展了对影响创伤后应激反应的人格特质的理解和对自我隐瞒影响的心理健康状况的理解。在实践层面,这提示我们重视自我隐瞒、经验回避和反刍在预防和治疗创伤后应激反应中的潜在贡献。此外,本研究还发现,消防员确实是创伤后应激反应的高危人群。作为突发事件的第一响应人,消防员的心理健康应该得到更多关注与研究。     

Measuring Experiential Avoidance: Reliability and Validity of the Dutch 9-item Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ)

Three studies evaluated psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the 9-item Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ)—a self-report measure designed to assess experiential avoidance as conceptualized in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Study 1, among bereaved adults, showed that a one-factor model, with AAQ-items constituting a single dimension of experiential avoidance, fitted the data well. The internal consistency and temporal stability of the AAQ were satisfactory. In Study 2, among undergraduate students, and Study 3, among 60 outpatients, higher AAQ scores were found to be significantly associated with psychopathology, maladaptive coping strategies, and neuroticism, attesting to the validity of the measure. In support of its incremental validity, Study 3 showed that the AAQ remained significantly associated with depression and anxiety after controlling for neuroticism and thought suppression. The current studies complement prior research supporting the psychometric properties of the AAQ and the ACT conceptualization of experiential avoidance.

When bonuses backfire: an inaction inertia analysis of procrastination induced by a missed opportunity

An inaction inertia analysis of procrastination was used to generate the prediction that using bonuses to encourage early task completion will have two opposing effects, encouraging early task completion by some but also inducing procrastination for those who miss the bonus. Study 1 showed that the addition of bonuses for early completion produced both of these effects and also led to overall task completion rates that were either equal to (large bonus) or actually less than (medium and small bonuses) those obtained by simply establishing a completion deadline with no bonus. In Study 2, a lottery methodology was used to manipulate the size of a missed bonus for all participants. Even under these conditions of reduced personal responsibility the larger missed bonus led to increased procrastination as predicted by the inaction inertia analysis. Possible mediating processes based on anticipated regret and perceived fairness were discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women’s regulation styles for eating behaviors and outcomes: The mediating role of approach and avoidance food planning

The purpose of this article was to examine the role played by different orientations in planning for eating behaviors as mediators of the relationship between regulation styles and eating behaviors. In Study 1, a new scale was developed to assess approach food planning and avoidance food planning. Results from confirmatory analyses (N = 241) supported the two-factor structure of the scale. In Study 2 (N = 202), in agreement with past research on the effects of autonomous and controlled motivation for the regulation of eating behaviors, we found that approach food planning partially mediated the effects of autonomous regulation for eating behaviors on healthy eating behaviors, while avoidance food planning partially mediated the effects of controlled regulation for eating behaviors on dysfunctional eating behaviors. Implications of these results for self-determination theory and for promoting healthy eating behaviors are discussed.

Body checking and avoidance among behavioral weight-loss participants

The present study examined the psychological and weight-related correlates of body checking and avoidance behaviors in individuals who have lost weight through obesity treatment. Among 185 individuals in behavioral weight-control treatment, the prevalence of body checking and avoidance behavior was assessed, as well as the relationship of checking and avoidance to attitudinal disturbances, weight loss, and perception of struggling in treatment. Checking and avoidance were frequent, and they correlated significantly with higher overvaluation of shape and weight, lower self-esteem, greater body dissatisfaction, higher fear of fat, and the perception of greater struggling in weight-loss treatment. Checking was inversely correlated with the percentage weight lost in treatment and BMI lost but not related to pre-treatment or current BMI. Thus, body checking and avoidance behaviors were associated with psychological disturbances and poorer treatment outcome.     

Movement direction or change in distance? Self- and object-related approach-avoidance motions

Based on the conceptualization of approach as a decrease in distance and avoidance as an increase in distance, we predicted that stimuli with positive valence facilitate behavior for either approaching the stimulus (object as reference point) or for bringing the stimulus closer (self as reference point) and that stimuli with negative valence facilitate behavior for withdrawing from the stimulus or for pushing the stimulus away. In Study 1, we found that motions to and from a computer screen where positive and negative words were presented lead to compatibility effects indicative of an object-related frame of reference. In Study 2, we replicated this finding using social stimuli with different evaluative associations (young vs. old persons). Finally, we present evidence that self vs. object reference points can be induced through instruction and thus lead to opposite compatibility effects even when participants make the same objective motion (Study 3).     

Multidimensional Assessment of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation: Development, Factor Structure, and Initial Validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale

Given recent attention to emotion regulation as a potentially unifying function of diverse symptom presentations, there is a need for comprehensive measures that adequately assess difficulties in emotion regulation among adults. This paper (a) proposes an integrative conceptualization of emotion regulation as involving not just the modulation of emotional arousal, but also the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions, and the ability to act in desired ways regardless of emotional state; and (b) begins to explore the factor structure and psychometric properties of a new measure, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Two samples of undergraduate students completed questionnaire packets. Preliminary findings suggest that the DERS has high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and adequate construct and predictive validity. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Central ghrelin increases anxiety in the Open Field test and impairs retention memory in a passive avoidance task in neonatal chicks

Ghrelin (Grh) is an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor. Although Ghr stimulates feeding in rats, it inhibits feeding in neonatal chicks. However, little is known about other central behavioral effects of Ghr. Therefore, we investigated the Ghr effects, injected intracerebroventricularly, on anxiety and memory retention of neonatal chicks in an Open Field test and in a one-trial passive avoidance task, respectively. In the Open Field test, the administration of Ghr in a dose-dependent manner increased the latency to ambulate but decreased ambulation activity, indicating an anxiogenic effect. Furthermore, chicks trained on a passive avoidance task and injected with a dose of 30 pmol of Ghr immediately after training showed an impairment of memory retention. However, there were no significant effects on the number of pecks during the pretraining, training, retention and discrimination. In addition, different doses of Ghr produced an inhibition in food intake at different times after injection. Our results indicate that Ghr induces anxiogenesis in chicks. Moreover, we have shown for the first time that Ghr can decrease memory retention in a non-mammalian species, suggesting that Ghr may play an important role in the processes of memory retention in birds.     

Experimentally Detecting How Cultural Differences on Social Anxiety Measures Misrepresent Cultural Differences in Emotional Well-being

Previous research, statistically accounting for self-construal factors and thereby eliminating widely reported culture main effects in social anxiety scores between East Asians and European-Americans (Norasakkunkit and Kalick 2002 Culture, ethnicity, and emotional distress measures: The role of self-construal and self-enhancement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(1), 56–70.) suggested that social anxiety measures penalize individuals for being low on independent self-construal; therefore, cultural differences in emotional distress according to social anxiety measures may possibly misrepresent cultural differences in emotional well-being. In the current experimental study, 127 Japanese and 126 American participants were either primed or not primed to access an independent mode of thought prior to filling out two commonly used measures of social anxiety and a measure of emotional well-being. Independent priming caused social anxiety scores to decrease. Yet, independent priming did not influence levels of self-reported emotional well-being. Furthermore, although the Japanese respondents were shown to be more distressed according to both of the standardized social anxiety measures, this finding was actually reversed with respect to self-reported emotional well-being. The evidence thus points to high scores on measurements of social anxiety being directly and causally linked to low levels of independence, while no link was found between independence and emotional well-being.