Experiential Avoidance: An Examination of the Construct Validity of the AAQ-II and MEAQ

Experiential avoidance (also referred to as acceptance or psychological flexibility) is a core construct of third-wave behavior therapies. It is the tendency to avoid uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, even when doing so has negative long-term consequences. In order for developments in experiential avoidance and third-wave behavior therapies to continue, it is imperative to examine the construct validity of the most widely used measures of this construct, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II (AAQ-II) and the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ). In Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N = 1,052) and college (N = 364) samples, we evaluated the construct validity of these measures. The AAQ-II demonstrated suboptimal patterns of convergent and discriminant validity with measures of neuroticism/negative affect (Big Five Inventory, Big Five Aspects Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), the MEAQ, and mindfulness (Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire). In contrast, the MEAQ demonstrated optimal convergent and discriminant validity. Factor analyses at the scale, subscale, and item levels demonstrated that the AAQ-II loads with indicators of neuroticism/negative affect and not with other constructs at the core of third-wave behavior therapies. In contrast, the MEAQ loads on factors with mindfulness or forms its own factors. These findings suggest the AAQ-II functions as a measure of neuroticism/negative affect, whereas the MEAQ functions as an indicator of experiential avoidance. These findings have substantial implications for research on experiential avoidance and third-wave behavior therapies. Therefore, in order to improve the theory, research, and practice of third-wave behavior therapies, we recommend using the MEAQ to assess experiential avoidance.     

Shyness,Loneliness Avoidance,and Internet Addiction: What are the Relationships?

Given that shyness has been consistently linked to Internet addiction in youth, an examination into the mediating effect of a desire to avoid loneliness on the shyness–Internet addiction link could offer potential insights into a possible explanatory mechanism as well as directions for Internet addiction prevention and intervention in young adulthood. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of loneliness avoidance in the relationship between shyness and Internet addiction among 286 youth Internet users. Shyness was significantly and positively correlated with loneliness avoidance and Internet addiction. In addition, loneliness avoidance was significantly and positively correlated with Internet addiction. Most importantly, loneliness avoidance may predispose shy youth to become addicted to the Internet. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings for youth wellness are addressed in this study.     

A comparison of procedures for unpairing conditioned reflexive motivating operations

This study compared the effectiveness of two procedures to reduce behavior evoked by a reflexive conditioned motivating operation (CMO‐R). Task demands were shown to evoke escape‐maintained problem behavior for 4 students with disabilities. Alternative communication responses were taught as an appropriate method to request escape and this treatment combined with extinction for problem behavior led to decreases in problem behavior for all students. A beeping timer was then arranged to temporally precede the task demand to create a CMO‐R that evoked communication responses. When data showed that the sound of the timer was functioning as a CMO‐R, two methods to reduce behavior evoked by a CMO‐R—extinction unpairing and noncontingent unpairing—were evaluated. Results indicated that noncontingent unpairing was an effective method to reduce the evocative effects of the CMO‐R. Extinction produced unsystematic effects across participants. Results are discussed in terms of abolishing CMOs and the implications of CMOs.     

Punishment and the potential for negative reinforcement with histamine injection

The present study examined punishment of responding with histamine injection, and its potential to generate avoidance of punishment. Sprague–Dawley rats were trained under concurrent schedules in which responses on one lever (the punishment lever) produced food under a variable‐interval schedule, and under some conditions intermittent injections of histamine, which suppressed behavior. Responses on a second (avoidance) lever prevented histamine injections scheduled on the punishment lever. After stabilization of punished responding, a variable‐interval 15‐s schedule of cancellation of histamine (avoidance) was added for responding on the second/avoidance lever, without subsequent acquisition of responding on that lever. Progressive decreases in the length of the punishment variable‐interval schedule increased suppression on the punishment lever without increases in response rates on the avoidance lever. Exchanging contingencies on the levers ensured that response rates on the avoidance lever were sufficiently high to decrease the histamine injection frequency; nonetheless response rates on the avoidance lever decreased over subsequent sessions. Under no condition was responding maintained on the avoidance lever despite continued punishing effectiveness of histamine throughout. The present results suggest that avoidance conditioning is not a necessary condition for effective punishment, and confirm the importance of empirical rather than presumed categorization of behavioral effects of stimulus events.     

Valid representation of a highly dynamic collision avoidance scenario in a driving simulator

In Germany the second-most frequent accidents in road traffic are rear-end collisions. For this reason rear-end collisions are quite important for accident research and the development of driving safety systems. To examine the functionality and to design the human–machine-interface of new driving safety systems, especially in the early development phase, subject tests are necessary. Because of the great hazard potential of such safety critical scenarios for the test persons, they are often conducted in a driving simulator (DS). Accordingly, validity is an important qualification to ensure that the findings collected in a simulated test environment can be directly transferred to the real world.This paper regards the question of driving behavior validity of DS in critical situations. There are hardly any validation studies which analyze the driving behavior in a specific collision avoidance situation.The validation study described in this paper aims to evaluate the behavioral validity of a fixed-base simulator in a collision avoidance situation. For this reason a field study from 2007 was replicated in a fixed-base simulator environment.The main questions of this validation study were if the driver can notice an active hazard braking system and if the driving behavior in a static simulator can be valid in such a critical situation.The key finding of the study states that there is no driving behavior validity in a static driving simulator for the tested dynamic scenario. The missing vestibular feedback causes a different behavior of the participants in field and simulator. The resulting absence of comparability leads to non-valid performance indicators. But these indicators are key parameters for analyzing the function and acceptance of active braking systems. So the question arises, which motion performance does a motion base have to provide in order to achieve valid acceleration simulation of such a highly dynamic collision avoidance scenario. The DS’s performance is measured in workspace, velocity and acceleration.     

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。     

成就目标的一种新分类——四分法

在成就目标二分法和三分法的基础上,依据能力划分的两个维度-能力的界定维度和效价维度,Pintrich和 Elliott等人提出了成就目标的四分法,将成就目标分成掌握-接近目标,关注于掌握新的知识和提高自己的能力;掌握-回避目标,关注于避免完不成任务或避免失去已有的知识技能;成绩-接近目标,关注于表现得比他人优秀和胜过他人和成绩-回避目标,关注于避免表现得比他人更差或更愚蠢4种类型。实证研究表明,四分法不仅完善了成就目标的分类研究,而且也为提高个体的成就水平提供了理论依据。     

Experiential avoidance as a generalized psychological vulnerability: comparisons with coping and emotion regulation strategies

Extending previous work, we conducted two studies concerning the toxic influences of experiential avoidance (EA) as a core mechanism in the development and maintenance of psychological distress, and disruption of pleasant, engaging, and spontaneous activity. Of particular interest was whether EA accounted for relationships between coping and emotion regulation strategies on anxiety-related pathology (Study 1) and psychological distress and hedonic functioning over the course of a 21-day monitoring period (Study 2). In Study 1, EA mediated the effects of maladaptive coping, emotional responses styles, and uncontrollability on anxiety-related distress (e.g., anxiety sensitivity, trait anxiety, suffocation fears, and body sensation fears). In Study 2, EA completely mediated the effects of two emotion regulation strategies (i.e., suppression and reappraisal) on daily negative and positive experiences and was associated with diminished daily positive affective experiences and healthy life appraisals, diminished frequency of positive events and more frequent negative life events, and greater negative affective experiences. The present data show that cognitive reappraisal, a primary process of traditional cognitive-behavior therapy, was much less predictive of the quality of psychological experiences and events in everyday life compared with EA. Further consideration of experiential avoidance as a generalized diathesis and toxic process will be useful in improving our understanding of the etiology, phenomenology, and treatment of anxiety conditions, general human suffering, and disruptions in hedonic capacity.     

The Impact of Leadership Style on Moral Identity and Subsequent In-Role Performance: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study investigated the impact of supervisors’ servant leadership (i.e., leadership that starts with a leader who wants to serve) on supervisees’ moral identity and subsequent in-role performance. Data from 226 supervisor–supervisee dyads were collected from several domestic and multinational companies operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to confirm the factorial validity of the measures that were employed in this study. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Based on social learning theory, the results showed that supervisees’ moral identity served as the psychological mediating mechanism through which supervisors’ servant leadership led to supervisees’ increased in-role performance. Furthermore, the results also supported supervisees’ avoidance orientation as the dispositional boundary condition of this mediating effect. This study contributes to both the servant leadership and moral identity literatures by addressing questions with useful theoretical and managerial implications.     

Quantification of Electroencephalography

In Experiment 1, a study by Messer was replicated with use of 18 children aged 40 to 67 months and nonsense words in which the phonemes of the consonant onsets of permissible and impermissible words were equated for frequency of occurrence. The children did not choose significantly more permissible words at any age, indicating that they did not use phonological rules as a basis for choice. In Experiment 2, similar materials were used with 14 children aged 56 to 74 months. By means of an operant conditioning procedure and a learning set paradigm, an experimental group (five children) was reinforced for choosing the permissible member of 10 permissible/impermissible pairs of nonsense words to a criterion of 80 percent correct responses. On transfer to a test task (16 problems given at a rate of 12 trials per problem) the group reached a mean performance level of 76 percent correct responses, which was significantly greater than that attained by either of two control groups (nine children). It was therefore concluded that some evidence for the existence of implicit phonological rules had been obtained, although the conclusion had to be qualified because (a) the mean level of performance of the experimental group during the test task was relatively low, and (b) because only children with high 1Qs performed at a level better than chance.