This research examines whether there is a relationship between social fears and the degree of dyadic synchronization. It is also examined whether there is a relationship between the degree of...Show moreThis research examines whether there is a relationship between social fears and the degree of dyadic synchronization. It is also examined whether there is a relationship between the degree of social fears and the results on an attention task, in this case the dot-probe task. The LSAS was used to measure social fears. The physiological data was acquired by means of ECG and EDA equipment. Due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, this investigation has not actually taken place. Instead of examining subjects, data was simulated for the dot-probe task and the results on the LSAS. The physiological data associated with dyadic synchronization has been taken from a previous study. Since the data from this study is non-existent, the results are only hypothetical and therefore cannot be considered truth. The aim of this simulation is therefore to provide a design and working method for research in the future. In other words is this simulation useful for the pre-registration of similar research in this field. It can be concluded from the hypothetical results of this simulation that there is a relationship between the score on the LSAS and the degree of synchronization, but that there is no relationship between the score on the LSAS and the results on the dot-probe task.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Socially anxious individuals are known to avoid many forms of social interaction. Since understanding emotions is essential for smooth social interaction, alterations in emotion recognition were...Show moreSocially anxious individuals are known to avoid many forms of social interaction. Since understanding emotions is essential for smooth social interaction, alterations in emotion recognition were previously assumed as one potential reason for this avoidance. Furthermore, this altered emotion recognition might be mediated by altered facial mimicry. However, metacognitive perspectives became more popular in psychopathology and might also be related to confidence in emotions recognition. In this study, we aimed to differentiate between alterations in emotion recognition (behavioral model) and alterations in self-evaluation (metacognitive model) in high socially anxious individuals compared to low socially anxious individuals. Participants completed both a facial mimicry and emotion recognition task with the addition of a confidence rating to measure self-evaluation. We hypothesized that, according to the behavioral model, high socially anxious individuals show altered emotion recognition and facial mimicry performance. In contrast, according to our metacognitive model, there should be no differences in emotion recognition and facial mimicry performance between groups, but high socially anxious individuals should score lower on confidence. The current study found support for the metacognitive model, namely that social anxiety does not seem to affect the ability to recognize and mimic emotions accurately. However, high socially anxious individuals feel less confident about this ability than less socially anxious individuals. Thus, lowered confidence in socially anxious individuals might affect the fear for social situations and therefore play an important role in the avoidance of social interactions.Show less
