Background: Social anxiety has been found to influence certain characteristics of the voice during various structured speaking tasks, but its assessment in more naturalistic contexts is scarce....Show moreBackground: Social anxiety has been found to influence certain characteristics of the voice during various structured speaking tasks, but its assessment in more naturalistic contexts is scarce. When directly looked at, socially anxious individuals feel more intimidated compared to when their social partner averts their eye gaze. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between social anxiety and five vocal characteristics (including mean voice intensity, mean fundamental frequency, rate, pausing, and speech duration) during a face-to-face conversation. A secondary aim was to examine the moderating effect of a social partner’s gaze direction (direct vs. averted gaze) on this relationship. Methods: Fifty-two university students (M = 21.27 years old, 86.5% female) participated in a face-to-face conversation task with a same-sex confederate. Both the participants and the confederates were given four question cards which they were asked to answer interchangeably. The confederates’ cards also included instructions about gaze direction without the participants knowing. Throughout the conversation task, participants’ voices were recorded using high-quality wearable eye-trackers. Results: The analyses revealed that neither social anxiety nor social partner gaze direction affected vocal characteristics during the conversation task. Conclusion: Increased mean fundamental frequency and degree of pausing and decreased mean voice intensity, speech rate, and duration were not identified as potential physiological indicators of social anxiety. Though translating such findings into real-life social interactions proved to be a difficult venture, future researchers could further investigate this topic with the hope of better clarifying the relationship between social anxiety and atypical voice patterns, as well as the moderating effect of confederate gaze direction on the speech patterns of more or less socially anxious individuals.Show less
The present study looked into the relationship between rejection sensitivity (RS) and feedback learning, and whether this is possibly mediated by attachment. Humans have a need to fit in and have...Show moreThe present study looked into the relationship between rejection sensitivity (RS) and feedback learning, and whether this is possibly mediated by attachment. Humans have a need to fit in and have close interpersonal relationships, and therefore, it is essential to be able to adjust and learn from feedback from others. Individual differences, such as RS, could play an important role in which attachment style an individual uses and how one responds to feedback. Participants (N= 97) completed several questionnaires, including Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) and Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ). Additionally, they took part in the Social Probabilistic Learning Paradigm (SELF-Symbol) to measure feedback learning, and were observed for behavioural data. Results indicated that RS is closely related to attachment, and therefore, to attachment-related anxiety. The negative direction of the relationship between RS and feedback learning and between feedback learning and attachment were found as expected. However, these relationships were not robust. As this study did not find a mediating role of attachment on the relationship between RS and feedback learning, this study still contributes to the scarce knowledge in the field of RS and attachment. Future research can use the limitations of this study to build on the newfound knowledge obtained from this research, where possible interventions can be made to increase the well-being of people high in RS, attachment-related anxiety, and in civil society.Show less
Increased smartphone use has been linked to a number of mental health problems, but little is known about whether limiting smartphone use could reduce mental health problems. In this intervention...Show moreIncreased smartphone use has been linked to a number of mental health problems, but little is known about whether limiting smartphone use could reduce mental health problems. In this intervention study among students, the relationship between change in smartphone use and change in depressive symptoms and burnout symptoms was investigated. We also investigated whether this relationship was mediated or moderated by self-esteem. Among 50 Dutch students (94% female, mean age = 19.4 years, SD = 1.4) a questionnaire was administered about smartphone use, depressive symptoms (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale), burnout symptoms (Utrechtse Burnout Scale), and self-esteem (Rosenberg Selfesteem Scale), after which they were either assigned to the intervention group or control group. The intervention group was given five tips to limit their smartphone use and the control group was told they would start the intervention in two weeks and could continue using their phone as usual. Two weeks later, all participants completed the same questionnaires again and were debriefed about the experiment. Our intervention did not lead to a decrease in smartphone use in the intervention group compared to the control group. The intervention did also not lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms or burnout symptoms and there was no significant relationship between change in smartphone use and change in depressive or burnout symptoms, hence we were not able to perform a mediation analysis. Self-esteem was also not a moderator in these relationships. In conclusion, our intervention on smartphone use does not lead to a decrease in smartphone use, neither does this lead to a decrease in mental health problems such as depression and burnout. However, this might be due to the lack of power and that we had less participants than anticipated, because of COVID-19.Show less
Het is niet duidelijk of risicogedrag en geefgedrag samenhangen, ondanks dat zij beide toenemen gedurende de adolescentie. Dit onderzoek heeft een poging gedaan de toename in de adolescentie van...Show moreHet is niet duidelijk of risicogedrag en geefgedrag samenhangen, ondanks dat zij beide toenemen gedurende de adolescentie. Dit onderzoek heeft een poging gedaan de toename in de adolescentie van deze twee paradoxaal lijkende gedragingen, risicogedrag en geefgedrag, te verklaren. Hierbij is gekeken of aardig worden gevonden door klasgenoten een mediërende factor was. 520 participanten in de leeftijd van 12-17 jaar hebben vragenlijsten ingevuld over risicogedrag en aangegeven welke klasgenoten zij aardig vonden door middel van sociometrie. Om geefgedrag te meten is een Dictator Game uitgevoerd waarin deelnemers munten verdelen tussen zichzelf en een klasgenoot. Uit dit onderzoek blijkt dat er sprake is van een negatief verband tussen risicogedrag en geefgedrag. Dit betekent dat adolescenten die meer risicogedrag rapporteren, gemiddeld minder weggaven aan een klasgenoot in de Dictator Game. Dit onderzoek heeft laten zien dat het belangrijk is om de uitkomst van het risicogedrag te weten omdat deze invloed kan hebben op het geefgedrag. Hoe aardig adolescenten gevonden worden door klasgenoten blijkt geen mediërende factor te zijn.Show less
