Research evidence on social anxiety (SA) argues that repetitive negative social interactions over time contribute to an increased fear and expectancy of negative evaluations. However, current...Show moreResearch evidence on social anxiety (SA) argues that repetitive negative social interactions over time contribute to an increased fear and expectancy of negative evaluations. However, current research gaps remain regarding the specific factors that may impact the expectancy of negative evaluations in SA. More specifically, age and maladaptive emotional regulation strategies, such as self-blame have yet to be explored as moderators of the relationship between SA and negative expectations of performance. The present study aimed to examine factors contributing to the pessimism bias observed in SA individuals in a probabilistic learning task with a total of 255 male and female participants aged 12 to 29 years. The learning task examined whether participants would learn from the exposure to negative or positive feedback and showcase an increase in their negative or positive expectations respectively. Participants completed a personality questionnaire from which we created a social profile for them. They were shown a set of same-gender peers’ profiles and were asked to indicate the profiles they liked the most to derive their top four. Participants were told their top four choices had also rated their profiles. During the learning task, they were asked to indicate whether they expected to be liked or disliked based on each statement on their profile for each peer specifically. Immediately after each statement rating, they were shown the peers’ actual feedback. The task was set on specific probabilities of giving positive, negative, or neutral feedback to the participants. Participants’ age, self-reported SA levels, and self-blame tendencies were examined as potential contributing factors to increased negative feedback expectancy. Results showed that participants with higher reports of SA illustrated higher negative feedback expectancies across all trials. Overall, across all participants, negative feedback expectancies increased significantly in trials with the most negative peer compared to trials with the most positive peer. Similarly, across all participants, positive feedback expectancies decreased significantly in trials with the most negative peer compared to the most positive peer. Furthermore, adult participants reported higher levels of SA. Results showed that increased SA was a significant predictor of increased self-blame tendencies. Interestingly, self-blame was found to be a significant moderating variable in the relationship between SA and negative feedback expectancies across all trials. These results may be considered promising evidence for alternate future research directions and treatment interventions for the pessimism bias observed in SA individuals.Show less
Despite strong evidence emphasising the importance and benefits of trust in social interactions, little is known about the factors that can impact trust and trust learning during adolescence....Show moreDespite strong evidence emphasising the importance and benefits of trust in social interactions, little is known about the factors that can impact trust and trust learning during adolescence. Learning whom to trust is influenced by prior beliefs about how others will respond. For example, when trust is reciprocated, showing trust may support positive social interactions and help create bonds with others. This means that for individuals to have successful social interactions, it is essential to learn to adapt to the behaviour of others and to adjust their level of trust to others’ trustworthiness. Sex is an important factor explaining behaviour in social interactions, however only few studies have focused directly on sex differences in trust and trust learning in adolescence. This study investigates sex differences in trust and trust learning using a trust game. One hundred and fifty-seven adolescents, ranging in age from 10 to 24 years old, played a series of trust games in a trustworthy and in an untrustworthy environment to measure their trust learning performance. The findings indicate no statistically significant sex differences in basic trust and no statistically significant differences in the trust learning performances between trustworthy and untrustworthy environments. Due to the existence of multiple other sex differences, it is easy to categorize and think that girls are more similar to each other, and that boys and girls are different from one another. The current findings show a need for caution in discussing between-groups differences. Even if girls and boys have different approaches in their social interactions, our findings show that, in basic trust and trust learning, they are similar. A sex-informed perspective can expand the relevance of psychological research; however, it should be interpreted with extreme caution, avoiding speculation that could perpetuate sex stereotypes.Show less
Maladaptive perfectionism is characterized by high standards and the perception that own performance does not meet these expectations, the discrepancy in perfectionism. It is often accompanied by...Show moreMaladaptive perfectionism is characterized by high standards and the perception that own performance does not meet these expectations, the discrepancy in perfectionism. It is often accompanied by fear of negative evaluation and instable self-esteem. This study used a SELF- speech task and looked at the discrepancy trait of perfectionism specifically to examine how individuals with this trait update their feelings about the self, with the expectation that they would show a negativity bias. Additionally, it was hypothesized that these individuals would show differences in brain activity (mid-frontal theta oscillations) caused by negative feedback. Ninety-five participants, out of which fifty-two were in the high discrepancy group, gave a speech about themselves and received positive and negative feedback about their performance. Results of this study show that individuals learn differently from negative and positive feedback. More specifically, both groups showed a positivity bias indicating that they update their feelings about the self more after receiving positive than negative feedback. Differently than expected, the high discrepancy group did not show negativity bias and had learning rates similar to the low discrepancy group. This study also found that theta power activity was not correlated to the mismatch or valence of the feedback received after the task. Furthermore, no group differences in theta power activity were found. These findings indicate that the discrepancy between one’s expectations and self-perception is not related to a negativity bias or increased mid-frontal theta power oscillations. Future research should focus on other classifications of perfectionism to confirm these findings.Show less
Social anxiety is associated with expecting and experiencing more rejection. However, much is still unknown about learning to expect social feedback. 68 female participants engaged in the Social...Show moreSocial anxiety is associated with expecting and experiencing more rejection. However, much is still unknown about learning to expect social feedback. 68 female participants engaged in the Social Evaluative Learning through Feedback Profile task, based on which we mapped out cardiac and expectation markers of social anxiety. In this task, four peers differed in their probability of giving rejecting feedback (i.e., 85, 70, 30, and 15 %) on statements about the participant, and participants predict whether the peer will accept or reject them. To estimate learning, participants’ predictions are grouped based on the peer’s dominant response. Heart rate (HR) slowing is measured for each stimulus using interbeat intervals. We calculated high-frequency resting heart rate variability (HRV), and the Liebowitz social anxiety scale was used as a screener. Multilevel models predicted HR slowing, and learning to predict peer feedback. Our analysis shows that HR slowing after unexpected rejection decreases over the course of the experiment. For the most accepting peer, higher social anxiety is associated with more HR slowing for unexpected rejection, and less HR slowing for expected rejection. For the most rejecting peer, there seems to be an opposite effect. Classification of all peers became more accurate over time. We found a weak negative correlation between resting HRV and social anxiety. We conclude that there are slight differences in HR slowing associated with higher social anxiety. The current findings help practitioners understand cardiac and emotional responses to social learning based on feedback and can aid researchers’ understanding of social anxiety.Show less
Although Social Anxiety is well-understood, the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still under debate. Recent research suggests that Frontal Midline Theta power level expression seems...Show moreAlthough Social Anxiety is well-understood, the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still under debate. Recent research suggests that Frontal Midline Theta power level expression seems indicative of the emotional processing of social evaluative feedback. However, it is still unclear what pattern this FM-theta expression follows in Socially Anxious individuals. The FM-theta power responses to social evaluative feedback in Rejection Sensitive people is not investigated thoroughly yet, although recent research points to a clear increase in FM-theta power in responses to unexpected rejection. In the current study, utilizing a social evaluative learning task, we tested whether the construct Rejection Sensitivity could influence the relationship between social anxiety and FM theta power expression in 12 female participants. Social feedback was provided by peers who provided positive social feedback in fixed numbers, creating Peer 1 who would provide positive social feedback in 85% of trials and Peer 4, who would provide positive social feedback in 15% of trials. We also examined which coping mechanisms are utilized more often in both Socially Anxious and Rejection Sensitive population (e.g. self-blaming, other blaming, catastrophizing, rumination, acceptance, refocusing, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective). Correlation analyses revealed a strong negative correlation between Rejection Sensitivity and FM-theta level expression in unexpected rejection by Peer 1, whereby lower FM-theta levels were associated with higher Rejection Sensitivity. A large, positive and significant correlation between receiving unexpected rejection and unexpected acceptance by Peer 4 was observed. Unfortunately, the main question about the influence of Rejection Sensitivity on the relationship between Social Anxiety and FM-theta power as a response to social evaluative feedback, could not be answered due to methodological issues related to a small sample size. These issues also led the analysis of coping mechanisms to be invalid and therefore no results are indicative as to which coping mechanisms are utilized more often. Finally, FM-theta band activity seems to be a servicing as a reactive error correcting mechanism, which might lead to clear responses in Rejection Sensitive people, but not necessary in Socially Anxious individuals, who suffer more from anticipating fears. Therefore, it seems somewhat unsure whether FM theta is completely suitable for the investigation of emotional processing within Socially Anxious people. It is advised for future studies to include a larger sample.Show less
