The current study investigated the mediating role of social-evaluative anxiety in the relationship between self-concept clarity and body dissatisfaction in a sample of 160 adolescents (aged between...Show moreThe current study investigated the mediating role of social-evaluative anxiety in the relationship between self-concept clarity and body dissatisfaction in a sample of 160 adolescents (aged between 11 and 21 years). Participants completed self-report questionnaires to measure their self-concept clarity and level of social-evaluative anxiety. To measure body dissatisfaction, participants undertook an fMRI task measuring physical self- concept and completed the physical domain of the Competence Experience Scale for Adolescents (CBSA). A correlational analysis revealed that low self-concept clarity is related to higher body dissatisfaction, regardless of gender. The relationship was found to be partially mediated by social-evaluative anxiety. Gender comparisons did not reveal any significant gender differences. Findings suggest that targeting low self-concept clarity as well as social-evaluative anxiety might be an important part of interventions aiming to reduce body dissatisfaction among adolescents. In addition, the results underline the necessity to equally include both genders in future research and potential interventions.Show less
Experiencing child maltreatment and domestic violence can have significant short- and long-term impacts, including increased risks of mental health issues and psychopathology. Previous research has...Show moreExperiencing child maltreatment and domestic violence can have significant short- and long-term impacts, including increased risks of mental health issues and psychopathology. Previous research has shown that child maltreatment not only can affect direct victims but also the children of parents who have experienced maltreatment. This study examines the relationship between mother’s experienced child maltreatment and their children’s behavioral problems, and investigates whether this relationship is moderated by maternal psychopathology. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that a positive relationship would exist and that this relationship would be stronger for mothers with more psychopathology. The study focuses on mothers and their children residing in Dutch women’s shelters following domestic violence by the mother’s (ex-)partner. A sample of 29 mother-child dyads was recruited with the average age of mothers being 31.6 years (SD = 6.2 years) and of children being 3.2 years (SD = 1.5 years). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) was used to measure mother’s experiences of child maltreatment in their childhood, with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) children’s behavioral problems were evaluated and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) was used to assess maternal psychopathology. The results indicated no significant main effect of mother’s experienced child maltreatment on children’s behavioral problems, and no significant moderation effect of maternal psychopathology on this relationship. However, significant main effects were found for mother’s experienced child maltreatment on maternal psychopathology and for maternal psychopathology on children’s behavioral problems, suggesting a potential mediation effect. Possible explanations for not finding the expected main effect and moderation are a low statistical power due to the small sample size and resilience. Therefore, replication studies are warranted. This study enhances the understanding of the complex interplay between child maltreatment, maternal psychopathology, and children’s behavioral outcomes, emphasizing the need for systemic interventions.Show less
Introduction: Relatively little research has assessed predictors of both treatment outcomes and attrition in binge eating disorder (BED) treatment. Even fewer studies did so for digital forms of...Show moreIntroduction: Relatively little research has assessed predictors of both treatment outcomes and attrition in binge eating disorder (BED) treatment. Even fewer studies did so for digital forms of therapy. This study thus aims to contribute to the current pool of knowledge by examining the predictive value of various variables in a recently developed digital BED-treatment: BED-online. Methods: This study was part of a RCT into the effects of BED-online therapy. Participants were over the age of 18, Dutch-speaking and diagnosed with the DSM-V BED. A total of 180 participants were found to be eligible, of whom 40 (22.2%) dropped-out before the last session. Post-treatment measurements from an interview (EDE) and a self-report questionnaire (EDE-Q) were used to determine the immediate treatment effects. A follow-up (24 weeks post-treatment) EDE-Q measurement determined the long-term effects. These variables served as the dependent variables in three different hierarchical linear regression analyses. A fourth logistical regression analysis was conducted, where treatment-related drop-out formed the dependent variable. The following eight predictor variables were chosen based on literature research: ethnicity, age, gender, educational level, comorbidity, frequency of binge eating episodes, levels of BED pathology and treatment condition. The predictor variables served as the independent variables. Results: BED pathology at baseline was found to be the only significant predictor of treatment outcomes as measured by the EDE (β=.41, t=3.71, p<.001), EDE-Q (β=.57, t=8.23, p<.001) and at follow-up (β=.47, t= 6.24, p< .001). Attrition could be predicted by both ethnicity and gender, where males were 5.63 times more likely to discontinue treatment prematurely (OR=5.63, 95%CI [1.81, 17.53]) and participants born abroad were 3.91 times more likely to discontinue treatment (OR=3.91, 95%CI [1.43, 8.76]). Other independent variables did not significantly contribute to the final regression models. Discussion and conclusion: All predictor variables are discussed in detail, reflecting on the results found and comparing them to findings of previous studies. Limitations are elaborated in depth. Due to these limitations, and the modest number of previous studies, further research is encouraged, exploring both the current and other dependent variablesShow less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
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Prediction-based and repetition-based learning are two learning strategies, differing most profoundly in their depth of processing. In repetition-based learning, students repeat information shortly...Show morePrediction-based and repetition-based learning are two learning strategies, differing most profoundly in their depth of processing. In repetition-based learning, students repeat information shortly after learning it, while in prediction-based learning, students make a prediction before learning the information. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of the two learning strategies for memory recall, as well as consider the influence of age, the magnitude of the prediction errors, and the involved brain areas. It seeks to enhance the educational debate on these learning strategies by uncovering the strategies' mechanisms and guiding educators on their effective use. To accomplish this, 28 young adolescents and 46 young adults were scanned in an MRI scanner while learning numerical facts using both strategies: predicting and repeating. The study explored the influence of strategy, age group, and prediction error on memory recall. Furthermore, it investigated strategy-specific and age-specific differences in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), striatum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). While it was expected that prediction-based learning would result in better learning for both age groups as it requires deeper processing, results showed that adults had improved memory for repetition compared to prediction, whereas adolescents did not show a significant difference between the two learning strategies. Within prediction-based learning, adults showed increased memory for small and large prediction errors, while adolescents only did for large prediction errors. Lastly, among the investigated brain areas, the ACC, which is involved in error detection, showed the most prominent role in prediction-based learning.Show less
May people are dealing with debts and this has negative consequences. Therefore, it is important that they seek out for help. However, not everyone seeks out for help. Research suggest that...Show moreMay people are dealing with debts and this has negative consequences. Therefore, it is important that they seek out for help. However, not everyone seeks out for help. Research suggest that autonomy could be of influence. This study investigated the relationship between the need for autonomy and the level of help acceptance, of which was expected that a higher implicit need for autonomy was related to a lower level of help acceptance when experiencing debts. The PSE was used to measure the implicit need for autonomy in a sample of 91 (recently graduated) students. The level of help acceptance was measured with a self-developed questionnaire. The correlation analysis showed that autonomy and help acceptance were positively associated (r (91) =.180, p = .044). Future research should focus on investigating the relationship between autonomy and help acceptance in the specific debt domain. In general, more theoretical research is needed to understand the factors influencing the level of help acceptance. This study provides evidence that a higher need for autonomy is associated with a higher level of help acceptanceShow less
This research paper aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of the newly emerging online approach to psychedelic ceremonies as well as explore the impact set and setting have on the experience....Show moreThis research paper aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of the newly emerging online approach to psychedelic ceremonies as well as explore the impact set and setting have on the experience. Previous research has demonstrated and explored the benefits of psychedelics and their impact on mental health. Nonetheless, no study has yet investigated the potential benefits of psychedelics in an online setting. Therefore, this study recorded the experiences of average people who participated in Spinoza’s online psychedelic ceremonies by means of a voluntary questionnaire. Results showed a significant increase in mental health, compared to baseline, for almost all participants. Additionally, individual differences and setting seemingly had no significant impact on the trip experience. This study provides an insight into the potential experiences of virtual psychedelic ceremonies, contributing to the growing research within the field of psychedelics.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
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Iedereen kent de beelden van de protesten voor Black Lives Matter in de Verenigde Staten. Groepen mensen die massaal bijeen kwamen om zich te verzetten tegen het structureel racisme dat afro...Show moreIedereen kent de beelden van de protesten voor Black Lives Matter in de Verenigde Staten. Groepen mensen die massaal bijeen kwamen om zich te verzetten tegen het structureel racisme dat afro-Amerikanen dagelijks meemaken. Verder zijn er internationaal ook veel demonstraties om het milieu te verbeteren, zoals schilderijen die worden besmeurd door klimaatactivisten. Deze protesten waren te zien op verschillende media’s en hebben een grote indruk achtergelaten. Racisme en milieuvervuiling zijn beide prominente problemen in de maatschappij en deze kunnen elkaar versterken. Dit is terug te zien bij milieuracisme. Bij milieuracisme wordt een bepaalde groep vanwege hun huidskleur meer benadeeld door milieuvervuiling dan witte mensen. Zwarte mensen hebben door structureel racisme al een grotere differentiële kwetsbaarheid. Dit betekent dat zij op de gebieden toegang tot middelen, politiek en bestuur, cultuur en kennis en informatie te kort komen vergeleken met witte mensen in hun omgeving.Show less
Background: Therapists deal with a wide range of challenging situations that can affect therapy outcome. This study explores the nature of these situations, and develops a taxonomy of these...Show moreBackground: Therapists deal with a wide range of challenging situations that can affect therapy outcome. This study explores the nature of these situations, and develops a taxonomy of these challenging therapy situations. The findings contribute to therapist’s training and improve therapy outcome. Furthermore the study aims to examine the hypothesis that a higher score on the Professional-Self-Doubt-scale translates to a greater number of words used when describing a challenging situation. The last aim is to explore a potential difference between level of PSD and the type of situations. Methods: The study employs a mixed-qualitative design, using an online questionnaire. A total of 245 therapists participated (89%-female, average-age 41). Participants described 169 challenging therapy situations. Thematic analysis was applied to categorize the qualitative data. PSD was measured using the PSD-scale. Spearman correlation was used to correlate number of words and PSD-score. Chi-Square tests and a Kruskal-Wallis test was used to explore the relation between PSD-score and category of challenging situation. Results: The framework by Henkel et al. (2019) was used to categorize challenging therapy situations, not all situations fit the existing framework. Proposed changes include the introduction of three new subcategories. No significant correlation was found between PSD-score and wordcount. Furthermore no significant relation was found between PSD-score and category of challenging therapy situations. Conclusions: The framework of challenging therapy situations by Henkel et al. (2019) can be expanded and refined. More research is needed in order to examine the relation between level of PSD and category of challenging therapy situation.Show less
Deliberate Practice (DP) is widely associated with positive outcomes in skill-based contexts, prompting an investigation into its role in psychotherapists' management of challenging therapy...Show moreDeliberate Practice (DP) is widely associated with positive outcomes in skill-based contexts, prompting an investigation into its role in psychotherapists' management of challenging therapy scenarios for possible future implications into therapist training. This study delves into the intricacies of challenging therapy situations as recounted by psychotherapists and examines the influence of Deliberate Practice (DP) on the themes of these situations and therapists' sentiments. A total of 254 participants engaged in the study via an online survey, facilitated by various psychotherapy organizations, each representing different therapeutic frameworks. The survey, utilizing a mixed-methods approach, encompassed closed and open-ended questions. Participants DP levels were assessed using the Deliberate Practice Scale, while thematic analysis provided a rich comprehension of the qualitative data. The results indicate that there is no relationship between the number of hours a participant spent in DP and the themes they describe as challenging. Next to this, a relationship between confidence and number of hours in DP was found. The nature of the relationship revealed that the more hours a participant spent in DP, the less confident they were. Participants regardless of their DP engagement, described similar themes as challenging. However, a negative relationship between confidence and DP hours surfaced, prompting speculation about potential explanations such as impostor syndrome, burnout, and perfectionism. This correlation underscores the complexity of psychotherapists' experiences and asks for further in-depth exploration.Show less
Presenteeism can cause economic losses, physical impairments and individual maladies. This paper explores which demographic variables (age, gender) correlate with presenteeism in research which...Show morePresenteeism can cause economic losses, physical impairments and individual maladies. This paper explores which demographic variables (age, gender) correlate with presenteeism in research which aims to reproduce previous studies’ results. We aim to identify factors which may increase an individual’s susceptibility to presenteeism. This paper also introduces collectivism, a measure of one's self conception in relation to one’s ingroups, as a possible moderator of the relationship of age and gender on presenteeism. The thesis is that collectivism moderates certain demographic variables, strengthening their relationship to presenteeism. Participants worked more than 20 hours a week and responded to a 15 minute survey offered in Dutch and English. Data was analyzed with Pearson correlations, ANOVA and linear regression models in R Studio. Conclusions were that gender had a significant relationship with presenteeism and when collectivism is added to the regression equation this remains significant. The interaction effect of gender and collectivism had more of an impact on a woman’s presenteeism score, especially at lower collectivism scores. A high collectivism score for men resulted in increased presenteeism, and the opposite for women. Between age*collectivism and presenteeism no significant interaction was found.Show less
Background: Autonomy, defined as the perception that one's outcomes and actions are determined by personal thought and free will, exerts a substantial influence on human interactions with their...Show moreBackground: Autonomy, defined as the perception that one's outcomes and actions are determined by personal thought and free will, exerts a substantial influence on human interactions with their environment. This study focuses on how our need for autonomy may act as a barrier to demanding financial help when one is in debt to a person or company. Methods: A regression study was conducted, amongst 91 participants who were either currently enrolled in or had recently finished university (mean age = 22.64). A participant's implicit need for autonomy was measured with the Picture Story Exercise (PSE) and was used to predict whether a participant would accept help from a debt relief company, whilst being primed with a debt/financial scarcity scenario. Results and conclusion: The confirmatory analysis yielded non-significant results. Despite the results being non-significant a negative correlation was observed between the need for autonomy and help acceptance. A couple of methodological issues may have accounted for a lack of replication The confirmatory analysis did reveal a strong predictive effect of shame on help acceptance when indebt.Show less
Most children and adolescents are diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) around the same time puberty starts. SAD affects one’s life on a physiological, behavioural, and cognitive level. If...Show moreMost children and adolescents are diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) around the same time puberty starts. SAD affects one’s life on a physiological, behavioural, and cognitive level. If left untreated, it can have a chronic and unremitting course over time. In recent years, little research has been done on the direct relationship between puberty and the development of social anxiety disorder. Furthermore, previous research states that psychopathology such as social anxiety disorder is less apparent in highly intelligent individuals. By examining the relationship between puberty, intelligence, and SAD, suggestions can be made on the theoretical inclusion or exclusion of puberty and intelligence as risk factors for developing SAD. This study aimed to examine the predictability of puberty and intelligence on SAD, with the addition of intelligence as moderator. It was expected that puberty would positively predict signs of SAD, that intelligence would negatively predict signs of SAD, and that intelligence was a significant moderator in the relationship between puberty and signs of SAD, wherein, during puberty, highly intelligent children developed fewer signs of SAD than averagely intelligent children. Children (N= 120, 9-12 years; M age = 11.05, SD = 0.77; 52.5% girl; 44.2% gifted) from different schools in the Netherlands completed the Standard Progressive Raven Matrices, the Pubertal Development Scale, and the social anxiety YAM-5 questionnaires. A hierarchical multiple regression yielded no evidence for the predictability of puberty (p = .282) and intelligence (p = .405) on social anxiety disorder and similarly for intelligence as moderator (p = .542). Future research on the relationship between puberty, intelligence, and SAD should increase the representation of SAD, improve the PDS, and extend the age and intelligence range. In addition, other factors (e.g., biological, behavioural, social, and parental) underlying the development of SAD should be considered.Show less
Recent research has demonstrated that an overwhelming 97% of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have been sexually harassed, and many instances of sexual harassment are known to occur in the...Show moreRecent research has demonstrated that an overwhelming 97% of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have been sexually harassed, and many instances of sexual harassment are known to occur in the workplace. The current study investigated whether bystander non-intervention leads to worse psychological outcomes, such as increased work-stress and lower fundamental need fulfilment, for victims of workplace sexual harassment. A vignette-based survey was conducted with three conditions; no bystanders, active bystanders, and passive bystanders. Based on a review of related literature, it was hypothesised that participants assigned to the passive bystanders condition would report lower scores of fundamental need fulfilment, exhibit higher work-stress scores, and greater acceptance of sexual harassment myths. Data from 159 participants were analysed and it was found that participants who were assigned the passive bystanders condition did indeed report lower scores in the fundamental needs of belonging, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. However, the other hypotheses were not supported. Strengths, limitations, and future recommendations are discussed.Show less
This study delves into the intricate dynamics of how students interact with ChatGPT, a new chatbot using machine learning algorithms, specifically examining whether they tend to place excessive...Show moreThis study delves into the intricate dynamics of how students interact with ChatGPT, a new chatbot using machine learning algorithms, specifically examining whether they tend to place excessive trust in the information it provides. The study, involving 169 student participants, uses an experimental design to explore biases, trust perceptions and decision-making processes related to both AI-generated and human expert answers. Two different groups are examined in this study - the labelled group, with knowledge about the answer source, and the unlabelled group, which operates without information about the answer source. The study reveals a preference for answers from human experts, both in the overall sample and in the labelled group. Interestingly, this preference is absent in the unlabelled group, where students do not show a preference when unaware of the answer source. Furthermore, participants in all groups consistently show a tendency to choose correct answers over incorrect ones, indicating an inherent ability to distinguish accurate, high-quality information regardless of their awareness of the source. In conclusion, this study offers valuable insights into how students navigate and interact with ChatGPT. The notable preference for answers from human experts in the labelled group indicates a possible source bias. However, the consistent selection of correct answers in both groups underscores students' skill in identifying high-quality information. As such, this study highlights the trust dynamics in an AI-influenced society and emphasises the need for educating the new generation about the transformative role of AI.Show less
The current study aimed to investigate the impact of shame resilience on debtors' willingness to contact their creditors to address their outstanding debts. Drawing on the self-determination theory...Show moreThe current study aimed to investigate the impact of shame resilience on debtors' willingness to contact their creditors to address their outstanding debts. Drawing on the self-determination theory and shame resilience theory, the study aimed to understand the psychological barriers to contacting creditors for people in financial debt. Specifically, the study aimed to test the effectiveness of four different versions of creditor letters, including a baseline letter and three letters based on increasing shame resilience, on increasing debtors' willingness to contact creditors. The results supported both tested hypotheses, as participants exposed to the inducing power manipulation as well as those in the reduced feeling trapped condition showed significantly greater willingness to contact creditors compared to those in the baseline condition. We also conducted two explorative analyses in order to further investigate these manipulations. The first explorative analysis indicated that combining the reduction of powerlessness and feeling trapped led to greater willingness to contact creditors compared to the baseline condition. However, the second explorative analysis revealed no significant difference between the combination condition and either of the single manipulations. These findings provide insights into which communication strategies are most effective in overcoming the avoidance tendencies caused by the experience of financial shame. The findings can be used by creditor companies to develop more effective communication strategies to help debtors regain control of their finances and reduce the cycle of shame and financial hardship.Show less
