Concepts such as self-esteem and the perception of self are significant for a multitude of reasons, one of them being one’s satisfaction in life. This makes research into affective updating...Show moreConcepts such as self-esteem and the perception of self are significant for a multitude of reasons, one of them being one’s satisfaction in life. This makes research into affective updating important. One form of affective updating can be described as updating feelings about yourself based on feedback that has been received from others. To gain a better understanding of affective updating, the main focus of this study was to investigate the influence of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and attachment style on the updating of self-relating feelings. Intolerance of uncertainty can be defined as a bias that demonstrates how people see vague situations as threats. While attachment style is characterized as a framework of behaviours, emotions and expectations we exhibit in close relationships. Three hypotheses were tested using data collected from a larger study. To test the hypotheses, a speech task, in which three judges would be watching, and two questionnaires (ECR-R and IUS) were used. The speech task was used to measure how social feedback changes one’s self-perception. The total sample size contained 144 participants with ages ranging from 18 to 29. Results of this study indicate that there is no significant association between IU and affective updating, nor that attachment style predicts affective updating in this context. However, adults with more anxiety regarding attachment were found to have a higher amount of IU. This finding should be taken into account for future treatment regarding people with high attachment anxiety, as it could prevent further development of high IU and SAD.Show less
A positive predictive genetic test for Huntington’s disease (HD) can be a life-changing event for both carriers and their partners, leading to an increased number of separation and divorce in this...Show moreA positive predictive genetic test for Huntington’s disease (HD) can be a life-changing event for both carriers and their partners, leading to an increased number of separation and divorce in this population as well as lower wellbeing and resilience. The “Hold me Tight” program (HmT), an emotionally focused couples’ therapy, aims at strengthening the couple bond by targeting attachment needs. In this study, we apply the HmT program to presymptomatic HD gene mutation carriers and their partners. To this end, we included 15 couples in a stepped wedge design using 3 baselines of varying length and 17 measurements in total. Our intervention consisted of 4 sessions spanning over 4 weeks, with measurements before, during, and after the intervention. We assessed relationship satisfaction and wellbeing self-report measures on a weekly basis, while resilience data was assessed at the beginning and the end only, and attachment style was assessed only at the beginning. We conducted a multi-level model on the data. Over the course of the study, wellbeing (𝑏 = −0.0075, 𝑝 = .001) and relationship satisfaction (𝑏 = 0.31, 𝑝 < .0001) improved, but resilience did not. Furthermore, all three outcome measures were moderated by secure attachment style. In conclusion, HmT improved the wellbeing and relationship satisfaction of couples with a future of Huntington’s Disease. Due to the improvements in these measures and high patient acceptability rates, we think this intervention could become a standardized procedure in regular HD care.Show less
It has been hypothesized that infants create, based on earlier experiences, expectations about the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers (Bowlby, 1982). We tested whether attachment security...Show moreIt has been hypothesized that infants create, based on earlier experiences, expectations about the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers (Bowlby, 1982). We tested whether attachment security has an influence on 12-month-old infants’ monitoring patterns of social interactions. We showed them animations which involved a separation of a small oval figure and a large oval figure. During this separation and the following response (returning or leaving) either a crying or a laughter sound was played. Eye-tracking was used to examine infants’ looking pattern at the large figure, only during the separation segment. It showed that attachment security influenced the monitoring pattern of infants. Securely attached infants tended to look longer at the large figure than insecurely attached infants. We also found that securely attached infants fixated longer at the large figure during the separation in the last four movies than insecurely attached infants, but only when the large figure was unresponsive. These results suggest that secure and insecure infants have differential experiences with, and expectations about, the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers, which reflects in their monitoring of social interactions.Show less
