Background: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent around the world, and often develops in childhood. Transfer of SAD from parents-to-children occurs both by genetic transmission as by...Show moreBackground: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent around the world, and often develops in childhood. Transfer of SAD from parents-to-children occurs both by genetic transmission as by environmental transmission, namely by social learning. The verbal information pathway is known as one of the social learning pathways for fear. There are multiple studies on the acquisition of animal fears via the verbal pathway, but studies on social fears are limited. Therefore this study aims to investigate the verbal information pathway as a learning mechanism of social fears. Besides, a proposed risk factor for the development of SAD, behavioral inhibition (BI), is included in the current study as a potential moderator. Methods: The study sample consisted of 68 dyads, with children aged 4-6. Parents provided safety and threat information about two strangers to the children. Fear beliefs were compared between safety and threat condition. In addition, a questionnaire measured children’s BI tendency to study both as a covariate and directly in relation with fear beliefs. Results: When children received threat information fear beliefs were significantly higher compared to when children received safety information about the stranger. There was no interaction effect or main effect with BI. Conclusions: We conclude that 4-to-6-year old children are influenced by parents verbal information about strangers in such a way that threat information compared to safety information creates more fear beliefs. Besides, moderation by BI was not significant in the community sample used in the current study.Show less
This thesis is in accordance with the requirements for the completion of the International Relations Master Program. First, the aim of this thesis was to test the existing theory that a failed or...Show moreThis thesis is in accordance with the requirements for the completion of the International Relations Master Program. First, the aim of this thesis was to test the existing theory that a failed or collapsed regime is a necessary component for the presence of a change in witchcraft victimology from elderly women to urban children. This was done by analyzing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, and Ghana. The second chapter illustrates the state of the art of literature regarding the theories underlying this research, alternative explanations for a shift in victimology, and type of regimes present in African states. The third chapter explains the between-case multi-criterial analysis conducted to ascertain each case’s regime type and the presence (or lack thereof) of a shift in witchcraft victimology. The fourth chapter relays the results of the analysis where it was determined that out of the four cases, two were in accordance with the existing theory, and two refuted it. The fifth and final chapter concludes this thesis by critically examining the results and methodology and a conclusory statement claiming that a collapsed and failed regime is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the shift in victimology of witchcraft accusations from elderly women to urban children.Show less
Articulating child consciousness poses authors with a double bind. Can children’s language be applied by adult authors to grasp the consciousness of a child? And can an adult still grasp and...Show moreArticulating child consciousness poses authors with a double bind. Can children’s language be applied by adult authors to grasp the consciousness of a child? And can an adult still grasp and emulate a consciousness that he himself has evolved beyond? This thesis analyses whether the portrayal of child consciousness in a selection of English Modernist fictional works is successful.Show less
