This study investigates the relationship between rejection sensitivity and social feedback learning rate. Rejection sensitivity is an aspect of social anxiety disorder which is especially prevalent...Show moreThis study investigates the relationship between rejection sensitivity and social feedback learning rate. Rejection sensitivity is an aspect of social anxiety disorder which is especially prevalent in adolescents. SAD has a significant relationship with social feedback learning rate and this study aims to go a step further and research whether rejection sensitivity is a leading factor in this relationship. Participants fill in the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale as well as the Children’s Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire. Afterwards they will do a speech task which includes a public speaking section and is judged by confederate judges who will rate them on their performance. The participants rate themselves before and after the feedback from the judges. The difference between individual’s rating before and after the feedback will be measured and this will form the basis of our data for analysis. During the analysis a correlational relationship will be analyzed between rejection sensitivity, its sub measures and social feedback learning rate. The hypothesis of the study is that individuals with higher rejection sensitivity score will have higher negative social feedback learning rates. Results show no significant relationship between the variables.Show less
The present study experimentally investigated the role of rejection sensitivity during adolescence and young adulthood on the ability of predicting the chance of receiving positive peer feedback....Show moreThe present study experimentally investigated the role of rejection sensitivity during adolescence and young adulthood on the ability of predicting the chance of receiving positive peer feedback. Previous studies examined trait characteristics, neural correlates and social learning of socially anxious individuals and found that rejection sensitivity has a negative impact on how one predicts and implements positive feedback. Participants (132 adults and 61 adolescents) took part in a social learning paradigm, wherein they had to predict whether four of their peers would like or dislike them based on certain personality characteristics. To see if learning biases are present, the scores of the participants were operationalized by calculating the Positive Prediction Discrepancy (PPD), the difference between the expected ratio of positive feedback and the actual probability of it. Unknown to the participants, the four peers differed in the probability of giving positive feedback. Results indicated that neither rejection sensitivity (RS) nor age significantly predicted PPD scores for peer 1, peer 3, and peer 4. However, RS exhibited a significant negative effect on PPD scores for peer 2, suggesting that higher RS was associated with lower predictions of positive feedback for this peer. Altogether, this study suggests that while rejection sensitivity did show a significant negative relationship with positive prediction discrepancy for peer 2, there was no significant impact observed for the other peers or with age across the different peer feedback anticipation discrepancies. This indicates a nuanced association between rejection sensitivity and the anticipation of positive feedback, particularly in specific peer contexts, rather than a generalized effect across all peers.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
Fluctuations in self-esteem help us monitor social acceptance and potential social threats, such as rejection. However, how people interpret and react to social acceptance and rejection depends on...Show moreFluctuations in self-esteem help us monitor social acceptance and potential social threats, such as rejection. However, how people interpret and react to social acceptance and rejection depends on individual differences in how sensitive people are to rejection. Highly rejectionsensitive individuals anxiously expect, readily perceive and overreact to rejection. This study examined how individual differences in rejection sensitivity modulate self-esteem fluctuations in response to social feedback. Participants (n = 190; age - range = 17 - 38) performed a task that entailed receiving acceptance and rejection feedback from raters who differed in their propensity to provide acceptance feedback. Participants were asked to indicate whether they expected the raters to like them and repeatedly reported on their momentary self-esteem after receiving feedback. The findings indicate that self-esteem increased in response to acceptance feedback and decreased in response to rejection feedback, and these effects were exacerbated when rejection was unexpected. Further analyses with a subset of participants (n = 165; age - range = 17 - 31) who completed a rejection sensitivity questionnaire revealed a potential mechanism through which rejection sensitivity may give rise to psychopathology. In addition to expecting rejection more often than participants with low rejection sensitivity levels, highly rejection-sensitive participants showed larger decreases in self-esteem in response to rejection and larger increases in self-esteem in response to acceptance feedback. This sensitivity may exacerbate declines in self-esteem in response to rejection instances in their day-to-day interactions, making them more vulnerable to developing persistent low self-esteem and, ultimately, mental health issues.Show less
