Experiences of childhood adversity are adverse experiences during childhood, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, and family dysfunction. These adverse experiences might make individuals vulnerable to...Show moreExperiences of childhood adversity are adverse experiences during childhood, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, and family dysfunction. These adverse experiences might make individuals vulnerable to mental health problems through their effect on brain development and brain functioning. Different dimensions of childhood adversity could have different effects on the brain and mental health. The exact mechanisms through which childhood adversity is related to the brain are not clear yet. The current study investigated the role of total childhood adversity, threat, and deprivation on anterior cingulate cortex-activity in response to stress in young people of age 16-26 (N=60). A cumulative approach was used to look at the role of total childhood adversity on anterior cingulate cortex-activity, a dimensional approach investigated the separate roles of the two dimensions threat and deprivation. Participants filled out a retrospective questionnaire about childhood adversity experiences (CTQ) and underwent a stressful fMRI task (MIST). Childhood adversity, threat and deprivation were expected to show a negative relationship with anterior cingulate cortex-activity in response to stress. The current study showed no evidence for a relationship between total childhood adversity and anterior cingulate cortex-activity in response to stress, nor for a relationship between the separate dimensions of threat and deprivation and anterior cingulate cortex-activity in response to stress. More research is needed to further study the underlying mechanisms by which childhood adversity is associated with brain development to help improve mental health in young people.Show less
Previous studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The...Show morePrevious studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether this motivational effect on exogenous attentional performance is extended to situations where others’ physical integrity is at risk. Second, we aimed to determine whether one’s sensitivity to punishments, as measured by the Behavioral Inhibition Scale (BIS), has an enhancing effect on attentional performance in threatening conditions. To probe these questions, we set up a dyad experiment, in which one participant completed an exogenous spatial cueing task. During the task, we manipulated participant motivation by the threat of electric shocks directed either toward the task performer, their co-participant, or neither. The shock delivery was based on the performer’s task performance. Our results showed no differences in performance between the three conditions. This contradicted our hypotheses and suggests that other-directed or self-directed threat does not lead to increased automatic attentional performance. Regarding BIS, we found that high-BIS individuals, relative to low-BIS individuals, have increased attentional reaction times during other-directed threat, but not during self-directed threat. This finding also contradicted our hypothesis. Therefore, we suggest that high sensitivity to punishments may lead to poorer attentional performance when others are at risk.Show less
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions may have far-reaching consequences for mental health among adolescents with experiences of childhood adversities (CA). Exposure to CA...Show moreIntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions may have far-reaching consequences for mental health among adolescents with experiences of childhood adversities (CA). Exposure to CA influences information processing such as threat processing and reward processing and is therefore associated with elevated risk for psychopathology partly due to altered patterns of social functioning. We propose that adolescents with CA may experience loneliness due to the COVID-19 restrictions and that experiencing loneliness can depend on exposure to deprivation and threat because of its distinct effects on neurological development. Methods: We recruited adolescents (N = 79, 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒= 22,4, SD = 2,645) from the Resilience after Individual Stress Exposure (RAISE) who filled in a questionnaire of experienced Childhood Adversities before the lockdown. We measured loneliness during the first lockdown (April 2020), the relaxation of restrictions (July 2020) and the reintroduced restrictions (October 2020). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) measured Childhood adversities and the Revised University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (R-UCLA) measured loneliness. Results: The findings showed that loneliness in April, July and October did not change (F(1.906, 131.508) = .187, p > .05). Loneliness and experiences of threat did not interact with each other; reported loneliness was not influenced by experiences of threat (F(1.906, 131.508) = .282, p > .05). Loneliness and experiences of deprivation did not interact with each other; loneliness was not influenced by experiences of deprivation (F(1.906, 131.508) = .237, p > .05). There was an association between loneliness (April) and neglect (β = .1.18 (t (74) = 3.73; p < .001, r=.56), but no association between loneliness and threat (β = .005 (t) (74) = .017; p > .05). Discussion: The corona pandemic is characterized by an unpredictable situation, which may have caused feelings of fear and anxiety for the entire population which resulted in solidarity; the virus could affect anyone. This could explain the absence of association between threat and loneliness as well as the absence of difference in loneliness in April, July and October.Show less
This thesis examines in what ways the online news media has framed refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Europe and specifically the Netherlands during the refugee crisis that started in 2015....Show moreThis thesis examines in what ways the online news media has framed refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Europe and specifically the Netherlands during the refugee crisis that started in 2015. Carrying out a qualitative content analysis of all news articles on refugees uploaded over a period of six years, it has been possible to construct four distinct connotative frames that used to depict refugees: normalization, victimization, burden and threat. The results show that on the long-term, the victimization-frame turned out to be the most popular frame to use on refugees. Additionally, online news turns out to be susceptible to the occurrence of key events, which occurrence determines the dominant frame of the subsequent weeks. This study nuances the idea that refugees are increasingly portrayed negatively by providing a long-term insight and shows the diffuse process and developments that have occurred over time.Show less
People are exposed to a wide range of aversive conditions, including climate change and pandemics, which can have a profound impact on individual wellbeing and communal functioning. While there is...Show morePeople are exposed to a wide range of aversive conditions, including climate change and pandemics, which can have a profound impact on individual wellbeing and communal functioning. While there is evidence suggesting that exposure to threat and the prospect of punishment promote cooperation, the necessity of punishment in cooperation’s maintenance under threat is largely unexplored. In the current study, we examined whether the presence of threat requires less punishment to maintain cooperation. In a laboratory experiment individuals in groups of three (N=60) were exposed (or not) to the threat of electric shocks while deciding how much to contribute to the common pool. Additionally, half of the tested groups (N=30) were subjected to a peer-punishment procedure in which individuals had the option to deduct money (MU’s) from other group members’ accounts. Heart rate and skin conductance were continuously measured while participants were exposed to the aforementioned procedure. In comparison to the nothreat condition, the threat of shock resulted in a neurophysiological freezing response characterized by a reduction in heart rate and an increase in skin conductance. We find that in contrast to our expectations, threat by itself does not promote cooperation and punishment is needed in cooperation’s maintenance. Overall, our results suggest that the presence of threat does not diminish the role of punishment in increasing cooperation. Our results have implications for policy interventions designed to sustain cooperation under threat.Show less
Objective: Emotion is known to affect our perception. Research has shown that fear, in particular, affects our perception by enhancing the processing of coarse low spatial frequency (LSF)...Show moreObjective: Emotion is known to affect our perception. Research has shown that fear, in particular, affects our perception by enhancing the processing of coarse low spatial frequency (LSF) information at the cost of detailed high spatial frequency (HSF) information. This biased LSF processing may be mediated by the subcortical or cortical pathway to the amygdala. However, findings on whether the subcortical pathway processes automatically are contradictory, and some studies found a mediation effect of anxiety. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate whether the processing of LSF information is automatic during threat and whether this is moderated by anxiety. Method: We used a high and low load visual working memory (VWM) task while participants performed a visual orientation discrimination task of LSF and HSF gratings, under safe and threat of shock conditions. Anxiety levels were measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Results: Using data from a previous similar experiment, we found a significant interaction effect of spatial frequency by VWM. We found significant main effects of spatial frequency and VWM; there was no main effect of threat condition. Conclusion: Our results indicate that LSF information was perceived more accurately than HSF information, that visual information was perceived more accurately under low than high VWM load and that this was not affected by risk of threat. Due to these results, we were unable to test for automatic processing of LSF stimuli under fear. To investigate this further, as well as to examine whether this is affected by anxiety, more research is needed.Show less
Bilateral relations between the United States and China have increasingly soured since President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017. A key reason is that China’s growing power has made it a threat...Show moreBilateral relations between the United States and China have increasingly soured since President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017. A key reason is that China’s growing power has made it a threat to U.S. hegemony and the U.S. is more proactively seeking to contain China than ever before. While China’s threat can be examined from various theoretical angles, such as realism, few studies have looked at it from the perspective of the U.S. media. This is an important avenue for research as perceptions influence international relations and the media plays an important role in shaping such perceptions. Conversely, the media reflects tendencies in politics and society. Using content analysis, the portrayal of the China threat in the news coverage of the Wall Street Journal is examined between 2016 and 2018. The debate on the China threat has mostly consisted of three categories, namely military, economic, and political. The thesis adds a new category to be used in content analysis, namely world order.Show less
