Top

Gepubliceerd in:

01-12-2010 | Original Article

The Impact of Experiential Avoidance on the Inference of Characters’ Emotions: Evidence for an Emotional Processing Bias

Auteurs: Scott M. Pickett, Christopher A. Kurby

Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Uitgave 6/2010

Abstract

Experiential avoidance is a functional class of maladaptive strategies that contribute to the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Although previous research has demonstrated group differences in the interpretation of aversive stimuli, there is limited work on the influence of experiential avoidance during the online processing of emotion. An experimental design was used to investigate the influence of self-reported experiential avoidance during emotion processing by assessing emotion inferences during the comprehension of narratives that imply different emotions. Results suggest that experiential avoidance is partially characterized by an emotional information processing bias. Specifically, individuals reporting higher experiential avoidance scores exhibited a bias towards activating negative emotion inferences, whereas individuals reporting lower experiential avoidance scores exhibited a bias towards activating positive emotion inferences. Minimal emotional inference was observed for the non-bias affective valence. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of experiential avoidance as a cognitive vulnerability for psychopathology.

volgende artikel Gender Differences in the Cognitive Vulnerability-Stress Model of Depression in the Transition to Adolescence

The raw reading time data were highly positively skewed (skew = 5.0). After correcting for outliers, skew was reduced to an acceptable level (skew = 0.89).

We conducted t-tests on the grouped data to better characterize the effect regarding those with comparatively high and low experiential avoidance scores. The cutoff scores are based on quartiles of the distribution not clinically significant levels of experiential avoidance.

Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and emotional disorders. New York: International Universities Press.

Beck, A. T., & Clark, D. A. (1997). An information processing model of anxiety: Automatic and strategic processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 49–58.CrossRefPubMed

Bond, F. W., Hayes, S. C., Baer, R. A., Carpenter, K. M., Orcutt, H. K., Waltz, T., & Zettle, R. D. (under review). Preliminary psychometric properties of the acceptance and action questionnaire—II: A revised measure of psychological flexibility and acceptance.

Chan, S. W. Y., Goodwin, G. M., & Harmer, C. J. (2007). Highly neurotic never-depressed students have negative biases in information processing. Psychological Medicine, 37, 1281–1291.CrossRefPubMed

Chawla, N., & Ostafin, B. (2007). Experiential avoidance as a functional dimensional approach to psychopathology: An empirical review. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 871–890.CrossRefPubMed

Cochrane, A., Barnes-Holmes, D., Barnes-Holmes, Y., Stewart, I., & Luciano, C. (2007). Experiential avoidance and aversive visual images: Response delays and event related potentials on a simple matching task. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(6), 1379–1388.CrossRefPubMed

Derakshan, N., Eysenck, M. W., & Myers, L. B. (2007). Emotional information processing in repressors: The vigilance-avoidance theory. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 1585–1614.CrossRef

Feldner, M. T., Hekmat, H., Zvolensky, M. J., Vowles, K. E., Secrist, Z., & Leen-Feldner, E. W. (2006). The role of experiential avoidance in acute pain tolerance: A laboratory test. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 37, 146–158.CrossRefPubMed

Feldner, M. T., Zvolensky, M. J., Eifert, G. H., & Spira, A. P. (2003). Emotional avoidance: An experimental test of individual differences and response suppression using biological challenge. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 403–411.CrossRefPubMed

Gernsbacher, M. A. (1994). Activating knowledge of fictional characters’ emotional states. In C. A. Weaver, S. Mannes, & C. R. Fletcher (Eds.), Discourse comprehension: Essays in honor of Walter Kintsch. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Gernsbacher, M. A., Goldsmith, H. H., & Robertson, R. R. W. (1992). Do readers mentally represent characters’ emotional states? Cognition and Emotion, 6, 89–111.CrossRef

Gernsbacher, M. A., Hallada, B. M., & Robertson, R. R. W. (1998). How automatically do reader infer fictional characters’ emotional states? Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 271–300.CrossRef

Gernsbacher, M. A., & Robertson, R. R. W. (1992). Knowledge activation versus sentence mapping when representing fictional characters’ emotional states. Language and Cognition, 7, 353–371.

Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (2001). Relational frame theory: A post-skinnerian account of human language. New York: Plenum Press.

Hayes, S. C., Pankey, J., Gifford, E. V., Batten, S., & Quinones, R. (2002). Acceptance and commitment therapy in experiential avoidance disorders. In F. W. Kaslow & T. Patterson (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychotherapy; cognitive-behavioral approaches (Vol. II, pp. 319–351). New York: Wiley.

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford Press.

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K., Wilson, K. G., Bissett, R. T., Pistorello, J., Toarmino, D., et al. (2004). Measuring experiential avoidance: A preliminary test of a working model. The Psychological Record, 54, 553–578.

Hayes, S. C., Wilson, K. G., Gifford, E. V., Follette, V. M., & Strosahl, K. (1996). Experiential avoidance and the behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1152–1168.CrossRef

Karekla, M., Forsyth, J. P., & Kelly, M. M. (2004). Emotional avoidance and panicogenic responding to a biological challenge procedure. Behavior Therapy, 35, 725–746.CrossRef

Leyman, L., DeRaedt, R., Schacht, R., & Koster, E. H. W. (2007). Attentional biases for angry faces in unipolar depression. Psychological Medicine, 37, 393–402.CrossRefPubMed

MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional biases in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15–20.CrossRefPubMed

Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2005). Attentional biases in generalized anxiety disorder versus depressive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 29–45.CrossRef

Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., MacCallum, R. C., & Nicewander, W. A. (2005). Use of the extreme groups approach: A critical reexamination and new recommendations. Psychological Methods, 10(2), 179–192.CrossRef

Riskind, J. H., & Alloy, L. B. (2006). Cognitive vulnerability to psychological disorders: Overview of theory, design, and methods. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 705–725.CrossRef

Sloan, D. M. (2004). Emotion regulation in action: Emotional reactivity in experiential avoidance. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1257–1270.CrossRefPubMed

Teachman, B. A., Smith-Janik, S. B., & Saporito, J. (2007). Information processing biases and panic disorder: Relationships among cognitive and symptom measures. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 1791–1811.CrossRefPubMed

van Dijk, T. A., & Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies in discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press.

Yovel, I., & Mineka, S. (2005). Emotion-congruent attentional biases: The perspective of hierarchical models of emotional disorders. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 785–795.CrossRef

Zettle, R. D., Hocker, T. R., Mick, K. A., Scofield, B. E., Peterson, C. L., Song, H., et al. (2005). Differential strategies in coping with pain as a function of level of experiential avoidance. The Psychological Record, 55, 511–524.

Zettle, R. D., Peterson, C. L., Hocker, T. R., & Provines, J. L. (2007). Responding to a challenging perceptual-motor task as a function of level of experiential avoidance. The Psychological Record, 57, 49–62.

Zwaan, R. A., Langston, M. C., & Graesser, A. C. (1995a). The construction of situation models in narrative comprehension: An event-indexing model. Psychological Science, 6, 292–297.CrossRef

Zwaan, R. A., Magliano, J. P., & Graesser, A. C. (1995b). Dimensions of situation model construction in narrative comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 386–397.CrossRef

Zwaan, R. A., & Radvansky, G. A. (1998). Situation models in language comprehension and memory. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 162–185.CrossRefPubMed

Zwaan, R. A., Radvansky, G. A., Hilliard, A. E., & Curiel, J. M. (1998). Constructing multidimensional situation models during reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 199–220.CrossRef

Titel: The Impact of Experiential Avoidance on the Inference of Characters’ Emotions: Evidence for an Emotional Processing Bias
Auteurs: Scott M. Pickett
Christopher A. Kurby
Publicatiedatum: 01-12-2010
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Uitgave 6/2010
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9262-x

Bohn Stafleu van Loghum

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

Abstract

Log in om toegang te krijgen

Andere artikelen Uitgave 6/2010

Adherence to Masculine Norms and Attributional Processes Predict Depressive Symptoms in Recently Unemployed Men

Gender Differences in the Cognitive Vulnerability-Stress Model of Depression in the Transition to Adolescence

Cognitive Reactivity in Everyday Life as a Prospective Predictor of Depressive Symptoms

Depression, Anxiety, and Reduced Facilitation in Adolescents’ Personal Goal Systems

A School-Based Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Prevention Program for Children: The Wise Mind Study

Self-Verification Strivings in Children Holding Negative Self-Views: The Mitigating Effects of a Preceding Success Experience