Psychology
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Item Attachment Security and the Processing of Attachment-Relevant Social Information in Late Adolescence(2006-04-26) Dykas, Matthew Jason; Cassidy, Jude A; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)According to attachment theory, internal working models of attachment function to influence the ways in which individuals obtain, organize, and operate on attachment-relevant social information (Bowlby, 1980). The principal aim of this investigation was the examination of whether adolescents' internal working models of attachment are linked to their memory for attachment-relevant social information. I proposed that adolescents who possess negative internal working models of attachment (i.e., insecure adolescents and adolescents who possess negative representations of their parents) process attachment-relevant social information differently from adolescents who possess positive internal working models of attachment (i.e., secure adolescents and adolescents who possess positive representations of their parents). I also proposed that such differences are associated with two distinct patterns of attachment-relevant social information-processing. More precisely, I hypothesized that insecure adolescents and adolescents who possess negative representations of their parents are more likely to <em>suppress</em> attachment-relevant social information (from entering conscious awareness) in some circumstances, and to process attachment-relevant social information in a <em>negatively-biased schematic manner</em> in others. To test this hypothesis, I tapped adolescents' (n = 189) internal working models of attachment by assessing their "state of mind with respect to attachment" (as assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview), representations of parents, and attachment-related romantic anxiety and avoidance (as assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory). I used four experimental tasks to assess adolescents' memory for attachment-relevant social information. Many of the findings reported in this investigation can be viewed as supporting the notion that insecure adolescents and adolescents who possess negative representations of their parents either suppress attachment-relevant social information or process such information in a negatively-biased schematic manner. For example, in the experimental task that tapped suppression, insecure adolescents showed poorer memory for emotionally-significant childhood experiences. Moreover, in all three of the experimental tasks tapping schematically-driven social information-processing, insecure adolescents and adolescents who possessed negative representations of their parents showed either greater memory for negative parental attributes or more negative reconstructive memory for conflict. In addition to these principal findings, evidence emerged that adolescent attachment was linked to memory for peer-related information, as well as to parents' reconstructive memory for adolescent-parent conflict.Item DOES NEGATIVE SELF-IMAGERY PLAY A CAUSAL ROLE IN SOCIAL PHOBIA AMONG ADOLESCENTS?(2005-04-20) Alfano, Candice Ann; Beidel, Deborah C; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study was designed to examine whether negative self-imagery is a significant factor in the development of social phobia among adolescents. Although some adult models of social phobia posit that negative self-imagery serves to increase anxiety and decrease performance within social contexts, few studies have directly examined this relationship and no study has examined self-imagery among socially-phobic adolescents. For the current study, negative self-imagery was manipulated among a group of non-anxious adolescents (IMAG) during two social tasks. Levels of anxiety, specific thoughts, expected and self-rated performance, and observer-rated performance and social skill were compared to both socially-phobic and control adolescents. Results revealed few differences in terms of observer-rated performance and specific social skill between the IMAG and control groups of adolescents, although the socially-phobic group was consistently rated to exhibit poorer performances and decreased social skill. The IMAG group reported marginally significant increases in their anxiety levels during both social tasks. Interestingly, these adolescents reported similar (increased) rates of anxiety during an additional social interaction task where they were instructed to use positive self-imagery. The IMAG group also reported decreases in performance compared to the control group. This finding appears to be explained primarily based on the adolescents' belief that they were unable to hide their anxiety rather than a decrease in social skill (such as reported by socially-phobic youth). Further, the IMAG group reported an overall fewer number of cognitions than both groups during the social interaction task, potentially indicating a significant decrease in cognitive resources based on the use of self-imagery. Overall findings from this investigation do not support the hypothesis that negative self-imagery plays a causal role in the development of social phobia among adolescents. Rather, results indicate that excessive self-focused attention within social contexts, together with normal developmental increases in self-consciousness during the adolescent years may pose a specific risk for development of the syndrome. These findings provide a developmental understanding of the factors involved in the onset of social phobia, as well as those symptoms that may be germane to the maintenance of the disorder over time.