No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The Relationship of Shame, Social Anxiety and Depression: The Role of the Evaluation of Social Rank
Abstract
This study explores the associations between shame, depression and social anxiety from the perspective of social rank theory (Price and Sloman, 1987; Gilbert, 1989, 1992). Social rank theory argues that emotions and moods are significantly influenced by the perceptions of one's social status/rank; that is the degree to which one feels inferior to others and looked down on. A common outcome of such perceptions is submissive behavior. It is suggested that shame, social anxiety and depression are all related to defensive submissive strategies when individuals find themselves placed in unwanted low status/rank positions. In this study 109 students and 50 depressed patients filled in a battery of self-report questionnaires designed to measure varied aspects of shame, guilt, pride, social anxiety, depression, and social rank (inferiority self-perceptions and submissive behaviour). Results confirm that shame, social anxiety and depression (but not guilt) are highly related to feeling inferior and to submissive behaviour. It is suggested therefore that an understanding of the defensive behaviours of animals and humans who are located in unwanted subordinate positions may throw light on the underlying psychobiological mechanisms of these varied pathologies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Shame can be considered a painful affective experience, typically combined with perceptions that the individual has personal attributes, personality characteristics, or has engaged in behaviours, that others will find unattractive, and that will result in rejection or some kind of humiliation. 7 Thus, shame is a social emotion, and alerts the individual that their social position is under threat. 7,8 Alternative definitions emphasise other aspects of shame; for example, that it is a global devaluation of the self. ...
... 7 Thus, shame is a social emotion, and alerts the individual that their social position is under threat. 7,8 Alternative definitions emphasise other aspects of shame; for example, that it is a global devaluation of the self. 9,10 Guilt can be considered 'an unpleasant feeling with an accompanying belief that one should have felt, thought or acted differently'. ...
... For example, shame is often conceptualised as a social emotion, 30 whose function is to warn the individual that the social self is under threat. 7,8 Scholars have argued that the behavioural correlates of shame (including hiding, withdrawal and submissiveness) signify attempts to protect oneself against rejection or humiliation. 30 These behaviours, however, may block the individual's potential for social support, erode social bonds 31 In fact, loneliness has been found to mediate the relationship between shame and anxiety/ depression. ...
Background
Trauma-related shame and guilt have been identified as important factors for mental health following interpersonal trauma. For survivors of terror and disasters, however, the role of shame and guilt remains largely unknown.
Aims
To explore the long-term occurrence of trauma-related shame and guilt among survivors of a terror attack, and the potential importance of these emotions for mental health.
Method
A total of 347 survivors (48.7% female, mean age at the time of the attack: 19.25 years, s.d. = 4.40) of the 2011 massacre on Utøya island, Norway, participated in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Trauma-related shame and guilt were measured with items from the Shame and Guilt After Trauma Scale at 2.5 and 8.5 years post-terror attack. Post-traumatic reactions and anxiety/depression at 8.5 years post-terror attack were measured with the University of California at Los Angeles PTSD Reaction Index and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, respectively. Associations between trauma-related shame/guilt and post-trauma psychopathology were analysed by multiple linear regressions.
Results
Trauma-related shame and guilt were prevalent among survivors at both 2.5 and 8.5 years post-terror attack. In unadjusted analyses, shame and guilt, at both time points, were significantly associated with post-traumatic stress reactions and anxiety/depression. Shame remained significantly associated with mental health when adjusted for guilt. Both earlier and current shame were uniquely related to mental health.
Conclusions
Trauma-related shame and guilt may be prevalent in survivors of mass trauma several years after the event. Shame, in particular, may play an important role for long-term mental health. Clinicians may find it helpful to explicitly address shame in treatment of mass trauma survivors.
... 20). The shame researchers proposed this model of shame based on the assumptions of Baldwin and Baccus (2004), and Gilbert (2000), and posited that identity-relevant events are situations that "prompt the person to focus on and to evaluate the self from the perspective of other people in terms of social acceptance or social status" (Muris & Meesters, 2013, p. 19). This conceptualization of the emergence of shame is aligned with the need for interdependence, and this is highly valued in collective contexts. ...
... The term "social shame" has also been used to describe external shame (Georges & Baker, 2016;Nelson, 2016). Internal shame, external shame, loss of face, loss of selfface, and self-criticism share similar patterns of associations with indicators of psychological distress (Cheng, 2013;Cheung et al., 2004;Gilbert, 2000;Kam & Bond, 2008;Irons et al., 2006). ...
... has also been used to describe external shame (Georges & Baker, 2016;Nelson, 2016). Despite scientific differences in these constructs, research has shown that internal shame and external shame, loss of face, loss of self-face and self-criticism are considered variants of shame and share similar patterns of associations with indicators of psychological distress (Cheng, 2013;Cheung et al., 2004;Gilbert, 2000;Kam & Bond, 2008;Irons et al., 2006). Some studies found evidence that external shame is more painful than internalized shame in a collective culture (Ferreira et al., 2020), and can also be correlated with morbidity (Ang & Khoo, 2004). ...
Due to the notion of extrinsic self-worth and collective self-construal, shame is positively valued in the East. These traditional values warrant a qualitative investigation to deconstruct the emotion and social scripting of internalized shame as phenomena that emerges in collective contexts. Separate narratives of childhood shame experiences from 91 hours of 51 interviews with three Asians provided storylines of shame events, values, that constructed socio-cultural scripts of shame (SIS). Narrative restorying presented the voice of the Abused Self, Romantically Rejected Self, Academic Self, Suppressed Creative Self, Conflicted Self, Not a Proud Self, Misgendered Self, Divorced Self, Depressive Self, Inferior Female Gender, and Inferior Status.
Primary findings: External shame events and SIS were endorsed by societal values. External shame and societal values functioned as contextual mechanisms which facilitated an internalization of values, which in turn constructed SIS. Progressive self-shaming, self- devaluating, scripted fear, and shame-related morbidity were related to SIS. Neglect functioned as “non-events” preceding a vulnerability to SIS. Influences of socio-cultural values and SIS were bi-directional. I propose: four basic components of internalized shame, i.e., rejected, devalued, neglected, and abused; a distinction between internalized shame as an affect, as an identity belief, and as self-shaming events, the latter of which is proximal to morbidity; varied pathways that linked external shame events and societal values to SIS; and considerations to defend the injustice related to the condoning of shamer’s abuse due to status-related power privileges. Finally, as an alternative to the humanistic philosophies condoning, or alternatively condemning shame, a theological anthropology of a divinely-scripted-communal-self is presented.
... If social competition leads to recurring failure, competitors may develop depressive attitudes. Depressive attitudes exhibit low mood states, withdrawal from competition and submissiveness (Gilbert, 2000). Social competition is a matter of detailed discussion and of numerous writings in evolutionary theory as to its implications on agonistic interactions and consequences among humans. ...
... The social competition hypothesis for depression assumes that competitive environments cultivate inferiority, submissive proneness to the will of others, reduced capability in confronting situations, as well as decreased ability in the allocation of social support (Price, 1972;Gilbert, 2000). Successful competitors during agonistic interactions assume escalating strategies to enhance possibility of more success and the intimidation of the opponent (Price, 2000). ...
The main topic of this study is social competition and its relation to depression in evolutionary terms. It was hypothesised that failure in social competition would be positively and success in social competition would be negatively associated with depression. Two inventories were employed: one self-devised on success and failure in social competition terms, and another on depression, called the BDI-II. Participants were 53 teachers from a town in Northern Greece who rated both inventories. The findings have shown that failure and success in social competition did not associate to depression for correlations were not significant; no significant correlations were also found on success and failure with depression across gender and separately for men and women; and finally, that correlations between success and failure items selected from the self-devised inventory were found as well not significant across gender and separately for men and women. In an evolutionary context, there were discussed issues of lowered perceptions of success following depression during social competition and issues on the maladaptiveness of success, failure and depression. One of the strengths of this study was that findings have shown that failure may not be associated to depression. One limitation, that the sample should have been drawn from a British audience and not otherwise.
... For example, in Kenya, one study reported that the prevalence of adolescent household food insecurity was 36 % (McRell et al., 2022). Food insecurity is plausibly associated with depression, owing to, for example, poor nutrition or increased feelings of shame, which are factors that can increase the risk for depression (Gilbert, 2000;Li et al., 2017). ...
... This can also be explained by deficiency in antioxidants (e.g., vitamin C, vitamin E, and other carotenoids compounds), which is often observed in food insecurity, contributing to depression (Li et al., 2017). Second, food insecurity could induce feelings of shame and stigma due to material deprivation including food, and these can increase one's risk for depression (Gilbert, 2000). Third, the Family Stress Model posits that greater food insecurity can cause higher levels of adolescent behavior problems through the negative impact of food insecurity on caregiver psychological distress. ...
Food insecurity may be a risk factor for depression in adolescents. However, data on this topic from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are scarce, despite food insecurity being most common in LMICs. Therefore, we aimed to examine the association between food-insecurity and depressive symptoms among school-going adolescents from 22 LMICs.
Cross-sectional data from the Global school-based Student Health Survey were analyzed. Self-report measures assessed past 12-month depressive symptoms and past 30-day food insecurity (hunger). Multivariable logistic regression and meta-analysis were conducted to assess associations.
Data on 48,401 adolescents aged 12-15 years were analyzed [mean (SD) age 13.8 (0.9) years; 51.4% females]. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 29.3%, and those of moderate and severe food insecurity were 45.0% and 6.3%, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, compared to no food insecurity, the pooled OR (95%CI) of moderate and severe food insecurity were 1.36 (1.30-1.42) and 1.81 (1.67-1.97), respectively. The level of between-country heterogeneity was low.
Food insecurity was associated with significantly higher odds for depressive symptoms among adolescents in LMICs. Policies to address food insecurity may also help prevent depression in this population, pending future longitudinal research.
... Increasing evidence suggests that falling down the social ladder, that is, losing social status, seems to be more harmful for people's well-being than having low status to begin with. For example, research showed that losing status can lead to elevated levels of stress, diminished performance, exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity, negative emotions, impaired well-being, and a higher risk for depression (Anderson et al., 2012;Gilbert, 2000;Marr & Thau, 2014;Mendelson et al., 2008;Neeley, 2013;Scheepers et al., 2009;Weiss & Kunzmann, 2020). However, so far, this research has largely omitted potential boundary conditions, assuming that status loss uniformly leads to lowered well-being. ...
... The insights of the current research contribute to our understanding of the potentially adverse consequences of status loss in several meaningful ways. First, findings are consistent with social rank theory (Gilbert, 2000) suggesting that the detrimental consequences of a loss of status might be preventable when people feel that they can leave and escape the situation and move to another situation where a higher status attainment is possible (Buunk et al., 2007). However, status loss becomes most detrimental to well-being when individuals feel that they are trapped in a situation of chronically low social status. ...
Previous research suggests that loss of social status adversely impacts subjective well-being. Here, we show that an important factor modulating this relationship are age differences in beliefs in opportunities and upward mobility. Across two preregistered longitudinal analyses (N1 = 5487 & N2 = 1092; 18-89 years), we found that individuals who hold a stronger belief that they have more opportunities in the future to improve their social status are less likely to suffer from status loss. Further analyses revealed that this interaction effect can be explained by age differences in these beliefs. Specifically, younger individuals were more likely to hold opportunity and upward mobility beliefs and, thus, were better able to maintain their relative level of life satisfaction when experiencing status loss. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of how individuals may mitigate the detrimental consequences of status loss to their subjective well-being across the adult life span.
... Internalized shame is also a potential mediator because it has been found to be associated to depression, anxiety, and psychological help-seeking. Shame is a complex emotion, characterized by an individual's perception that their attributes and behaviours will be negatively evaluated, attacked, and rejected by others [16]. Increased internalized shame, a subcomponent of shame, is related to an increase in the emotional experience of negative self-evaluation and is linked to self-related cognition and affect [16]. ...
... Shame is a complex emotion, characterized by an individual's perception that their attributes and behaviours will be negatively evaluated, attacked, and rejected by others [16]. Increased internalized shame, a subcomponent of shame, is related to an increase in the emotional experience of negative self-evaluation and is linked to self-related cognition and affect [16]. The impact of MS on physical capabilities, employment, and social relationships [1,13,17] may increase feelings of social unattractiveness, private devaluations, and self-blame [18]. ...
Background:
Depression and anxiety are commonly experienced in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) yet little is known about factors associated with psychological help-seeking attitudes in those with MS.
Method:
The current study investigated whether increased stigma related to chronic illness, internalized shame, and autonomous motivation mediated the relationship between depressive and anxiety symptoms and psychological help-seeking attitudes in individuals with MS. Two hundred fifty-four participants with MS completed an online questionnaire assessing depressive and anxiety symptoms, stigma related to chronic illness, internalized shame, autonomous motivation, and psychological help-seeking attitudes.
Results:
Stigma related to chronic illness, internalized shame, and autonomous motivation mediated the relationships between increased depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms and psychological help-seeking attitudes. The study also found that higher levels of chronic illness-related stigma and internalized shame were associated with more negative psychological help-seeking attitudes and higher autonomous motivation was associated with more positive psychological help-seeking attitudes. There were no direct effects of depressive or anxiety symptoms on psychological help-seeking attitudes.
Conclusion:
The significant mediating roles of stigma-related chronic illness, internalized shame, and autonomous motivation indicate that these factors may be useful to include in future depression and anxiety intervention studies targeting MS populations.
... Our findings show that high SA individuals can also seek approval at the expense of others and easily mistreat an unrelated other, despite reporting elevated levels of guilt. While guilt is associated with compensatory actions within the general population (Ding et al., 2016), it appears that conformity overrides guilt-related compensatory actions in high SA individuals, whose actions have been shown to be rather driven by shame (Gilbert, 2000). ...
... Evolutionary theorists suggest that socially anxious individuals see themselves as low-rank members of the social group. In order to remain part of the group, the socially anxious tend to behave in a culturally-accepted manner inside their reference group and avoid conflict at all costs (Gilbert, 2000). Alternatively, our results could be interpreted in light of the Self-Presentation theory of social anxiety (Leary & Jongman-Sereno, 2014), that explains the need for approval in SA in terms of the individuals' concerns with how others view them. ...
Social anxiety (SA) is characterized by a persistent fear of negative evaluation and marked difficulties in forming social relationships. Concerned with falling short of standards, the socially anxious make important efforts to obtain approval within their group. In the current research, we extended previous findings on excessive conformity in social anxiety, by quantifying the indirect effect of social anxiety-related conformity on unrelated third parties. Two hundred and eleven participants were assigned to one of 6 subgroups based on SA cutoffs and experimental condition. Participants first interacted in a Survival task together with 5 other participants (group of reference), and then completed a monetary Prisoner’s Dilemma session against an unrelated and cooperative Person B. Prior to being asked to split the allocated $10, participants were presented with their reference group’s proposed split of the money and also with Person B’s proposed amount to each member of the group. Depending on experimental condition, group members were made to appear either as fair or highly unfair, while Person B was always fair. Participants were thus given two alternatives: reciprocate fairness or conform to unfairness. Our results show that high SA individuals tend to align to the group’s unfair behavior, even though conformity, in this case, is to mistreat an otherwise well-intentioned stranger. Intriguingly, while the general population follows the norms of reciprocity, for the high SA participants, conformity to the group behavior outweighs prosocial reciprocity. Taken together, our findings show that individuals high in SA are more compliant to the group’s demands.
... However, this association between decreased FS and depression appears to persist independent of income levels [34]. Besides, decreased FS likely amplifies feelings of shame, which itself has been connected to a heightened risk of depression [35]. Lastly, depression can hinder an individual's ability to secure and maintain employment, especially among those with lower education levels, potentially exacerbating their risk of decreased FS [36]. ...
Objective
We aim to evaluate the association of depressive symptoms, depressive symptoms severity and symptom cluster scores (i.e., cognitive-affective and somatic) with food security (FS). We will also evaluate the interaction effect of sex, income and ethnicity on these associations.
Methods
Data from the 2005–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles were used in this study. Participants included survey respondents 20+ years who had completed Depression and Food Security questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between depressive symptoms and FS.
Results
A total of 34,128 participants, including 3,021 (7.73%) with depressive symptoms, were included in this study. In both unadjusted and adjusted models, participants with depressive symptoms had lower odds of FS (aOR = 0.347, 95% CI: 0.307,0.391, p<0.001). Moreover, in both unadjusted and adjusted models, for each 1-point increase in cognitive-affective (aOR = 0.850, 95% CI = 0.836,0.864, p <0.001) and somatic symptoms (aOR = 0.847, 95% CI = 0.831,0.863, p <0.001), odds of high FS decreased correspondingly. Our study found no significant interaction effects of sex on depressive symptoms-FS association. Statistically significant interactions of ethnicity and poverty-to-income ratio on depressive symptoms-FS association were observed, revealing higher odds of FS among Non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American groups, and lower odds of FS in Non-Hispanic White and high-income subgroups.
Conclusion
Our study demonstrated an association between depressive symptoms and decreased FS. Further research is required to deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and to develop focused interventions.
... Menurut Markus dan Wurf (Charoensukmongkol, 2018), individu pada dasarnya fokus pada aspek apapun dari diri remaja (penampilan fisik dll) yang paling khas dalam lingkungan sosial tertentu dan evaluasi inilah yang kemudian cenderung meningkatkan harga diri ketika remaja memandang bahwa remaja memiliki karakteristik yang akan dihargai orang lain daripada apa yang remaja hargai sendiri. Namun, ketika individu khawatir bahwa remaja memiliki sesuatu yang tidak dihargai orang lain, hal tersebut menimbulkan persepsi inferior yang akan menyebabkan rasa harga diri menjadi rendah dan pada akhirnya menimbulkan rasa membandingkan diri (Gilbert, 2000). Menurut Tandoc et al. (2015) persaingan sosial dapat merujuk ke arah persaingan untuk mendapatkan dominasi dan daya tarik. ...
Adolescents tend to be attracted to groups that are particularly vulnerable to the negative psychological and behavioral outcomes of using Instagram social media. Since adolescent behavior is easily shaped by the social context in which they are located, it is likely that friends may be the key that has a strong influence on the behavioral outcomes that adolescents develop from social media use. Given the concerns about the negative consequences of using Instagram social media by teenagers, this study aims to find out how the intensity of Instagram social media use affects social comparison moderated by group competition. The research method used is quantitative research methods. The subjects in this study were adolescents with Instagram social media aged 13-17 years and domiciled in the city of Makassar (N = 334) who were obtained using a cluster random sampling technique. The research data was tested using the Moderation Regression Analysis (MRA) test with the help of the Jamovi 2.3.26 program. The measuring tools used in this study are the social comparison scale, the group competition scale and the intensity scale of social media use. The results showed that there was no significant effect between the intensity of using Instagram social media on social comparison moderated by group competition (p) of 0.704 (p > 0.05). This research offers additional insight into how it is important to understand that the behavior exhibited by adolescents is also strongly shaped by their peer environment. This means that not all adolescents will be affected by social media use to the same degree, but those who face social pressure from their peers are more susceptible to social comparisons.
... Social comparison is a strategy used by different species to analyze their own resources and those of their opponents in situations of competition, territorial defense, attraction and selection of sexual partners, verification of social position and power before a conflict (Gilbert, Allan & Trent, 1995;Gilbert, 2001). In human contexts, negative social comparison, understood as a low social status, is related to mood effects (Gilbert, 2000), likewise it has been found that staying for a long time in hostile environments and with deficiencies can lead to behaviors of (involuntary) subordination as preservation mechanisms before experiences of disadvantage (Price et al., 1994;Sloman & Gilbert, 2000). If the perception of social defeat is intense and prolonged, it can limit the ability to search for social opportunities that improve the individual situation (Gilbert, 2006), and in a psychopathological extreme lead to the deregulation of mechanisms or the use of cognitive strategies that are considered ineffective, assuming behaviors of hypervigilance or inhibition and inability to experience positive emotions (Taylor et al., 2011). ...
Theoretical Framework: Social defeat is the feeling of breaking a status or goals, due to loss or difficulty in reaching resources, humiliation or social attack, self-criticism, unfavorable social comparison and unrealistic expectations, related to psychopathology and suicidality. Objective and Method: The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Social Defeat Scale in 412 Colombian adults. To explore the discriminant validity, the Social Well-being Scale was used, and to explore the convergent validity, the Okasha Suicidality Scale was used. Results and Discussion: The exploratory factor analysis showed a two-dimensional structure, both factors presented good internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis found good fit indicators for the unifactorial model. Convergent validity was found with suicidality and discriminant validity with social welfare. The Colombian version of the Social Defeat Scale is valid for evaluating social defeat, a relevant concept in Colombia given the high rates of social disadvantage and mental health problems in its population. Implications: Having an instrument that evaluates social defeat adapted to the Colombian context contributes to detecting mediating variables between the complex social scenario of the country and mental health, to the development of preventive and intervention strategies based on evidence, considering psychosocial aspects poorly integrated into current public health policies. Originality/Value: Currently, the scale only exists in an English version, in Brazilian Portuguese and in Spanish, validated in the Chilean population.
... Even though they are conceptually different, social anxiety and shame clearly overlap (Gilbert and Weeks,2014) and several research have shown a connection between the two. (Gilbert, 2000;Hedman, et al., 2013;Fergus et al., 2010). Despite the fact that SAD is a condition associated with anxiety, it is debatable whether shame plays a more significant role in the experience of those who suffer from severe social anxiety than anxiety does (Herman, 2011). ...
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a disorder that is perceived but usually not accepted by the sufferer so its prevalence and comorbidity increase. Most of the times it is not considered as a serious disorder by the society that is why importance is not given to either its causes or treatment. It is a subjective expression of symptoms as well as a subjective preference for treatment. A review of studies has focused on the onset, prevalence, gender difference, and psycho-social aspects of social anxiety disorder. The need of the hour is that Governments, Private institutions, and NGOs should come forward for their meticulous research and apply findings for the prevention and treatment.
... Barbie expresses how she felt responsible for having the disorder and the societal rami cations of succumbing to the illness. Gilbert (2000) asserted that shame is strongly correlated to feeling inferior which may explain why Barbie felt the way she did. Annie also alluded to shame by stating she was 'ashamed and embarrassed', and so both may have felt inferiority. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative research was to express those with Lived Experience(s) (LE) of Eating Disorder(s) (ED) and look at themes related to ED illness and the shared LEs. This review describes key themes of: ‘Stigma, Shame, and Guilt’, the symptoms and aetiology of EDs.
Design/Methodology
Exploring a thematic analysis approach, the use of explored themes and the collection of rich data in capturing (two online bloggers) LEs of EDs. Using digital forums to search for written, accessible blogs related to those with LEs of EDs. Blog content and specific search terms were used as part of the preliminary selection process.
Findings
Revealing significant feelings of ‘stigma, shame, and guilt’ with Anorexia and Bulimia, although two online bloggers shared their experiences, little was divulged about their inner emotions. There were positives for healthcare professionals who can learn about ED LEs. Moving forward any intervention must deal with these emotions in addition to the ED itself to gain a better understanding of living with the disorder. Future longitudinal studies focusing on psychodynamic themes and other shared risks could help enrich the understanding of EDs aetiology.
Originality
This review relates to a surge of shame in EDs and the need to focus research on healthcare experiences and active health intervention, particularly in developed countries within the West. The value of EDs LEs described in the study themes of: ‘Stigma, Shame, and Guilt’ and their manifestations, coupled with a variety of biopsychosocial issues and the aetiology of EDs.
... Despite this and other evidence consistent with attributional theory (e.g., Feiring et al., 1998;Giner-Sorolla & Espinosa, 2011;Tangney, 1991;Tangney, Miller, et al., 1996;Tangney, Wagner, Fletcher, & Gramzow, 1992;Tracy & Robins, 2006) and functionalist theory (e.g., de Hooge et al., 2010;Dickerson et al., 2004;Durkee et al., 2019;Gilbert, 2000;Giner-Sorolla & Espinosa, 2011;Martens et al., 2012;Robertson et al., 2018;Sznycer & Cohen, 2021;Yu et al., 2014;Zhu, Feng, et al., 2019;Zhu, Xu, et al., 2019), no research has yet jointly tested competing predictions derived from each theory, thereby yielding data capable of weakening either theory (or both). This is unfortunate, because evidence ostensibly supporting one theory may in fact support the other. ...
The emotions of guilt and shame play major roles in forgiveness, social exclusion, face-saving ploys, suicide, and honor killings. Understanding these emotions is thus of vital importance. The outputs of guilt and shame are already well understood: Guilt motivates amends; shame motivates evasion. However, the elicitors and functions of these emotions are disputed. According to attributional theory, guilt and shame are intrapersonal emotions elicited when negative outcomes are attributed to controllable/unstable (guilt) or uncontrollable/stable (shame) aspects of the self. By contrast, functionalist theory claims that guilt and shame are interpersonal emotions for minimizing the imposition of harm on valued others (guilt) and the cost of reputational damage on the self (shame). Although there is confirmatory evidence consistent with both theories, evidence ostensibly supporting one theory has been argued to actually support the other. To solve this problem of data interpretation, here we report contrastive critical tests of the two theories performed on online participant pools in the United States and India in 2021 (N = 853). Results in both countries support functionalist theory over attributional theory, suggesting that the intrapersonal effects reported in the emotion literature are tributary or incidental to the interpersonal functions of guilt and shame. Functionalist theory presents a promising framework for understanding the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of guilt, shame, and other self-conscious emotions.
... Social Mentality Theory (SMT) takes a broader view of the whole person when considering interpersonal dynamics. In SMT, it is argued that humans (and non-humans) have evolved different motivational systems that promote successful completion of various biosocial goals [28,29]. These systems allow the individual to enter a motive-oriented state of mind where their attention, cognition, emotion, and actions are coordinated to help promote survival, reproduction, and thriving in different ways [2]. ...
This paper reviews key theories underlying the interpersonal process in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and links these to purported mechanisms of action in CFT. The paper goes on to provide a concrete practice example of an exampled dialogue between a clinician and client and narrates the interpersonal processes and mechanisms of action in an attempt to elucidate how interpersonal processes can be leveraged to facilitate therapeutic change. In so doing, this paper seeks to advance scholarship on precise mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, especially interpersonal processes in psychotherapy. Furthermore this paper seeks to provide a useful account of how interpersonal theory can be enacted in a clinical interaction
... Emotions appear to be adaptations that coordinate cognitive, attentional, motivational, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms to solve complex adaptive problems faced by our ancestors (Al-Shawaf & Lewis, 2017;Cosmides & Tooby, 2000;Del Giudice, in press;Delton & Robertson, 2016;Keltner & Gross, 1999;Nesse, 1990;Sznycer et al., 2017). Evidence suggests that the emotion of shame is an adaptation that defends the individual against the threat of devaluation due to the spread of negative personal information (Durkee et al., 2019;Gilbert, 1998Gilbert, , 2000Gilbert & McGuire, 1998;Landers et al., in press;Scarnier et al., 2018;Sznycer & Cohen, 2010;Tangney & Dearing, 2016). ...
Previous research indicates that the anticipatory shame an individual feels at the prospect of taking a disgraceful action closely tracks the degree to which local audiences, and even foreign audiences, devalue those individuals who take that action. This supports the proposition that the shame system (a) defends the individual against the threat of being devalued, and (b) balances the competing demands of operating effectively yet efficiently. The stimuli events used in previous research were highly variable in their perceived disgracefulness, ranging in rated shame and audience devaluation from low (e.g., missing the target in a throwing game) to high (e.g., being discovered cheating on one's spouse). But how precise is the tracking of audience devaluation by the shame system? Would shame track devaluation for events that are similarly low (or high) in disgracefulness? To answer this question, we conducted a study with participants from the United States and India. Participants were assigned, between-subjects, to one of two conditions: shame or audience devaluation. Within-subjects, participants rated three low-variation sets of 25 scenarios each, adapted from Mu, Kitayama, Han, & Gelfand (2015), which convey (a) appropriateness (e.g., yelling at a rock concert), (b) mild disgracefulness (e.g., yelling on the metro), and (c) disgracefulness (e.g., yelling in the library), all presented un-blocked, in random order. Consistent with previous research, shame tracked audience devaluation across the high-variation superset of 75 scenarios, both within and between cultures. Critically, shame tracked devaluation also within each of the three sets. The shame system operates with high precision.
... Based on Gilbert's social rank theory, fear of negative evaluation of others can increase the level of subordinating behaviour among those suffering from this type of social anxiety [17]. As a result, under the pressure of social evaluation, people may apply more implicit and automatic responses representing a direct effect of social anxiety in the learning mechanism [18]. As regards risk-taking, although there is a debate on this issue, Polman and Wu have found that people make riskier decisions for others than themselves [19] which can increase the stress in proxy decision-making. ...
Prosocial learning involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for making decisions that benefit others. We asked if, in the context of value-based decision-making, there is any difference between learning strategies for oneself vs. for others. We implemented a 2-step reinforcement learning paradigm in which participants learned, in separate blocks, to make decisions for themselves or for a present other confederate who evaluated their performance. We replicated the canonical features of the model-based and model-free reinforcement learning in our results. The behaviour of the majority of participants was best explained by a mixture of the model-based and model-free control, while most participants relied more heavily on MB control, and this strategy enhanced their learning success. Regarding our key self-other hypothesis, we did not find any significant difference between the behavioural performances nor in the model-based parameters of learning when comparing self and other conditions.
... The above observations raise new questions about the psychological processes associated with the occurrence of diabetes mellitus, a disease that inevitably affects the unconscious perceptions and associations of the parent in relation to the child and creates new questions which, to the extent that they cannot to answer create guilt and increase stress and indicators of psychopathology. Sudden adverse change could produce feelings of inferiority which in turn are related to shame, anxiety and depression (37). ...
Chronic diseases such as childhood Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are a complex and continuous struggle as well as a great challenge both for the children who face the disease and for their parents. DM is characterized by the complex management of the therapeutic treatment thus causing physical and psychological complications in family members. There are many families who, upon hearing the diagnosis of their child with DM, stand still in front of these new facts as their lives change. All these unprecedented conditions cause parents intense stress, discomfort and mental burden as the only thing that concerns them now is how the family will survive in the face of the current conditions they are experiencing as well as the future of the sick child. The purpose of this brief literature review is to present the research findings which are related to the quality of life among parents of children and adolescents with DM.
... One feels unworthy of acceptance and belonging in relation to another person ("I feel unworthy of your love"), and thus, shame has both an inward focus (model of self: "I fear that I am unworthy") and outward focus ("I fear that you might see or discover that I am unworthy of your love"). This is in line with what Gilbert (e.g., Gilbert, 1998, 2000 describes as internal and external shame. External shame concerns the perception of being evaluated negatively by others and internal shame concerns the negative self-evaluations. ...
Research shows that shame can have a severe negative impact on intimate relationships, leading to negative shame loops between partners. In this article, we aim to provide a theoretical analysis of how attachment theory can help us understand that shame loops within couple relationships may not only be triggered by negative cues, such as criticism from a partner but can also innocently be triggered by a partner seeking connection or even offering comfort. We also elaborate on how therapists may unexpectedly trigger and intensify a client's shame. We conclude by providing a case description and discussing the therapeutic implications that can be helpful when working with the paradoxes of shame in couple therapy.
... Internal systems prepared to serve external customers are required to obtain sustainable external customer support in businesses. These interconnected internal systems add value to each other within the organisation [16]. Considering employees' opinions seen as internal customers in organisations [9] is necessary for organisations that want to provide customer value to understand their importance in creating customer satisfaction. ...
Adopting the relationship marketing approach in health institutions and evaluating the weights of its dimensions will benefit the effectiveness of marketing strategies. This study aimed to determine the critical levels of relationship marketing orientation components in private health institutions using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). In the study, relationship marketing orientation was evaluated according to six criteria in line with the opinions of five experts for employees and 20 people who previously benefited from health services for their customers. As a result, the criterion with the highest priority value was communication with 0.259, and the best health company A. Furthermore, the AHP method results were compared with TOPSIS, EDAS, and CODAS methods. In addition, the Spearman Correlation method was used to determine the correlation between the results.
... Models of social phobia (Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) include (1) evaluations of self by self and self "as may appear in the eyes of others"; (2) concerns with falling short of standards; (3) attentional and information processing biases; (4) raised sensitivity to internal arousal cues; and (5) clear behavioural dispositions for avoidance and escape. It remains unclear if some or all these are specific to social anxiety, or whether they are relevant to all pathologies where there is a significant shame component (Gilbert, 2000). ...
... 602). Thus, social threat in the form of social anxiety is thought to motivate the preservation or enhancement of social standing among one's peers and the avoidance of behaviour that may diminish it (Anderson, Hildreth, & Howland, 2015;Gilbert, 2000). ...
Moral judgements are often believed to be firmly grounded in rational thought. However, scholars have discovered that moral considerations are responsive to individual and contextual factors, such as contamination and disease threats. Indeed, the role of disgust and disease threats on amplifying judgements of moral wrongdoing has been widely investigated. Likewise, there may be other forms of threat that similarly fortify condemnation across multiple domains of morality. To explore this possibility, I conducted three lines of research, as reported in Chapters 2 through 4 of this thesis. I hypothesized that worry about contracting an illness in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, heightened risk perception as a consequence of senescence, and the presence or prospect of social exclusion would lead individuals to rate moral transgressions as more objectionable. In Chapter 2, I examined whether individual differences in concern about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic were associated with stricter judgements of moral wrongdoing across the five moral foundations of harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/degradation. Results showed that from March-May of 2020, individuals who were more worried about a previously unknown type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and contracting the associated COVID-19 disease were harsher in their evaluations of unrelated moral wrongdoing, relative to individuals who were less worried. Results held when controlling for political orientation, suggesting fear of illness was driving the effect, rather than ideological beliefs. Moreover, there was suggestive evidence that moral condemnation intensified across the time periods tested, perhaps as a function of prolonged exposure to the risk of contracting a potentially deadly communicable illness. Building on these findings concerning the relationship between physical threats and moral verdicts, Chapter 3 reports results from multiple large cross-sectional panel surveys, namely nine rounds European Social Survey and seven waves of the World Values Survey, which suggest that relative to younger adults, older adults hold stricter views about the moral domains of authority, purity, and fairness. Results held after controlling for political orientation and income. In a follow-up study on the online testing platform Prolific, older adults rated moral violations to be more objectionable than younger adults. This relationship between age and moral condemnation was mediated by risk perception, such that older adults reported higher sensitivity to risk across a number of domains, which in turn was associated with stricter moral judgements. In sum, findings were consistent with the hypothesis that threats, in this case in the form of older age and senescence, are associated with stricter moral judgements. Shifting to a different form of threat, in Chapter 4 I report findings from three studies investigating how the presence of, and sensitivity to, social exclusion is tied to stricter moral judgements. In two studies, findings revealed an indirect effect: social exclusion reduced the fundamental social needs of belonging, self-esteem, sense of control, and meaningful existence, which in turn was associated with fortified moral judgements. The indirect effect was especially pronounced for harm violations, suggesting a heightened fear of immediate personal danger in response to social exclusion. Alongside these experimental findings, a correlational study revealed a striking effect size for the relationship between social anxiety and moral condemnation, with similar associations across each of five moral content domains. Taken together, results suggest that both the experience of, and sensitivity to, social threat is associated with heightened condemnation of moral infractions. Consistent results from these three lines of work suggest that physical and social threats help to explain and predict moral judgements in response to subjective considerations of safety and well-being.
... They want to emulate the admired influencer and aspire to be like him [11]. Gilbert [12] states that social comparison is distinguished up and down. Upward social comparison is like comparing yourself with other people who are considered better in certain respects. ...
... Mais il est étonnant de voir, à quelques exceptions, que les recherches sur l'anxiété de performance ne ciblent pas ces émotions (Coşkun-Şentürk, Çırakoğlu, 2018;Partridge et Wiggins, 2008). La fonction normale de la honte, c'est-à-dire la protection du lien d'un individu avec un groupe de filiation en fonction des règles de ce groupe (Candea et Tatar, 2018;Gilbert, 2000), met en évidence à quel point l'anxiété de performance comprend une composante interpersonnelle et sociale. Ainsi, il serait intéressant de recourir davantage à la perspective de la sociologie pour avoir une vision encore plus large de la composante sociale du phénomène. ...
... The hypothesis that shame's adaptive function is to mitigate the threat of devaluation can explain many published findings on shame. For instance, being devalued causes people pain (McDonald & Leary, 2005;Eisenberger, 2012); people generally avoid actions that could exacerbate devaluation (De Hooge, Breugelmans, & Zeelenberg, 2008;Fehr & Gächter, 2000); among students and depressed patients, shame proneness correlates with perceptions of low status and submissive behavior (Gilbert, 2000a); people tend to hide reputationally damaging information (Rockenbach & Milinski, 2011;Sznycer, Schniter, Tooby, & Cosmides, 2015); and when other people discover reputationally damaging information about them, shamed individuals withdraw (Leach & Cidam, 2015), appease those who know it (Keltner, Young, & Buswell, 1997), and apologize to them (Schniter, Sheremeta, & Sznycer, 2013). Furthermore, shame is exacerbated when failing at easy (vs. ...
The shame system appears to be natural selection's solution to the adaptive problem of information-triggered reputational damage. Over evolutionary time, this problem would have led to a coordinated set of adaptations—the shame system—designed to minimize the spread of negative information about the self and the likelihood and costs of being socially devalued by others. This information threat theory of shame can account for much of what we know about shame and generate precise predictions. Here, we analyze the behavioral configuration that people adopt stereotypically when ashamed—slumped posture, downward head tilt, gaze avoidance, inhibition of speech—in light of shame's hypothesized function. This behavioral configuration may have differentially favored its own replication by ( i ) hampering the transfer of information (e.g., diminishing audiences’ tendency to attend to or encode identifying information: shame camouflage ) and/or ( ii ) evoking less severe devaluative responses from audiences (shame display ). The shame display hypothesis has received considerable attention and empirical support, whereas the shame camouflage hypothesis has to our knowledge not been advanced or tested. We elaborate on this hypothesis and suggest directions for future research on the shame pose.
... In addition, we hypothesized that social anxiety was related to subjective socioeconomic status, based on prior research which showed that social anxiety leads to feelings of inferiority (Gilbert, 2000) and to more negative self-appraisal in social comparison contexts (Mitchell & Schmidt, 2014). However, social anxiety was not related to subjective socioeconomic status in Model B. One possible explanation is related to the inclusion of trait anxiety in the model. ...
Background and Objectives
The aim was to examine the role of attentional control as a psychological factor involved in socioeconomic status-related mental health differences, and specifically in social anxiety. Based on the literature on socioeconomic status differences in cognitive abilities and attentional control theory, we hypothesized that attentional control would account for the relation between socioeconomic status and social anxiety. We tested this hypothesis in an integrative model also including trait anxiety and subjective socioeconomic status.
Design
Cross-sectional.
Method
Online, 439 French adults were recruited via social media. They completed self-reported measures of attentional control, objective socioeconomic status, subjective socioeconomic status, social anxiety, and trait anxiety.
Results
Using Structural Equation Modelling, findings showed a positive association between objective (but not subjective) socioeconomic status and attentional control, which in turn was related to social anxiety. Exploratory analyses showed that only income, as objective socioeconomic status indicator, was associated with attentional control.
Conclusions
The current study is the first to support that low socioeconomic status individuals report less attentional control and more social anxiety symptoms. This suggests that attentional control is a psychological factor involved in social anxiety inequalities.
... However, despite the advantages and link to particular genes, gratitude might equally simply be a side effect of changes in affective and cognitive empathy occurring for other reasons. Other complex social emotions, such as shame, do not even seem to serve even a useful function, with feelings of shame strongly associated with depression and motivating an unhelpful withdrawal from relationships (Gilbert 2000). ...
In Hidden Depths, Professor Penny Spikins explores how our emotional connections have shaped human ancestry. Focusing on three key transitions in human origins, Professor Spikins explains how the emotional capacities of our early ancestors evolved in response to ecological changes, much like similar changes in other social mammals. For each transition, dedicated chapters examine evolutionary pressures, responses in changes in human emotional capacities and the archaeological evidence for human social behaviours. Starting from our earliest origins, in Part One, Professor Spikins explores how after two million years ago, movement of human ancestors into a new ecological niche drove new types of collaboration, including care for vulnerable members of the group. Emotional adaptations lead to cognitive changes, as new connections based on compassion, generosity, trust and inclusion also changed our relationship to material things. Part Two explores a later key transition in human emotional capacities occurring after 300,000 years ago. At this time changes in social tolerance allowed ancestors of our own species to further reach out beyond their local group and care about distant allies, making human communities resilient to environmental changes. An increasingly close relationship to animals, and even to cherished possessions, appeared at this time, and can be explained through new human vulnerabilities and ways of seeking comfort and belonging. Lastly, Part Three focuses on the contrasts in emotional dispositions arising between ourselves and our close cousins, the Neanderthals. Neanderthals are revealed as equally caring yet emotionally different humans, who might, if things had been different, have been in our place today. This new narrative breaks away from traditional views of human evolution as exceptional or as a linear progression towards a more perfect form. Instead, our evolutionary history is situated within similar processes occurring in other mammals, and explained as one in which emotions, rather than ‘intellect’, were key to our evolutionary journey. Moreover, changes in emotional capacities and dispositions are seen as part of differing pathways each bringing strengths, weaknesses and compromises. These hidden depths provide an explanation for many of the emotional sensitivities and vulnerabilities which continue to influence our world today.
... However, despite the advantages and link to particular genes, gratitude might equally simply be a side effect of changes in affective and cognitive empathy occurring for other reasons. Other complex social emotions, such as shame, do not even seem to serve even a useful function, with feelings of shame strongly associated with depression and motivating an unhelpful withdrawal from relationships (Gilbert 2000). ...
In Hidden Depths, Professor Penny Spikins explores how our emotional connections have shaped human ancestry. Focusing on three key transitions in human origins, Professor Spikins explains how the emotional capacities of our early ancestors evolved in response to ecological changes, much like similar changes in other social mammals. For each transition, dedicated chapters examine evolutionary pressures, responses in changes in human emotional capacities and the archaeological evidence for human social behaviours. Starting from our earliest origins, in Part One, Professor Spikins explores how after two million years ago, movement of human ancestors into a new ecological niche drove new types of collaboration, including care for vulnerable members of the group. Emotional adaptations lead to cognitive changes, as new connections based on compassion, generosity, trust and inclusion also changed our relationship to material things. Part Two explores a later key transition in human emotional capacities occurring after 300,000 years ago. At this time changes in social tolerance allowed ancestors of our own species to further reach out beyond their local group and care about distant allies, making human communities resilient to environmental changes. An increasingly close relationship to animals, and even to cherished possessions, appeared at this time, and can be explained through new human vulnerabilities and ways of seeking comfort and belonging. Lastly, Part Three focuses on the contrasts in emotional dispositions arising between ourselves and our close cousins, the Neanderthals. Neanderthals are revealed as equally caring yet emotionally different humans, who might, if things had been different, have been in our place today. This new narrative breaks away from traditional views of human evolution as exceptional or as a linear progression towards a more perfect form. Instead, our evolutionary history is situated within similar processes occurring in other mammals, and explained as one in which emotions, rather than ‘intellect’, were key to our evolutionary journey. Moreover, changes in emotional capacities and dispositions are seen as part of differing pathways each bringing strengths, weaknesses and compromises. These hidden depths provide an explanation for many of the emotional sensitivities and vulnerabilities which continue to influence our world today.
... The social rank theory suggests that the parent-child relationship is a strong bond, and although the attachment theory focuses on the lack of emotional warmth or interference and control from the parents, the social rank theory focuses more on the threats of having a low rank and and submissive behavior (Gilbert et al., 2003). According to the social rank theory, children who are afraid of their parents and forced into involuntary and unwanted submissive situations are likely to adopt submissive behaviors and defenses arising from fear, inhibited assertive behavior, withdrawal in the face of challenges, consolation of others, weak productive behavior or weak directive behavior in social encounters and a low positive affection, and are likely more prone to depression, social anxiety and shame (Gilbert, 2000a;Gilbert et al., 2002;Sloman & Atkinson, 2000;Gilbert, 2000b). ...
Studies have shown that early life events affect physiological, psychological and social functioning and are related to a wide range of psychological problems in adulthood. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Early Life Events Scale (ELES) based on the Item Response Theory (IRT) and the Classical Theory of Measurement in an Iranian population. The participants consisted of 400 students of universities in Tehran at all academic levels. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were used to assess the construct validity of the ELES. Three factors were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis, and the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the accuracy of the extracted factors. As the Cronbach's alpha coefficient always underestimates the reliability value, the ordinal theta and R software were used to assess the reliability of the scale and the results showed that the scale has a good reliability. To evaluate the accuracy of the items, determine their strengths and weaknesses and ultimately assess their quality and remove inappropriate items, the scale items were analyzed based on the IRT and the Classical Theory of Measurement using MULTILOG; the results showed that all the items are of a good quality in terms of threshold values (credibility), informative value and accuracy and that no items need to be changed or removed.
... It may be that more prenatal stress may propel a pregnant woman to be more aware of her pregnancy, her current support networks, and who she can turn to help her cope when the baby is born. As the focus of external shame is on the otherwhereas internal shame is on the self -pregnant women with more external shame may be focused on displaying desirable qualities to source support for her now, and for when her baby is born [39,81,82]. As the pregnant women is focused on other people, she may turn this externally focused attention towards her baby who, in turn, responds to the mother displaying enjoyment in the interaction [10,69]. ...
Positive perceptions of pregnancy are associated with better postpartum outcomes, including stronger relationship with baby. Although better self-reported emotional availability (EA-SR) is associated with greater attachment security with infants, research has not yet explored the relationship between prenatal maternal factors and EA-SR. The aim of the study was to explore the associations between prenatal variables (adult attachment, shame, compassion) and EA-SR at 3- and 6-months postpartum. A cross-sectional survey design based on a convenience sample of pregnant Australian women completed the survey at three time points: pregnancy (3rd trimester, n = 133), and again at 3- (n = 65) and 6-months (n = 40) postpartum. Five, 5-step, hierarchical multiple regressions revealed the model (mean maternal age/prenatal attachment/shame/compassion/psychological adjustment) significantly explained 62% in self-reported maternal hostility, 53% in self-reported child involvement, and 52% in self-reported mutual attunement, at 6-months postpartum. Higher levels of prenatal internal shame were related to less self-reported child involvement (p = 0.04), and more self-reported maternal hostility (p = 0.03), at 3-months postpartum. More prenatal giving compassion was associated with better self-reported affect quality at 3- (p = 0.01) and 6-months postpartum (p = 0.01), and less self-reported hostility (p = 0.02) at 6-months postpartum. Greater understanding of the relationship between prenatal factors and EA-SR may help enhance prenatal care pathways to support women and families at risk of adverse postpartum outcomes.
... Aggression, apathy, and other social conditions can be reflected through models of animals that live in groups. In the wild, these animals form social hierarchies to ensure the group's survival [43,44]. The approaches by these animals to assert social rank and express dominance and subordination have been well studied in a variety of disciplines [45]. ...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people worldwide, many of whom are affected with post-TBI mood disorders or behavioral changes, including aggression or social withdrawal. Diminished functionality can persist for decades after TBI and delay rehabilitation and resumption of employment. It has been established that there is a relationship between these mental disorders and brain injury. However, the etiology and causal relationships behind these conditions are poorly understood. Rodent models provide a helpful tool for researching mood disorders and social impairment due to their natural tendencies to form social hierarchies. Here, we present a rat model of mental complications after TBI using a suite of behavioral tests to examine the causal relationships between changes in social behavior, including aggressive, hierarchical, depressive, and anxious behavior. For this purpose, we used multivariate analysis to identify causal relationships between the above post-TBI psychiatric sequelae. We performed statistical analysis using principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, and correlation analysis, and built a model to predict dominant-submissive behavior based on the behavioral tests. This model displayed a predictive accuracy of 93.3% for determining dominant-submissive behavior in experimental groups. Machine learning algorithms determined that in rats, aggression is not a principal prognostic factor for dominant-submissive behavior. Alternatively, dominant-submissive behavior is determined solely by the rats’ depressive-anxious state and exploratory activity. We expect the causal approach used in this study will guide future studies into mood conditions and behavioral changes following TBI.
... This study, unlike previous research hereof, focused on the second category of early childhood experiences in people with social anxiety. As Gilbert's psycho-evolutionary perspective (Gilbert, 2000;Gilbert & Trower, 2001) explains, feelings of shame, inferiority and deficiency experienced in childhood come to be internalized as autobiographical schemas that lead the individual with social anxiety to perceive the social world in terms of hierarchies, and the self as ranking low and being inferior to others with the likelihood of losing social status and being socially excluded. That is, in social situations, individuals who have experienced shame and invalidation in childhood recall autobiographical shame memories which then activate a shame-based cognitive-affective schema. ...
"Introduction: Recently emotion-focused therapy has developed as an additional approach and considers the role of primary emotions such as shame in the formation and persistence of SAD. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the theoretical model of emotion-focused therapy for SAD by considering the role of early negative memories, humiliation and the mediating role of self-defectiveness/shame schema in the etiology of SAD. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study recruited a sample of 105 students, 44 males (41.9%) 61 females (58.1%), diagnosed with SAD by psychologists from Shahid Beheshti University Counseling Center. Participants ranging in age from 18 to 34 with a mean age of 23.1 years (SD=3.5) completed the Social Phobia Inventory, Humiliation Inventory, Early Life Experiences Scale, Defectiveness /Shame Schema subscale of the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form. Results: Data were analyzed using SmartPLS-SEM. The results showed that early childhood experiences and humiliation significantly predict SAD. Also, the indirect effects of the independent variables through defectiveness/shame schema on SAD were significant. Conclusions: Consistent with the assumptions of the emotion-focused approach to SAD, these results confirm that early life experiences and humiliation with the development of shame schemes play an important role in the etiology of SAD and must be considered for therapy to be effective. The results of this study suggest that the components of the emotion-focused model can have therapeutic value as targets of intervention in randomized clinical trials."
... For instance, in a disengaged family environment, suppressing or avoiding intense emotions can be an adaptive way of dealing with emotional arousal, given that openly expressed emotions might be ignored or even punished (Repetti et al., 2002;Southam-Gerow & Kendall, 2002). Shame is further considered to be a social emotion, which according to evolutionary psychologists is used to establish social hierarchies (Gilbert, 2000). It is thus possible that in accordance with FST, shame serves the function of establishing and maintaining the family hierarchy and homeostasis (Loader, 1998). ...
... Gilbert's (1989) evolutionary model suggests that the potential for compassion evolved with the affiliative system that is linked to the attachment system. CFT is underpinned by social mentality theory (SMT), which states that different mental states not only organize our minds but also shape our relationships (Gilbert, 1989(Gilbert, , 2000(Gilbert, , 2005. Both care seeking and care giving social mentalities are activated when one is relating to others (e.g., a crying child and a comforting mother), but can also be activated when relating to the self. ...
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, i.e., psilocybin treatment with psychological support, has demonstrated the efficacy of psilocybin to reduce depressive symptoms. However, in clinical trials, the structure of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is primarily based on preparation, navigation (support during dosing sessions), and integration. For psychotherapeutic guidance, the application of this structure is favored over the usage of theoretical models. The applied psychotherapeutic models may be of critical importance if the effects are augmented due to the psychologically insightful experiences during the navigation and integration sessions. One of the important next steps is to provide therapists with guidance on how to provide psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. We present an integrated protocol for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for depression based on the theoretical model and psychotherapeutic framework of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). We hypothesize that CFT can provide the theoretical model and compassion practices that will reinforce the experiences during the navigation and follow-up therapy sessions. In this paper, we describe the rationale for selecting CFT, the compatibility of CFT and psilocybin-therapy, an overview of the psilocybin-assisted CFT protocol, the study protocol, and limitations to this approach.
... Stigma is a mark of shame and disapproval resulting in an individual being rejected, discriminated against, and excluded from society [20]. People who have a characteristic that others discriminated (e.g., SUDs) will recognize themselves as inferior to others (of low social ranking) according to social rank theory [21]. Comparing to other mental illnesses, the general public holds a more serious stigma against people with SUDs [22], as they regard people with SUDs as violent and dangerous [23]. ...
Background
Although some psychological processes, such as stigma and self-efficacy, affect the complicated relationship between social support and depressive symptoms, few studies explored a similar psychological mechanism among individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs). Hence, this research investigates the mediating effects of stigma and the moderating effects of self-efficacy among the psychological mechanism that social support affects depressive symptoms.
Methods
The study included 1040 Chinese participants with SUDs and completed a series of self-report questionnaires. R software was used to organize and clean up data sets and analyze mediation and moderation effects.
Results
The result showed that stigma partially mediated depressive symptoms, while self-efficacy moderated this relationship. More specifically, less social support increased depression symptoms by bringing about higher stigma. Besides, subjects with higher self-efficacy are less susceptible to stigma and therefore have mild depressive symptoms. Furthermore, clinical and theoretical implications are discussed in our study.
Conclusions
Chinese SUDs patients’ depressive symptoms were indirectly affected by perceived social support via stigma and less affected by stigma with improved self-efficacy. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
... Possessing an attribute or engaging in acts which threaten one's social standing and attractiveness within the larger group historically could have threatened one's survival if one was ostracized and left to fend for oneself. Typical behavioral responses to shame such as avoiding eye contact and withdrawal can be viewed as defensive behaviors designed to avoid interpersonal conflict and the ire of others which might otherwise risk possible exclusion or rejection (Gilbert, 1997(Gilbert, , 2000. While the pain experienced from shame can therefore perform maladaptive functions of withdrawal from valued activities and social connections, the experience may, in particular contexts, also have an adaptive function (Taylor, 2015) of keeping one's behavior in line with socially acceptable norms. ...
Self-stigma and shame are overlapping experiences that can have significant negative effects on many areas of life. This systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based and third wave interventions in addressing self-stigma and shame and the impact of these interventions have on psychosocial functioning areas including community participation, quality of life, wellbeing, vocational achievement, help-seeking behavior, relationships and psychological health. Adverse effects were also reviewed. A search was completed using six electronic databases, two trial registries, contact with subject matter experts and a hand search of reference lists of included studies to identify randomized controlled trials of relevant studies. Twenty nine studies were included in the review, comprising 2051 participants, the majority of whom identified as female (73.4%), white and adults less than 40 years of age. Most studies took place in North American or European countries. The majority of studies were assessed as having high risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Caution is therefore advised in interpretation. Results suggested that interventions aiming to enhance self-compassion or those based on acceptance and commitment therapy may have particular utility in addressing self-stigma and shame. Mindfulness-based and third wave interventions may also have a positive impact on quality of life and aspects of psychological health. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
... As social animals, some of the most important threats to humans are those that operate in the social realm, for example, threats of social devaluation, rejection, and isolation. As Gilbert (97) points out, while the threat for most animals is aggression, for humans it is "more commonly related to loss of acceptance and approval" (p. 175). ...
The pathways from trauma—via dissociation—to psychosis have been thoroughly tested and evidenced, but what has received less attention has been the social pathways—via dissociation—to psychosis. Often social factors are more commonly linked to other influences, e.g., to appraisals and the creation of negative schema in cognitive models, or to unsupportive caregiving experiences where there is high “expressed emotion.” However, evidence is now emerging that negative social rank experiences, such as being excluded or shamed, may themselves have dissociative properties, which poses intriguing questions as to how trauma pathways and social pathways might interact. This article reviews the state of knowledge in trauma and social pathways to psychosis and then considers the potential mechanisms and the relationships between them, specifically (i) dissociation, (ii) attachment, and (iii) social rank. Recommendations are suggested for future modeling and testing of three-way interactions (dissociation × attachment × social rank) in the pathway from trauma to psychosis.
Purpose: This study consolidates core theories pertaining to social comparison, particularly upward comparison, impulsive buying behavior and notions associated with social characteristics such as envy, self-esteem, negative mood, depression and self-efficacy. At the same time, provide hypotheses and study models connected to the impact of social comparison on negative psychology and impulsive purchase behavior of customers in Vietnam. Method: Furthermore, this subject employed qualitative research methods such as group discussions and in-depth interviews with experts to reach a consensus on the definition of components, as well as to refine and enhance the measuring scales used to assess these factors. Subsequently, establish a foundation for carrying out initial quantitative investigation in order to finalize the official questionnaire, and subsequently proceed with the official quantitative study. A representative survey was conducted with a sample size of 647 customers who utilize social networks and engage in online shopping on e-commerce platforms. The study was conducted in major cities in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue, Can Tho and Bien Hoa. Result: Experimental research results have indicated that upward social comparison has a negative influence on self-esteem but a favorable impact on envy and negative mood. Simultaneously, increased self-esteem decreases depression and impulsive buying tendencies, whereas feelings of envy and negative mood have a beneficial effect. Conclusion: Additionally, the research findings demonstrate the influence of self-efficacy as a moderator and dedepression as a mediator. These findings provide a foundation for the researcher to suggest managerial recommendations for organizations to enhance client purchasing behavior.
Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of solutionfocused approach and compassion-focused therapy on emotional cognitive regulation and post-traumatic stress disorder in female-headed households. Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental having pre-test and posttest with a control group. The statistical population included female-headed households who referred to the Welfare Center of Tehran province in 2021. Thirty-six female-headed households were selected through simple random sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of 12 (two experimental groups and one control group). The research instruments were Mississippi (2006) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale and Garnfsky, Grich & Spinhaven (2002) Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Participants in the experimental group received Grant’s (2011) Solution-focused counseling sessions and Gilbert’s (2010) Compassionate Therapy sessions, both for 8 sessions. In addition to descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance and Benferoni pair comparison were used to analyze the data Findings: The results of data analysis showed that the differences between the three groups in the variables of adaptive emotion regulation (F=30.61, P <0.001), uncompromising emotion regulation (F=22.73, P<0.001) and post-traumatic stress disorder (F=37.45, P <0.001), is significant. There is no significant difference between solution-focused therapy and compassion-focused therapy on the regulation of compromised emotion and post-traumatic stress disorder, but there is a significant difference in the noncompromised variable. Conclusion: The findings of this study shows that solution-focused therapy and compassion-focused therapy were both effective in improving cognitive emotion regulation and stress disorder (PTSD), and of the two approaches can be used to reduce emotional regulation and post-traumatic stress disorder in female-headed Households.
Awareness of mental health has been increasing rapidly worldwide in recent years, and even more so since the outbreak of COVID-19. Depression is now regarded as one of the most debilitating diseases, and wellbeing is incorporated into the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In order for all of us to have a happy life, mental health cannot be ignored. As announced by the UK government, our health cannot be achieved without good mental health. Likewise, in Asia, the word ‘health (健康)’ in Chinese and Japanese encompasses both a healthy body and a calm mind. The Japanese government has implemented a work-style reform to protect employees’mental health. While these movements suggest the importance of mental health worldwide, a universal definition of mental health remains to be defined. This is partly attributed to a lack of understanding of mental health from different cultures. How an individual regards mental health can differ significantly according to their culture. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to address this problem by introducing alternative views to mental health through discussion of cross-cultural psychiatric matters.
The present paper focuses on a new phenomenon in psychological sciences. Bullying can also refer to power-imbalances between two or more persons and between two organizations. Harassment is not limited to a single school or location. In this paper, Bullying is the subject of one of Shakespeare's historical plays, Richard III, in which his complete competence as a dramatist emerges in his description of the protagonist character's collapse. Heaven is another example of bullying. Kawakami's inexhaustible ability is exposed in this text. Heaven depicts teenage anguish in an honest, brutal, and sympathetic way. The paper follows the comparative approach in dealing with this them as it compares between the selected texts. It starts with an introduction to the subject which is followed by a discussion and it ends with a conclusion that sums up the findings.
La Organización Mundial de la Salud define a la salud como el estado de bienestar que permite afrontar estrés, trabajar productivamente y contribuir a la comunidad; pero anualmente reporta alta afectación a la salud en el ámbito laboral. El objetivo del estudio es describir la relación entre indicadores de trabajo digno y decente, derrota social y suicidalidad en la población colombiana. Los resultados indican que gran parte de los participantes cuentan con acceso a educación, empleo, seguridad social, alta percepción de oportunidades, aporte a la sociedad, posibilidad de mejora en calidad de vida, baja percepción de derrota social y riesgo de suicidio. Sin embargo, pocos cuentan con contrato a término indefinido, tiempo para actividades deportivas o recreativas, consideran salario insuficiente para la calidad de vida, no tienen espacio para diálogo de condiciones laborales y han sido víctimas o testigos de maltrato laboral. Hubo relación entre derrota social y suicidalidad con situación laboral o académica, remuneración salarial insuficiente para calidad de vida, no contar con espacio para diálogo y discusión de condiciones y actividades laborales y haber sido víctima o testigo de mobbing u otra situación de maltrato laboral.
Effective influence management during advice-giving requires individuals to express confidence in the advice properly and switch timely between the 'competitive' strategy and the 'defensive' strategy. However, how advisers switch between these two strategies, and whether and why there exist individual differences during this process remain elusive. We used an advice-giving game that manipulated incentive contexts (Incentivized/Non-Incentivized) to induce the adviser's confidence expression strategy switching and measured the brain activities of adviser and advisee concurrently using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Behaviorally, we observed individual differences in strategy switching. Some advisers applied the 'defensive' strategy when incentivized and the 'competitive' strategy when not incentivized, while others applied the 'competitive' strategy when incentivized and the 'defensive' strategy when not incentivized. This effect was mediated by the adviser's perceived stress in each condition and was reflected by the frequencies of advice-taking in the advisees. Neurally, brain activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) supported strategy switching, as well as interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) that supported influence management. This two-in-one process, i.e., confidence expression strategy switching and the corresponding influence management, was linked and modulated by the strength of DLPFC-TPJ functional connectivity in the adviser. We further developed a descriptive model that contributed to understanding the adviser's strategy switching during influence management.
The present mixed methods study examined the relationship of three constructs within applied linguistics, namely, shame, guilt, and grit among Iranian EFL learners. By considering the principles of positive psychology, the authors tried to determine the existence of any significant association between the variables. In this vein, 263 Iranian students aged between 13 to 18 participated in the study and filled out the questionnaires. Analyses of the data revealed strong negative relatedness between shame and the other two variables, while the learners’ guilt and grit were found to be positively correlated. Expanding the quantitative results, the authors utilized a grounded theory approach and interviewed 30 students to further investigate the shame-inducing factors in L2 classroom and the analyses signaled that the ashamed learners suffer from internal and external shame-provokers. Attending to shame and other negative feelings would possibly reduce the learners’ shame and stress, help them progress in learning and enhance their well-being.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan bahwa dalam cerita rakyat Indonesia khususnya dalam cerita Si Kelingking, Bujang Katak dan I Tui Tuing terdapat konsep self-love sebagai pendidikan karakter. Self-love merupakan konsep mencintai diri sendiri dan menghargai pendapat orang lain. Individu yang mampu self-love sebelumnya telah melalui self-acceptance dan self-esteem. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif dengan pengaplikasian melalui pengumpulan data dan analisi data. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa dalam cerita rakyat Indonesia tersebut tokoh memiliki self-love karena telah menerima dirinya dan memiliki harga diri yang tinggi yang tidak mengakibatkan dirinya menjadi narsisistik. Pencapaian tokoh memiliki self-love didukung pula oleh masyarakat dan keluarga.Kata kunci: self-love, self-acceptance, self-esteem, cerita rakyat.
Research has repeatedly demonstrated that individual and group psychotherapy are equally effective. Compassion‐focused therapy (CFT) has been shown to be an effective approach to treating individuals with a wide range of presenting mental health concerns. In this study, we discuss the basic tenets of CFT and introduce a 12‐module CFT group psychotherapy approach for college counseling centers. We use a clinical vignette to provide an example of how psychotherapists may implement this approach. We then discuss clinical applications, including strengths and limitations of this approach.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent health conditions in the world, characterised by persistent low mood and disruption to education, relationships, and employment. Disruption to social functioning is a core feature of MDD, and this dimension of the disorder may offer valuable insight into its aetiology. This thesis aims to extend our understanding of social processing in MDD by testing hypotheses generated from a socio-evolutionary theoretical framework of MDD, with particular emphasis on the Social Risk Hypothesis of Depressed Mood, which conceptualises depressed mood as an adaptive response to elevated risk of social exclusion. The thesis pursues these aims utilising novel protocols and neuroeconomic games to examine social risk-taking and self-discrepancies, and by examining the role of regions of the physical pain network in social function and processing of unexpected social information. The thesis consists of nine chapters; one general methodology chapter (Chapter 3), five chapters detailing novel experimental studies (Chapters 4,5,6,7 and 8), one describing a reanalysis of existing data (Chapter 2), one introductory chapter and one discussion chapter (Chapters 1 and 9 respectively). Across these chapters, the thesis presents neural and behavioural evidence that MDD is associated with reduced social risk-taking, increased sensitivity to an exclusion-relevant context (in-group interactions) and stronger enforcement of social norms. The thesis presents neural evidence of a negative processing bias for self-discrepancies in MDD, linked to activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula, and suggesting a role for perfectionism as a transdiagnostic sensitivity to such discrepancies. Suggestions for future research are discussed, including increased utilisation of neuroeconomic games, particularly in relation to assessing social function as a transdiagnostic marker. Overall, the thesis provides support for socio-evolutionary frameworks of affect, and highlights their unique perspective for understanding affective disorders, with some ‘deficits’ usefully reconceptualised as adaptive mechanisms.
Reliance on mutual aid is a distinctive characteristic of human biology. Consequently, a central adaptive problem for our ancestors was the potential or actual spread of reputationally damaging information about the self – information that would decrease the inclination of other group members to render assistance. The emotion of shame appears to be the solution engineered by natural selection to defend against this threat. The existing evidence suggests that shame is a neurocomputational program that orchestrates various elements of the cognitive architecture in the service of (i) deterring the individual from making choices wherein the personal benefits are exceeded by the prospective costs of being devalued by others, (ii) preventing negative information about the self from reaching others, and (iii) minimizing the adverse effects of social devaluation when it occurs. The flow of costs (e.g., punishment) and benefits (e.g., income, aid during times of hardship) in human societies is regulated to an important extent by this interlinked psychology of social evaluation and shame (as well as other social emotions). For example, the intensity of shame that laypeople express at the prospect of committing each of various offenses closely matches the intensity of the actual offense-specific punishments called for by criminal laws, including modern laws and ancient laws that are millennia old. Because shame, like pain, causes personal suffering and sometimes leads to hostile behavior, shame has been termed a “maladaptive” and “ugly” emotion. However, an evolutionary psychological analysis suggests that the shame system is elegantly designed to deter injurious choices and make the best of a bad situation.
Proposes an integrative theoretical framework for studying psychological aspects of incentive relationships. During the time that an incentive is behaviorally salient, an organism is especially responsive to incentive-related cues. This sustained sensitivity requires postulating a continuing state (denoted by a construct, current concern) with a definite onset (commitment) and offset (consummation or disengagement). Disengagement follows frustration, accompanies the behavioral process of extinction, and involves an incentive-disengagement cycle of invigoration, aggression, depression, and recovery. Depression is thus a normal part of disengagement that may be either adaptive or maladaptive for the individual but is probably adaptive for the species. Implications for motivation; etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of depression; drug use; and other social problem areas are discussed. (41/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
According to appeasement hypotheses, embarrassment should have a distinct nonverbal display that is more readily perceived when displayed by individuals from lower status groups. The evidence from 5 studies supported these two claims. The nonverbal behavior of embarrassment was distinct from a related emotion (amusement), resembled the temporal pattern of facial expressions of emotion, was uniquely related to self-reports of embarrassment, and was accurately identified by observers who judged the spontaneous displays of various emotions. Across the judgment studies, observers were more accurate and attributed more emotion to the embarrassment displays of female and African-American targets than those of male and Caucasian targets. Discussion focused on the universality and appeasement function of the embarrassment display. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study considers how judgements of relative social rank (inferior-superior) and shame may be related to interpersonal problems and psychopathology. Recall of parental care, overprotection, put-down/shaming and favouritism in relation to current perceptions of interpersonal problems and self-perceptions of shame and submissive behaviour were investigated. Findings suggest that perceptions of early experiences of put-down/shaming by parents and being a non-favoured child are salient variables in vulnerability to interpersonal problems and psychopathology-proneness.
Human Nature and Suffering is a profound comment on the human condition, from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Paul Gilbert explores the implications of humans as evolved social animals, suggesting that evolution has given rise to a varied set of social competencies, which form the basis of our personal knowledge and understanding. Gilbert shows how our primitive competencies become modified by experience - both satisfactorily and unsatisfactorily. He highlights how cultural factors may modify and activate many of these primitive competencies, leading to pathology proneness and behaviours that are collectively survival threatening. These varied themes are brought together to indicate how the social construction of self arises from the organization of knowledge encoded within the competencies. This Classic Edition features a new introduction from the author, bringing Gilbert’s early work to a new audience. The book will be of interest to clinicians, researchers and historians in the field of psychology.
The study used frequentist confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and Bayesian CFA (BCFA) (one-factor, two-factor, and bifactor models) for Peters, Sunderland, Andrews, Rapee, and Mattick's (2012) short form Social Anxiety Interaction Scale (SAIS) and Fergus, Valentiner, McGrath, Gier-Lonsway, and Kim's (2012) short form Social Phobia Scale (SPS) Short Forms. Participants (N = 200) were adults from the general community who completed the full version of SIAS and SPS measures. For the different models tested, CFA provided moderate support for the two-factor model for Peters et al.'s Short Forms. BCFA showed good support for the two-factor and bifactor models for Peters et al.'s Short Forms, with the bifactor model showing better fit. This bifactor model showed high internal consistency reliability and had a high amount of explained common variance for its general factor. The SIAS and SPS specific factors of the bifactor model showed almost negligible internal consistency reliabilities and explained common variances.
The role of bodily shame as a mediator between sexual or physical abuse and depression was investigated in a community sample of 101 women who had been followed for 8 years. In general, childhood and adult abuse were related to the occurrence of depression in the study period but when both were considered together, only adult abuse showed an independent association. However, childhood and adult abuse were both independently related to chronic or recurrent depression. Bodily shame was related to childhood abuse, and this association could not be accounted for by bodily dissatisfaction or low self-esteem. Bodily shame, but not childhood abuse, was related to chronic or recurrent depression when both factors were considered together and current depressive symptoms were controlled.
Anxiety disorders are characterised by distorted beliefs about the dangerousness of certain situations and/or internal stimuli. Why do such beliefs persist? Six processes (safety-seeking behaviours, attentional deployment, spontaneous imagery, emotional reasoning, memory processes and the nature of the threat representation) that could maintain anxiety-related negative beliefs are outlined and their empirical status is reviewed. Ways in which knowledge about maintenance processes has been used to develop focussed cognitive therapy programmes are described and evaluations of the effectiveness of such programmes are summarized. Finally, ways of identifying the effective ingredients in cognitive therapy programmes are discussed.
Behavior and experience are organized around the enjoyment and pursuit of incentives. During the time that an incentive is behaviorally salient, an organism is especially responsive to incentive-related cues. This sustained sensitivity requires postulating a continuing state (denoted by a construct, current concern) with a definite onset (commitment) and offset (consummation or disengagement). Disengagement follows frustration, accompanies the behavioral process of extinction, and involves an incentive-disengagement
cycle of invigoration, aggression, depression, and recovery.
Depression is thus a normal part of disengagement that may be either
adaptive or maladaptive for the individual but is probably adaptive for the species. The theory offers implications for motivation; etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of depression; drug use; and other social problem areas.
A sample of 70 women who had experienced marital violence were studied to assess degree of placing blame on self and on partner for violence. It was hypothesized that the focus of blame would change with marital circumstances and that different types of attributions for violence while in the violent relationship would be associated with different antecedent and outcome factors. Women currently living with violent partners reported the highest rate of self-blame, and women no longer living with such a partner reported a significant change from past self-blame to current partner-blame. Attributions while in the relationship fell into four categories; characterological self- and partner-blame, behavioral self-blame, and partners' situational response. Characterological self-blame was shown to be most highly associated with repeated physical or sexual abuse in childhood, lack of social support concerning the violence, and a high rate of depression once out of the relationship.
Objectives. Life-events that precede the onset of unipolar depression usually involve an appraisal of loss; recent research has shown that where these events are also appraised as humiliating or involving entrapment and defeat (the absence of a way forward or failure to reaffirm an identity) they are especially potent in triggering depression. Depression in schizophrenia has not been studied from the cognitive or psychosocial perspectives, probably because of its confused nosological status. In a previous study we showed that patients' perceived loss of control and entrapment by psychotic illness (e.g. by recurring relapse) was strongly linked to depression.
Design. In this study we follow up the original sample of 49 patients 2.5 years later to examine the hypotheses using more powerful prospective methodology. Two of the sample had died of natural causes and the remaining 47 agreed to be reinterviewed.
Method. We used the same measures of patients' appraisal of their illness and symptoms in terms of the extent to which they perceive it as embodying loss, humiliation and entrapment.
Results. It was found using multivariate analysis that perceived loss of autonomy and social role, particularly employment, were correlated with depression. The appraisal of entrapment in psychotic illness was found to have high cross-sectional and prospective predictive value independent of illness, symptom and treatment variables and was shown to be influenced by certain aspects of psychiatric treatment, particularly compulsory detention.
Conclusion. We propose that episodes of depression in schizophrenia are triggered by psychosis-related events (relapse, compulsory admission, residual voices, loss of job, etc.) that signify the inability to overcome the loss of a cherished personal goal or social role and thereby to affirm an identity. Implications for psychological therapy are discussed.
Amid the deleterious consequences of prolonged stress, there is tremendous variability in how readily various stressors provoke stress responses in different individuals. This review covers some of the underpinnings of such differences, heavily emphasizing adrenocortical secretion of glucocorticoids during stress, and responsiveness to psychological, rather than physical stressors. Psychological stress is shown to involve loss of control or of predictability, an absence of outlets for frustration, an absence of social support, and a perception of events worsening; some powerful studies show that the physiological and pathophysiological responses to identical physical stressors will vary dramatically as a result of manipulating some of those psychological variables. Those findings are then used to interpret a literature concerning differences in the stress response among individuals of different ranks among a variety of social animal species. In a broad manner, social dominance in a stable hierarchy, with its attendant psychological rewards, is associated with a more adaptive stress response, as measured by a number of physiological endpoints. However, considerable subtleties in this relationship exist, transcending the mere issue of rank. Instead, rank and its physiological correlates are sensitive to the society in which the rank occurs, the individual's experience of both that rank and that society, and personality factors that color the perception of external events. Finally, these primate studies are used to interpret data in the health psychology field concerning individual differences and coping mechanisms in humans.
It is proposed here that distorted views of self may arise and be maintained by certain social cognitions and perceptions. In particular, social comparison processes are identified as potentially important links between the social environment and evaluations of self. Social comparisons can provide much useful information to an individual, but under some circumstances, may also be very damaging. As such, several components of the social comparison process are identified to determine possible individual differences which may constitute a predisposition to chronic negative self-evaluations. Of particular importance are characteristics of the self which may render social comparisons a threatening activity. Also examined are the kinds of attributes or dimensions chosen for comparison, and the nature of the reference others selected. Preliminary evidence is then presented which suggests that depressed individuals, and individuals thought to be at increased risk for developing depressive symptoms, may exhibit differences along these social comparison dimensions. These differences are further discussed in terms of their potential role in maintaining negative self-evaluations in individuals already depressed, and in giving rise to negative self-evaluations in proposed at-risk individuals. Finally, a cognitive vulnerability model of depression is presented to highlight the potentially important role of social comparison processes in both the etiology and maintenance of depression.
In this theoretical paper, it is argued that social anxiety arises from the activation of an evolved mechanism for dealing with intra-species (conspecific) threat, a mechanism which has played a vital role in the evolution of social groups. A model is developed showing how this “agonic” mode of defense, working through the psychological systems of appraisal and coping, leads the socially anxious to perceive others as hostile dominants, to fear negative evaluation from them and to respond, at one level of the disorder, by appeasement and submissive behavior, and at a more severe level of the disorder, by more primitive actions such as escape or avoidance. A further theme put forward is that the socially anxious person appears unable to recruit another evolved mechanism for social relating called the “hedonic” mode, in which social groups are structured in terms of cooperation, equality, and mutual support. Some therapeutic implications of these concepts are explored.
We argue that social psychological and evolution theories can be combined to produce an adequate theory of social anxiety. From this combination we predict that the socially anxious utilize competitive schemata in social interaction whereas non-anxious people utilize cooperative schemata, with consequent differential effects on cognitions and emotions. These predictions were evaluated in an experiment in which two groups of students—12 high and 12 low scorers on the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale—engaged in a semi-naturalistic, mildly stressful interaction, after which they were asked to reconstruct their thoughts and feelings at points of ‘discomfort’ using video-aided recall. Anxious students evaluated themselves as subordinate, the confederate as dominant, thought he should take the lead, and blamed themselves for disruption in the conversation and experienced embarrassment. Non-anxious students in contrast evaluated themselves as more dominant than the confederate, thought the conversation should have been more reciprocal, and tended to blame the confederate for disruptions. The results were interpreted as providing qualified and preliminary support for the theory. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper describes the development of a social comparison scale using the semantic differential approach. It also explores the relationship between this social comparison scale and psychopathology. The dimensions of social comparison measured here are derived from evolution theory and focus primarily on judgements of social rank, judgements of relative attractiveness and judgements of group fit. The factor structure of the scale appears consistent with theoretical predictions. Evidence suggests that social rank and attractiveness dimensions may be more salient for a clinical group, while group fit judgements become less important.
The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales. The new scale was tested in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings. It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by pat terns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. Reliability, validity, and factor structure were similar across a wide variety of demographic characteristics in the general population samples tested. The scale should be a useful tool for epidemiologic studies of de pression.
This study of 35 depressed patients was designed to replicate findings from a community sample of a relationship between childhood abuse and bodily shame, and bodily shame and chronic or recurrent depression. In addition, we investigated whether characterological and behavioural shame would also be related to early abuse and depression course. The relation between bodily shame and childhood abuse was replicated. When the other types of shame were considered, bodily shame was the most powerful correlate of early abuse, with behavioural shame showing no relationship. However, all three types of shame appeared to be related to chronic or recurrent course of depression.
The relationship between shame measures, in particular the Other As Shamer Scale (OAS), and self-report measures of psychopathology was explored in a non-clinical population. Results indicate that beliefs about negative evaluations by others is associated with measures of clinical relevance. Additionally, shame scales which tap into global negative beliefs, including the OAS, are more strongly associated with measures of psychopathology than scales which focus on shame responses to specific events.
Reviews research on shyness within a framework that is organized in terms of the shy person's self-concept / begins by considering a three-component definition of shyness as revealed and the role of dysfunctional metacognition as the unifying theme in the experiences of shy people; examines the place of shyness in a multidimensional model of the structure, dynamics, and development of self-esteem;
discusses the private experience of shyness as revealed in self-concept processes such as expectancies, attributions, memories, self-consciousness, and self-presentational strategies; concludes with the implications of our review for future directions in theory, research, and treatment (PsycINFO Database Record). Springer acquired Plenum Publishing. [Cheek, J.M., & Melchior, L.A. (1990). Shyness, self-esteem, and self-consciousness. In H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook of social and evaluation anxiety (pp. 47-82). New York: Plenum.]
A recent cognitive model of social phobia which pays particular attention to the maintenance of the disorder is outlined. Within this model self-focused attention, safety behaviors, and selective retrieval strategies interact to prevent social phobics from disconfirming their negative beliefs about the way they appear to others. The model suggests specific clinical interventions which target each of the maintaining factors and which also address key interpersonal assumptions particular to this disorder. The successful 12-session cognitive application of this model to a 30-year-old woman with a 13-year history of the problem is described.
Discusses the interpersonal motivations associated with different levels of self-esteem (SE). Although SE refers to an intrapsychic attitude, SE scales often measure self-presentational orientation. High SE scores are associated with a tendency to present one's self in a self-enhancing fashion characterized by willingness to accept risks, focus on outstandingly good qualities, strategic ploys, and calling attention to one's self. Low SE scores are associated with a tendency to present one's self in a self-protective fashion characterized by unwillingness to accept risks, focus on avoiding outstandingly bad qualities, avoidance of strategic ploys, and reluctance to draw attention to one's self. Evidence shows that most people rate themselves as above average on SE scales. Measures emphasizing social SE may be more sensitive to interpersonal and self-presentational issues than nonsocial SE measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this book Ian Gotlib and Constance Hammen provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive review of the psychological literature on depression currently available in a single volume. They bring together the literature examining cognitive functioning of depressed persons, and also review the social context of depression, including early experience, social support, marital functioning, and the adjustment of children of depressed parents. The authors also present the most recent information on cognitive and interpersonal treatments for depression. They draw on the research outlined in the book to present a conceptualization of depression that integrates cognitive and interpersonal factors into a comprehensive framework.
This book will be an invaluable resource for practitioners, researchers and students in a wide range of professions involved in the care of depressed people—clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and many others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews the literature on bipolar vs. unipolar psychosis and positions of heredity and environment as disposing factors in affective illness. It is noted that mode of transmission of the genetic predisposition is not known, although means are available to distinguish between major gene and polygenic models. In either case the situation is probably complicated by genetic heterogeneity. Recent research indicates that manic-depressive disease, presented in 1/2 the cases as mania with or without depression and in the other 1/2 as purely depression, occurs equally in the 2 sexes and in people of normal personality. Genetically distinct from this is depressive disease, which never manifests as mania and occurs preferentially in females and in those with neurotic personality. Hypotheses relating to population dispersion, social ranking, outbreeding, and pair-bond disruption are discussed from an heuristic viewpoint. (81 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
there is converging theoretical and empirical evidence that shame and guilt have important and very different implications for subsequent motivation and interpersonal functioning / focuses on this . . . set of interpersonal issues related to shame and guilt / provide an overview of the nature of shame and guilt experiences, highlighting key similarities and key differences between these 2 frequently confused emotions / review recent phenomenological and personality studies, which indicate that shame and guilt are differentially related to a range of motivational and interpersonal features / these include a tendency toward reparative behavior vs avoidance, interpersonal empathy, and people's characteristic anger management strategies in everyday contexts (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Explores some of the components of shame, with a special focus on shame emotions and cognitions, and shame proneness. The chapter attempts to draw attention to overlapping areas of psychological theory and research; for example, the complexity of the cognition–emotion interface. It is suggested that shame researchers and theorists may be in danger of creating yet another subdivision within psychology with its own key concepts and literature, and with a risk of becoming detached from closely related fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Culture, Barkow argues, is a system of socially transmitted information. Because it is partly independent of biological evolution, maladaptive culture traits are not uncommon. Through evolution we have been selected for psychological mechanisms to deal with the kind of individual, short-term emergencies our ancestors faced. Unfortunately, the problems that face us today tend to be collective and long term, and we have no appropriate evolved mechanisms.
Barkow shows how evolutionary theory can shed some light on human sexuality—how men and women differ in their sexuality and courtship tactics, and how such features as the enlarged human breast, the long penis, and the hymen may have evolved.
Selection of the capacity for culture is likely to have involved mate choice. In this process men and women enhanced their genetic fitness by choosing mates who excelled in abilities related to parental investment. Primate social dominance was transformed into human self-esteem and symbolic prestige; the symbols of this prestige are reflected in the goals for which human beings strive, goals that are ultimately the products of natural and sexual selection.
The implications are far-reaching. Barkow provides case studies, based on his own fieldwork, of how this symbolic striving has generated phenomena ranging from a resurgence of Islam in the Niger Republic to the development of a partial ethnic boundary in Nigeria. He also considers the limitations to evolutionary understanding of sexuality as demonstrated in a discussion of institutionalized homosexuality in Melanesia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
compares the ISS [Internalized Shame Scale] to other published shame scales and shows how [the author's] own understanding of his test has changed as he has mastered affect theory / review some empirical studies addressing shame, guilt, and pride—the so-called "self-conscious" emotions / the general frame of reference for most of these studies is the hypothesized relation of shame and guilt to psychopathology
approaches to measuring shame and guilt / reliability and validity of the ISS and related scales / the shame–psychopathology connection / shame & dysphoria / clinical implications (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We have previously studied the relationship between dominance rank and physiology among male olive baboons (Papio anubis) living freely in a national park in Africa. In stable hierarchies, such males have distinctive secretory profiles of glucocorticoids and of testosterone. We find that these endocrine features are not, in fact, purely markers of social dominance; instead, they are found only among dominant males with particular stylistic traits of social behavior. One intercorrelated stylistic cluster revolved around the intensity with which the male is involved in sexual consortships (e.g., frequency of copulation, of grooming, degree to which feeding is suppressed by being in consortship). Males most involved in such consortships had the lowest basal cortisol concentrations and smaller cortisol stress-responses. A second stylistic cluster revolved around the degree of social affiliation (e.g., rate of grooming and interacting positively with non-estrus females and infants). Males who were highly affiliated had low basal cortisol concentrations and an attenuated cortisol stress-response. A third cluster revolved around the degree to which males could distinguish between highly threatening interactions with rivals and neutral or mildly threatening ones. Males most adept at this had lower basal cortisol concentrations. These behavioral/endocrine clusters were independent of each other. This suggests that the same adaptive physiological feature (e.g., low basal cortisol concentrations) may arise from different and independent personality styles. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
What Are Self-conscious Emotions?Some General Development ConsiderationsSelf-conscious Emotions Are Interpersonal, TooShame and GuiltEmbarrassmentPrideReferences
Although the Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) Scale has widespread applicability to many areas of research in personality and social psychology, its utility is sometimes limited by its length. This article presents a brief, 12-item version of the FNE that correlates very highly (f96) with the original scale and that demonstrates psychometric properties that are nearly identical to those of the full-length scale.