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Acute Threat to the Social Self: Shame, Social Self-esteem, and Cortisol Activity
Abstract
Our Social Self Preservation Theory asserts that situations which threaten the "social self" (ie, one's social value or standing) elicit increased feelings of low social worth (eg, shame), decrements in social self-esteem, and increases in cortisol, a hormone released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. To test our theoretical premise, cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to the performance of laboratory stressor tasks were compared in participants who performed these tasks in the presence or absence of social-self threat.
Pre- and poststressor emotion, self-esteem, heart rate, blood pressure, and salivary cortisol were compared in 81 participants randomly assigned to complete speech and mental arithmetic stress tasks with social evaluation present (n = 41) or absent (n = 40).
As hypothesized, participants in the social evaluation condition exhibited greater increases in shame and greater decrements in social self-esteem. Other psychological states (eg, anxiety, performance self-esteem) did not show differential changes as a function of the social context. Salivary cortisol increased in social evaluation condition participants but did not increase in participants who performed the same tasks in the absence of social evaluation. Cortisol increases were greater in participants who experienced greater increases in shame and greater decreases in social self-esteem under social-self threat.
Threat to the social self is an important elicitor of shame experience, decreases in social self-esteem and cortisol increases under demanding performance conditions. Cortisol changes may be specifically tied to the experience of emotions and cognitions reflecting low self-worth in this context.
... Although the body of research on the physiological and physical health implications of shame is small, it does lend support to the theory that shame might be an unexplored mechanism of stigmarelated health effects. Experimental studies have found that shame induction causes elevations in cortisol and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) (Dickerson et al., 2008(Dickerson et al., , 2009Dickerson, Gruenewald et al., 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2004), and larger observational studies have found associations between shame, increased levels of pro-inflammatory molecules, elevated stress hormones Kemeny et al., 2004;Rohleder et al., 2008), decreased self-rated health (Lamont, 2015) and lower life expectancy among HIV/AIDS patients (Cole, 2008;Dickerson, Gruenewald et al., 2004). Although this research suggests that physiological correlates of shame might be involved in the worse health outcomes seen in stigmatized populations, research investigating putative pathological processes is very limited. ...
... Endothelial function can be impaired in the presence of elevations in TNFα and cortisol (Bhagat & Vallance, 1997;Kofler et al., 2005;. Given that shame increases TNFα and cortisol levels (Dickerson et al., 2008(Dickerson et al., , 2009Dickerson, Gruenewald et al., 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2004), it can be speculated that an acute experience of shame creates a temporary period of attenuated endothelial function. If found, this would suggest that experiencing shame creates transient periods of reduced vasoprotection (Inaba et al., 2010;Matsuzawa et al., 2015;Ras et al., 2013) which, if chronically repeated, might contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in stigmatized populations (Everson-Rose et al., 2015). ...
... These studies were used because shame and stress have similar physiological correlates, and no previous studies have investigated the acute effect of a shame protocol on FMD . Men and women were included, and analysis was not separated by gender because current evidence does not suggest that gender moderates shame, cortisol or TNFα responses to a shame-inducing event (Crawford & Henry, 2004;Dickerson et al., 2008;Gruenewald et al., 2004;Turner, 2014). ...
New findings:
What is the central question of this study? Shame is a form of social stress which involves internalizing social devaluations imposed by others. The aim of this study was to determine, for the first time, how acutely experiencing shame impacts endothelial function. What is the main finding and its importance? Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, an index of endothelial function, was impaired following an intervention that acutely increased self reported shame. This occurred without increases in cortisol or tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor binding. Frequent or prolonged shame induced endothelial dysfunction could have important cardiovascular consequences.
Abstract:
Objective The objective of this study was to examine the impact of a shame induction protocol on endothelial function. Methods Fifteen participants (n = 7 men, n = 8 women) completed both a written shame induction and control protocol on two different experimental days. Pre- and post-protocol we assessed: 1) Endothelial function and arterial shear rate via a standard brachial artery reactive hyperemia flow-mediated dilation (FMD) test across two post-intervention time points (15 and 35-min post); 2) Perceived shame via the Experiential Shame Scale (ESS), and; 3) Cortisol and sTNFαRII (soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor) through oral fluid analysis. Results Shame increased after the shame induction protocol (pre: 2.9±.6 vs. post: 3.7±.5, p<.001) but not the control protocol (pre: 3.0±.5 vs. post: 2.8±.5, p = .15) (protocol by time interaction: p<.001). When all three time points were included in the analysis, %FMD did not change over time. Considering only the lowest point, %FMD significantly decreased in response to the shame protocol (pre: 4.8±1.9 vs. post: 3.2±1.6, p<.001) but not the control protocol (4.2±1.8 vs. post: 3.8±1.5, p = .45) (protocol by time interaction: p = .035). Covariation of the shear rate stimulus for FMD did not alter the FMD results. When including both the control and shame protocol, but not the shame protocol alone, increased shame was significantly associated with decreased FMD (r = -.37, p<.046). There were no significant time by protocol interaction effects for cortisol or sTNFαRII. Conclusions Temporary increases in shame may cause transient endothelial dysfunction which, if chronically repeated, could manifest as reduced vasoprotection against atherosclerosis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that individuals who reported less fear of negative evaluation by the TSST staff had a steeper cortisol activation slope and slightly higher cortisol peak levels. This finding is inconsistent with previous studies showing that greater fear of social evaluative threat is an important determinant of increased cortisol secretion (Bosch et al., 2009;Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004;Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz, & Fahey, 2004;Rohleder, Beulen, Chen, Wolf, & Kirschbaum, 2007). However, situations that characterize social evaluative threat contain a broad array of cognitions and emotions, including shame and humiliation as well as anxiety. ...
... Our VAS measure "fear of negative evaluation" was focusing more on anxiety and worry related aspects rather than shame or humiliation. However, studies have found more consistent links between shame/humiliation and increased cortisol responses (Denson, Creswell, & Granville-Smith, 2012;Gruenewald et al., 2004). Linking subjective states such as fear/anxiety with increased cortisol responses has been rather difficult (Gruenewald et al., 2004;Schedlowski, Wiechert, Wagner, & Tewes, 1992) and might explain our inconsistent finding. ...
... However, studies have found more consistent links between shame/humiliation and increased cortisol responses (Denson, Creswell, & Granville-Smith, 2012;Gruenewald et al., 2004). Linking subjective states such as fear/anxiety with increased cortisol responses has been rather difficult (Gruenewald et al., 2004;Schedlowski, Wiechert, Wagner, & Tewes, 1992) and might explain our inconsistent finding. ...
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112103/1/jadu.pdf
... Ego threat was reported by the majority of participants in both groups. These results are in line with the literature on social-evaluative threat and stress response; the task used in this study (the TSST) simulates the conditions of threat (losing the social self, a psychological state associated with robust psychophysiological stress-related changes) (Gruenewald et al., 2004). The results of our study suggest that this evaluation is explicit. ...
... We examined the discrete emotions reported by participants in the interviews and observed that shame was mentioned only by participants in the MN group. It has been proposed (Gruenewald et al., 2004) that certain physiological changes in response to social-evaluative threat (such as changes in the HPA-axis) are specifically tied to self-conscious emotions and cognitions. It can be hypothesized that CP decreases experience of particular type of negative affect: self-conscious emotions, such as shame. ...
... These results are convergent with those from a self-report assessment conducted in our previous study, where MN participants scored much higher on the post-task measure of state shame. Taking into consideration that specific self-conscious affects and cognitions have been found to be related to cortisol production (Gruenewald et al., 2004), we suggest expanding negative affect measurements to more granular assessments of affective states during stress task (e.g., the Geneva Emotion Wheel; Scherer, 2005). ...
Objectives
Several studies have investigated the relationship between contemplative approaches and psychobiological stress response; however, this area of research is still new, the mechanisms of the relationship between the stress response attenuation and contemplative training have not been fully delineated, and little is known about the effects of contemplative practice on the ways psychological stress is experienced. This study aimed to explore the first-person experience of psychological stress in meditation practitioners.
Methods
We conducted short semi-structured interviews with twenty-five meditation practitioners and twenty meditation-naïve controls immediately after they had undergone a laboratory task (the Trier Social Stress Test). A mixed-method approach was used to analyze the interviews. Thematic analysis was combined with descriptive statistics of the qualitative information that had been converted to quantitative data.
Results
Experiences instantiating main themes were identified as follows: (1) primary experiences encountered, describing the most salient experiences associated with the task; (2) reasons for stress, delineating the analyses of why the task was stressful; (3) affect, dealing with emotional experiences during the task; (4) emotion regulation; and (5) attention allocation describing regulatory strategies employed by the participants. Responses to subjective stress experience in meditation practitioners included use of humor, presence of positive affect, combinations of different types of emotion regulation strategies, and adaptive attention allocation.
Conclusions
This study elucidates particularities of meditators’ subjective experience of psychological stress, provides new insights on the mechanisms of meditation effect on the stress response, and proposes new directions for research.
... Specifically, overqualified employees may perceive the undesirable underemployment situation as having negative implications for social dimensions, including their selfworth, self-image, and social identity. Such negative self-evaluations lead them to experience shame (Brown and Weiner 1984;Gilbert 1998;Gruenewald et al. 2004). Moreover, because overqualification indicates that the organization does not value overqualified employees, those employees may also frequently experience other emotions besides anger, such as shame. ...
... As such, they may be negatively evaluated by themselves and others, posing an especially strong threat to self-worth, self-image, and social identity. Such negative self-evaluations and others' evaluations (i.e., appraisal of social dimensions) promote feelings of shame (Brown and Weiner 1984;Gilbert 1998;Gruenewald et al. 2004). ...
Using appraisal theories of emotions as the theoretical basis, we delineate how perceived overqualification relates to work withdrawal, employee silence, and pro-job unethical behavior through the mediating effects of discrete emotions (i.e., shame and anger). We suggest that perceived overqualification is positively associated with shame and ultimately work withdrawal and employee silence, and it has a positive effect on pro-job unethical behavior through the mediating role of anger as well as the serial mediating effect of shame and anger. Data from a three-wave, time-lagged survey of 225 full-time employees in China, provides support for our theoretical model and hypotheses. Taken together, our results suggest that discrete emotional states can help to interpret how and why overqualified employees exhibit distinct action tendencies. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.
... From an evolutionary perspective, a common neuronal circuitry seems adaptive given that social exclusion might have posed a major threat to an individual's personal safety and survival (Kelly et al., 2012). Consequently, a social-evaluative threat triggers a coordinated behavioural and psychophysiological response in an attempt to prevent social exclusion or the loss of an individual's social status (Dickerson et al., 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2004). ...
... According to the social self-preservation theory of Gruenewald et al. (2004), the threats to the social self (i.e., situations that threaten or reject an individual's social value) elicit cognitive, emotional and physiological responses associated with stress. The diminished fear of failure following improvisation training may generalise to diminished social stress, since mistakes are appraised as less threatening to one's social self. ...
Improvisation is commonly understood as a performance or creating something without preparation. As an art form, improvised theatrical plays are created spontaneously on stage without a script. As an applied form of theatre, improvisation has been utilised in fields requiring collaboration and a tolerance for uncertainty, such as in the business and education sectors. This dissertation contributes to the literature in educational research by investigating applied improvisation as a tool to promote student teachers’ interpersonal competence. Applied improvisation enables individuals to explore and practise teaching-related encounters in a fictional and psychologically safe context. Psychological safety is particularly important when practising challenging interactions. Despite the fictionality of the context, bodily experiences during improvisations may promote experiential learning.
The research summarised in this dissertation was guided by two primary research questions. First, I asked whether improvisation training influenced student teachers’ interpersonal competence and social stress. Student teachers (n = 19) participated in a 7-week (17.5-h) improvisation intervention, comprising the fundamentals of theatre improvisation and status expression (verbal and nonverbal behaviours indicating the social dominance of a person). The impact of the intervention was measured using subjective self-reports (interpersonal confidence, i.e., belief regarding one’s capability related to effective social interactions, self-esteem and experienced stress) and a large array of physiological measurements (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance, facial muscle activity, frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry and stress hormone cortisol). Self-reports, physiological measurements and Trier Social Stress Tests (TSST; including public speaking) were performed before and after the improvisation intervention. An improvisation course was arranged for the control group (n = 20) following the intervention study. One year later, the long-term effects of improvisation training on self-reported interpersonal confidence were measured in a follow-up study.
Second, I asked how real versus fictional social rejections impact experienced stress and psychophysiological responses. Student teachers (n = 39) participated in an experiment including both real (interview) and fictional (improvisation exercises) dyadic interactions. In the real condition, student teachers were unaware that the interviewer was an actor trained to include subtle social rejections during the interview by using three types of social rejections: devaluing, interrupting and nonverbal rejections. In the fictional condition, student teachers were informed in advance which social rejection type would be used during a later improvisation exercise. Experienced stress and psychophysiological reactivity during social rejections were measured under both experimental conditions.
Following an improvisation intervention, interpersonal confidence and its components of performance confidence and a tolerance for failure increased relative to controls, whilst one year later the improved performance confidence persisted. Furthermore, a heterogeneous treatment effect was found. Those with the lowest pretest interpersonal confidence score benefited most from the improvisation intervention. No between-group differences in self-esteem were observed. Psychological and physiological indications of relief from performance-related stress were also observed following improvisation training. In addition, interpersonal confidence moderated self-reported and cardiovascular stress responses. Thus, interpersonal confidence may be worth controlling for in future research which examines the effects of interventions aimed at relieving social stress. The results also support the notion that repetition may also diminish performance-related stress, since the control group exhibited decreases in cardiovascular stress during some of the test conditions.
The primary finding regarding the second research question emerged through the absence of any systematic attenuation of the psychophysiological reactivity to fictional versus real-world social rejections. In other words, although student teachers knew that improvised social rejections were fictional, their psychophysiological responses during improvisation remained relatively similar and associated with those of real-world rejections. It appears as though personal relevance and engagement during improvisation explain the relatively similar bodily responses. This result suggests that interpersonal encounters can be realistically modelled through applied improvisation.
In this dissertation research, I also produced a validated self-report measure, the Interpersonal Confidence Questionnaire (ICQ), to evaluate the impact of social interaction training relying on applied improvisation. Using an additional dataset (n = 208), I validated the questionnaire and examined the impact of improvisation training on a larger sample. A confirmatory factor analysis identified six factors—performance confidence, flexibility, listening skills, a tolerance for failure, collaboration motivation and presence—that contribute to interpersonal confidence. Thus, the ICQ appeared valid and reliable as a self-report measure of interpersonal confidence.
In summary, the findings from this research indicate that a relatively brief improvisation intervention promotes interpersonal confidence, specifically amongst those with low interpersonal confidence. Furthermore, improvisation training serves as an intervention against performance anxiety and generates long-term improvements to performance confidence. This dissertation provides a theoretical framework and empirical support for the application of improvisation as a tool to develop interpersonal competence skills, particularly within professions requiring face-to-face interactions. Regardless of the fictionality of the improvisational context, genuine emotions and experiences may emerge, serving as experiential learning experiences. The significance of these findings may extend to theatre-based practices and drama education in general, which rely on holistic action and personal engagement in fictional contexts. The findings agree with previous research, suggesting that including the improvisation method in teacher education curricula can enhance student teachers’ interpersonal competence as well as their skills related to sensitive and responsive teaching. Finally, this dissertation contributes to social neuroscience by recommending an ecologically valid experimental design wherein naturally unfolding social interactions can be achieved using improvisation techniques.
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Keywords: experiential learning, fictionality, improvisation, interpersonal confidence, intervention, psychophysiology, social interaction, social rejection, social stress, teacher education, theatre-based practices
... On trouve également des associations négatives et significatives avec les émotions positives comme l'intérêt, l'amusement, la fierté, la joie, le plaisir, le contentement, l'amour et l'admiration. Notre tâche stressante peut être considérée comme une situation qui contient un potentiel de dévalorisation du soi social en remettant en question les capacités ou les compétences sur lesquelles se base une image sociale positive(Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz, & Fahey, 2004). Ce genre de situation provoque une augmentation d'émotions comme, par exemple la honte et la peur. ...
... Ce genre de situation provoque une augmentation d'émotions comme, par exemple la honte et la peur. Nos résultats sont en accord avec les études précédentes(Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz, & Fahey, 2004 ; Lener, Dahl, Hariri, & Taylor, 2007 ;Moons, Eisenberger, & Taylor, 2010). La honte est caractérisée par un sentiment d'isolement, d'infériorité, et une pression pour se cacher des autres. ...
Cette thèse a pour objectif de développer et de valider expérimentalement une méthode d’évaluation du stress au travail inspirée du modèle « Job Demands-Ressources » dans une entreprise, puis dans une population de doctorants. Deux questionnaires adaptés à ces deux populations (employés vs doctorants) ont été créés et validés. Les résultats montrent que ces deux questionnaires sont fiables, valides, et adaptés à divers contextes professionnels. Des mesures du coping, du bien-être et du mode de vie viennent compléter l’évaluation du stress et de ses répercussions sur l’individu. À l’aide de l’analyse de Cluster, les profils de stress et les combinaisons du coping permettent une meilleure compréhension des complexités psychologiques. Une dernière partie est consacrée à un protocole d’induction du stress en laboratoire pour mesurer et traiter spécifiquement un état de stress ponctuel inhérent à un contexte professionnel. Le protocole d’induction du stress inspiré du Trier Social Stress Test a été mis en place pour étudier les associations entre traits de personnalité, coping, émotions et variabilité du rythme cardiaque. L’anxiété-trait, le névrosisme, l’extraversion et le caractère consciencieux jouent des rôles importants sur le stress, le coping et la variabilité du rythme cardiaque. La peur et la honte ont été identifiées comme les émotions négatives du stress. Des atténuations de certaines émotions positives ont été révélées sous l’effet du stress. Ces études offrent de nouvelles pistes pour la prévention des risques psychosociaux et peuvent servir de base à l’élaboration d’outils innovants, peu coûteux et adaptés à une plus grande variété de professions pour la détection et la gestion du stress au travail.
... Thwarting of this need is stressful (Gerhardt et al. 2021;Semmer et al. 2019) and may initiate cognitive evaluative processes that result in lower self-esteem or social esteem (e.g. Gruenewald et al. 2004). ...
... Other variables such as effort expenditure may be related to the type of task management mode adopted (e.g. an active one by investing cognitive-energetical resources; Hockey 1997). Of special interest are affective variables (Van Katwyk et al. 2000), notably those that typically imply attributions to others' misbehaviour, such as anger (Averill, 1997), as well as variables related to the 'social self ' , such as self-esteem (Gruenewald et al. 2004), social esteem , and self-confidence (e.g. professional efficacy scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory; Schaufeli et al. 1996). ...
This article presents some deliberations on methodological approaches to researching the effects of work-related social stress on performance, with particular consideration being given to machine-induced social stress. The article proposes a broad methodological approach to examine such effects. A particular focus is placed on performance after-effects (e.g. unscheduled probe tasks), extra-role behaviour, and task management behaviour because of conventional performance measures (i.e. scheduled tasks) often being unimpaired by social stressors. The role of the ‘performance protection mode’ as an important concept is discussed. A distinction is made between three facets of after-effects: performance-related, behavioural, and emotional. Unscheduled probe tasks and voluntary tasks are proposed to measure performance-related and behavioural after-effects. Propositions for specific experimental scenarios are made, allowing for sufficiently realistic simulations of social stress at work. The availability of such lab-based simulations of work environments offers good opportunities for this line of experimental research, which is expected to gain in importance since highly automated systems may modify the impact of human-induced social stress or may even represent a social stressor themselves. Finally, the considerations presented in this article are not only of relevance to the domain of social stress but to experimental stress research in general.
... Shame and guilt are both negative self-conscious emotions, evoked by self-reflection and self-evaluation [136, p.347]. Both can cause intrapsychic pain [136] as well as physiological responses [39,55]. The human brain evaluates everything in terms of potential threat or benefit: rational thought follows this initial intuition [57]. ...
... Post-incident sanctions can produce strong negative emotional responses, including guilt, but more particularly shame when others learn why an employee is being prevented from doing their work for a period. These shaming experiences are likely to produce intense pain, derived from a public-raising self-consciousness, that can create negative psychological, physiological and societal consequences [34,39,55]. ...
... AUCg of the IPV-exposed mothers could potentially be linked to some patterns of low self-esteem, such as lower self-worth (Gruenewald et al., 2004), social isolation (Leary et al., 1995) high level of rumination (Di Paula et Campbell, 2002), scarce motivation or negative moods (Heimpel et al., 2002). ...
In Cameroon, intimate partner violence (IPV) is a reality for more than one woman in three. This stressful and traumatic but culturally tolerated experience is poorly documented. This thesis aims to identify the psychobiological impacts and correlates of this violence on mothers and their children. In a first field study, we examine whether and how the accumulation of trauma experienced by the mother during her childhood, and current intimate partner violence may be associated with psychopathological symptoms in the mother-child dyad. A second field study evaluates the level of stress in mother-child dyads exposed to IPV by measuring the total concentration of cortisol released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during the first hour after awakening, commonly referred to as the Area Under the Curve with respect to the Ground (AUCg). In our third study we synthesize, in the form of a systematic review, the knowledge on the link between maltreatment, including exposure to domestic violence, the occurrence of epigenetic changes, as highlighted by the methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 exon 1F, the deregulation of the HPA axis and psychopathological symptoms. For the two field studies, conducted in Cameroon, we recruited 50 mother-child dyads exposed to intimate partner violence and 25 unexposed dyads as control group. We administered seven questionnaires to all mothers and took saliva samples from mothers and children to measure the total concentration of cortisol. For the systematic review, we followed the PRISMA guidelines and consulted the PubMed and Web of Science databases. Our results indicate that intimate partner violence has important psychobiological consequences, in particular: (i) symptoms of anxiety and depression in exposed mothers, associated not only with current violence but also with childhood abuse, and externalized symptoms in their children, mostly delinquent and aggressive behavior, suggesting an intergenerational transmission; (ii) a high level of cortisol concentration in exposed mothers, sometimes modulated by protective factors such as self-esteem and a sense of coherence; (iii) a significant methylation of the NR3C1 gene at the exon 1F level in relation to maltreatment which seems associated with a deregulation of the HPA axis and psychopathological symptoms such as depressive or externalized symptoms. By showing that self-esteem and a sense of coherence can modulate the level of stress and more generally the psychobiological response of women exposed to domestic violence, we provides a valuable indicator for the development of effective psychosocial interventions aimed at preventing and lessening the impact of IPV and at supporting the victims. It also reveals the necessity to adapt the questionnaires and the measurement procedures, all developed by and for research in industrialized countries, to the cultural specificities of other societies.
... A high proneness of feeling guilt was related to low frequencies of bullying and aggression, strong motivations of prosocial behaviours, and positive qualities of peer-relations (Broekhof et al., 2017;Mazzone et al., 2016). As for shame, a high proneness to shame is a risk factor for developing internalizing behaviours, such as low self-esteem, victimization, depression, or anxiety (Fergus et al., 2010;Gruenewald et al., 2004); and externalizing behaviours such as other-blaming, reactive or passive aggression (Bennett et al., 2005;Stuewig et al., 2010). However, it is important to note that these studies are based mostly on the findings of school-aged children and adolescents from Western societies. ...
Moral emotions such as pride, guilt and shame play an important role in the social‐emotional development of preschool children. However, there are not many instruments available for measuring moral emotions in the preschool age. Moreover, relatively few research had examined cross‐cultural validity of measures for moral emotions. The present study tested the Chinese version of the Moral emotion questionnaire (MEQ) upon a group of (N = 182) Chinese preschool children aged from 2 to 6 years. The Chinese MEQ is a parent‐report translated from Dutch, assessing behavioural responses of pride, guilt and shame in preschool children. Confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory goodness‐of‐fit indexes for a three‐factor structure (Pride, Guilt, Shame) with 15 loading items. For concurrent relations, the results suggested an adaptive role of pride and guilt and a maladaptive role of shame in the social‐emotional development of preschool children. We could conclude that the 15‐item Chinese MEQ is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring pride, guilt, and shame in 2–6‐year‐old children in the Chinese context.
... Finally, we complemented our broader well-being focus by looking into social self-esteem, a state-like construct that encapsulates the perception of oneself as a socially satisfied and competent person. With this third variable, we eventually included a concept of high prescriptive value, as social self-esteem has been found to crucially affect future social interactions (e.g., Gruenewald et al., 2004). Also, considering that PSRs might serve to feel better about one's social skills and potential to connect with others (Madison et al., 2015), the prospect of improved social self-esteem occurred as a rather promising wellbeing effect to us. ...
For several decades, scholars have wondered if lonely individuals might benefit from emotional connections to media characters (i.e., parasocial relationships) to alleviate their solitude. Although some research has challenged this assumption, recent evidence suggests that people’s ties to media characters might indeed fulfil currently unsatisfied needs for social companionship. Moreover, it has been argued that parasocial compensation effects may reach beyond the mere reduction of loneliness, encompassing other socially relevant well-being benefits as well. To make sense of the on-going debate—and to gain a more nuanced understanding of how parasocial relationships affect media users’ well-being—we conducted an online experiment, asking participants (N = 151) to contemplate a real-life friendship, a parasocial friendship, or a non-social topic for several minutes. Before and after this task, three well-being indicators were measured. Our results show that the mental activation of parasocial relationships significantly improved participants’ mood, to a similar extent as thinking about real-life friendships did. Regarding immediate feelings of loneliness, however, participants’ ruminations about parasocial relationships proved ineffective.
... This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. considered the most effective task to produce a heightened stress response (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2004;Kirschbaum et al., 1993). ...
... In terms of care and treatment outcomes, HIV-related shame has been associated with non-disclosure, fear of HIV testing [15], non-adherence to medication [24] and a barrier to participating in HIV-related clinical trials [25]-pointing to reduced health care service utilization and lower quality of life [9,26]. Studies have also linked shame to increased production of cortisol-a stress hormone [1], which in turn, is associated with higher viral load among people living with HIV, severe fatigue, depression and anxiety traits [27,28]. Moreover, HIVrelated shame has been associated with increased HIV risky sexual behaviors and linked to continued transmission of HIV among adult populations [5,29]. ...
This study examined the relationship between HIV-related shame, stigma and the mental health of adolescents (10–14 years) living with HIV in Uganda. Cross sectional data from a 2-year pilot study for adolescents living with HIV (N = 89) were analyzed. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the relation between HIV-related shame, as measured by the Shame Questionnaire, stigma, and adolescents’ mental health functioning, including depressive symptoms, hopelessness, PTSD symptoms, loneliness and self-concept. The average age was 12.2 years, and 56% of participants were female. HIV-related shame was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (p < 0.05), hopelessness (p < 0.001), PTSD symptoms (p < 0.001), loneliness (p < 0.01), and low levels of self-concept (p < 0.01). HIV stigma was not associated with any of the outcomes. Findings support the need for the development of strategies to help adolescents overcome the shame of living with HIV and mitigate the effects of shame on adolescents’ mental health and treatment outcomes.
... According to this hypothesis, especially situations that are perceived as threatening (rather than challenging) lead to HPA axis responses. Furthermore, situations in which the social self is devaluated or which are shameful are associated with strong HPA axis responses, i.e., increasing cortisol levels (so-called social selfpreservation theory; Dickerson et al., 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2004;Gruenewald et al., 2007). For physical stressors (e.g., endurance or resistance training), SNS activation is found in most cases (Becker, Semmlinger, et al., 2021;Carter et al., 2003;Heffernan et al., 2006). ...
In the age of digitization, multitasking requirements are ubiquitous, especially in the workplace. Multitasking (MT) describes the activity of performing multiple (at least two) tasks at the same time. Dual tasking (DT) refers to the sequential switching between two tasks. The aim of our systematic review and meta-analysis was first to investigate whether physiological stress systems become activated in response to or during MT/DT and, secondly, whether this (re-)activity is higher compared to single tasking. We focused on the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system. The systematic review has been pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020181415). A total of twenty-five articles were identified as eligible, in which n = 26 studies were reported, with N = 1,142 participants. Our main findings are that SNS activity is significantly higher and PNS activity is significantly lower during MT/DT than during single tasking. Only two studies were found, in which HPA axis (re-)activity was surveyed. No eligible study was identified in which immune system (re-)activity was investigated. This is the first systematic synthesis of the literature base showing that stress system activity is increased during MT/DT in comparison to single-tasking.
... The societal effect on one's psychology is evidenced by the social self-preservation theory, which describes distress (shame, lower self-worth) resulting from an attack on the "social self," with associated cortisol elevation. 17 Conversely, when social interaction is more consistent with one's felt self, self-perception and self-esteem-which are linked closely with and influenced by social interaction-follow suit. 18 There exists an important caveat to such a rationale, as work showing the upper facial third, a portion not typically covered by a face mask, is the facial segment with greatest impact on gender perception. ...
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted mental health among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community, with the delay of medical services as a factor. The pandemic's psychological effect on the transfeminine community pursuing facial feminization surgery remains unstudied.
Methods:
Patients at our institution whose facial feminization surgeries were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic were included. A chart review collected validated, self-reported depression and psychological distress measures, as well as perceived facial femininity and desire for feminizing facial surgery prior to the pandemic. The data were compared to repeat measures during the pandemic (March-April 2020).
Results:
Thirty patients were included in the study, 11 of whom had repeat data. Respondents during the pandemic (compared to prepandemic) felt their face was more feminine (p = 0.026) and more likely to be perceived as feminine by others (p = 0.026). They indicated a lower desire to alter their appearance with surgery (p = 0.041). Depression and distress indices were greater during the pandemic (p = 0.0018 and p = 0.026, respectively).
Conclusion:
This study is consistent with increasing depression and psychological distress among transfeminine individuals pursuing facial feminization surgery during the pandemic. The study revealed greater perceived facial femininity and a lower desire for surgery during the pandemic.
... This represents an exact replication of the results. Among the subjective state variable, self-esteem is of particular importance because it is a key concept in the definition of social stress and its underlying mechanisms, with the basic assumption being that the social self is threatened during the exposure to social stress (Gruenewald et al. 2004). The devaluation of the person targeted by social stress is more likely to produce a negative affective reaction rather than having a negative effect on positive emotions. ...
The article is concerned with the after-effects of social stress on work performance. In a lab-based experiment, seventy participants were assigned to either a stress condition or a no-stress condition. In the stress condition, participants received fake negative performance feedback and they were ostracised by two confederates of the experimenter. Participants carried out the following tasks: attention and divergent creativity. The effects of social stress were examined at three levels: performance after-effects on unscheduled probe tasks, extra-role behaviour and subjective operator state. The manipulation check confirmed that participants experienced social stress. The results showed after-effects of social stress for some forms of extra-role behaviour (i.e. spontaneous reactions) and for the accuracy component of attention. Furthermore, social stress was found to increase negative affect and to reduce self-esteem. The findings point to the importance of assessing different types of after-effects rather than limiting the methodological approach to instant effects on performance.
Practitioner summary: The study aimed to examine the multiple effects of social stress. Social stress resulted in increased negative affect and lower self-esteem. Furthermore, social stress was found to reduce the propensity of humans to show extra-role behaviour (i.e. providing spontaneous help to others).
... This may result in negative responses, such as low self-esteem, lack of confidence, embarrassment, and humiliation, resulting in physiological reactions. For instance, Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz, and Fahey (2004) found that when individuals with high self-esteem experienced an acute threat, it negatively impacted their cortisol reactivity. Additionally, studies suggest that powerseeking individuals (i.e., people sensitive to social signals and status) exhibit distinct biochemical markers, such as elevated whole blood serotonin levels (Madsen, 1985(Madsen, , 1986. ...
Drawing on various studies, we provide a holistic view incorporating different nested cultural contexts, organizational shame, and health outcomes. We introduce the concept of organizational shame and explain its two key domains: conformity and status/competition. Then, we comprehensively review prior studies on cultural approaches to shame and propose our cultural variance model of organizational shame. Our model illustrates an equilibrium, exhibiting dominant and stable patterns of shame domains formed by reinforcing relationships among three key nested contextual layers: individuals (workers), organizations (firms), and the labor market. We apply our model to discuss general and occupational implications and outline future research directions. Thus, we hope to conceptualize organizational shame within the dynamic contexts of organizations and cultures.
... This effect was expected to be accompanied by changes in social state self-esteem . By contrast, cardiovascular reactivity measures, indexing sympathetic activation under stress, were expected to be rather unsensitive to social-evaluative feedback (Finke et al., 2018;Gruenewald et al., 2004). In view of growing evidence that rumination may play a crucial modulatory role in stress reactivity Dickerson, 2012, 2015), resulting in more pronounced responses at both initial and repeated exposure (Gianferante et al., 2014), we were also interested in the impact of (trait) rumination on the interplay of physical and social stressors. ...
Social self-threat during physical stress, such as exposure to the cold pressor test and isometric handgrip test, has been shown to induce activation of the HPA axis, in addition to autonomic responses. However, previous research has suggested that dysfunctional post-event processing may play a major role in neuroendocrine reactivity at initial as well as subsequent social stress exposure. In the present study, we investigated how the interplay of context (i.e. performance feedback) with state (i.e. self-esteem) as well as trait-like factors (i.e. ruminative tendencies) affects stress responses to repeated, short bouts of physical activity.
On two sessions, 1 week apart, 53 participants (27 women) performed an isometric handgrip task for 3 min, during which they were exposed to social-evaluative threat. In addition, participants received fake feedback on their performance immediately after the task, labeling it as either ‘above’ (positive) or ‘below average’ (negative). In addition to neuroendocrine (cortisol), cardiovascular (heart rate, blood pressure) and subjective stress reactivity, performance-related and social dimensions of state self-esteem were assessed before and after stress induction.
Substantial increases in cardiovascular parameters were found on both days, regardless of feedback condition. However, positive feedback led to significantly diminished neuroendocrine responses on day 1, whereas baseline cortisol on session 2 was significantly higher in the negative feedback group. Conversely, social self-esteem decreased after stress induction on both days only for participants who had received negative feedback. Changes in self-esteem reported on day 1 were associated with increased baseline cortisol at the second session, while interindividual differences in self-reported (trait) rumination were associated with cortisol reactivity at session 1.
Taken together, the results suggest that effects of social evaluation during short periods of physical stress rely on post-event processing and might be counteracted by positive appraisal directly after stress exposure. Post-hoc framing (in terms of success vs. failure) may predict subsequent stress-related hormonal effects better than task demands per se, which should be considered as a potential moderator in future acute stress research, but might also be relevant to many practical applications in fields ranging from sports/performance to health psychology.
... Studies show that individuals with high levels of shame adopt the same pattern of submissive behavior as in disorders such as social anxiety or depression (Cândea & Szentagotai-Tatar, 2018;Gilbert, 2000). Moreover, from neurotransmitters point of view, shame has been associated with the so-called stress hormone: cortisol (Gruenewald et al., 2004). Therefore, given its dangerous potential for individuals, interventions to reduce shame have been considered. ...
Public speaking has become an increasingly sought-after skill, which is why more and more people choose to get professionally trained. But is it possible for a public speaking program to have other effects, in addition to improved performance? The aim of this study is to discover the effects of a public speaking program on reducing social anxiety, public speaking anxiety and shame, and also on increasing self-efficacy. The sample (high-school and university students) consisted of 164 participants aged between 15 and 47 years, M = 19.93, SD = 4.70. There were 82 participants in the experimental group and 82 participants in the control group, and the instruments used were: Liebowitz's Scale for Social Anxiety (Liebowitz, 1987), Personal Report on Public Speaking Anxiety (McCroskey, 1970), General scale of self-efficacy (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), Cognitive Schema Questionnaire (Young, 2005). A test-retest design was approached, the participants completing the questionnaires one week apart from the others. The results indicate that a public speaking program is useful for reducing social anxiety and public speaking anxiety, with significant differences between the experimental and control groups. However, in terms of self-efficacy and shame, the results were not conclusive. Thus, even if there has been a decrease in shame and an increase in self-efficacy, it is not clear whether these changes can be attributed to the proposed program. This study can serve as the beginning of a program that can contribute to reducing the level of social anxiety and public speaking anxiety..
... Angrep på ens etniske identitet eller opplevelser av urettferdig behandling kan føre til en sterk følelsesmessig belastning som med tiden får både sosiale og helsemessige konsekvenser. Opplevd diskriminering kan også føre til at man reagerer på det inntrufne på en slik måte at selve reaksjonen medfører økt helserisiko, for eksempel ved at man henfaller til en usunn livsstil, isolerer seg eller ikke oppsøker helsehjelp når symptomer oppstår (Borders & Liang 2011;Gruenwald, Kemeny, Aziz & Fahey 2004). ...
Det er sammenheng mellom opplevd diskriminering og helse, også for innvandrere. Det er langt flere som lider av dårlig helse blant innvandrere som har opplevd seg diskriminert, enn blant innvandrere som ikke har opplevd å bli diskriminert. I denne kommentarartikkelen presenteres studier som belyser denne sammenhengen, og det argumenteres for at man trenger mer forskning på dette feltet, blant annet forskning som ser diskriminering og helse i sammenheng med andre psykososiale og sosioøkonomiske faktorer som kan påvirke innvandrernes helsetilstand.
... To investigate the relationship between self-esteem and interpersonal confidence, we used Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale (RSE, Robins et al., 2001;Rosenberg, 1965). We hypothesised that a positive correlation exists between interpersonal confidence and self-esteem (one's perceived self-worth and self-acceptance), since one's thoughts and opinions of oneself include a social component (Gruenewald et al., 2004), possibly contributing to interpersonal confidence. We also contrasted interpersonal confidence with social phobia, since these two constructs should theoretically associate inversely with each other. ...
Theatre-based improvisation includes a model of constructive communication, which has been applied to education, and in fields requiring interpersonal competencies. Here, we present a validation study of the Interpersonal Confidence Questionnaire (ICQ) developed to measure self-reported interpersonal confidence, that is, beliefs regarding one’s capability related to effective social interactions. Confirmatory factor analysis (n = 208) confirmed the 18-item measurement model of ICQ as satisfactory, with six factors contributing to interpersonal confidence: performance confidence, flexibility, listening skills, tolerance of failure, collaboration motivation, and presence. The questionnaire showed discriminatory power, acceptable composite reliability, and strong test–retest reliability. The immediate and long-term impact of six improvisation interventions (n = 161) were measured using ICQ. Improvisation interventions resulted in improvements to interpersonal confidence, performance confidence, and tolerance of failure relative to controls, and an improved performance confidence persisted over time. This study provides initial evidence on the validity and reliability of the 18-item, 6-factor ICQ as a self-report measurement of interpersonal confidence, which may increase following improvisation training.
... Unfortunately, even a single failure in the presence of classmates leads to a feeling of shame. Like stress, shame leads to greater expression of cortisol (Gruenewald et al., 2004), even in 4-yearold children (Lewis and Ramsay, 2002). Children with learning weaknesses in a particular domain are subjected to continual stressful and shame-inducing experiences that singly and in combination may lead to their escalation into full-blown learning disorders in that domain, and these toxic experiences may lead to generalization to other domains of schoolwork. ...
A fundamental issue for research in mathematics disability (MD) and reading disability (RD) is: If these disabilities are clearly distinct, why is there so high a level of comorbidity, together with the converse; if these disabilities are so similar, why are there clear differences in underlying causes and aetiology? In order to address this puzzle, we introduce the “360 degree analysis” (360DA) framework and apply it to the overlap between RD and MD. The 360DA process starts by analyzing the issue from four perspectives: theoretical, developmental, affective, and pedagogical. Under 360DA, these analyses are then integrated to provide insights for theory, and for individual assessment and support, together with directions for future progress. The analyses confirm extensive similarities between arithmetic and reading development in terms of rote learning, executive function (EF), and affective trauma, but also major differences in terms of the conceptual needs, the motor coordination needs, and the methods of scaffolding. In terms of theory, commonalities are interpreted naturally in terms of initial general developmental delay followed by domain-independent affective trauma following school failure. Dissociations are interpreted in terms of cerebellar vs. hippocampal learning networks, sequential vs. spatial processing, and language vs. spatial scaffolding, with a further dimension of the need for accurate fixation for reading. The framework has significant theoretical and applied implications.
... Other global goals include physical self-preservation and social self-preservation (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004). Social self-preservation theory posits that maintaining a positive social self is a central human goal (Gruenewald et al., 2004). This includes one's self-esteem or social status. ...
The current study utilized an experimental design to investigate violations of global meanings, perceived stress, positive affect and negative affect in the context of meanings made from a stressful situation. Additionally, meanings made were investigated as a moderator of the relationship between those variables. A sample of 40 participants completed the experiment and the questionnaires. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group. Participants responded to a variety of measures including, perceived stress, positive and negative affect, positive cognitive emotional regulation strategies (meaning making attempts), meanings made, global meaning measures such as self-esteem and beliefs about control, and other demographic information. Participants in the experimental group underwent a virtual version of the Trier Social Stress Task to induce stress, while participants in the control group read a text. Results indicated that negative affect was increased after the stressful task compared to the end of the experiment and that positive affect after completing the stressful task decreased from positive affect measured when anticipating the task. The current study has important potential implications for completing the Trier Social Stress Task remotely, and for examining the role of acute stress in the meaning making model.
... However, we found no association between personality traits measured with the NEO-FFI personality inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1995), and percentage of dislikes after stress (for correlation between the NEO-FFI dimensions and percentage of dislikes see supplementary materials Table S5). Previous research has found influences of trait self-esteem on neuroendocrine stress response (Pruessner et al., 1999), and a decrease in state self-esteem accompanied by an increase in cortisol levels after negative social evaluation using the TSST (Gruenewald et al., 2004). We did not include a self-esteem questionnaire in our study such as the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and can therefore not draw any conclusions about potential mediating effects of trait and/or state self-esteem on behavioral stress response in our data. ...
Maladaptive stress responses are a key feature of several psychiatric disorders, but findings of stress effects on social behavior are inconsistent. Using a within-subject design, we investigated, in 35 healthy participants, the effects of acute stress on psychophysiological and behavioral responses during a simulated online social interaction task. Participants were exposed to established stress and non-stress exposure procedures in two separate sessions. During the task, participants liked or disliked pictures of other putative players and, similarly, saw their own picture being judged by others. After stress exposure, corrugator muscle activity (frowning) was significantly increased when participants saw their own picture while anticipating feedback from others. Consistently, zygomatic muscle activity (smiling) for self-evaluation was lower after stress than in the non-stress session. We found self-report of stress to be a significant predictor of corrugator activity in both sessions, indicating that higher levels of subjective stress overall were accompanied by increased negative self-evaluation. Surprisingly, no stress effects were found on behavioral measures of other-evaluation (i.e., percentage of dislikes to others), but corrugator response significantly predicted the percentage of dislikes during the stress session only. Overall, our findings suggest that stress increases negative self-evaluation as indexed by elevated corrugator activity. Furthermore, stress might sharpen the consistency between corrugator activity and negative evaluation of others. Our results indicate that negative self-evaluation might be a useful therapeutic target in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders. In this context, facial muscle activity may be an adequate biomarker for identifying stress-related differences in self-evaluation.
... It has been shown before that experiencing social emotions (e.g. embarrassment or shame) is related to increased cortisol levels in situations which threaten one's social image, like the socialevaluative stress induction 6 . Cortisol has been linked to reward processing and feedback-based learning in the stress triggers additional reward salience-STARS-model which proposes that stress and the associated release of cortisol modulates the dopamine system, resulting in an increased salience of rewards, thus biasing learning towards rewarding feedback 43,72 . ...
Being confronted with social-evaluative stress elicits a physiological and a psychological stress response. This calls for regulatory processes to manage negative affect and maintain self-related optimistic beliefs. The aim of the current study was to investigate the affect-regulating potential of self-related updating of ability beliefs after exposure to social-evaluative stress, in comparison to non-social physical stress or no stress. We assessed self-related belief updating using trial-by-trial performance feedback and described the updating behavior in a mechanistic way using computational modeling. We found that social-evaluative stress was accompanied by an increase in cortisol and negative affect which was related to a positive shift in self-related belief updating. This self-beneficial belief updating, which was absent after physical stress or control, was associated with a better recovery from stress-induced negative affect. This indicates that enhanced integration of positive self-related feedback can act as a coping strategy to deal with social-evaluative stress.
... All of these elements are involved in singing. In addition, persons with PD often have voice impairments, which may also contribute to an increase in stress when singing due to perceptions of selfconsciousness and/or embarrassment (Lewis and Ramsay, 2002;Gruenewald et al., 2004). While the results did not show a significant decrease in cortisol as hypothesized, results also did not show a significant increase in cortisol. ...
The inclusion of music into the treatment plan for persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) may be a viable strategy to target multiple motor symptoms. However, potential mechanisms to explain why music has an impact on multiple motor symptoms in persons with PD remain understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of 1 h of group therapeutic singing (GTS) on physiological measures of stress and clinical motor symptoms in persons with PD. We posit that improvement in motor symptoms after GTS may be related to stress reduction. Seventeen participants with PD completed 1 h of GTS and eight participants completed 1 h of a quiet reading (control session). Cortisol was collected via passive drool immediately before and after the singing and control session. The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part-III (motor examination) was also video-recorded immediately before and after the singing and control session and scored by two raters masked to time and condition. Secondary outcome measures for quality of life, depression, and mood were collected. Results revealed no significant change in cortisol or motor UPDRS scores, as well as no significant relationship between cortisol and motor UPDRS scores. There was a trend for the singing group to report feeling less sad compared to the control group after the 1-h session (effect size = 0.86), and heart rate increased in the singing group while heart rate decreased in the control group after the 1-h session. These results suggest that an acute session of GTS is not unduly stressful and promotes the use of GTS for persons with PD. Multiple mechanisms may underlie the benefits of GTS for persons with PD. Further exploring potential mechanisms by which singing improves motor symptoms in persons with PD will provide greater insight on the therapeutic use of music for persons with PD.
... Indeed, in the most efficient experimental protocol to study stress, participants perform speech and cognitive tasks while being ostensively evaluated by a board of trained researchers (Kudielka et al., 2007). The potentially negative evaluation and the fear of failure trigger the reactions of social pain, focusing attentional resources on the threat and weakening performance (Gruenewald et al., 2004;Angelidis et al., 2019). Belonging to a group stigmatized by negative stereotypes in academic domains exacerbates the pain of social isolation, causing an upward spiral of physiological and mental stress and harmful impairments to performance (Blascovich et al., 2001;Croizet et al., 2004;Allen and Friedman, 2015). ...
The editors of several major journals have recently asserted the importance of combating racism and sexism in science. This is especially relevant now, as the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to a widening of the gender and racial/ethnicity gaps. Implicit bias is a crucial component in this fight. Negative stereotypes that are socially constructed in a given culture are frequently associated with implicit bias (which is unconscious or not perceived). In the present article, we point to scientific evidence that shows the presence of implicit bias in the academic community, contributing to strongly damaging unconscious evaluations and judgments of individuals or groups. Additionally, we suggest several actions aimed at (1) editors and reviewers of scientific journals (2) people in positions of power within funding agencies and research institutions, and (3) members of selection committees to mitigate this effect. These recommendations are based on the experience of a group of Latinx American scientists comprising Black and Latina women, teachers, and undergraduate students who participate in women in science working group at universities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With this article, we hope to contribute to reflections, actions, and the development of institutional policies that enable and consolidate diversity in science and reduce disparities based on gender and race/ethnicity.
... Indeed, modified versions of the TSST without the committee are less stressful. Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz, and Fahey [37] found that performing in front of an audience led to elevated heart rate and cortisol over performing alone. In addition, performing in front of an imagined audience sitting behind a one-way mirror does not stimulate cortisol to the extent of performing in front of an in-person committee [10]. ...
The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a psychosocial stressor that effectively stimulates the stress response but is labor and time intensive. Although other psychological stressors are often used experimentally, none are known to comparably elevate stress. Two stressors that may potentially elevate stress are a singing task (ST) and unsolvable anagrams, but there are not enough data to support their effectiveness. In the current experiment, 53 undergraduate males and females (mean age = 21.9 years) were brought into the laboratory, and baseline blood pressure, heart rate, self-rated anxiety, and salivary cortisol were recorded. Then, participants were randomly assigned to one of three stress conditions: TSST (n = 24), ST (n = 14), or an unsolvable anagram task (n = 15). Stress measures were taken again after the stressor and during recovery. The TSST significantly elevated systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and self-rated anxiety from pre-stress levels, replicating its stress-inducing properties. However, the ST and unsolvable anagrams only elevated heart rate, indicating that these methods are not as able to stimulate physiological or psychological stress. Overall, results indicate that out of these three laboratory stressors, the TSST clearly engages the stress response over the ST or unsolvable anagrams.
This paper offers a model of self-confidence for use in executive coaching. Self-confidence is an important coaching topic, yet our understanding of what it is and how it can be developed is limited to narrower concepts of self-efficacy and self-esteem. Current approaches are static and focus on personal attributes, cognitive and motivational aspects over physiological experiences and pay insufficient attention to diversity. Using an embodied interview approach with a diverse sample of 27 employees, we propose an Embodied, Dynamic and Inclusive (EDI) model of self-confidence that contains the components of Authenticity, Competence and Connectedness. The EDI model is unique in that it captures the dynamics of Loss of Confidence and building a Confident Performance, and identifies the role Mindset plays. We discuss our main contribution to the literature; that confidence is embodied and dynamic. We also explore what impact our research has on coaching.
Soldiers regularly participate in missions abroad and subjectively adapt to this situation. However, they have an increased lifetime cardiovascular risk compared to other occupational groups. To test the hypothesis that foreign deployment results in different stress habituation patterns, we investigated long-term psychological and bio-physiological stress responses to a repeated social stress task in healthy soldiers with and without foreign deployment. Ninety-one female and male soldiers from the BEST study (German armed forces deployment and stress) participated three times in the Trier Social Stress Test for groups (TSST-G) prior to, 6–8 weeks after and 1 year after the mission abroad and were compared to a control group without foreign deployment during the study period. They completed the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory scale (STAI), the Primary Appraisal Secondary Appraisal questionnaire (PASA) and the Multidimensional Mood State Questionnaire (MDBF). Salivary cortisol and α-amylase, blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability were determined. Soldiers showed mental habituation over the three times with a significant decrease after the TSST-G in anxiousness (STAI) and cognitive stress appraisal (PASA), they were calmer and reported better mood (MDBF). Prior to the social stress part, the mood (MDBF) declined significantly. None of the biological and physiological markers showed any adaptation to the TSST-G. Mission abroad did not significantly influence any measured psychobiological marker when compared to soldiers without foreign deployment. Foreign deployment does not result in alterations in psychobiological social stress response patterns over 1 year after mission abroad which indicates that adaptation to acute social stress is highly maintained in healthy soldiers. The discrepancy between subjective perception and objective stress response has numerous clinical implications and should receive more attention.
Chronic psychosocial stress increases disease risk and mortality, but the underlying mechanism remain largely unclear. Here we outline an energy-based model for the transduction of chronic stress into disease over time. The energetic model of allostatic load (EMAL) emphasizes the energetic cost of allostasis and allostatic load, where the “load” is the additional energetic burden required to support allostasis and stress-induced energy needs. Living organisms have a limited capacity to consume energy. Overconsumption of energy by allostatic brain-body processes leads to hypermetabolism, defined as excess energy expenditure above the organism’s optimum. In turn, hypermetabolism accelerates physiological decline in cells, laboratory animals, and humans, and may drive biological aging. Therefore, we propose that the transition from adaptive allostasis to maladaptive allostatic states, allostatic load, and allostatic overload arises when the added energetic cost of stress competes with longevity-promoting growth, maintenance, and repair. Mechanistically, the energetic restriction of growth, maintenance and repair processes leads to the progressive wear-and-tear of molecular and organ systems. The proposed model makes testable predictions around the physiological, cellular, and sub-cellular energetic mechanisms that transduce chronic stress into disease risk and mortality. We also highlight new avenues to quantify allostatic load and its link to health across the lifespan, via the integration of systemic and cellular energy expenditure measurements together with classic allostatic load biomarkers.
The emotional and social evaluative aspects of social interactions influence cortisol. The interactions that mothers have on social networking sites and via other technology involve heightened social comparison and emotion. We examined the associations between technology-mediated social engagement, social comparisons and emotion during technology-mediated social exposures (TMSEs), and cortisol during daily life. Forty-seven mothers (mean age=34.38) completed a 4-day monitoring period involving four saliva collections and questionnaires daily at awakening, 4 hours post-awakening, 9 hours post-awakening, and bedtime. Higher social comparison during TMSE was associated with lower momentary cortisol, whereas higher negative emotions during TMSE and more time spent in TMSE were associated with higher momentary cortisol. Higher average social comparison during TMSE was associated with lower average daily cortisol output (area under the curve with respect to ground; AUCg), and more time spent on TMSE was associated with higher average AUCg. This study presents the first evidence that naturalistic social-cognitive and emotional reactions to TMSE are associated with cortisol in daily life.
Secrecy is both common and consequential. Recent work suggests that personal experiences with secrets (i.e., mind-wandering to them outside of concealment contexts), rather than concealment (within conversations), can explain the harms of secrecy. Recent work has also demonstrated that secrecy is associated with emotions that center on self-evaluation-shame and guilt. These emotions may help explain the harms of secrecy and provide a point of intervention to improve coping with secrecy. Four studies with 800 participants keeping over 10,500 secrets found that shame surrounding a secret is associated with lower perceived coping efficacy and reduced well-being. Moreover, shifting appraisals away from shame improved perceptions of efficacy in coping with secrets, which was linked with higher well-being. These studies suggest that emotions surrounding secrets can harm well-being and highlight avenues for intervention.
Black women experience disproportional rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) warranting further exploration of CVD risk factors. Growing evidence suggests acute stress reactivity studies may elucidate the mechanisms driving psychosocial correlates of CVD risks. Race‐related stress has been identified as a CVD risk factor among Black women though recent evidence suggests emotions may facilitate these risks. Black women may be vulnerable to shame related to frequent racist experiences. Yet, no study to date has examined racism, shame, and stress reactivity in this population. The current study utilized mixed linear models to test for time and group effects of racism and shame on stress reactivity (e.g., cortisol and c‐reactive protein [CRP]) among 34 Black women who completed the Trier Social Stress Test. Tests for two‐way interactions (i.e., shame by racism) were also performed. Significant time and group effects were observed for shame and racism on stress reactivity. Black women who experienced greater lifetime racism, stress appraised, but lower racism during the past year, exhibited greater CRP responses. Black women who experienced high levels of shame and racism during the past year and their lifetime demonstrated greater cortisol reactivity. These results prompt further research on racism and shame as CVD risk factors among Black women. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Aims
Past research suggests that people report a greater desire to consume alcohol when they experience social threat—or threats to their social selves, such as social exclusion. Nevertheless, experimental research on the role of social threat in alcohol consumption is limited. The present study examined the causal relationship between social threat and wine consumption.
Methods
Undergraduate students (N = 83; Mage = 21.8 years old, SDage = 1.62 years old; 72.3% women; 61.4% Latinx/Hispanic) participated in a study under the pretense that they were in a focus group gauging students’ opinions of a bar being constructed at their university. During the study, participants and two confederate researchers completed a group activity in which they selected design elements for the bar. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the social threat condition, confederates rejected participants’ design choices and socially excluded them during a follow-up task. In the social acceptance condition, confederates supported participants’ choices and did not socially exclude them. All participants then completed a wine taste test.
Results
Contrary to predictions, an independent-samples t-test revealed that participants who experienced social threat consumed significantly less wine than those who were socially accepted, t(81) = −2.22, P = 0.03, d = −0.49. Furthermore, a linear regression test revealed that this effect persisted even when controlling for typical alcohol-consumption behavior, b = 56.09, t = −2.50, P = 0.02, d = −0.61.
Conclusion
The relationship between social threat and alcohol consumption may be more nuanced than anticipated. Discussion centers around two potential moderators including positive affect and identity.
Background
The biopsychological response patterns to digital stress have been sparsely investigated so far. Important potential stressors in modern working environments due to increased digitalization are multitasking and work interruptions. In this study protocol, we present a protocol for a laboratory experiment, in which we will investigate the biopsychological stress response patterns to multitasking and work interruptions.
Methods
In total, N = 192 healthy, adult participants will be assigned to six experimental conditions in a randomized order (one single-task, three dual-task (two in parallel and one as interruption), one multitasking, and one passive control condition). Salivary alpha-amylase as well as heart rate as markers for Sympathetic Nervous System Activity, heart rate variability as measure for Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) activity, and cortisol as measure for activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis will be assessed at six time points throughout the experimental session. Furthermore, inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), and secretory immunoglobulin-A) will be assessed before and after the task as well as 24 hours after it (IL-6 and CRP only). Main outcomes will be the time course of these physiological stress markers. Reactivity of these measures will be compared between the experimental conditions (dual-tasking, work interruptions, and multitasking) with the control conditions (single-tasking and passive control).
Discussion
With this study protocol, we present a comprehensive experiment, which will enable an extensive investigation of physiological stress-responses to multitasking and work interruptions. Our planned study will contribute to a better understanding of physiological response patterns to modern (digital) stressors. Potential risks and limitations are discussed. The findings will have important implications, especially in the context of digital health in modern working and living environments.
A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is not just about physical health; It disrupts daily life on a global scale by changing individual and social attitudes and behaviors. In these conditions, video conferencing applications are becoming mainstream worldwide for the continuation of work, social life and education. Video conferences have helped us to remotely connect study rooms, class-rooms, but after attending one or 2 virtual meetings, listening to an online webinar or two, and per-haps speaking, people begin to express feeling exhausted and nervous. Thus, a new term emerged, also named after a popular application, resulting from the excessive use of video conferencing plat-forms: 'Zoom Fatigue'. Zoom fatigue is defined as feeling tired after a meeting over a video confer-encing tool. Fatigue appears to be different and specific from normal work fatigue. Mechanisms spe-cific to existing video conferencing applications that can cause Zoom Fatigue are suggested. The first mechanism mentions mirror anxiety, which can be triggered by self-gaze in video conferences. The second mechanism is the feeling of being trapped by the need to stay within the camera's field of view. The other mechanism has to do with the increased cognitive load of managing nonverbal be-haviors in this new communication environment. COVID-19 is increasing the long-anticipated trend of remote work. Even as social distancing recommendations are eased and face-to-face meetings be-come safe again, video conferencing apps seem to have the potential to continue to increase produc-tivity and save energy.
This research investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers’ perspectives of beauty and individual cosmetic products. Since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on December 31st, 2019, the search volumes of Google News have been updated and information on confirmed cases of the disease has been collected. This study used Python 3.7, NodeXL 1.0.1, and Smart PLS 3.0 to analyze consumer awareness of cosmetic products during the pandemic. The results reveal that consumers’ perspectives of beauty are impacted by a pandemic. Global consumers perceive skincare as an important aspect during the pandemic, while the importance of makeup fell after the outbreak. The awareness of skincare and makeup products has changed. The spread of the pandemic (SOP) has a positive impact on skincare products, but a negative impact on makeup products, except for eye makeup products, which was positive. Finally, the SOP was not significant in terms of consumers’ interest in masks. Fifth, interest in masks showed a positive relationship with interest in skincare products, such as cleansing products, while a negative relationship was observed with interest in makeup products. Overall, this study concludes that pandemics certainly have an impact on global consumers’ perspectives. As a pandemic spread, interest in skincare products increases, while interest in makeup products decreases. This study has academic significance in that it investigates the effects of consumption of cosmetic products during the stay-at-home rules. It can be used as standard information for setting marketing strategies in pandemic-like situations in the future.
Theatre-based practices, such as improvisation, are frequently applied to simulate everyday social interactions. Although the improvisational context is acknowledged as fictional, realistic emotions may emerge, a phenomenon labelled the ‘paradox of fiction’. This study investigated how manipulating the context (real-life versus fictional) modulates psychophysiological reactivity to social rejection during dyadic interactions. We measured psychophysiological responses elicited during real-life (interview) and fictional (improvisation exercises) social rejections. We analysed the heart rate (HR), skin conductance, facial muscle activity, and electrocortical activity (electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetry) of student teachers (N = 39) during various social rejections (devaluing, interrupting, nonverbal rejection). All social rejections evoked negative EEG alpha asymmetry, a measure reflecting behavioural withdrawal motivation. Psychophysiological responses during real-life and fictional rejections correlated, and rejection type modified the responses. When comparing responses across all rejection types, facial muscle activity and EEG alpha asymmetry did not differ between real-life and fictional rejections, whereas HR decelerated and skin conductance increased during fictional rejections. These findings demonstrate that regardless of cognitive awareness of fictionality, relatively subtle social rejections elicited psychophysiological reactivity indicating emotional arousal and negative valence. These findings provide novel, biological evidence for the application of theatre-based improvisation to studying experientially everyday social encounters.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate resting autonomic activity in adults who stutter (AWS) compared to adults who do not stutter (ANS) and the relationship this has on self-reports of social anxiety.
Methods
Thirteen AWS and 15 ANS completed the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clark, 1998) and Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE; Leary, 1983). Following this, measures of skin conductance levels (i.e. index of sympathetic activity) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (i.e. index of parasympathetic activity) were taken during a 5-minute resting, baseline period. Independent sample t tests were used to assess differences between groups on self-reports of anxiety (SIAS, BFNE) and resting autonomic levels (SCL, RSA). Separate multiple regression analyses were performed in order to assess the relationship between self-reports of anxiety and autonomic measures.
Results
Results showed significantly higher mean SCL and lower mean RSA levels in the AWS compared to the ANS at resting, baseline. Regression analysis showed that self-reports from the SIAS had a significant effect on RSA levels for the AWS but not the ANS. No significant effects were found for BFNE on RSA. Nor was there a significant effect from SIAS or BFNE on SCL levels for either group.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that resting RSA levels may be a physiological marker for social anxiety levels in adults who stutter.
Purpose:
We know that adults who stutter report higher levels of social anxiety [Craig and Tran: J Fluency Disord 2014;40:35-43; Iverach et al.: J Anxiety Disord 2009;23(7):928-34]. What is not clear is whether adults who stutter develop maladaptive attentional shifts, similar to what is observed in socially anxious individuals, in response to social anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attentional biases in adults who stutter compared to adults who do not stutter before and after social evaluative threat induction and determine whether responses are associated with objective and subjective measures of anxiety.
Method:
Twelve adults who stutter and 14 matched adults who do not stutter performed a modified response time paradigm, the dot-probe task, where they responded to a probe appearing behind one of two faces, one emotional (positive or negative) and one neutral. Participant's reaction times were measured before and after a social threat induction task. Skin conductance levels were used as an index of induced stress. Self-reports of trait and social anxiety were used as subjective measures of anxiety.
Results:
Adults who stutter compared to controls exhibited an attentional bias towards negative facial expressions following a social evaluative threat induction. This effect remained when covarying for levels of trait and social anxiety. Before social evaluative threat induction, visual inspection of the data showed that adults who stutter compared to adults who do not stutter avoided positive facial expressions as they attended more to the negative facial expressions; however, these differences were not significant.
Discussion:
This study provides evidence for a maladaptive attentional behavior in adults who stutter when undergoing feelings of social evaluative threat. Results provide rationale for research aimed at assessing the use of attention restructuring in highly anxious adults who stutter.
Objective:
Socioeconomic status (SES) remains a robust risk factor for mortality. Various theoretical models postulate that lower SES is associated with higher negative affect, which then initiates a cascade of physiological disturbances that contribute to illness and early mortality. However, few studies have explicitly investigated the interplay between psychological and biological factors in determining SES disparities in mortality. This study examined the role of daily negative affect and cortisol secretion in explaining the SES-mortality link in a large sample of US adults.
Methods:
Using data from the Midlife in the United States study (N = 1,735, Mage = 56.40 ± 12.10 years, 56.4% female), we tested longitudinal associations between SES, daily negative affect, daily cortisol levels, and all-cause mortality 13 years later. Daily negative affect was classified into three clusters reflecting depressive affect, anxiety, and anger.
Results:
Higher SES was linked to a lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio = 0.94, 95% CI [0.90, 0.97]). Furthermore, there was a sequential link between higher SES and lower mortality through lower daily depressive affect and a steeper ("healthier") diurnal cortisol slope (indirect effect = -0.001, Z = -2.14, p = .032, 95% CI = [-0.002, 0.000]). Daily anxiety and anger were not associated with cortisol levels or mortality (ps > .05).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that daily negative emotional experiences and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning may constitute important psychological and physiological pathways underlying the link between SES and all-cause mortality.
Sexual minority men (SMM) are at increased risk for mental health problems due to effects of sexual minority stigma (e.g., internalized homonegativity (IH)). Both IH and emotion dysregulation are contributors to sexual compulsivity; however, the role of feelings of sexual shame have not been examined in this association. A sample of 982 HIV-negative SMM completed online surveys (Mage = 42.4, SD = 13.74). Path analyses indicated significant direct effects of IH on sexual shame (β = 0.44, p < .001), emotion dysregulation (β = 0.19, p < .001), and sexual compulsivity (β = 0.22, p < .001). Modeled simultaneously, the association between sexual shame and sexual compulsivity (β = 0.26, p < .001) was significant, as was the association between emotion dysregulation and sexual compulsivity (β = 0.27, p < .001). Finally, an indirect effect of IH on sexual compulsivity through both sexual shame (p < .001) and emotion dysregulation (p < .001) was significant, and the association between IH and sexual compulsivity was reduced to non-significant (β = 0.01, p = .74). Targeting feelings of sexual shame and emotion dysregulation in clinical interventions may help reduce the negative health impact of sexual compulsivity among SMM.
The interest in the association between feelings of guilt and shame and psychological health is growing. However, less attention so far has been paid to the associations with chronic disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore whether feelings of guilt and shame are related to physical health in chronic disease and in selected ones. A nationally representative sample of Czech adults (n = 1000, age = 46.0 ± 17.3 years, 48.6% men) participated in the survey. Feelings of guilt and shame (items from The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) and health problems in selected chronic diseases were measured. Respondents with higher feelings of guilt – but not of shame – were more likely to suffer from a chronic disease; we found this in arthritis, back pain, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer and depression or anxiety. The association was strongest in the case of cancer with odds ratios (OR) 5.83 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27–16.69). There were no significant associations in case of diabetes and stroke. Feelings of shame were not related to chronic diseases. Our findings suggest that feelings of guilt are associated with worse physical health. Further research is needed in this area.
Aversive events can evoke strong emotions that trigger cerebral neuroactivity to facilitate behavioral and cognitive shifts to secure physiological stability. However, upon intense and/or chronic exposure to such events, the neural coping processes can be maladaptive and disrupt mental well-being. This maladaptation denotes a pivotal point when psychological stress occurs, which can trigger subconscious, “automatic” neuroreactivity as a defence mechanism to protect the individual from potential danger including overwhelming unpleasant feelings and disturbing or threatening thoughts.The outcomes of maladaptive neural activity are cognitive dysfunctions such as altered memory, decision making, and behavior that impose a risk for mental disorders. Although the neurocognitive phenomena associated with psychological stress are well documented, the complex neural activity and pathways related to stressor detection and stress coping have not been outlined in detail. Accordingly, we define acute and chronic stress-induced pathways, phases, and stages in relation to novel/unpredicted, uncontrollable, and ambiguous stressors. We offer a comprehensive model of the stress-induced alterations associated with multifaceted pathophysiology related to cognitive appraisal and executive functioning in stress.
Public exposure through naming and shaming in cyberspace has become an important side effect of the advancement of the digitalisation and technologisation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This chapter provides insights into shaming in the digital arena and presents an overview of shaming forms, effects, strategies and counterstrategies in the context of technological changes and advancement from different cultural perspectives on individual, social and global levels. In this chapter, the authors present contemporary debates on shaming in the 4IR, referring to forms of shaming used to reinforce social norms. On one hand, the authors provide insight into online shaming and its special forms, such as slut-shaming (the exposure and shaming of individuals for their perceived or actual sexual behaviour) and body shaming, for instance, the “pro-Ana” (anorexia nervosa) and “pro-Mia” (bulimia nervosa) movements glorifying shame-based eating disorders which are interlinked with shame and shaming. On the other hand, the authors note that the presentation of self-injurious behaviour is currently a strong trend on the Internet. Scribing, snipping and cutting are glorified as a lifestyle, as is the increase in instructions, announcements and appointments for suicide, especially among children and adolescents. The authors reflect on how shame impacts on these behaviours described on the Internet.
Background
The experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) is stressful. One objective way to monitor it is to assess victims’ stress response by measuring the concentration of their salivary cortisol, the major stress hormone released by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.
Objective
We investigated how the IPV experienced by women in Cameroon affects their stress levels and those of their children.
Method
We recruited 50 mother–child dyads exposed to IPV and a control group of 25 mother–child dyads. All mothers completed questionnaires, including the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale to assess IPV, the Sense of Coherence Scale, and the Self-Esteem Scale, to assess their psychological resources. Mothers were asked to collect 3 saliva samples from themselves and 3 from their children on a single weekday: immediately after waking up, 30 minutes after waking up, and 45 minutes after waking up. The total cortisol secretion over the first hour after awakening was determined by calculating the area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCg).
Results
Mothers exposed to IPV exhibited higher total post-awakening cortisol concentrations compared with those in the control group. However, no significant difference was found between exposed and non-exposed children. In addition, higher IPV, specifically injuries, was significantly and positively associated with greater AUCg among mothers exhibiting lower self-esteem. When self-esteem was high, however, no significant effect of IPV on AUCg was observed.
Conclusions
Of particular clinical significance is that self-esteem can modulate the stress levels of women exposed to IPV, a valuable insight into the development of effective psychosocial interventions to support IPV victims in sub-Saharan Africa.
Following proposals regarding the criteria for differentiating emotions, the current investigation examined whether the antecedents and facial expressions of embarrassment, shame, and guilt are distinct. In Study 1, participants wrote down events that had caused them to feel embarrassment, shame, and guilt. Coding of these events revealed that embarrassment was associated with transgressions of conventions that govern public interactions, shame with the failure to meet important personal standards, and guilt with actions that harm others or violate duties. Study 2 determined whether these three emotions are distinct in another domain of emotion-namely, facial expression. Observers were presented with slides of 14 different facial expressions, including those of embarrassment, shame, and candidates of guilt (self-contempt, sympathy, and pain). Observers accurately identified the expressions of embarrassment and shame, but did not reliably label any expression as guilt.
OBJECTIVE:The objective of the study was to assess the roles of social stress and social status in susceptibility to upper respiratory infection.
METHOD: Sixty male cynomolgus monkeys were randomly assigned to stable or unstable social conditions for 15 months. Two markers of social status, social rank and percent of behaviors that were submissive, were assessed at independent observation periods. Endocrine, immune, and behavioral responses were each assessed (at 3-month intervals) during the 9th through 14th months of the study. At the beginning of the 15th month, all animals were exposed to a virus (adenovirus) that causes a common-cold-like illness. The primary outcome was whether or not an animal developed an infection (shed virus) after viral exposure.
RESULTS:Although the social instability manipulation was associated with increased agonistic behavior as indicated by minor injuries and elevated norepinephrine responses to social reorganizations, the manipulation did not influence the probability of being infected by the virus. However, low social status (as assessed by either marker) was associated with a substantially greater probability of being infected. It was also associated with less body weight, greater elevated cortisol responses to social reorganizations, and less aggressive behavior. However, none of these characteristics could account for the relation between social status and infection.
CONCLUSIONS: Social stress was not associated with susceptibility to infection. However, animals with lower social status were at higher risk than high social status animals.
The measurement of cortisol in saliva provides the basic scientist as well as the clinician with a reliable tool for investigations of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Since saliva samples can be obtained stress-free and independent from medically trained personnel this method may be well suited for use in psychobiological studies. This overview intends to give a comprehensive introduction to the method of salivary cortisol assessment and to briefly discuss its application in different scientific disciplines.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
This paper describes a protocol for induction of moderate psychological stress in a laboratory setting and evaluates its effects on physiological responses. The 'Trier Social Stress Test' (TSST) mainly consists of an anticipation period (10 min) and a test period (10 min) in which the subjects have to deliver a free speech and perform mental arithmetic in front of an audience. In six independent studies this protocol has been found to induce considerable changes in the concentration of ACTH, cortisol (serum and saliva), GH, prolactin as well as significant increases in heart rate. As for salivary cortisol levels, the TSST reliably led to 2- to 4-fold elevations above baseline with similar peak cortisol concentrations. Studies are summarized in which TSST-induced cortisol increases elucidated some of the multiple variables contributing to the interindividual variation in adrenocortical stress responses. The results suggest that gender, genetics and nicotine consumption can influence the individual's stress responsiveness to psychological stress while personality traits showed no correlation with cortisol responses to TSST stimulation. From these data we conclude that the TSST can serve as a tool for psychobiological research.
182 undergraduates described personal embarrassment, shame, and guilt experiences and rated these experiences on structural and phenomenological dimensions. Contrary to popular belief, shame was no more likely than guilt to be experienced in "public" situations; all 3 emotions typically occurred in social contexts, but a significant proportion of shame and guilt events occurred when respondents were alone. Analyses of participants' phenomenological ratings clearly demonstrated that shame, guilt, and embarrassment are not merely different terms for the same affective experience. In particular, embarrassment was a relatively distant neighbor of shame and guilt, and the differences among the 3 could not be explained simply by intensity of affect or by degree of moral transgression. Finally, participants generally were their own harshest critics in each type of event, evaluating themselves more negatively than they believed others did.
The hypothesis that social subordination is stressful, and results in a depressive response in some individuals, was examined in socially housed female cynomolgus monkeys. Social status was manipulated such that half of the previously subordinate females became dominant and half of the previously dominant females became subordinate. Current subordinates hypersecreted cortisol, were insensitive to negative feedback, and had suppressed reproductive function. Current subordinates received more aggression, engaged in less affiliation, and spent more time alone than dominants. Furthermore, they spent more time fearfully scanning the social environment and displayed more behavioral depression than dominants. Current subordinates with a history of social subordination were preferentially susceptible to a behavioral depression response. The results of this experiment suggest that the stress of social subordination causes hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and ovarian dysfunction, and support the hypothesis that chronic, low-intensity social stress may result in depression in susceptible individuals.
In this study, we evaluated cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and psychological adjustment to repeated presentations of a public speaking and a mental arithmetic task. Brief versions of mental arithmetic tasks have been used widely in previous reactivity studies, and growing attention to more socially salient tasks has led to the increased use of public speaking tasks. However, psychophysiological adjustment during extended and repeated exposure to these tasks has not been delineated. In the present study, 52 healthy men worked on three 8-min presentations of public speaking and of mental arithmetic in a repeated measure design. Both tasks produced substantial cardiovascular, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol responses; public speaking produced greater changes. Repeated presentations of public speaking produced a stable pattern of cardiac activation, whereas repetitions of the mental arithmetic initially produced large cardiac responses that changed to a more vascular tonus across task periods. Both tasks increased negative moods. However, correlations between the endocrine, cardiovascular, and negative moods were significant only during the public speaking stressor. The public speaking task is a socially relevant experimental protocol for studying reactivity in the laboratory setting and elicits relatively high, stable, and homogeneous responses.
The authors conducted an experiment to test a theoretical explanation of social facilitation based on the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. Participants mastered 1 of 2 tasks and subsequently performed either the mastered (i.e., well-learned) or the unlearned task either alone or with an audience while cardiovascular responses were recorded. Cardiovascular responses of participants performing a well-learned task in the presence of others fit the challenge pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and decreased vascular resistance), whereas cardiovascular responses of participants performing an unlearned task in the presence of others fit the threat pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and increased vascular resistance), confirming the authors' hypotheses and the applicability of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to explain these results.
The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of beta-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.
This meta-analysis reviews 208 laboratory studies of acute psychological stressors and tests a theoretical model delineating conditions capable of eliciting cortisol responses. Psychological stressors increased cortisol levels; however, effects varied widely across tasks. Consistent with the theoretical model, motivated performance tasks elicited cortisol responses if they were uncontrollable or characterized by social-evaluative threat (task performance could be negatively judged by others), when methodological factors and other stressor characteristics were controlled for. Tasks containing both uncontrollable and social-evaluative elements were associated with the largest cortisol and adrenocorticotropin hormone changes and the longest times to recovery. These findings are consistent with the animal literature on the physiological effects of uncontrollable social threat and contradict the belief that cortisol is responsive to all types of stressors.
Five studies tested hypotheses derived from the sociometer model of self-esteem according to which the self-esteem system monitors others' reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion. Study 1 showed that the effects of events on participants' state self-esteem paralleled their assumptions about whether such events would lead others to accept or reject them. In Study 2, participants' ratings of how included they felt in a real social situation correlated highly with their self-esteem feelings. In Studies 3 and 4, social exclusion caused decreases in self-esteem when respondents were excluded from a group for personal reasons, but not when exclusion was random, but this effect was not mediated by self-presentation. Study 5 showed that trait self-esteem correlated highly with the degree to which respondents generally felt included versus excluded by other people. Overall, results provided converging evidence for the sociometer model.
Stressful life experience can have significant effects on a variety of physiological systems, including the autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the immune system. These relationships can be bidirectional; for example, immune cell products can act on the brain, altering mood and cognition, potentially contributing to depression. Although acute physiological alterations may be adaptive in the short term, chronic or repeated provocation can result in damage to health. The central dogma in the field of stress research assumes a stereotyped physiological response to all stressors (the generality model). However, increasing evidence suggest that specific stressful conditions and the specific way an organism appraises these conditions can elicit qualitatively distinct emotional and physiological response (the integrated specificity model). For example, appraisals of threat (vs. challenge), uncontrollability, and negative social evaluation have been shown to provoke specific psychobiological responses. Emotional responses appear to have specific neural substrates, which can result in differentiated alterations in peripheral physiological systems, so that it is incorrect to presume a uniform stress response.
This article proposes a unitary explanation of social control for normal and rigid conformity. Conformity may arise from the interaction of deference with normal pride and shame; rigid conformity from chain reactions of shame. I show that Darwin, Cooley, and others suggested the same context for pride and shame: self's perception of the evaluation of self by other(s). Their work, which assumes a continuous social monitoring of the self from the standpoint of others, suggests a puzzle: If social monitoring is continuous and causes either pride or shame, why are so few manifestations of either emotion visible in our lives? One possible explanation is that pride and shame usually have very low visibility. I call this the Cooley-Scheff conjecture. Goffman's work on "face" implies this conjecture and Lewis's discovery of unacknowledged shame confirms it. Her analysis of hundreds of clinical interviews demonstrates that low-visibility shame was present in every session, though neither therapist nor patient seemed to be aware of it. Drawing on Lewis's exact description of the markers of various manifestations of shame and Goffman's analysis of the relation between deference and embarrassment, a deference-emotion system is described. Members perceive this system as compelling conformity to norms exterior to self by informal but pervasive rewards (outer deference and its reciprocal, inner pride) and punishments (lack of deference, and the inner shame that is its reciprocal). I show how Asch's study of conformity and independence illustrates the role of shame in compelling conformity to exterior norms.
Undergraduates (N = 146) briefly described three shame-inducing situations and three guilt-inducing situations. Shame and guilt situations differed in both form and content. Shame dissipations were longer but less specific in content, and respondents were more likely to use the "projective"second person when describing shame than guilt. The observed content differences were generally consistent with current theory. Guilt was typically induced by specific moral transgressions, often involving harm to others. Shame was induced by specific moral transgressions as well as by nonmetal situations and issues (e.g., failure in performance situations, social{y inappropriate behavior or dress). The analysis of interpersonal concerns indicated that both shame and guilt can arise from a concern with one's effect on another person. Concern with others' evaluations, however, were almost exclusively the domain of shame. Although there appear to be some classic shame-inducing situations and some classic guilt-inducing situations, the majority of situations appear capable of engendering either emotion.
focus on a unique set of [self-conscious] emotions that emerge late and that require certain cognitive abilities for their elicitation / [focus] on shame, pride, guilt, and embarrassment / articulate the role of self in their elicitation / [elaborate] a working definition through a cognitive–attributional model (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reflecting the full range of work being done across disciplines, this [handbook] reports on an ever-growing, important body of research [on emotions]. [It] is a basic resource for everything that is known about emotions.
A broad interdisciplinary overview demonstrates the vast territory affected by scholarship in the field.
Chapters address the models and research emanating from clinical and social psychology, development, biology, neurophysiology, behavior genetics, sociology, history, anthropology, and philosophy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
What Are Self-conscious Emotions?Some General Development ConsiderationsSelf-conscious Emotions Are Interpersonal, TooShame and GuiltEmbarrassmentPrideReferences
This article examines the measurement of short-lived (i.e., state) changes in self-esteem. A new scale is introduced that is sensitive to manipulations designed to temporarily alter self-esteem, and 5 studies are presented that support the scale's validity. The State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) consists of 20 items modified from the widely used Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Psychometric analyses revealed that the SSES has 3 correlated factors: performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. Effects of naturally occurring and laboratory failure and of clinical treatment on SSES scores were examined; it was concluded that the SSES is sensitive to these sorts of manipulations. The scale has many potential uses, which include serving as a valid manipulation check index, measuring clinical change in self-esteem, and untangling the confounded relation between mood and self-esteem.
The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of β-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.
The purpose of this research was to see if naive raters could distinguish between guilt and shame in ways consistent with the descriptions of emotion theorists. In two studies, 152 participants recalled occasions on which they had experienced guilt or shame and rated these experiences on a large number of scales that represented either basic dimensions of emotion or attributes previously postulated to differentiate between these two emotions. Shame and guilt situations differed on a number of attributes, including felt powerfulness, self-control, self-consciousness and exposure, activity, inferiority, surprise, alienation from others, facial sensation, self-attribution of justice, and expectation of punishment. Many commonalities in the meaning of the two concepts were also suggested, most importantly in terms of basic attributes such as pain, tension, and arousal. Results were consistent with several previous accounts of the essential differences between guilt and shame, but not with all such descriptions.
The present study investigated the association between self-esteem and free cortisol stress responses with regard to experimentally induced success or failure. 52 subjects (29 women and 23 men, mean age 22.9±2.8 years) were exposed to a computer-generated mental stressor consisting of arithmetic tasks to be calculated under time pressure. For one half of the subjects, the computer produced tasks which were easy to solve (success condition), the other half was confronted with a significantly higher level of difficulty ( failure condition). Testing was performed in groups of ten subjects at a time in the same room. After each of three sets of arithmetic tasks, individuals had to report their outcome in front of the group.Results indicate that test difficulty had a profound impact on the performance of the subjects. More important, subjects performance covaried with his/her self-esteem, i.e. persons scoring high in self-esteem achieved better results in the mental arithmetics than their counterparts in the same condition. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between the free cortisol response to this stress task and self-esteem in the failure condition (r=−47, p=0.01), however not in the success condition (r=−0.26; p=0.20).These results suggest that self-esteem is affecting the endocrine stress response. Furthermore, they indicate that the impact of this personality characteristic on the human cortisol stress response is also situation dependent. Inclusion of success and failure conditions turned out to be a crucial factor for revealing the role of self-esteem in endocrine stress responses. Future study designs should therefore include those variables, or assess subjective perception of success and failure, when investigating the role of personality differences in stress responses.
Five studies tested hypotheses derived from the sociometer model of self-esteem according to which the self-esteem system monitors others' reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion. Study 1 showed that the effects of events on participants' state self-esteem paralleled their assumptions about whether such events would lead others to accept or reject them. In Study 2, participants' ratings of how included they felt in a real social situation correlated highly with their self-esteem feelings. In Studies 3 and 4, social exclusion caused decreases in self-esteem when respondents were excluded from a group for personal reasons, but not when exclusion was random, but this effect was not mediated by self-presentation. Study 5 showed that trait self-esteem correlated highly with the degree to which respondents generally felt included versus excluded by other people. Overall, results provided converging evidence for the sociometer model.
The effects of acute stress during a parachute jump on hormonal responses were studied in 12 experienced and 11 inexperienced military parachutists. Each subject performed two jumps. Prior to and immediately after each jump blood samples were drawn and analysed for plasma levels of cortisol, prolactin, thyrotropin (TSH), somatotropin (STH), and luteinizing hormone (LH). While there was a significant increase in cortisol, prolactin and TSH levels after both jumps, no alterations could be observed in STH and LH levels. Stress-induced hormonal responses were not affected by jump experience. There was also no association between the endocrine variables and anxiety scores.
Emotional stress is often followed by increased susceptibility to infections. One major role in the immediate immune response to infection is played by natural killer (NK) cells. This study was designed to establish whether acute psychological stress influences cellular immune functions and to elucidate the role of endocrine parameters as potent mediators of stress induced alterations of the immune system. Forty-five first-time tandem parachutists were examined continuously for their plasma concentrations of cortisol and catecholamines from 120 min before to 60 min after jumping. Lymphocyte subsets, NK activity, and ADCC were determined 2 hr before, immediately after, and 1 hr after jumping. There was a significant increase in sympathetic-adrenal hormones during (adrenaline, noradrenaline) and shortly after jumping (cortisol). Lymphocyte subsets and the functional capacity of NK cells revealed an increase immediately after jumping followed by a decrease significantly below starting values 1 hr later. These changes were significantly correlated to plasma concentrations of noradrenaline. Thus, quick mobilization of NK cells is suggested as one major mechanism for this effective adaptation of the immune system to stress situations.
The psychoendocrine interpretation of the data stating that cortisol hypersecretion in subordinates occurs because of frequent stressors need not conflict with the neuroendocrine interpretation stating that the hypersecretion occurs because of blunting of feedback sensitivity. Prolonged or repeated stressors will elevate basal glucocorticoid concentrations and cause feedback resistance in rodents, primates, and humans. Such stressors can potentially down-regulate corticosteroid receptor numbers in various neural sites relevant to glucocorticoid feedback inhibition, blunting the efficacy with which those sites work, and producing the subsequent hypersecretion and feedback resistance. With time, the repeated Cortisol excursions cause a down-regulatory blunting of feedback sensitivity, resulting in elevated basal Cortisol concentrations and relative feedback resistance. The elevated basal Cortisol concentrations, the feedback resistance, and the underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms in low-ranking baboons echo some of the findings in biological psychiatry concerning neuroendocrine abnormalities in depression. Although social subordinance and depression bear some interesting similarities, they still represent two distinct routes toward altered adrenocortical function.
This article reviews evidence relating social environment characteristics to patterns of neuroendocrine regulation. To date, although there has been considerable interest in the effects of social ties and support on health and longevity, less attention has been given to the effects of such social environment characteristics on actual physiologic parameters.
Animal and human studies from 1960s to the present are reviewed for evidence linking social environment characteristics to patterns of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and cardiovascular activity.
Community and laboratory-based studies document that characteristics of the social environment influence patterns of neuroendocrine reactivity. These effects seem to be highly sensitive to aspects of the social environment such as relative social status, the relative stability of the social ordering and, importantly, the quality of social relationships. Although supportive social relationships are often associated with attenuated patterns of HPA and SNS activation, the converse also seems to be true as nonsupportive social interactions are frequently associated with enhanced reactivity.
Available evidence regarding links between social environment characteristics and neuroendocrine regulation documents a link between the social and biological realms that may have important consequences for health and longevity. The data provide support for the hypothesis that observed associations between social ties and health and longevity result, at least partially, from the positive influence of such social environment characteristics in reducing neuroendocrine reactivity. The evidence regarding nonsupportive or hostile social relationships highlights the importance of taking a broader view of the potential health effects of the social environment, one that encompasses the potential for both positive and negative effects.
The effects on cardiovascular reactivity of incentive to influence the judgements of the experimenter and the threat of social evaluation were examined in a sample of 60 male and 60 female undergraduates. Participants either were guaranteed $5.00 to prepare and deliver a brief speech or were told that the money was contingent on an evaluation by the experimenter. Participants believed that their speech would be rated for either simple clarity or verbal intelligence. The contingent incentive increased systolic blood pressure reactivity by 6.5 mmHg (32%). Evaluative threat increased systolic reactivity by 7.1 mmHg (36%). These interpersonal processes could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and are likely to affect the degree of cardiovascular reactivity in laboratory studies.
This paper suggests that humans have innate needs to be seen as attractive to others. These needs form the basis for shame and mediate evaluations of social standing (status), social acceptance and social bonds. Shame and humiliation are associated with attacks on, and losses of, social attractiveness. The internal experiences of shame are derived from submissive strategies where one seeks to signal to others awareness of loss of social standing and limit possible damage. However, it is suggested that shame and humiliation differ from each other in a number of ways. For example, in shame the focus is on the self, while in humiliation the focus is on the harm done by others. Variations in the defensive strategies of shame and humiliation (e.g. avoidance, escape versus aggression and revenge) can pose particularly difficult problems in therapy. A focus on the role of social attractiveness in shame also allows for important distinctions to be drawn between shame and guilt.