Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:04:08.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experimentally Modifying Interpretations for Positive and Negative Social Scenarios in Children: A Preliminary Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2012

Stephanos P. Vassilopoulos ,
Nicholas J. Moberly  and
Georgia Zisimatou
Stephanos P. Vassilopoulos*
Affiliation:
University of Patras, Greece
Nicholas J. Moberly
Affiliation:
University of Exeter, UK
Georgia Zisimatou
Affiliation:
University of Patras, Greece
*
Reprint requests to Stephanos P. Vassilopoulos, Department of Primary Education, University of Patras, Patras, 26 110, Greece. E-mail: stephanosv@upatras.gr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Past research suggests that socially anxious individuals display a tendency to interpret ambiguous and clearly valenced information in a threatening way. Interpretation training programs, in which individuals are trained to endorse benign rather than negative interpretations of ambiguous social scenarios, have proven effective for reducing anxiety-related cognitive biases. However, it is not clear whether the same paradigms are effective in modifying interpretation biases for clearly valenced social information. Method: In this experiment, a group of unselected children (aged 10–13 years) was trained to endorse the more positive of two possible interpretations of mildly negative and positive social events. Results: Data revealed that this group (n = 77) showed a decrease in catastrophic interpretations and an increase in neutral interpretations of mildly negative events compared to children in a no-training control group (n = 76). Furthermore, participants in the training condition showed an increase in positive interpretations and a trend for a decrease in discounting interpretations of positive events. However, training did not affect emotional ratings of mildly negative and positive events or trait social anxiety. Conclusions: Notwithstanding certain limitations of this pilot study, we believe that the results are promising with regard to modifying interpretative biases for clearly valenced vignettes, and that further study regarding the effects of training on mood is warranted.

Keywords

Anxietychildreninterpretation biasescognitive bias modification
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 103 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, J. S., Moore, E. L., Braddock, A. E. and Harrington, D. L. (2009). Self-help cognitive-behavioral therapy with minimal therapist contact for social phobia: a controlled trial. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 98–105. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.04.004Google Scholar
Alden, L. E., Taylor, C. T., Mellings, T. M. J. B. and Laposa, J. M. (2008). Social anxiety and the interpretation of positive social events. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 577–590. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.05.007Google Scholar
Beard, C. (2011). Cognitive bias modification for anxiety: current evidence and future directions. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 11, 299–311. doi:10.1586/ERN.10.194Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: Meridian.Google Scholar
Bögels, S. M., Snieder, N. and Kindt, M. (2003). Specificity of dysfunctional thinking in children with symptoms of social anxiety, separation anxiety and generalised anxiety. Behaviour Change, 20, 160–169. doi:10.1375/bech20.3.160.24836Google Scholar
Brosan, L., Hoppitt, L., Shelfer, L., Sillence, A. and Mackintosh, B. (2011). Cognitive bias modification for attention and interpretation reduces trait and state anxiety in anxious patients referred to an out-patient service: results from a pilot study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42, 258–264. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.12.006Google Scholar
Clark, D. M. and Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In Heimberg, R. G., Liebowitz, M. R., Hope, D. A. and Schneier, F. R. (Eds.), Social Phobia: diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Constans, J. I., Penn, D. L., Ihen, G. H. and Hope, D. A. (1999). Interpretive biases for ambiguous stimuli in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 643–651. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00180-6Google Scholar
Eldar, S., Ricon, T. and Bar-Haim, Y. (2008). Plasticity in attention: implications for stress response in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 450–461. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.01.012Google Scholar
Foa, E. B., Franklin, M. E., Perry, K. J. and Herbert, J. D. (1996). Cognitive biases in generalized social phobia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 433–439. doi:10.1037//0021-843X.105.3.433Google Scholar
Kendall, P. C., Hedtke, K. A. and Aschenbrand, S. G. (2006). Anxiety disorders. In Wolfe, D. A. and Mash, E. (Eds.), Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in Adolescents. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. K. (1992). Children's Depression Inventory—short form (CDI). New York: Multi-Health Systems Inc.Google Scholar
La Greca, A. M. and Stone, W. L. (1993). The Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised: factor structure and concurrent validity. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 22, 17–27. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2201_2Google Scholar
Lester, K. J., Field, A. P. and Muris, P. (2011). Experimental modification of interpretation bias regarding social and animal fear in children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 697–705. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.03.006Google Scholar
Lothmann, C., Holmes, E. A., Chan, S. W. Y. and Lau, J. Y. F. (2011). Cognitive bias modification training in adolescents: effects on interpretation biases and mood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 24–32. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02286.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C., Koster, E. H. W. and Fox, E. (2009). Whither cognitive bias modification research? Commentary on the special section articles. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 89–99. doi:10.1037/a0014878Google Scholar
Mathews, A. and Mackintosh, B. (2000). Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 602–615. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.109.4.602Google Scholar
Mathews, A., Ridgeway, V., Cook, E. and Yiend, J. (2007). Inducing a benign interpretational bias reduces trait anxiety. Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 38, 225–236. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miers, A. C., Blöte, A. W., Bögels, S. M. and Westenberg, P. M. (2008). Interpretation bias and social anxiety in adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 1462–1471. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.02.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muris, P., Huijding, J., Mayer, B. and Hameetman, M. (2008). A space odyssey: experimental manipulation of threat perception and anxiety-related interpretation bias in children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39, 469–480. doi:10.1007/s10578-008-0103-zGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., Huijding, J., Mayer, B., Remmerswaal, D. and Vreden, S. (2009). Ground control to Major Tom: experimental manipulation of anxiety-related interpretation bias by means of the “space odyssey” paradigm and effects on avoidance tendencies in children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 333–340. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.01.004Google Scholar
Rapee, R. M. and Heimberg, R. G. (1997). A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 741–756. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(97)00022-3Google Scholar
Salemink, E., van den Hout, M. and Kindt, M. (2010). How does cognitive bias modification affect anxiety? Mediation analyses and experimental data. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38, 59–66. doi:10.1017/S1352465809990543Google Scholar
Salemink, E. and Wiers, R. W. (2011). Modifying threat-related interpretive bias in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 967–976. doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9523-5Google Scholar
Vassilopoulos, S. P. (2006). Interpretation and judgmental biases in socially anxious and nonanxious individuals. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 34, 243–254. doi:10.1017/S1352465805002687Google Scholar
Vassilopoulos, S. P. and Banerjee, R. (2008). Interpretations and judgments regarding positive and negative social scenarios in childhood social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 870–876. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.03.008Google Scholar
Vassilopoulos, S. P., Banerjee, R. and Prantzalou, C. (2009). Experimental modification of interpretation bias in socially anxious children: changes in interpretation, anticipated interpersonal anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 1085–1089. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vassilopoulos, S. P., Blackwell, S. E., Moberly, N. J. and Karahaliou, E. (2012). Comparing imagery and verbal instructions for the experimental modification of interpretation and judgmental bias in children. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43, 594–601. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.08.004Google Scholar
Voncken, M. J., Bögels, S. M. and de Vries, K. (2003). Interpretation and judgmental biases in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 1481–1488. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(03)00143-8Google Scholar
Wittchen, H.-U., Lieb, R., Schuster, P. and Oldehinkel, A. J. (2000). When is onset? Investigations into early developmental stages of anxiety and depressive disorders. In Rapoport, J. L. (Ed.), Childhood Onset of “Adult” Psychopathology: clinical and research advances (pp. 259–302). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Wittchen, H.-U., Stein, M. B. and Kessler, R. C. (1999). Social fears and social phobia in a community sample of adolescents and young adults: prevalence, risk factors and comorbidity. Psychological Medicine, 29, 309–323. doi:10.1017/S0033291798008174Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.