An Experiment on Public Speaking Anxiety in Response to Three Different Types of Virtual Audience

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
David-Paul Pertaub ◽  
Mel Slater ◽  
Chris Barker

This paper describes an experiment to assess the anxiety responses of people giving 5 min. presentations to virtual audiences consisting of eight male avatars. There were three different types of audience behavior: an emotionally neutral audience that remained static throughout the talk, a positive audience that exhibited friendly and appreciative behavior towards the speaker, and a negative audience that exhibited hostile and bored expressions throughout the talk. A second factor was immersion: half of the forty subjects experienced the virtual seminar room through a head-tracked, head-mounted display and the remainder on a desktop system. Responses were measured using the standard Personal Report of Confidence as a Public Speaker (PRCS), which was elicited prior to the experiment and after each talk. Several other standard psychological measures such as SCL-90-R (for screening for psychological disorder), the SAD, and the FNE were also measured prior to the experiment. Other response variables included subjectively assessed somaticization and a subject self-rating scale on performance during the talk. The subjects gave the talk twice each to a different audience, but in the analysis only the results of the first talk are presented, thus making this a between-groups design. The results show that post-talk PRCS is significantly and positively correlated to PRCS measured prior to the experiment in the case only of the positive and static audiences. For the negative audience, prior PRCS was not a predictor of post-PRCS, which was higher than for the other two audiences and constant. The negative audience clearly provoked an anxiety response irrespective of the normal level of public speaking confidence of the subject. The somatic response also showed a higher level of anxiety for the negative audience than for the other two, but self-rating was generally higher only for the static audience, each of these results taking into account prior PRCS.

Author(s):  
Jesús Morenas ◽  
Vicente Luis del Campo ◽  
Sergio López-García ◽  
Lucía Flores

Route previewing has been established as a critical parameter in indoor climbing performance, as it could determine the success or failure in ascending the route. We addressed the effect of different types of previews on output climbing performance. Twenty-one advanced climbers (7b and 7c+ climbing grade) were required to complete 18 routes, rated at 6c, according to the French Rating Scale of Difficulty. Each climber previewed the route under three conditions: “No-previewing”, “video-model previewing”, and “real-model previewing”. Output climbing performance was assessed in terms of route completion. The results showed differences on output climbing performance between types of preview. Specifically, the climbers achieved more successful attempts at climbing to the “Top” of the wall when inspecting the route with the “real-model previewing” condition, compared to the other conditions of preview. On the contrary, the climbers displayed more failed attempts in climbing the route with the “on-sight” condition, compared to the “flash” styles (“video-model” and “real-model”). The preview of the route, including performance of a real/video-projected model manipulating climbing holds, seems to increase the opportunities to climb the boulder successfully, attuning climbers to information specifying ascending actions. Climbing coaches should reinforce the design of representative training, using flash styles, to promote movement solutions for route completion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Xiaoqin Shi ◽  
Chao Yu ◽  
Dongmei Wu

With the development of the Internet, it has increasingly become an indispensable product in people’s lives, but many problems have arisen with it. Internet language violence is one of them. At present, the main Internet users in my country are young people, and online language violence brings extremely serious psychological problems to young students. In order to understand the current mental health of young students and the impact of online language violence on them, this article investigates the students in the city’s no. 1 middle school, filters the data through decision tree analysis, and judges online language through the psychological symptoms self-rating scale. The mental health symptom self-rating scale has the characteristics of large capacity, abundant symptoms, and more accurate description of the subject’s conscious symptoms. It contains a wide range of psychiatric symptoms, from feelings, emotions, thinking, consciousness, and behavior to life habits, interpersonal relationships, eating, and sleeping, and it uses 10 factors to reflect the psychological symptoms in 10 aspects. It has good distinguishing ability for people with psychological symptoms (that is, they may be on the edge of psychological disorder or mental disorder). The chi-square statistical method is used to analyze the basic characteristics of different youth groups of verbal violence. For the research content, the school surveys all schools and adopts questionnaire surveys and case studies to analyze the factors that influence youths’ attribution of online violence behaviors and make recommendations. The impact of violence on young students will be analyzed later through psychological intervention. The results of the study found that online language violence caused serious harm to young people’s psychology and caused students’ depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Active psychological interventions can effectively alleviate students’ mental health. The improvement of students’ mental health is the most obvious. The score improved by nearly 10%.


1988 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lambert ◽  
Kevin S. Masters ◽  
David Astle

Three widely used measures of depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, Zung Self-rating Depression Scale, and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, were used in an analysis of treatment effects over time. Results were not consistent with those of an earlier meta-analysis of Lambert, Hatch, Kingston, and Edwards in 1986. Present findings indicate that the Zung's self-rating is more likely to show early treatment gains while Beck's inventory shows larger gains over a longer time. Scores on the Hamilton Rating fall between the other two. These results indicate that research should be focused on the differences among these scales.


2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eelco Olde ◽  
Rolf J. Kleber ◽  
Onno van der Hart ◽  
Victor J.M. Pop

Childbirth has been identified as a possible traumatic experience, leading to traumatic stress responses and even to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in a group of women who recently gave birth (N = 435). In addition, a comparison was made between the original IES and the IES-R. The scale showed high internal consistency (α = 0.88). Using confirmatory factor analysis no support was found for a three-factor structure of an intrusion, an avoidance, and a hyperarousal factor. Goodness of fit was only reasonable, even after fitting one intrusion item on the hyperarousal scale. The IES-R correlated significantly with scores on depression and anxiety self-rating scales, as well as with scores on a self-rating scale of posttraumatic stress disorder. Although the IES-R can be used for studying posttraumatic stress reactions in women who recently gave birth, the original IES proved to be a better instrument compared to the IES-R. It is concluded that adding the hyperarousal scale to the IES-R did not make the scale stronger.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vince Polito ◽  
Amanda Barnier ◽  
Erik Woody

Building on Hilgard’s (1965) classic work, the domain of hypnosis has been conceptualised by Barnier, Dienes, and Mitchell (2008) as comprising three levels: (1) classic hypnotic items, (2) responding between and within items, and (3) state and trait. The current experiment investigates sense of agency across each of these three levels. Forty-six high hypnotisable participants completed an ideomotor (arm levitation), a challenge (arm rigidity) and a cognitive (anosmia) item either following a hypnotic induction (hypnosis condition) or without a hypnotic induction (wake condition). In a postexperimental inquiry, participants rated their feelings of control at three time points for each item: during the suggestion, test and cancellation phases. They also completed the Sense of Agency Rating Scale (Polito, Barnier, & Woody, 2013) for each item. Pass rates, control ratings, and agency scores fluctuated across the different types of items and for the three phases of each item; also, control ratings and agency scores often differed across participants who passed versus failed each item. Interestingly, whereas a hypnotic induction influenced the likelihood of passing items, it had no direct effect on agentive experiences. These results suggest that altered sense of agency is not a unidimensional or static quality “switched on” by hypnotic induction, but a dynamic multidimensional construct that varies across items, over time and according to whether individuals pass or fail suggestions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuliang Shi ◽  
Shuo Wang ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
Fang Fan

Abstract Background In this study, we examined psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Resilience Scale (RS) and parenting-related factors associated with resilience among disaster-exposed adolescents. Methods Eighteen months after the earthquake, a total of 1266 adolescents (43.4% male, mean age = 15.98; SD = 1.28) were assessed using the RS, the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Self-Rating Scale, the Depression Self-rating Scale for Children, the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, and Parental Bonding Instrument. Results Through exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) and parallel analysis, responses were characterized into a 3-factor structure: personal competence, meaningfulness, and acceptance of self and life. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the RS was 0.89 and the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.72. In terms of predictive validity, resilience was found to be a significant predictor for PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Multiple regression analysis showed that maternal parenting styles were significant predictors of resilience after adjusting for gender, age, sibling number, and earthquake experiences. Conclusions The Chinese version of RS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing resilience among adolescent survivors after disasters. The implications for research and resilience-oriented interventions were also discussed.


Author(s):  
Hyeck Soo Son ◽  
Jung Min Lee ◽  
Ramin Khoramnia ◽  
Chul Young Choi

Abstract Purpose To analyse and compare the surface topography and roughness of three different types of diffractive multifocal IOLs. Methods Using scanning electron microscope (SEM, Inspect F, 5.0 KV, maximum magnification up to 20,000) and atomic force microscope (AFM, Park Systems, XE-100, non-contact, area profile comparison, 10 × 10 µm, 40 × 40 µm), the surface quality of the following diffractive IOLs was studied: the AcrySof IQ PanOptix (Alcon, USA), the AT LARA 829MP (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany), and Tecnis Symfony (Johnson&Johnson Vision, USA). The measurements were made over three representative areas (central non-diffractive optic, central diffractive optic, and diffractive step) of each IOL. Roughness profile in terms of mean arithmetic roughness (Ra) and root-mean-squared roughness (Rq) values were obtained and compared statistically. Results In SEM examination, all IOLs showed a smooth optical surface without any irregularities at low magnification. At higher magnification, Tecnis Symfony showed unique highly regular, concentric, and lineate structures in the diffractive optic area which could not be seen in the other studied diffractive IOLs. The differences in the measured Ra and Rq values of the Tecnis Symfony were statistically significant compared to the other models (p < 0.05). Conclusion Various different topographical traits were observed in three diffractive multifocal IOLs. The Ra values of all studied IOLs were within an acceptable range. Tecnis Symfony showed statistically significant higher surface Ra values at both central diffractive optic and diffractive step areas. Furthermore, compared to its counterparts, Tecnis Symfony demonstrated highly ordered, concentric pattern in its diffractive surfaces.


Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Peng ◽  
Xiaojuan Hong ◽  
Yaru Huangfu ◽  
Zhao Sun ◽  
Wei Shen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Many patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID) have gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. First-line insomnia medications do not treat GI problems. Acupuncture has a comprehensive regulative action on both CID and GI disorder and is receiving increasing attention. Recent studies indicate that both CID and GI diseases may cause abnormal brain activity. However, the neurological mechanism underlying the effect of acupuncture on such diseases is still unclear. The aim of this study is to explore the pathological mechanisms of CID with GI discomfort, as well as the main response characteristics of acupuncture treatment from multiple perspectives using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods A total of 60 participants with CID and GI disorders will be randomly divided into two groups (real acupuncture group and sham acupuncture group; ratio of 1:1). Patients will receive 20 sessions (five sessions per week) of real acupuncture treatment or sham acupuncture treatment. The primary outcome is the aggregate score on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Secondary outcomes are scores on the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Self-Rating Depression Scale. Multimodal MRI scans and clinical assessments will be performed both at baseline and post-treatment. Another 30 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy subjects will be recruited as controls and will receive MRI scans and clinical evaluations. Discussion This study aims to provide scientific evidence for the mechanism of acupuncture in treating CID with GI disorder using multimodal MRI imaging data on brain structure, function, and metabolism. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800017092 (URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=27173). Registered on July 11, 2018.


Author(s):  
Seung Wan Hong ◽  
Tae Won Kim ◽  
Jae Hun Kim

Abstract Physicians and nurses stand with their back towards the C-arm fluoroscope when using the computer, taking things out of closets and preparing drugs for injection or instruments for intervention. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the type of lead apron and radiation exposure to the backs of physicians and nurses while using C-arm fluoroscopy. We compared radiation exposure to the back in the three groups: no lead apron (group C), front coverage type (group F) and wrap-around type (group W). The other wrap-around type apron was put on the bed instead of on a patient. We ran C-arm fluoroscopy 40 times for each measurement. We collected the air kerma (AK), exposure time (ET) and effective dose (ED) of the bedside table, upper part and lower part of apron. We measured these variables 30 times for each location. In group F, ED of the upper part was the highest (p &lt; 0.001). ED of the lower part in group C and F was higher than that in group W (p = 0.012). The radiation exposure with a front coverage type apron is higher than that of the wrap-around type and even no apron at the neck or thyroid. For reducing radiation exposure to the back of physician or nurse, the wrap-around type apron is recommended. This type of apron can reduce radiation to the back when the physician turns away from the patient or C-arm fluoroscopy.


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