scholarly journals Think, Pair, Freeze: The Association between Social Anxiety and Student Discomfort in the Active Learning Environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Buzinski ◽  
Emma Armstrong-Carter ◽  
Jenna Clark
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social

Active learning instructional techniques, often characterized by paired or small group work (e.g., problem solving, discussion), are typically associated with improved student performance. Socially anxious students may, however, experience unique interpersonal and learning challenges due to the social nature of these techniques. Despite its prevalence among college students, little research has examined how social anxiety relates to students experience of active learning, and whether socially anxious students derive the same benefits from it. Across three studies conducted in college classrooms (combined N = 569), we found that many college students met clinical thresholds for social anxiety (30.1%, 58.9%, and 61.3%), social anxiety was positively associated with discomfort in the active learning environment (r = .52, β = .61, and β = .65), early course performance did not moderate the social anxiety and active learning discomfort relationship (β = -.01 and β = .11), and even after controlling for GPA, social anxiety and active learning discomfort interacted to predict final course grades (β = -.22). These studies add nuance to the active learning literature, and suggest the need for further research on how to best utilize these techniques for socially anxious students.

scholarly journals Screening Social Anxiety in Adolescents Through the Eyes of Their Carers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis-Joaquin Garcia-Lopez ◽  
Lourdes Espinosa-Fernandez ◽  
Jose-Antonio Muela-Martinez ◽  
Jose Antonio Piqueras
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
Validity Data ◽  
Efficacious Treatment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Different Cultures

Despite the availability of efficacious treatment and screening protocols, social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents is considerably under-detected and undertreated. Our main study objective was to examine a brief, valid, and reliable social anxiety measure already tested to serve as self-report child measure but administered via Internet aimed at listening to the ability of his or her parent to identify social anxiety symptomatology in his or her child. This parent version could be used as a complementary measure to avoid his or her overestimation of children of social anxiety symptomatology using traditional self-reported measures. We examined the psychometric properties of brief and valid social anxiety measure in their parent format and administered via the Internet. The sample included 179 parents/legal guardians of adolescents (67% girls) with a clinical diagnosis of SAD (mean age: 14.27; SD = 1.33). Findings revealed good factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity. Data support a single, strength-based factor on the SPAIB-P, being structure largely invariant across age and gender. The limited number of adolescents with a performance-only specifier prevented examining the utility of scale to screen for this recently established specifier. It is crucial to evaluate if these results generalize to different cultures and community samples. The findings suggest that the SPAIB-P evidences performance comparable with child-reported measure. Parents can be reliable reports of the social anxiety symptomatology of the adolescent. The SPAIB-P may be useful for identifying clinically disturbed socially anxious adolescents.

scholarly journals Listening Strategies Use in the Internet Learning Environment by Non-English Major College Students: A Comparison between Male and Female Listeners

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu-hua Ma
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Strategy Training ◽  
Male Students ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The Social ◽  
Internet Learning ◽  
English Major ◽  
Listening Strategies

<p>Based on the researches of listening strategies at home and abroad, this study tries to explore the gender’s effect on the use of listening strategy under the internet autonomous learning environment and finds the differences as well as the similarities in the use of listening strategies. The results have some implications for teachers. English teachers should take the factors of gender into account in the course of strategy training, especially cultivating male students’ use of the social/affective strategies.</p>

scholarly journals Look at the Audience? A Randomized Controlled Study of Shifting Attention From Self-Focus to Nonsocial vs. Social External Stimuli During Virtual Reality Exposure to Public Speaking in Social Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa F. Wechsler ◽  
Michael Pfaller ◽  
Rahel E. van Eickels ◽  
Luise H. Schulz ◽  
Andreas Mühlberger
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Attention Training ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Significant Time ◽  
External Focus ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
The Social

Background: Enhanced self-focused attention plays a central role in the maintenance and treatment of Social Anxiety and is targeted in contemporary cognitive behavioral therapy. Actual developments use Virtual Reality (VR) for behavioral training. However, no VR attention training combining exposure to public speaking with shifting attention from self-focus to external focus has been investigated, and no experimental evidence exists on different kinds of external cues as targets of attention. Therefore, we investigated the effects of an attention training during public speaking in VR and examined differential effects of an external focus on nonsocial vs. social stimuli.Methods: In this randomized controlled study, highly socially anxious participants were instructed to focus on either objects or the audience within a virtual speech task. We assessed the pre-post effects on affective reactions, self-perception, and attentional processes during public speaking as well as general Social Anxiety using subjective, physiological, and eye-tracking measures. Repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were calculated to detect changes from pretest to posttest over both groups, and time × group interaction effects.Results: Within the analysis sample (n = 41), anxiety during public speaking and fear of negative evaluation significantly decreased, with no significant differences between groups. No significant time effect, but a significant time × group effect, was found for the looking time proportion on the audience members' heads. Follow-up tests confirmed a significant increase in the social-focus group and a significant decrease in the nonsocial-focus group. For all other variables, except external focus and fear of public speaking, significant improvements were found over both groups. Further significant time x group effects were found for positive affect during public speaking, with a significant increase in the social focus, and no significant change in the nonsocial-focus group.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that attention training to reduce self-focus can be successfully conducted in VR. Both training versions showed positive short-term effects in the highly socially anxious, with particular advantages of an external social focus concerning eye contact to the audience and positive affect. Further research should investigate whether social focus is even more advantageous long term and if reinterpretations of dysfunctional beliefs could be achieved by not avoiding social cues.

Examining Facets of Depression and Social Anxiety: The Relation among Lack of Positive Affect, Negative Cognitions, and Emotion Dysregulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Blanco ◽  
Jutta Joormann
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Negative Cognitions ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Anxiety Group ◽  
The Social

AbstractDepression and Social Anxiety Disorder are commonly conceptualized by the presence of negative affect. However, these disorders are also characterized by lack of positive affect, presence of negative cognitions, and emotion dysregulation which may play an important role in the onset and maintenance of these disorders. The present study explored differences among these variables in 189 clinical patients diagnosed with Major Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, or both. Results showed differences in lack of positivity F(2, 185) = 18.92, p = .0001, η2 = .17, presence of negative cognitions F(2, 185) = 13.97, p = .0001, η2 = .13, and the use of rumination F(2, 185) = 14.63, p = .0001, η2 = .14 and punishment F(2, 181) = 7.64, p = .001, η2 = .08 among groups. Overall, lack of positivity, negative cognitions, and emotion dysregulation were elevated in the comorbid group, whereas lack of positivity and negative cognitions were specifically found for patients diagnosed with depression compared to socially anxious patients. In addition, the study examined the relation of both, lack of positivity and negative cognitions, to emotion regulation processes among groups. Overall, lack of positivity was associated with fear and avoidance in the social anxiety group (all r > .417, p < .01), whereas lack of positivity and negative cognitions were associated with rumination across the three groups (all r > .370, p < .01). Limitations of the present study and future directions are discussed.

scholarly journals Effect of a small-group, active learning, tutorial-based, in-course enrichment program on student performance in medical physiology

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-344
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Powell ◽  
Ian V. J. Murray ◽  
Jaspreet Johal ◽  
Martha L. Elks
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Enrichment Program ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Grade Average

Physiology is one of the major foundational sciences for the medical curriculum. This discipline has proven challenging for students to master due to ineffective content acquisition and retention. Preliminary data obtained from a survey completed by “low-performance” students (those maintaining a grade average below the passing mark of 70%) at Morehouse School of Medicine reported that students lacked the ability to adequately recognize and extract important physiological concepts to successfully navigate multiple-choice assessments. It was hypothesized that a specially designed, small-group, active learning, physiology in-course enrichment program would minimize course assessment failure rates by enhancing the ability of low-performance students to effectively identify important course content, successfully perform on multiple-choice assessments, and, thereby, improve overall course performance. Using self-report surveys, study skills and test-taking deficiencies limiting successful comprehension of course material and examination performance were identified. Mini-quiz assessments and assignments in formulating multiple-choice examination questions were given to help students recognize and solidify core concepts and improve test-taking ability. Lastly, self-report surveys evaluated the effectiveness of the enrichment program on overall course performance. Results showed a marked improvement in student confidence levels with regards to approaching multiple-choice assessments, and a significant improvement in grades achieved in the physiology component of the first-year curriculum, as 100% of participants achieved a final passing grade average of ≥70%. It was concluded that students became more proficient in identifying, understanding, and applying core physiological concepts and more successful in mastering multiple-choice questions.

scholarly journals An Intervention-Based Active-Learning Strategy To Enhance Student Performance in Mathematics

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaganpreet Sidhu ◽  
Seshasai Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Traditional Instruction ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Mathematics Courses ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Control Section ◽  
Active Learning Strategy

Experiments were performed to study the effect of integrating an intervention strategy on student learning in an active learning environment in three different undergraduate mathematics courses. In these pedagogical experiments, the learning was measured via several subjective tests and the overall final grade for each course. For each course the comparison was made between two sections, one receiving the material via traditional instruction (control section) and the second receiving the material via instruction based on the active learning strategy (experimental section). It was found that students taught using the latter approach performed significantly better in the tests and exams, reflecting a good understanding of the material.

Gender differences in response to psychological treatment for social anxiety disorder in those with comorbid drug dependence

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s909-s910
Author(s):  
P. Staiger ◽  
C. Long ◽  
J. Williams ◽  
M. Kyrios ◽  
S. Gruenert
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Drug Dependence ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Randomised Control Trial ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Treatment Entry ◽  
Residential Rehabilitation

IntroductionIndividuals with social anxiety disorder do poorly in residential treatment programs for the treatment of drug dependence. This is not surprising given the social nature of residential rehabilitation where group work and close social interactions are required.ObjectivesGiven the social nature of residential rehabilitation, we were interested in exploring whether we could address social anxiety symptoms prior to treatment entry and therefore enhance the likelihood that an individual would enter treatment and stay in treatment.AimsTo conduct a randomised control trial to evaluate whether treatment of social anxiety symptoms prior to treatment entry improves treatment entry and retention.MethodTreatment seeking substance users (n = 105) completed intake assessment interviews for entry into a residential rehabilitation program. Assessment comprised the Mini International Neuropsychiatric interview (Mini), the alcohol, smoking and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST), the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). Participants were randomised to either a four-session social anxiety intervention or treatment as usual (which was to remain on the waiting list until treatment entry). A survival analysis was conducted to examine whether the intervention impacted on treatment retention.ResultsThe treatment did not significantly impact on treatment but the intervention group were significantly more likely to remain in treatment and this effect was only found in women.ConclusionFor individuals with social anxiety disorder brief evidence based intervention focused on ameliorating social anxiety symptoms (e.g., cognitive behavioural treatment) may improve the retention in treatment. This effect appears to be gender specific.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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