Imagery Rescripting Versus Extinction: Distinct and Combined Effects on Expectancy and Revaluation Learning

Anxiety disorders are effectively treated with exposure therapy, but relapse remains high. Fear may reinstate after reoccurrence of the negative event because the expectancy of the aversive outcome (unconditioned stimulus [US]) is adjusted but not its evaluation. Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is an intervention that is proposed to work through revaluation of the US. The aim of our preregistered study was to test the effects of ImRs and extinction on US expectancy and US revaluation. Day 1 ( n = 106) consisted of acquisition with an aversive film clip as US. The manipulation (ImRs + extinction, extinction-only, or ImRs-only) took place on Day 2. Reinstatement of fear was tested on Day 3. Results showed expectancy learning in both extinction conditions but not in the ImRs-only condition and no enhanced revaluation learning in ImRs. The combination of ImRs and extinction slowed down extinction but did not protect against reinstatement, which pleads in favor of stand-alone interventions in clinical practice.

Are media exposure and self-control related?

One critical dimension of self-control is attention control, the ability to willfully determine the content of conscious thought. It is argued here that the amount of effort required to exercise attention control while critically engaging in different media, specifically text and television, is significantly different. It is hypothesized that the amount of self-control exerted while reading will be significantly greater than while watching television. An experiment comparing a film clip with its screen play demonstrates that participants' self-control is more depleted after 30 minutes of reading than 30 minutes of viewing. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that differential habitual exposure to media will predict trait levels of self-control, respectively. An internet survey testing these relationships is reported in which a small but significant negative relationship between TV exposure and trait self-control is found.

Are media exposure and self-control related?

One critical dimension of self-control is attention control, the ability to willfully determine the content of conscious thought. It is argued here that the amount of effort required to exercise attention control while critically engaging in different media, specifically text and television, is significantly different. It is hypothesized that the amount of self-control exerted while reading will be significantly greater than while watching television. An experiment comparing a film clip with its screen play demonstrates that participants' self-control is more depleted after 30 minutes of reading than 30 minutes of viewing. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that differential habitual exposure to media will predict trait levels of self-control, respectively. An internet survey testing these relationships is reported in which a small but significant negative relationship between TV exposure and trait self-control is found.

Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

Natural environments have been shown to promote health, and are, therefore, important for achieving social sustainability in cities. As cities grow and become denser, it is important to develop knowledge about the characteristics of natural environments that work to promote health. Perceived Sensory Dimensions (PSDs) is a tool that defines eight different cultural ecosystem services. They correspond to different human needs (rest, exercise, socialising, pleasure, or security) resulting in rehabilitation and health and well-being promotion. An experiment was conducted to study the potential of PSDs to restore people who experienced stressful accidents. One hundred and fifty-seven participants were recruited and asked first to watch a film clip of serious accidents, then to look at the pictures, depicting one particular type of PSDs, while listening to its respective audio recording. Their stress levels were measured before exposure to the stressor (baseline), after exposure to the stressor (pre-test), and after exposure to a particular type of PSDs (post-test). The results show that all eight PSDs effectively provide mental recovery, but there are statistical differences in their potentials. As such, it is proposed that the combined potential of the PSDs is needed, and should be used to increase the capacity and supply of health-promoting urban green areas.

PROVODLJIVOST KOŽE I PROMENE U IZRAŽENOSTI POZITIVNOG I NEGATIVNOG AFEKTA IZAZVANE GLEDANJEM ISEČKA IZ FILMA U ODNOSU NA OPTIMIZAM I PESIMIZAM

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between psychogalvanic reflex and unpleasant affect induced by film, as well as the difference between optimists and pessimists regarding the induction of unpleasant affect. The sample consisted of 42 students from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš (male, n = 4; female, n =38) aged 18 to 20 (M = 19, SD = 0.54). The following instruments were used: the revised life orientation scale (LOT-R), a brief mood introspection scale (BMIS), and eight-channel polygraph ProComp Infiniti version 4.0. Stimulus was a clip from the film “Sophie’s Choice”. Respondents watched a neutral stimulus before film clip, used as a control measure for recording the basic level of skin conductance of the respondents. The data were analysed by t-test for independent samples (for differences between optimists and pessimists) and t-test for dependent samples (for differences before and after viewing the clip). From the results we can conclude that the mood of optimists, after watching a film clip aimed at induction of unpleasant affect, changes more than the mood of pessimists (p = .000). More precisely, the mood of optimists is more “spoiled” after watching the movie clip, while the mood of pessimists does not change statistically significantly (p = .367). Skin conductance is statistically significant in both optimists (p = .001) and pessimists (p = .005). We can conclude that the induction of affect was different for these two subsamples. In view of this fact, in the subsequent papers researching affect induction, this potentially confunding variable should be taken into account.

Does broadening one's concept of trauma undermine resilience?

The term 'trauma' seems to have expanded from a narrow usage (referring exclusively to extreme events such as rape and warfare) to a broad usage (encompassing almost any event that results in emotional distress). Today, individuals vary widely in the extent to which their personal 'trauma concept' is relatively narrow or broad. In this study, we explore whether this variation is important to individuals' actual experience when facing a stressful event (in this case, watching a disturbing film clip). Individuals with broader beliefs about trauma experienced more intense negative emotions and were more likely to report viewing the film clip as a personal trauma. Moreover, those who saw the film clip as a personal trauma reported more event-related distress (e.g., intrusions, nightmares) several days following. However, we find limited support for causality, with an experimental manipulation showing a significant effect on personal trauma concepts but mixed effects on other outcomes.