Effects of Self-Image on Anxiety, Judgement Bias and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Background: Research to date has focused on the detrimental effects of negative self-images for individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD), but the benefits of positive self-images have been neglected. Aims: The present study examined the effect of holding a positive versus negative self-image in mind on anxiety, judgement bias and emotion regulation (ER) in individuals with SAD. Method: Forty-two individuals who met the diagnostic criteria for SAD were randomly assigned to either a positive or a negative self-image group. Participants were assessed twice with a week's interval in between using the Reactivity and Regulation Situation Task, which measures social anxiety, discomfort, judgement bias and ER, prior to and after the inducement of a positive or negative self-image. Results: Individuals in the positive self-image group reported less social anxiety, discomfort and distress from social cost when compared with their pre-induction state. They also used more adaptive ER strategies and experienced less anxiety and discomfort after using ER. In contrast, individuals in the negative self-image group showed no significant differences in anxiety, judgement bias or ER strategies before and after the induction. Conclusions: This study highlights the beneficial effects of positive self-images on social anxiety and ER.

Adult attachment and paranoia: an experimental investigation

Attachment theory may develop understanding of the occurrence and maintenance of persecutory delusions. This study investigates the role of dispositional attachment and contextually primed secure base attachment representations in the occurrence of paranoid thinking. Sixty participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: a secure attachment priming condition, a positive affect condition, or a neutral control condition. Following priming, all participants were exposed to a paranoia induction. State paranoia was measured at baseline and following the paranoia induction. Dispositional insecure attachment was associated with both trait and state paranoid thinking. Contrary to predictions, the secure attachment prime did not appear to buffer paranoid thinking and had a negative impact for participants with high levels of attachment anxiety, highlighting the potentially aversive effects of exposure to secure attachment material in those with existing insecure attachment styles.

Photosynthetic Utilisation of Lightflecks by Understory Plants

The light environment in forest understories is highly dynamic because the weak shade light is period- ically punctuated by lightflecks lasting from a second or less to tens of minutes. Although present for only a small fraction of the day, these lightflecks can contribute more than two-thirds of the photosynthetically active radiation. Several factots are of importance in determining the capacity of a leaf to utilise lightflecks. Following long low-light periods the induction state of the photosynthetic apparatus is limiting. During induction, 20-60 min may be required before maximum assimilation rates are reached due first to a light activation requirement. of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylasel oxygenase and later to the light-induced stomatal opening. Continuous light is not required and induction occurring during a series of lightflecks results in higher carbon gain for later as compared to earlier lightflecks. Post-illumination CO2 fixation resulting from utilisation of metabolite pools built up during the lightfleck can significantly enhance carbon gain during short (5-20 s) lightflecks. The carbon gain of a leaf in response to a lightfleck is a consequence of the limitations imposed by induction state plus the enhancements due to post-illumination CO2 fixation. In the field, this will depend on the frequency and duration of the lightflecks and the duration of the intervening low-light periods.