Social Selves and Social Others in Adolescent Development

The aim of the studies reported in this thesis was to deepen our understanding of how the specific social conditions under which an individual develops influences their psychosocial adjustment. Adolescence is a sensitive window for the development of cognitive and affective functions and schemata, and all but one (Chapter 6) of the presented studies were therefore conducted with 12-15 year-olds. During adolescence, the salience of peer-related social reward undergoes a dramatic increase, and autonomy becomes a high priority in their familial relationships. Adolescents consequently “socially reorient,” from family toward peers. Unlike familial relationships, peer relationships are ‘voluntary’, and therefore conditional. Adolescents must learn to navigate unstated conditions, adjusting their behaviour to differing, and often conflicting, sets of expectations with multiple different individuals across a number of contexts. In turning to peers to replace parents as their primary social supports, adolescents may often find themselves in a parallel struggle to establish autonomy, not (only) from parents but from their friends and peer group. Indeed, the surge in peer-related social reward sensitivity may lead adolescents to perceive risks to their social connections and/or status as far outweighing other considerations. Since identities, like social behaviours, are often shaped by relationships and how we believe our relationship partners perceive us, this supports the developmental task of establishing a flexible, stable and unified identity. Combined with the increased need for context-sensitive social behaviour, this requires adolescents to develop multiple role-related selves. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the Adaptive Calibration Model (ACM), and related scholarship, this thesis will argue that adolescence can be understood as a period in which long-term adaptation to one’s sociocultural context is accomplished in part by canalising a variety of self- consistent, context-sensitive behavioural ‘modes’, which may be represented as facets of the self, and that adolescent-onset internalising disorders can be understood as dysregulation of this system of adaptive identity

Variability and similarity of inter-beat intervals of the heart as markers of perceived stress and behavioral regulation

The current dissertation investigated inter-beat interval (IBI) indices of variability and similarity, reflecting autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation on heart rate. IBI indices of cardiac vagal activity (CVA) are further considered to reflect activity in brain areas involved in self regulation. Yet, it is unclear which specific aspect(s) of self-regulation such IBI indices load most highly on, and their relation to contextual factors. Thus, in a sample of college students (n = 143) in paper I, we investigated how CVA and perceived stress associated with contextual factors of perceived social support and sex. Moreover, we expected indices to load highly on the internal regulation of perceived stress, compared to the external regulation of behavior. This was examined in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls (n = 67) in paper II. In paper III, we investigated the use of a nonlinear, graph theory-based method for illustrating IBI differences in adolescents with ADHD and controls (n = 73). In all studies, IBI indices were derived from short-term resting electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, with high frequency-heart rate variability (HF-HRV) as the applied measure of CVA. Self-report questionnaires assessed emotion regulation difficulties (the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) perceived stress (the Perceived Stress Scale), and perceived social support (The Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey). In the moderation analysis of paper I, CVA associated positively with perceived social support in females with intermediate and high, compared to low, perceived stress levels, but not in males. Linear regression analyses in paper II showed that CVA associated negatively with access to emotion regulation strategies in adolescents with ADHD and controls. In paper III, independent samples t-test showed that the similarity graph algorithm illustrated IBI differences between the ADHD and control groups which traditional CVA analyses did not. In sum, the studies suggest that CVA might mark perceived stress regulation, and emphasize the consideration of contextual factors such as perceived social support and sex in the interpretation of this marker. Furthermore, the similarity graph algorithm might increase the sensitivity of IBI markers, possibly also indexing behavioral regulation. Although further research is required, IBI markers might have potential clinical use in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of psychiatric disorders.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Digital health in ambulatory assessment

In this volume all accepted contributions to the 5th Biennial Conference of the Society for Ambulatory Assessment are published. The number and quality of these contributions testify to the high standard of international research in ambulatory monitoring, the rapid advances in technology and data handling supporting ambulatory assessment, and the importance of these developments for the rapidly expanding area of Digital Health. Converging technologies such as Internet applications, social networks, smartphones and wearable sensors in the area of health, are now beginning to transform our approach to health research, healthcare, and communication and access to information

Exploring me in a world of we:A multidimensional perspective on self-concept development in adolescence

The development of self-concept and underlying neural activation in adolescence, and self-concept in adolescents with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum

Trustworthy LLMs: a Survey and Guideline for Evaluating Large Language Models' Alignment

Ensuring alignment, which refers to making models behave in accordance with human intentions [1,2], has become a critical task before deploying large language models (LLMs) in real-world applications. For instance, OpenAI devoted six months to iteratively aligning GPT-4 before its release [3]. However, a major challenge faced by practitioners is the lack of clear guidance on evaluating whether LLM outputs align with social norms, values, and regulations. This obstacle hinders systematic iteration and deployment of LLMs. To address this issue, this paper presents a comprehensive survey of key dimensions that are crucial to consider when assessing LLM trustworthiness. The survey covers seven major categories of LLM trustworthiness: reliability, safety, fairness, resistance to misuse, explainability and reasoning, adherence to social norms, and robustness. Each major category is further divided into several sub-categories, resulting in a total of 29 sub-categories. Additionally, a subset of 8 sub-categories is selected for further investigation, where corresponding measurement studies are designed and conducted on several widely-used LLMs. The measurement results indicate that, in general, more aligned models tend to perform better in terms of overall trustworthiness. However, the effectiveness of alignment varies across the different trustworthiness categories considered. This highlights the importance of conducting more fine-grained analyses, testing, and making continuous improvements on LLM alignment. By shedding light on these key dimensions of LLM trustworthiness, this paper aims to provide valuable insights and guidance to practitioners in the field. Understanding and addressing these concerns will be crucial in achieving reliable and ethically sound deployment of LLMs in various applications

Análisis de redes en el estudio de la psicopatología y su aplicación en el estudio de la dinámica de las creencias paranoides

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología, leída el 17/12/2020Paranoid ideation is the most common and studied type of belief in the spectrum of psychotic disorders (Jorgensen & Jensen, 1994). To date, research has shown that paranoid thinking is present in the general population, which has led to the conceptualization of this phenomenon as a multifactorial and continuum process (Bebbington et al., 2013; Freeman, 2016; Garety & Hemsley, 1997). Currently, there are several theoretical models accounting for psychological factors involved in the development and maintenance of these beliefs. One of the most influential, the self-serving bias theory, has pointed out the importance of taking into account not only levels, but also fluctuations in the processes associated with paranoid beliefs (Bentall et al., 2001). Thus, it has been hypothesized that fluctuations in paranoia-related processes might affect the severity of these beliefs (Murphy et al., 2018). Although there are several works that have studied how the fluctuations in some processes involved in paranoia, such as self-esteem, negative affect or experiential avoidance, can affect it (Thewissen et al., 2011; Udachina et al., 2014), research paying attention to the dynamics of these processes from a multifactorial perspective is scarce. Recently, a new approach to psychopathology research has emerged, known as network analysis theory (Borsboom & Cramer, 2013). This perspective proposes an alternative vision of mental problems to those provided so far by current models in psychopathology. From this approach, mental problems are conceptualised as dynamic interactions between elements that influence each other (Borsboom, 2017), which seems to fit well the study of paranoid belief as a dynamic and multidimensional process...Las ideas paranoides son el tipo de creencia más común y estudiada dentro del espectro de los trastornos psicóticos (Jorgensen & Jensen, 1994). La investigación, hasta el momento, ha mostrado evidencias de que el pensamiento paranoide se encuentra presente en población general, lo que ha dado lugar a la conceptualización de este fenómeno como un proceso multifactorial continuo (Bebbington et al., 2013; Freeman, 2016; Garety & Hemsley, 1997). En la actualidad, existen varios modelos teóricos que señalan los posibles factores psicológicos implicados en el desarrollo y mantenimiento de estas creencias. Uno de los modelos más influyentes, la teoría del sesgo auto-sirviente, ha señalado la importancia de tener en cuenta los niveles y fluctuaciones de los procesos asociados a las creencias paranoides (Bentall et al., 2001), ya que su dinámica temporal puede afectar su gravedad (Murphy et al., 2018). Aunque existen algunos trabajos que han estudiado cómo pueden afectar a la paranoia las fluctuaciones de algunos procesos que intervienen en ella como la autoestima, el afecto negativo o la evitación experiencial, (Thewissen et al., 2011; Udachina et al., 2014), los estudios que prestan atención a la dinámica asociada a la creencia paranoide desde una perspectiva multifactorial son escasos. Recientemente ha emergido un nuevo enfoque en la investigación en psicopatología, conocido como la teoría de redes (Borsboom & Cramer, 2013). Esta perspectiva propone una visión de los problemas mentales alternativa a las proporcionadas hasta el momento por los modelos vigentes en psicopatología. Así, la teoría de redes en psicología conceptualiza los problemas mentales como interacciones dinámicas entre elementos que se influyen mutuamente (Borsboom, 2017), lo que puede permitir el estudio de la creencia paranoide como proceso dinámico y multidimensional...Fac. de PsicologíaTRUEunpu

Personality trait development in the context of daily experiences and close social relationships

Hoe veranderlijk zijn persoonlijkheidseigenschappen? Hoe ontwikkelen persoonlijkheidseigenschappen zich gedurende verschillende levensfases? En hebben alledaagse ervaringen invloed op onze persoonlijkheidseigenschappen? In mijn proefschrift heb ik geprobeerd antwoord te geven op deze vragen. Mijn onderzoek richtte zich op de veelgebruikte ‘Big Five’-persoonlijkheidseigenschappen: extraversie, vriendelijkheid, zorgvuldigheid, emotionele stabi-liteit en openheid. Ik heb gebruik gemaakt van bestaande data (de ‘RADAR’ dataset) over de zelf-gerapporteerde persoonlijkheidseigenschappen en alledaagse ervaringen van Nederlandse jongeren en hun broers en zussen, hun moeders en hun beste vrienden, die maximaal zeven jaar zijn gevold (N = 2.230 adolescenten en 483 moeders). Hoe stabiel zijn persoonlijkheidseigenschappen tijdens de adolescentie? Mijn onderzoek naar de zogenaamde rangschikking-stabiliteit van persoonlijkheidseigenschappen toonde aan dat de Big Five-eigenschappen al behoorlijk stabiel waren bij de aanvang van het onderzoek (leeftijd 12 jaar). De stabiliteit van de Big Five-eigenschappen nam tot de leeftijd van 18 jaar behoorlijk toe. In de periode van 18 tot 22 jaar nam de stabiliteit niet verder toe. Hoe veranderen mensen gemiddeld op persoonlijkheidseigenschappen? Tijdens de vroege adolescentie (leeftijd van 12 tot 15 jaar) lieten adolescenten gemiddeld een tijdelijke afname zien op sommige persoonlijkheidseigenschappen. In deze periode werden meisjes gemiddeld minder emotioneel stabiel en minder extravert en werden jongens minder zorgvuldig. In de leeftijdsperiode van 17 tot en met 22 jaar lieten deelnemers daarentegen vooral toenames zien: zowel jongens als meisjes werden gemiddeld zorgvuldiger, vriendelijker en extraverter, en meisjes werden in deze periode emotioneel stabieler. Moeders namen gemiddeld toe in hun niveau van zorgvuldigheid, extraversie, vriendelijkheid en emotionele stabiliteit. Wordt de persoonlijkheidsontwikkeling van adolescenten beïnvloed door persoonlijkheidseigenschappen van vrienden en broers en zussen? Ik heb geen bewijs gevonden voor sociale beïnvloeding tijdens de adolescentie. Ten eerste hing de persoonlijkheidsontwikkeling van adolescenten niet samen met de Big Five-eigenschappen van hun beste vrienden en broers of zussen. Ten tweede gingen de persoonlijkheidseigenschappen van adolescenten en hun vrienden, broers en zussen niet steeds meer op elkaar lijken. En ten derde vond ik geen bewijs dat vrienden, broers en zussen tijdens het onderzoek overeenkomsten vertoonden in hun ontwikkeling op persoonlijkheidseigenschappen. Hebben alledaagse ervaringen invloed op persoonlijkheidseigenschappen? De resultaten van mijn onderzoek suggereren dat alledaagse ervaringen onze persoonlijkheid beïnvloeden. Ten eerste vond ik dat moeders die in het dagelijkse leven relatief veel positieve emoties en relatiekwaliteit ervaarden, sterker toenamen in de Big Five-persoonlijkheidseigenschappen dan moeders die relatief weinig positieve emoties en relatie-kwaliteit ervaarden. Ten tweede vond ik dat adolescenten lager gingen scoren op de persoonlijkheidseigenschap emotionele stabiliteit nadat ze in een bepaald jaar meer negatieve gevoelens ervaarden dan normaal. Hoofdconclusie . Alledaagse sociale en emotionele ervaringen lijken een invloed te hebben op persoonlijkheidseigenschappen. Veel mensen willen graag toenemen in hun niveau van extraversie, vriendelijkheid, zorgvuldigheid, emotionele stabiliteit, en openheid. Mogelijk bevorderen we gewenste persoonlijkheidsontwikkeling bij onszelf en bij elkaar als we ervoor zorgen dat we vaker positieve emoties en meer relatiekwaliteit ervaren

Social Anxiety and Psychosocial Functioning: Investigating Relations Across Emerging Adulthood

The social, emotional and academic tasks associated with emerging adulthood are particularly challenging for those with social anxiety, a behavior defined as fear of negative evaluation, distress with social interactions, and/or avoidance of new or all social situations. The goal of this dissertation was to research the longitudinal effects of social anxiety on psychosocial functioning in university students, looking at various behaviors key to this developmental stage of life. In my first study, I examined the relation between social anxiety, social ties, and academic achievement in an autoregressive cross-lagged analysis across three years of university. There were two major findings: the symptoms of social anxiety directly linked to academic achievement, and social ties appeared to play a pivot role through their reciprocal negative and positive relation with social anxiety and academic achievement, respectively. Study two examined social anxiety with respect to alcohol use over three years of university through latent class growth analysis. Five classes were identified, two with social anxiety that differed in levels of alcohol use, and three with low social anxiety and varying levels of alcohol use. The heterogeneity in social anxiety was related to psychosocial functioning. While both social anxiety groups reported similar social anxiety symptomology, only the group linked to higher alcohol use exhibited a greater vulnerability to other at-risk behaviors in year one (e.g., self injury). The third study followed the previously identified five groups through latent growth analysis for a total of seven years, to determine whether there was stability or change in psychosocial functioning over the long term. The results indicated that there was stability within and among groups across time in psychosocial functioning. Notably, the differences detected between the two social anxiety groups in year one continued over the long term, indicating that the at-risk behaviors associated with the social anxiety group reporting higher alcohol use persisted. Overall, this program of research revealed that those with social anxiety in university struggled more than their peers in a variety of domains. From a developmental perspective, the findings of stability in behavior suggested it might be important for intervention and prevention programs to target younger populations with strategies that are continued in a cohesive manner across university, a time when students are exposed to the pressures of achieving in competing developmental tasks

Safe and In Sync: Evidence for the Antecedents and Social Outcomes of Perceived Positivity Resonance Across Contexts

Positivity resonance is an interpersonal affective state that emerges during social interactions within a safe, real-time sensory-rich context, and is characterized by three co-occurring, intertwined components: shared positive affect, nonverbal caring synchrony, and biological synchrony. Using a combination of cross-sectional studies (Study 1, 2, and 4) and a longitudinal field experiment (Study 3), the research program (total N = 3509, 84.3% White, 91.3% women) examines the contextual influences, antecedents, and outcomes of perceived positivity resonance. There were three sets of findings. First, findings from preliminary contextual exploration helped characterize perceived positivity resonance in greater detail, suggesting that in dyads, perceived positivity resonance is weakly shared between partners (Study 1); in groups, participants’ group-level ratings of their perceived positivity resonance with members was strongly related to averages of participants’ perceived positivity resonance with individual members (Study 2); across social targets, perceived positivity resonance with weak and strong ties were highly correlated (Study 3); and perceived positivity resonance could potentially exist in asynchronous media (Study 4). Second, across studies, correlational findings supported the two theorized antecedents of perceived positivity resonance, namely, perceived safety (Studies 1-4) and real-time sensory connection (Studies 2 and 4), measured directly or by proxy. Fourth, the findings also revealed consistent cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations between perceived positivity resonance and various measures of social resources for both individuals (Studies 1, 3, and 4) and groups (Study 2), as measured by both self-reports (Studies 2-4) and other-reports (Study 1). Moreover, experimental evidence from Study 3 suggests that attempts to increase moments of social connection, especially with weak ties, may indirectly enhance social resources by elevating perceived positivity resonance over time. Furthermore, such social resources may predict downstream benefits such as individuals’ health behavior (Study 4) and perceived group performance (Study 2). The overall findings suggest that positivity resonance may build consequential personal and collective social resources and thereby promote the well-being of individuals and communities.Doctor of Philosoph

Age differences in conspiracy beliefs around Covid-19 pandemic and (dis)trust in the government

Objective: Times of societal crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which people need to make sense of a chaotic world and to protect their health and lives, according to psychological research, represent suitable ground for the development of conspiracy theories about origins, spread, and treatment of the threat (coronavirus). Although numerous studies have been conducted on this issue since the beginning of the pandemic until today, most of the studies were conducted on the adult population with limited insights into development of the conspiracy beliefs in adolescence or over the lifespan. Objective of this study is precisely to explore how conspiracy beliefs regarding COVID-19 pandemic differentiate between multiple age groups (cross-sectional design), what are their sources and contexts, and how do they relate with the tendency to trust the government. Methodology: Data were gathered through eight focus group discussions with four age groups (11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 30+) in Serbia. Results: Based on critical discourse analysis, this paper identifies the differences in content and the sources of conspiracy thinking and how it relates to trust in the government. Study shows that high distrust in Serbian government is associated with conspiracy beliefs both within youth and adults. However, while among adolescents this finding is exclusively related with their beliefs that ruling structures have financial gain from the pandemic, against the interests of citizens, among adults it is related to the belief that the government (un)intentionally submits to the new global order that is managed by one or more powerful actors who are coordinated in secret action to achieve an outcome that is of public interest, but not public knowledge. Conclusion: The results will be discussed within current socio-political climate in Serbia, as well as the basis for understanding psychological factors which may underlie these tendencies in conspiracy theorizing, such as social identification, collective narcissism, authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation