Self-Distancing Before an Acute Stressor Buffers Against Maladaptive Psychological and Behavioral Consequences: Implications for Distancing Theory and Social Anxiety Treatment.

Many therapies exist to help people combat stress. However, they typically require substantial time and money to be effective, an observation that has led researchers to explore whether it is possible to design less intensive interventions that build on basic science findings concerning the mechanisms underlying stress regulation. Initial evidence demonstrating the feasibility of such approaches comes from research indicating that single-session attention modification programs attenuate the negative psychological and behavioral sequelae of acute stress. However, whether interventions that target how people cognitively construe stress-arousing situations are similarly effective is less clear. To address this issue, the present research developed a brief cognitive reconstrual exercise that targeted participants’ tendency to self-distance as they reflected on an upcoming pubic speaking challenge. Specifically, participants assigned to reason about their current thoughts and feelings from either a self-immersed (think though your current feelings using the pronoun I) or a self-distanced (e.g., think through your current feelings using you and/or your own name when referring to yourself) perspective after stress was induced, but before their speech. The implications of this manipulation were then examined using psychological (i.e., shame and rumination in Study 1, anxiety and cognitive appraisals in Study 2) and behavioral (i.e., speech performance and regulatory depletion in Study 1) measures. Study 1 found that participants who self-distanced prior to the speech task gave more impressive performances, reported lower subsequent shame and rumination, and were less depleted of resources compared to those who immersed. Study 2 investigated whether the beneficial effects of self-distancing could be due to lower threat and greater challenge appraisals of the anticipated stressor. Self-distanced participants in this second study reported less threat appraisal of the expected speech task than participants in the self-immersed and no-instruction groups. Neither Study 1 nor 2 found that trait social anxiety level interacted with condition to predict any effects. Together, they provide evidence that a brief cognitive reconstrual exercise can buffer people, even those most vulnerable to social anxiety, against the negative psychological and behavioral consequences of acute stress, and highlight self-distancing as a mechanism that future anxiety interventions should consider targeting.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99929/1/aburson_1.pd

Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters

Does the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influence how they think, feel, and behave under social stress? If so, do these effects extend to socially anxious people who are particularly vulnerable to such stress? Seven studies explored these questions (total N = 585). Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They demonstrated that using non-first-person pronouns and one\u27s own name (rather than first-person pronouns) during introspection enhances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 examined the implications of these different types of self-talk for regulating stress surrounding making good first impressions (Study 2) and public speaking (Study 3). Compared with the first-person group, the non-first-person group performed better according to objective raters in both studies. They also displayed less distress (Studies 2 and 3) and engaged in less maladaptive postevent processing (Study 3). Studies 4 and 5 examined how these different forms of self-talk influence the way people appraise social-anxiety-provoking events. They demonstrated that non-first-person language use (compared with first-person language use) leads people to appraise future stressors in more challenging and less threatening terms. Finally, a meta-analysis (Study 6) indicated that none of these findings were moderated by trait social anxiety, highlighting their translational potential. Together, these findings demonstrate that small shifts in the language people use to refer to the self during introspection consequentially influence their ability to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under social stress, even for vulnerable individuals

Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.

Does the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influence how they think, feel, and behave under social stress? If so, do these effects extend to socially anxious people who are particularly vulnerable to such stress? Seven studies explored these questions (total N! 585). Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They demonstrated that using non-first-person pronouns and one’s own name (rather than first-person pronouns) during introspection enhances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 examined the implications of these different types of self-talk for regulating stress surrounding making good first impressions (Study 2) and public speaking (Study 3). Compared with the first-person group, the non-first-person group performed better according to objective raters in both studies. They also displayed less distress (Studies 2 and 3) and engaged in less maladaptive postevent processing (Study 3). Studies 4 and 5 examined how these different forms of self-talk influence the way people appraise social-anxiety-provoking events. They demonstrated that non-first-person language use (compared with first-person language use) leads people to appraise future stressors in more challenging and less threatening terms. Finally, a meta-analysis (Study 6) indicated that none of these findings were moderated by trait social anxiety, highlighting their translational potential. Together, these findings demonstrate that small shifts in the language people use to refer to the self during introspection consequentially influence their ability to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under social stress, even for vulnerable individuals

Interacting with nature improves cognition and affect for individuals with depression

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150698/1/2012_Berman_et_al_Interacting_with_natures_improves_cognition.pd