Discrepancies Between Explicit Feelings of Power and Implicit Power Motives Are Related to Anxiety in Women With Anorexia Nervosa.

Felicitas Weineck,Gernot Hauke,Karin Lachenmeir,Adrian Meule,Ulrich Voderholzer,Olga Pollatos,Andreas Schnebel,Matislava Karačić,Dana Schultchen,Freya Dunker

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.618650

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral studies identified low subjective feelings of power in women with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, little is known about implicit power motives and the discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives in AN.AimThe study investigated the discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives and its relationship to anxiety in patients with AN.MethodFifty-three outpatients and inpatients with AN and 48 participants without AN were compared regarding subjective feelings of power and anxiety. Explicit power [investigated with the Personal Sense of Power Scale (trait focus) and a visual analog scale (state focus)], implicit power motives [investigated with the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG)] and trait anxiety [measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)], were assessed.ResultsExplicit feelings of power (state and trait level) were lower in patients with AN compared to non-AN participants. No differences in implicit power motives were found when comparing the groups against each other. However, looking at the groups separately, women with AN had similar levels of implicit fear of losing power and hope for power, whereas woman without AN had significantly lower fear of losing power than hope for power. Focusing on discrepancies between powerful feelings and power motives, results were mixed, depending on the subscale of the MMG. Lastly, discrepancies between implicit power motives and explicit feelings of power were positively correlated with trait anxiety in AN patients.ConclusionThese findings underline that individuals with AN display significantly lower explicit feelings of power, however, they show similar implicit power motives compared to individuals without AN. The discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives is related to anxiety in AN and may represent a vulnerability factor to illness maintenance.

Highlights

A motive has been defined as a predisposition to either approach particular incentives such as power, achievement or affiliation, or to avoid particular threats such as rejection, failure, or domination by others (Thrash et al, 2019)
There was no significant difference between groups regarding the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG) hope for power dimension, t(99) = 0.289, p = 0.773, d = 0.058, and no significant difference between groups regarding the MMG fear of losing power dimension, t(99) = -1.472, p = 0.144, d = 0.296
Further analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the MMG hope for power dimension and the MMG fear of losing power dimension in the anorexia nervosa (AN)-group (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

A motive has been defined as a predisposition to either approach particular incentives such as power, achievement or affiliation, or to avoid particular threats such as rejection, failure, or domination by others (Thrash et al, 2019). Explicit motives refer to concrete self-assigned goals an individual strives for Brunstein et al (1998). They are consciously and verbally expressed and can, be assessed with self-reports (Kollner and Schultheiss, 2014). Implicit motives describe spontaneously recalled and dispositional preferences for affective incentives that are assessed indirectly with picture-story exercises, such as the semi-projective Multi-Motive Grid (Sokolowski et al, 2000; Job et al, 2010). An individual’s explicit motives can be seen as consciously set goals while implicit motives refer to affect-driven motive dispositions that the individual is mostly unaware of (Schuler et al, 2019).

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