Positive Self-schema Research Articles

Emotional self-knowledge profiles and relationships with mental health indicators support value in ‘knowing thyself’

“Know thyself” may be indicated by a balanced high pairing of two emotional self-knowledge indicators: attention to emotions and emotional clarity. Closely associated but often evaluated separately, emotional clarity is consistently, inversely associated with psychopathology, while evidence regarding attention to emotions is less consistent. Variables of high/low emotional clarity and attention to emotions yielded four emotional self-knowledge profiles which were analyzed for associations with mental health indicators (depression and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, self-schema, resiliency, transcendence) in n = 264 adolescents. Here we report regression models which show that compared with neither, both high (attention + clarity) show higher positive self-schema (B = 2.83, p = 0.004), more resiliency (B = 2.76, p = 0.015) and higher transcendence (B = 82.4, p < 0.001), while high attention only is associated with lower self-esteem (B = − 3.38, p < 0.001) and more symptoms (B = 5.82, p < 0.001 for depression; B = 9.37, p < 0.001 for anxiety). High attention only is associated with most severe impairment all indicators excepting transcendence. Profiles including high clarity suggest protective effects, and ‘implicit’ versus ‘explicit’ emotional awareness are discussed. Balanced vs. imbalanced emotional self-awareness profiles dissimilarly affect mental health, which have implications for treatment and policy.

Electrophysiological evidence for the characteristics of implicit self-schema and other-schema in patients with major depressive disorder: An event-related potential study.

The significance of implicit self-schema and other-schema in major depressive disorder (MDD) is highlighted by both cognitive theory and attachment theory. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) characteristics of implicit schemas in MDD patients. The current study recruited 40 patients with MDD and 33 healthy controls (HCs). The participants were screened for mental disorders using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale-14 were employed to assess the clinical symptoms. Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) was conducted to measure the characteristics of implicit schemas. Meanwhile, reaction time and electroencephalogram data were recorded. Behavioral indexes showed that HCs responded faster to positive self and positive others than negative self (t = -3.304, p = 0.002, Cohen's d = 0.575) and negative others (t = -3.155, p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.549), respectively. However, MDD did not show this pattern (p > 0.05). The difference in other-EAST effect between HCs and MDD was significant (t = 2.937, p = 0.004, Cohen's d = 0.691). The ERP indicators of self-schema showed that under the condition of positive self, the mean amplitude of LPP in MDD was significantly smaller than that in HCs (t = -2.180, p = 0.034, Cohen's d = 0.902). The ERP indexes of other-schema showed that HCs had a larger absolute value of N200 peak amplitude for negative others (t = 2.950, p = 0.005, Cohen's d = 0.584) and a larger P300 peak amplitude for positive others (t = 2.185, p = 0.033, Cohen's d = 0.433). The above patterns were not shown in MDD (p > 0.05). The comparison between groups found that under the condition of negative others, the absolute value of N200 peak amplitude in HCs was larger than that in MDD (t = 2.833, p = 0.006, Cohen's d = 1.404); under the condition of positive others, the P300 peak amplitude (t = -2.906, p = 0.005, Cohen's d = 1.602) and LPP amplitude (t = -2.367, p = 0.022, Cohen's d = 1.100) in MDD were smaller than that in HCs. Patients with MDD lack positive self-schema and positive other-schema. Implicit other-schema might be related to abnormalities in both the early automatic processing stage and the late elaborate processing stage, while the implicit self-schema might be related only to the abnormality in the late elaborate processing stage.

The Contribution of Positive Self-Schemas to University Students’ Distress and Well-being

Post-secondary students experience increased vulnerability to mental health difficulties. Targeting students’ self-schemas is a potentially effective response. However, research has focused predominantly on negative self-schemas despite research suggesting positive self-schemas are uniquely associated with mental health indicators. To address this imbalance, this study assessed the psychometric properties of a positive self-schema measure and unique relations between self-schemas and indicators of mental health and well-being among university students (N = 363, Mage = 18.16, 72% female). Results indicated that the Positive Schema Questionnaire (PSQ; Keyfitz et al., Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37(1):97–108, 2013) is a reliable, valid measure of positive self-schemas. A five-factor structure corresponding to five self-schema themes was found. The self-schema theme of optimism was broadly related to several mental health indicators, while worthiness and self-efficacy were uniquely associated with depression and resilience, respectively. These findings may help to inform improved theoretical models of positive self-schemas and on-campus mental health promotion efforts and interventions.

18. Sexual Self-Schemas and Neural Processing of Sexual Information in Women

Previous research suggests that humans respond differently to reproductively-relevant information in the environment, including heightened neural responses to sexual versus non-sexual cues. Limited research, however, has examined individual variation in the early neural processing of sexual information. Sexual self-schemas, or one’s views of themselves as a sexual person, provide a stable cognitive framework for processing sexually-relevant information, and may relate to women’s sexual responses. This study seeks to examine how women’s sexual self-schemas relate to the early neural processing of sexual information and their subsequent subjective sexual arousal. Twenty women are being recruited from the Queen’s psychology subject pool and data collection is currently underway. I am assessing women’s neural responses to sexual and non-sexual images (i.e., erect penises versus elbows) using electroencephalography (EEG), and women are reporting their feelings of arousal to the sexual images. Women are also completing a measure of sexual self-schemas. I predict that women who have more positive sexual self-schema scores will have a stronger neural response to sexual stimuli than women with more negative schema scores. In addition, I predict that women with more positive schema scores will self-report higher sexual arousal than women with more negative scores. The findings of this study will improve our understanding of the role of sexual self-schemas and early neural processing in women’s sexual response, thus lending to the development of a comprehensive, empirically-supported model of sexual response that accounts for within-gender variability.

Self-compassion mediates the link between dependency and depressive symptomatology in college students

Depression is highly prevalent among college students and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Dependency is among the known personality traits that predict an elevated risk for depression. Prior research has focused on the depressogenic role of self-critical thoughts among destructive overdependent (DO) individuals but has not considered other internal processes (such as self-compassion) that might influence mental health. The current report examined whether self-compassion had either moderating or mediating effects on the links between dependency and depression in college students. In a cross-sectional study, 85 college students completed measures of dependency, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. Analyses suggested that self-compassion mediated both the effect of DO on depressive symptoms and the effect of healthy dependency (HD) on lower depressive symptoms; self-compassion did not moderate links between dependency and depressive symptoms. Our exploratory findings suggest that positive self-schema (in the form of self-compassion) may contribute to the downstream mental health effects of both adaptive HD and maladaptive DO.

Effects of Social Support on Athletes’ Psychological Well-Being: The Correlations among Received Support, Perceived Support, and Personality

The current study aimed to examine the impact of received support and perceived support on athletes’ psychological well-being. Furthermore, correlations between received support, perceived support, and personality were investigated. Two hundred and thirty-nine Japanese university student athletes (M age = 19.69 ± 1.01 years) completed the questionnaires regarding social support, psychological well-being, and personality. The results indicated that received support was positively correlated with athletes’ psychological well-being, while perceived support was not found to be a predictor of psychological well-being. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that received support and perceived support were positively correlated with each other. In addition, the results indicated that there was no relationship between received support and positive self-schema, whereas perceived support was positively correlated with positive self-schema. In conclusion, received support can be a salient predictor of athletes’ psychological well-being.

Sexual Orientation, Body Image, and Age as Predictors of Sexual Self-Schema for Women with Physical Disabilities

Women with physical disabilities rank having a positive sexual self-schema as important, similar to women without disabilities. Sexual minority women with disabilities, however, may experience stigma related to both sexual orientation and disability, which may impact how they feel about their bodies and sexual selves. Alternatively, sexual minority women with physical disabilities may have developed psychological strengths through the experience of having a marginalized sexual identity, particularly in relationship to positive sexual self-schema and body image. This study focused on sexual self-schema among sexual minority and heterosexual women with physical disabilities and explored two hypotheses: (1) Sexual orientation would predict sexual self-schema among women with disabilities, after controlling for age of onset of disability, severity of disability, age, and body image; (2) body image would mediate the relationship between sexual orientation and sexual self-schema. Sexual minority women reported more positive sexual self-schemas than heterosexual women; however, the interaction of body image and sexual orientation was not significant. The findings are discussed along with clinical implications and recommendations for future research.

Personal Self-Support, Self-Schema, and Other-Schema

Interest in the relationship between personality and the self has a long history.Prior studies showed that individuals have trait-congruency self-schema and that some health-related personality traits are related to positive or negative self-schema.Other-schemas also are important and related to mental health.However,few studies have focused on the relation of personality,self-schema and other-schema.According to previous studies,self-schema and other-schema are assumed to be the cognitive units of personal self-support.Specifically,the present study presumed that the self-schema and other-schema of high personal self-support people would be more positive than those for low personal self-support people.Two studies were designed to test our hypotheses by explicit and implicit experiments,respectively.Sixty undergraduate students selected from a larger pool of 189 students were invited to participate in the two studies.The high and low personal self-support groups both had 30 participants,respectively.Study 1 used the adjective-rated task to explore the relation of personal self-support,self-schema and other-schema at the explicit level.The results revealed that there were no significant different between high and low personal self-support groups on reaction times.The rated grades for positive adjectives in the high personal self-support group were significantly higher than those in the low personal self-support group.In addition,the rated grades of high personal self-support group for negative adjectives were marginally significantly lower than those for the low personal self-support group.In study 2,the relation of personal self-support,self-schema and other-schema were examined at the implicit level using the extrinsic affective Simon task (EAST).The results showed that EAST reaction time scores on past self and future self in high personal self-support group did not significantly differ from comparable scores in the low personal self-support group.EAST reaction time scores on present-self,past-other,present-other,and future-other for the high personal self-support group were significantly greater than for the low personal self-support group.There were no significant differences between the high and the low personal self-support groups on EAST error rate scores.Overall,our hypotheses were supported in both studies.This suggests that individuals with high personal self-support have positive self-schema and other-schema,whereas individuals with low personal self-support have negative self-schema and other-schema.

Person-based cognitive therapy groups for distressing voices: a thematic analysis of participant experiences of the therapy

This study sets out to develop an understanding of participants’ experiences of person-based cognitive therapy groups for distressing voices, a therapy that integrates cognitive therapy with mindfulness principles and practice. Qualitative data were gathered during 10 interviews with participants, most of whom had a diagnosis of psychosis. A semi-structured schedule was used to guide the interviews and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three themes unique to PBCT emerged: Relating to voices, Relating to self and Relating to others. The value of a mindfulness approach and the importance of changed beliefs about voice strength and power emerged as sub-themes in the “Relating to voices” theme. A sense of self-separate to voices and a developing positive view of self-emerged as sub-themes in the “Relating to self” theme. The “Relating to others” theme referred to changed social relationships during and following the group. The study provided support for the value of PBCT groups for distressing voices. Findings from the study supported the mechanisms of change suggested by the therapy model, namely, that benefit is gained through re-evaluating beliefs about voices, strengthening positive self-schema, mindfulness practice and principles and moving towards a symbolic sense of self.

Clinical characteristics of patients who have recovered from schizophrenia: the role of empathy and positive‐self schema

This article compares the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with schizophrenia who recovered with those who achieved remission. Participants were classified based on predetermined criteria for recovery and remission. Data on demographic characteristics, information on duration of untreated psychosis, and assessments of current and historical symptom profiles and socio-occupational functioning emerged from careful chart review and direct interviews. Cross-sectional assessments of clinical variables were derived from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, the Personal and Social Performance Scale, the Social Functioning Questionnaire, the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (ScoRS), the Basic Empathy Scale, and the Brief Core Schema Scales (BCSS). We found no significant differences between recovered and remitted groups with respect to demographic variables or duration of untreated psychosis. Cognitive and total empathy scores, positive-self schema score on the BCSS, and global score on the ScoRS were significantly higher in the recovered than the remitted group. Furthermore, patients with good levels of empathy and positive-self schema and intact neurocognitive functioning were more likely to achieve recovery. These results suggest that empathy, positive-self schema and neurocognitive functioning may serve as important clinical characteristics distinguishing those patients who have recovered from those who have achieved only remission.

Sex Appeals That Appeal: Negative Sexual Self-Schema as a Moderator of the Priming Effects of Sexual Ads on Accessibility

In an experiment (N=73), priming methodology was used to test the prediction that sexual content in advertising would influence the accessibility of sexual constructs in memory. Sexual self-schema was theorized to play a moderating role in this process. After viewing perfume ads that utilized either sex appeals or non-sexual appeals, female undergraduates completed a lexical decision task. Partial support was found for the accessibility hypothesis, but contrary to predictions, positive sexual self-schema did not play as important moderating role in the accessibility of sexual constructs as negative sexual self-schema. Possible explanations for these results are discussed and a new model for the moderating role of negative sexual self-schema is proposed.

TWO CHAIRS, SELF-SCHEMATA AND A PERSON BASED APPROACH TO PSYCHOSIS

Greenberg, Rice and Elliott (1993) elaborate in detail different applications of the two-chair method within an experiential therapy framework. In the present paper we present an adapted two-chair method for use in cognitive therapy. The principal aims of the adapted method are to elaborate a positive self-schema that has an emotional (“lived”) quality, and to use this experience to create a new model of self as emotionally and cognitively varied and changing. Procedurally, the first two steps are to (1) summarize the negative self-schema (Chair 1) and (2) draw out a positive self-schema (Chair 2). In Steps 3 and 4 the client remains in Chair 2 and is encouraged to accept the two self-schemata, and to integrate them both within a broader, more diverse metacognitive model of self. We present key themes from analysis of two clients' reflections on the method, which highlight issues of generalization and the process of change, and conclude with clinical and research implications.

Expressiveness does predict well-being

Previous studies of “sex role” and well-being have yielded mixed results on the relationship between expressive traits and well-being. This may be due to methodological inconsistencies, problems inherent in early sex role inventories, and narrow definitions of well-being. This study assessed the relationship between the instrumental and expressive traits on the Short Bem Sex Role Inventory (SBSRI) and a composite picture of well-being, including depression, positive affect, affect balance, life satisfaction, and affect intensity, in a sample of primarily white middle-class college students. The two scales of the SBSRI predicted most aspects of well-being equally well, yielding two independent main effects. The expressive scale was the only significant predictor of affect intensity. Expressiveness scores were positively correlated with affect intensity overall, and with positive affect intensity in particular. It is suggested that the SBSRI is tapping two factors of a general positive self-schema, rather than sex role per se.

Depressive self-schemas in clinic and nonclinic children

Depressed, clinic-referred children were compared to nondepressed, clinic-referred children and to nondepressed, nonclinic children (ages 8–12) on three cognitive measures of positive and negative self-schemas. On word recognition measures, depressed subjects evinced a less positive self-schema, compared to the two nondepressed groups; however, all three groups recognized significantly more positive than negative self-referential words. On incidental word recall measures, depressed children again evinced less of a positive self-schema than did the nondepressed groups. Furthermore, only the nondepressed groups recalled significantly more positive than negative words. On reaction time measures, no differences emerged between the three groups. Results supported the relation of problematic cognitive self-schemas to depression in children, and suggested that such schemas affect both storage and accessibility of new information. Implications for future research are discussed.

特性概念の可得性と自己スキーマが対人記憶に及ぼす効果

The present study investigated the relationship among construct accessibility, self-schema and person memory. Three hundred and thirty-four subjects received 40 behavioral descriptions of a stimulus person, consisting of eight specific behaviors on each of five trait-dimensions. Subjects also rated personality traits of their acquaintances and themselves on nine-point bipolar scales and ranked the importance of the five trait-dimensions. Weights, which subjects assigned to each of the five dimensions, were calculated as indices of construct accessibility. Self-schema scores of each subject were also calculated based on his/her ratings. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the dimensional weights and self-schema scores were positively correlated with the recall performance of the descriptions of the stimulus person. The schematics recalled significantly more descriptions than the aschematics, whether their self-schema was positive or negative. Subjects who had positive self-schema showed higher construct accessibility than the aschematics. It was argued that the relationship between construct accessibility and self-schema might be affected by motivational factors such as self-esteem.

Ego-involvement leads to positive self-schema activation and to a positivity bias in information processing

Study 1 examined the hypothesis that ego-involvement leads to positive self-schema activation. Ego-involvement was induced by having experimental subjects anticipate a difficult test of intelligence. Noninvolved control subjects did not anticipate the test. All subjects completed a depth-of-processing task, following which incidental recall was assessed. Ego-involved relative to noninvolved subjects tended to recall a greater number of positive and fewer negative words at both the self-referent and semantic processing levels. Study 2 was conducted to address further the self-schema hypothesis and to address the hypothesis suggested by the results of Study 1 that ego-involvement leads to a positivity bias in information processing. The design of Study 2 was similar to that of Study 1. Results revealed that the self-favorability of negative words recalled at the self-referent level was greater for ego-involved than for noninvolved subjects, suggesting positive self-schema activation. In addition, ego-involved subjects recalled a greater number of positive words at the semantic level, suggesting a positivity bias in information processing.

Dysfunctional attitudes, mild depression, views of self, self-consciousness, and social perceptions

In this research we propose that certain individuals display a cognitive vulnerability to depression, centering around their dysfunctional attitudes for evaluating self-worth. In Study 1, participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS), and the Self-Consciousness Questionnaire. Participants also indicated which adjectives, in a set of depressed and nondepressed content adjectives, were self-descriptive. Depressed individuals, relative to nondepressed, endorsed fewer nondepressed and more depressed content adjectives, and also reported higher levels of public self-consciousness, social anxiety, and private self-consciousness. As predicted by the self-worth model, vulnerable individuals (those scoring high on the DAS) evidenced increased levels of public self-consciousness and social anxiety, even when nondepressed. In contrast, and again as predicted by the self-worth model, an increase in private self-consciousness and an overall decrease in positive self-schema content were found to be concomitants of depression (and thus not evident in vulnerable individuals when nondepressed). In Study 2, participants completed the BDI, the DAS, the Assertion Inventory, the Social Support Questionnaire, and a Social Skills Rating form. As expected, increasing levels of depression were associated with increased perceptions of assertion problems, poorer social skills, and diminished available social support and satisfaction. In further accord with the self-worth model, vulnerable individuals, even when nondepressed, reported assertion and social skills difficulties, and provided lower perceived satisfaction ratings for social relationships. Taken together, these findings were then discussed in terms of a self-worth contingency model of depression.