Self focused attention in depression and social anxiety: Tendency,duration and flexibility

• Main Authors: Liu, Ruei-Jen, 劉瑞楨
• Other Authors: Sue-Hwang Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94429227541723102799

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 心理學研究所 === 87 === Ingram (1990) suggested that higher level of self-focused attention was the characteristic of generalized psychopathology. Such higher level of attention process could be described in four dimensions: tendency, degree, duration and flexibility. The purpose of the present study is to examine Ingram*s suggestion in people suffering from depression or social anxiety at the same time. We classified college students into four different groups: depressed, social anxious, mixed and normal. Study 1 compared the tendency of self-focused attention in these four kinds of people from the view of their traits. In study 2, subjects were asked to interact with a stranger. The degree of their self-focused attention, performance and negative emotion were compared. After the interaction, subjects were asked to write one story of the following themes: "the first interaction about someone and me", "the first interaction about someone and Dr. Sun Yet-Sen", and "the first interaction about people". The subjects were randomly assigned into one of these themes. The purpose of study 2 was to compare the difference of the four groups in the duration and flexibility of self-focused attention. We also measured their contents of self-focused attention about public self, private self, social behavior and arousal status in three phases: before the interaction, during the interaction, and during writing the story. In summary, both studies showed that self-focused attention of the four groups were not different in tendency, degree, duration, and flexibility. We discussed the applicability of self-focused attention in psychopathology, and suggested that the effect of self-focused attention in psychopathology may be influence by subjects* expectancy or their self-concepts. Our measurement of attention maybe include two concepts: "feeling of knowing", and "feeling but not knowing". It is possible that the self-focused attention in Ingram*s suggestion includes only the concept of "feeling but not knowing".