Processing Dynamics of Rejection Sensitivity

拒绝灵敏度的处理动态

• 批准号: 7022254
• 负责人: Geraldine A Downey
• 金额: $ 30.67万
• 依托单位: COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-01-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7022254
• 关键词: behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; human subject; interpersonal relations; isolation /deprivation; psychosocial separation; startle reaction

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Because the desire to be accepted is a central human motive, it is not surprising that rejection can trigger a variety of maladaptive reactions, including violence and depression. Nevertheless, there are individual differences in how people react to rejection. We have previously proposed that rejection sensitivity (RS) --the disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive and intensely react to rejection -- helps explain this variability. Our research to date has shown that people who anxiously expect rejection more readily perceive it in others' behavior and then react in hostile ways that undermine their relationships. The purpose of the proposed research is to understand more fully why people who anxiously expect rejection behave in ways that lead to the realization of their worst fears. Our approach is guided by the view that RS develops to defend the self against rejection while maintaining social connection. We propose that situations where high RS individuals expect rejection activate the defensive motivational system (DMS), a generic system evolved to guide rapid and intense responses to threats of danger. DMS prepares the organism to detect threat-relevant cues, to engage in vigorous efforts to prevent the realization of the threat, and to react quickly and intensely if the threat is realized. This viewpoint leads to the following predictions about the dynamics of RS, which guide the specific aims of the application: Aim 1 is to test the assumption that RS is a defensively motivated system that gets elicited by rejection-relevant stimuli. We will do so by establishing whether in rejection-relevant contexts individuals high in RS show heightened potentiation of the startle response, a robust indicator of DMS activation. Aim 2 is to examine whether, when the DMS is activated by the possibility of rejection, high RS individuals show both a heightened propensity to detect interpersonal negativity and to interpret such negativity as personal rejection. In combination, these processes can potentially explain why HRS individuals more readily perceive rejection than those low in RS. Aim 3 is to test whether being in this defensive state triggers vigorous efforts to prevent rejection, that involve over-accommodation to partners through self-silencing and excessive solicitousness. We will also test whether over-accommodation gives way to hostile and dejected overreactions when rejection is perceived.

描述（由申请人提供）：由于被接受的愿望是人类的核心动机，因此拒绝会引发各种适应不良的反应，包括暴力和抑郁症。然而，人们对拒绝的反应有个体差异。我们以前已经提出，拒绝敏感性（RS） - 焦急期望，容易感知和对排斥反应的倾向 - 有助于解释这种变异性。迄今为止，我们的研究表明，焦急地期望拒绝更容易对他人的行为感知它，然后以敌对的方式做出反应，从而破坏他们的关系。拟议的研究的目的是更充分地了解为什么焦急地期望拒绝的人以导致意识到最严重的恐惧的方式行事。我们的方法是由RS发展为捍卫自我免受社会联系的拒绝的观点的指导。我们建议，高RS个体期望拒绝激活防御动机系统（DMS）的情况，这是一种通用系统，旨在指导对危险威胁的快速和强烈反应。 DMS准备该生物体发现与威胁相关的提示，以竭尽全力防止威胁的实现，并在实现威胁时迅速而强烈地做出反应。该观点导致有关Rs动力学的以下预测，该预测指导应用程序的具体目的：AIM 1是测试RS是一种防御动机的系统，它会通过拒绝相关的刺激引起。我们将通过确定在与拒绝相关的环境中是否表现出惊吓反应的增强，这是DMS激活的强大指标。 AIM 2是检查是否通过拒绝的可能性激活DMS时，高RS个体既表现出更高的倾向，既倾向于检测人际关系否定性，又表现出将否定性解释为个人拒绝的倾向。结合起来，这些过程可以潜在地解释为什么HRS个人比Rs低的人更容易感知排斥。目标3是测试在这种防御状态下是否会引发竭尽全力防止被排斥的努力，这涉及通过自我沉默和过度的律法对伴侣的过度习惯。我们还将测试当拒绝时，过度的住宿是否让位于敌对和沮丧的反应过度。