Subjective and Cardiac Response to a Social Evaluative Threat Task: Effects of Self-compassion Reappraisal, Gender, and Emotional Awareness

SUBJECTIVE AND CARDIAC RESPONSE TO A SOCIAL EVALUATIVE THREAT TASK: EFFECTS OF SELF-COMPASSION REAPPRAISAL, GENDER, AND EMOTIONAL AWARENESS Laura Adrienne Paret Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Dr. Heidi Bailey This dissertation sought to explore the utility of a self-compassion reappraisal strategy in a social evaluative task in light of a growing literature that links self-compassion with decreased anxiety and self-criticism and increased capacity for self-soothing. Participants’ subjective experience of anxiety and cardiac reactivity was assessed throughout the task. Individual differences in emotional awareness (attention to and clarity of emotions) were also assessed given hypotheses that higher emotional awareness would facilitate participants’ benefit from the self-compassion cognitive reappraisal instructions. Participants randomly assigned to the reappraisal group received instructions on how to cultivate self-compassion towards their experience whereas the control group received no emotion regulation instructions. Participants gave a spontaneous 3minute speech on their personality strengths and weaknesses and were told that a panel of trained observers would provide feedback on their performance. Hypotheses were partially supported. Women showed attenuated anxiety when given the self-compassion reappraisal instructions, but only when they were high in emotional clarity. Men showed adaptive cardiac reactivity prior to the speech when high in emotional clarity, independent of group assignment. Finally, prior to receiving feedback, the results were two-fold: participants who were high in attention to their emotions and in the self-compassion reappraisal group, or low in attention to emotions and in the control group, showed the most adaptive cardiac responding. The notion that high emotional awareness is a precondition for adaptive emotion regulation is explored alongside divergent findings (i.e., low emotional awareness is protective in the absence of emotion regulation instructions). Overarching theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. Acknowledgements I would like to extend my thanks to many remarkable people who have supported me throughout my journey in graduate school. First, I would like to thank Dr. Heidi Bailey as my primary supervisor. Heidi, your interesting, creative ideas and your passion for research have always been a source of inspiration to me. During our countless discussions of research ideas, designs, and analyses over the years, you have always helped me to think more deeply and broadly, and to enhance my perspectives on psychological science. I have felt privileged to be your student, and my training at Guelph would not have been the same without you. Thank you! I would also like to thank Dr. Rod Barron, Dr. Jens Blechert, Dr. Edward Johnson, Dr. Mark Fenske, and Dr. Matthew Boden for the instrumental roles you played in helping my dissertation reach its current version. The insightful feedback and guidance that you have offered throughout this process was essential to the completion of my project. I would also like to thank Dr. David Stanley and Dr. Ian Newby-Clark for your enthusiasm for statistics and for teaching me so much about how to answer my research questions. To my cohort – Brae, Michele, Steph, Stacey, and Dan – can you believe how far we have come? Although we have spread out now, pursuing our individual clinical interests and passions as psychologists, reflecting back on our first several years in Guelph will always bring a smile to my face. We did graduate school “right”, supporting each other and celebrating each other’s successes as we moved through the program. Thank you to each of you for your friendship and camaraderie. I feel so fortunate that we went through the process together! Thank you as well to the other CP:ADE students, faculty, and clinicians, who made the on-campus clinic and research labs such an enjoyable place to train over the last several years. The clinical psychology program at Guelph has a special place in my heart. To my parents, I appreciate your unconditional love and support so much. Your unmatched encouragement and praise on this long road, believing in me even when there were setbacks and detours along my journey, were essential to my achievement of this milestone. Words cannot express how grateful I am to you both, from providing wholesome food when I had long writing stints in your basement, to beaming throughout my doctoral defense, thank you for helping me get to the end of this chapter! Thank you as well to my loving grandparents. To my amazing sister, Kayla, thanks for being you! You always know how to make me laugh, and your ability to cheer me on with kindness and warmth, as well as a healthy dose of realism, has been invaluable! You are so special to me. Thank you to my long time friends, Kinneret and Kim, for your positive attitudes and humour regarding all of my undertakings, and to Mike, for being there every single step of the way. My education has taken me far and wide, and I would also like to extend my gratitude to my Queen’s friends, Stanford friends, and friends in Vancouver and New York that while not always close geographically, are kindred spirits whose support and encouragement know no bounds. To Jake, my exchange at Stanford lead me to you and for that I will be ever grateful. I love you.