Cognitive processes in the attitude-behavior relation

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究将我们对态度形成、改变和发挥其影响的基本机制的理解所积累的进展，以及态度可以评估的程序，与情绪障碍的研究联系起来。态度模型及其指导行为的过程是研究的基础，旨在解决各种问题，包括情绪障碍的病因、评估和/或治疗。该模型关注的是记忆中态度对象与个体对该对象的评价之间的关联强度，这种关联强度决定了态度的可及性，并最终决定了态度的力量。易接近的态度通常有助于有效的日常运作，因为它允许人们轻松地评估物体，而不需要有意识的思考。然而，无效的消极态度（如在许多焦虑症、恐惧症和抑郁症中）会抑制接近实际有益的物体或情况的意愿。提出了四个项目，每个项目都涉及一系列实验。每个人都继续过去的工作，专注于临床研究和实践的概念进步和发现的转化价值。项目一旨在促进对态度的内隐测量的理解，并检验其作为评估社交焦虑障碍、治疗效果和复发风险的工具的效用。项目二侧重于内隐评价条件反射，并最终研究其作为一种改变自动激活的恐惧的程序的功效及其作为暴露疗法辅助手段的价值。项目三关注态度和回避方法行为之间的动态相互作用，以及它对无效消极态度的发展和维持的后果，以及它们可能被克服的机制。项目四关注消极偏见——消极倾向压倒积极倾向——在态度的学习和概括中。该研究调查了这些偏见是否作为易受伤害的因素，将个人置于焦虑和/或抑郁的风险中。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research links the advances that have accumulated in our understanding of the basic mechanisms by which attitudes form, change, and exert their influence, as well as the procedures by which attitudes can be assessed, to research concerning emotional disorders. A model of attitudes, and the processes by which they guide behavior, underlies research aimed at addressing various issues central to the etiology, assessment, and/or treatment of emotional disorders. The model focuses on the strength of the association in memory between the attitude object and one's evaluation of the object, which determines the accessibility of the attitude and, ultimately, its power. Accessible attitudes generally contribute to effective daily functioning by permitting people to appraise objects easily, without any need for conscious deliberation. However, invalid negative attitudes (as in many anxiety disorders, phobias, and depression) can inhibit the willingness to approach objects or situations that actually are beneficial. Four projects, each involving a series of experiments, are proposed. Each continues a line of work pursued in the past, focusing on the translational value of the conceptual advances and findings for clinical research and practice. Project I seeks to advance understanding of implicit measures of attitude, and examines their utility as tools for the assessment of social anxiety disorder, treatment effectiveness, and risk for relapse. Project II focuses on implicit evaluative conditioning and, ultimately, its efficacy as a procedure for producing change in automatically-activated fears and its value as an adjunct to exposure therapy. Project III concerns the dynamic interplay between attitudes and approach-avoidance behavior, and its consequences for the development and maintenance of invalid negative attitudes, as well as mechanisms by which they might be overcome. Project IV concerns negativity biases-tendencies for the negative to predominate over the positive-in both the learning and generalization of attitudes. The research examines whether these biases function as vulnerability factors that place individuals at risk for the development of anxiety and/or depression.