Before I advise you on what videos, topics, and titles you should use for your dating YouTube channel, there are certain things you need to know. A new study suggests that cognitive appraisal plays a role in the experience of heightened social anxiety among online daters. The findings were published in Computers in Human Behaviour. It is commonly believed that online dating is reserved for timid, anxious individuals who are intimidated by face-to-face dating. However, research suggests that people who choose to pursue online dating are no more socially anxious than typical daters and may actually be more sociable. Moreover, although online dating may ease social anxiety, it appears that it does not eliminate it. Researchers Shani Pitcho-Prelorentzos and team set out to explore whether cognitive biases might explain social anxiety in the context of online dating. Given the ambiguity of virtual dating, they suggest that daters rely on their assumptions about the world when interpreting the dating scene. Specifically, the researchers focus on Janoff-Bulman’s (1992) three core beliefs that dictate how a person navigates the world. Researchers recruited 494 Israeli adults who were either currently using online dating platforms or had used them in the past. The participants completed a survey that assessed the three beliefs outlined by Janoff-Bulman’s Shattered Assumptions theory (1992). Beliefs about the world were assessed with statements like “I feel the world is a dangerous place to live in.” Self-efficacy was measured with statements like “I’m capable of dealing with most problems that come up in life.” Finally, recognition concern was measured by assessing participants’ concern that their online dating profile would be discovered by family and friends.
Participants also completed two assessments of social anxiety — self-evaluation anxiety and interaction anxiety. As the researchers expected, subjects’ cognitive appraisals were linked to their social anxiety scores. Specifically, negative beliefs about the world, low self-appraisal, and heightened concern about being recognized were significant predictors of elevated self-evaluation and interaction anxiety. The researchers explain why personal assumptions are likely to come into play during virtual dating. “Although online dating platforms may provide an initial social shield in the form of relative anonymity, it positions the potential date as anonymous as well. Thus, the online dater may project onto the potential date (and the situation) his or her own core negative perceptions and beliefs, which are difficult to refute in the absence of face-to-face interactions (Postmes, Spears, & Lea, 2002).” People with low self-efficacy, the authors suggest, tend to feel incompetent and unable to control their lives. They, therefore, may feel heightened social anxiety when confronting the uncertainty of online dating. Similarly, those with negative beliefs about the world may conclude that danger exists even in the virtual world of dating, leading to increased anxiety. When it comes to concern with recognition, the authors suggest that those who hold beliefs that others are overly judgmental and malicious may be afraid to have their online dating profiles exposed to their friends for fear of being ridiculed. Indeed, socially anxious individuals tend to fear being criticized by others and may be overly sensitive to the stigma surrounding online dating. Overall, the findings offer insight into how cognitive appraisals may influence anxiety in the online dating world. The researchers suggest that their findings might “assist health care professionals who treat individuals in their stressful quest to find a partner, to direct the therapeutic sessions toward rebuilding shattered assumptions and elevating a sense of self-efficacy.”
Now let me explain you what a cognitive appraisal is. Cognitive appraisal (also called simply 'appraisal') is the subjective interpretation made by an individual to stimuli in the environment. It is a component in a variety of theories relating to stress, mental health, coping, and emotion. It is most notably used in the transactional model of stress and coping, introduced in a 1984 publication by Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman. In this theory, cognitive appraisal is defined as the way in which an individual responds to and interprets stressors in life. A variety of mental disorders have been observed as having abnormal patterns of cognitive appraisal in those affected by the disorder. Other work has detailed how personality can influence the way in which individuals cognitively appraise a situation.
1. Lazarus' transactional model of stress: This model uses cognitive appraisal as a way to explain responses to stressful events. According to this theory, two distinct forms of cognitive appraisal must occur in order for an individual to feel stress in response to an event; Lazarus called these stages "primary appraisal" and "secondary appraisal". During primary appraisal, an event is interpreted as dangerous to the individual or threatening to their personal goals. During secondary appraisal, the individual evaluates their ability or resources to be able to cope with a specific situation.
2. Scherer's component process model: The component process model proposed by Klaus Scherer utilizes cognitive appraisal to explain an individual’s psychological and physiological response to situations. Scherer’s model makes additions to the Lazarus’ transactional model regarding how many appraisals occur. Rather than just two levels of appraisal in response to an event (primary and secondary), Scherer’s model suggests four distinct appraisals occur:
(a) the direct effects or relevance that an individual perceives an event being to them
(b) the consequences an event has both immediately and long-term to an individual and their goals (c) the ability an individual perceives they can cope with the consequences of an event
(d) the ways in which the events are perceived to result from an individual’s values and self-concept.
This model and additional work by Scherer notably highlights not only psychological responses, but many physiological responses according to how events are appraised by an individual.
3. Roseman's appraisal theory of emotions: Ira Roseman utilized the concept of cognitive appraisal to build an explanatory theory that encompasses a wider range of emotions (when compared with Lazarus' transactional model). According to Roseman (1996), positive emotions result from events that an individual appraises as consistent with their motives, while negative emotions result from events that individuals appraise as inconsistent with their motives. More specific emotions are based on if the event is perceived to be as caused by others, the individual, or due to an uncontrollable circumstance.
The way in which stress is cognitively appraised has been found to influence mental health. Cognitive styles of perceiving the world and interpreting events have been suggested as factors that may make certain individuals more prone to depression, such as Aaron Beck's cognitive theory (1967). A variety of studies have linked panic disorder with attentional biases and catastrophic perceptions of events.
Thus the best strategy will be in picking up topics that will lead to a healthy relationship. They include:
1. Mutual respect: Respect means that each person values who the other is and understands the other person’s boundaries.
2. Trust: Partners should place trust in each other and give each other the benefit of the doubt.
3. Honesty: Honesty builds trust and strengthens the relationship.
4. Compromise: In a dating relationship, each partner does not always get his or her way. Each should acknowledge different points of view and be willing to give and take.
5. Individuality: Neither partner should have to compromise who he/she is, and his/her identity should not be based on a partner’s. Each should continue seeing his or her friends and doing the things he/she loves. Each should be supportive of his/her partner wanting to pursue new hobbies or make new friends.
6. Good communication: Each partner should speak honestly and openly to avoid miscommunication. If one person needs to sort out his or her feelings first, the other partner should respect those wishes and wait until he or she is ready to talk.
7. Anger control: We all get angry, but how we express it can affect our relationships with others. Anger can be handled in healthy ways such as taking a deep breath, counting to ten, or talking it out.
8. Fighting fair: Everyone argues at some point, but those who are fair, stick to the subject, and avoid insults are more likely to come up with a possible solution. Partners should take a short break away from each other if the discussion gets too heated.
9. Problem solving: Dating partners can learn to solve problems and identify new solutions by breaking a problem into small parts or by talking through the situation.
10. Understanding: Each partner should take time to understand what the other might be feeling.
11. Self-confidence: When dating partners have confidence in themselves, it can help their relationships with others. It shows that they are calm and comfortable enough to allow others to express their opinions without forcing their own opinions on them.
12. Being a role model: By embodying what respect means, partners can inspire each other, friends, and family to also behave in a respectful way.
13. Healthy sexual relationship: Dating partners engage in a sexual relationship that both are comfortable with, and neither partner feels pressured or forced to engage in sexual activity that is outside his or her comfort zone or without consent.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
