7.3 Flashcards
SPOSY
Speech Performance Observation Scale For Youth SPOSY is an observation scale for speech performance of socially anxious youth. The scale was designed as a research tool to address specific behaviors that are readily noticed by non-expert others and might explain why socially anxious youth are rejected by peers
Three reliable and stable factors identified are
Expressiveness, Lack of confidence, and Agitation. Expressiveness was negatively related to Lack of confidence. Importantly, socially anxious youth were rated as less expressive and confident but not as more agitated in their behavior as compared to non- socially anxious youth. Low expressiveness seems related to safety behaviors and may play a significant role in peer rejection.
What factors are associated with
Poor social skills and difficulties in peer interactions have been related to social anxiety. High socially anxious children are generally treated more negatively by peers. They are perceived as “different”, even within minutes.
. Social anxiety theory
proposes that poor social behavior and non-satisfying peer interactions maintain or even increase anxiety for social situations potentially resulting in SAD.
Speech tasks are a good method to test for this, since fear of public speaking is one of the most frequently reported social fears
Which two factors are related?
Expressiveness and Lack of confidence (negative)
Expressiveness
Reasons for not being expressive
Results of being less expressive
3 perceptions of people with less expressiveness
describes behavioral characteristics of expressive, communicative versus inexpressive, distant behavior. Making an inexpressive, distant impression on others has been described in the literature in relation to “safety behaviors”.
When socially anxious individuals expect others will negatively evaluate them, they may show safety behaviors in order to hide their nervousness and avoid making a poor impression.
This kind of preventive behavior distracts the person from interaction with others and leaves an impression of disinterest. As people generally prefer openness and warmth in communication,
this could explain why socially anxious people are often perceived as
1) distant,
2) less friendly,
3) less warm,
4) less outgoing
5) less likeable.
Lack of confidence
items describing nervous behavior and signs of feeling uncertain. The item “Talks as if reciting” is a behavior that suggests that persons memorize their speech in advance and then try to recite it. As such it is a cognitive strategy, considered to be a safety behavior used in advance to prevent anxiety during the speech. Another item of the subscale that also refers to safety behavior is (low) self-disclosure in the speech.
Agitation
describes restless behavior that in other scales is part of nervousness subscales. Although being the most salient characteristic it did not discriminate high from low socially anxious speakers. Possibly, the subscale describes the part of nervousness that is not specifically related to social anxiety but rather to uneasiness that also low socially anxious children might feel when performing a laboratory speech task.
Relations of Subscales to other characteristics
age. Older speakers were more expressive and more confident than younger ones. The Agitation scale was not related to age. All three scales were related to gender. Girls were more expressive and confident in their behavior than boys and less agitated.
Anxiety and depression disorders share
a general distress or negative affect factor
