The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that Savannah Woods will present Master's research titled, The Role of Shame in the Relationships among Childhood Maltreatment, Fears of Evaluation, and Associated Submissive Behaviors on 06/21/2023 at 11:00 AM in Virtual https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/92959784180. Everyone is invited to attend. 

Psychology

Chair: Ashley N. Howell, PhD

Co-Chair: Jill Shelton, PhD and Kristen Black, Phd

Abstract:
Childhood maltreatment victims may be at higher risk for engaging in maladaptive social avoidance. Social avoidance tendencies associated with history of child maltreatment has been linked, in part, to fears of evaluation, which are commonly associated with negative affective states such as shame. Negative affect-driven social avoidance may be operationalized by self-reported experience, biopsychological responses, and socially submissive behaviors (e.g., eye gaze avoidance). Despite a strong body of research reliably identifying associations among these constructs, the literature is lacking in establishing the exact relationships among childhood maltreatment, fears of evaluation (e.g., fear of negative evaluation; fear of positive evaluation) and shame. The purpose of this study will be to test the roles of trait and state shame as a putative mechanism in the relationship between childhood maltreatment severity and several units of analysis of social evaluation-related distress and submissive behavior. Across Study 1 (i.e., self-report on an Internet survey battery) and Study 2 (i.e., laboratory and Internet self-report assessments) it is hypothesized that: (1) Overall childhood maltreatment severity will positively correlate with fear of negative evaluation (FNE); (2) Overall childhood maltreatment severity will positively correlate with fear of positive evaluation (FPE). For Study 2 only, it is hypothesized that: (3) averages of self-reported state shame, in response to negative evaluative feedback videos, will positively correlate with trait fear of negative evaluation (FNE); (4) trait shame will significantly moderate the relationship between childhood maltreatment severity and (4a) trait fear of negative evaluation (FNE), (4b) trait fear of positive evaluation (FPE), and (5) state social submissive behavior (i.e., reduced eye gaze fixation via eye tracking) in response to (5a) negative and (5b) positive evaluative feedback videos.