Cognitive Science/ Cognitive Processes
Development and psychometric properties of the Audience's Affiliative Valence Scale (AAVS) in people with fear of public speaking
Jessica Navarro-Siurana, None
PhD student
University of Valencia
VALENCIA, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Marta Miragall, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Valencia
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Rosa M. Baños, Ph.D.
Professor
Universitat de València
Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
Evolutionary approaches to social anxiety postulate that individuals with this problem tend to underuse the affiliative system, which lead them to have an insensitivity to affiliative cues (e.g., smiles) (Trower & Gilbert, 1989). Individuals with public speaking anxiety (PSA) -the most common type of social anxiety disorder- may assess the audience in a non-affiliative way, and consequently, with a negative valence. In the clinical field, interventions aimed at changing the negative valence of the audience could improve exposure therapy (e.g., Zbozinek et al., 2015). However, to our knowledge, there is no scales to assess the audience valence in PSA. The aims of this study were 1) to develop the Audience's Affiliative Valence Scale (AAVS), both for measuring “trait” (AAVS-T) and “state” (AAVS-S); 2) to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties. The sample consisted of 300 people (74.3% women) aged between 18 and 62 (M = 28.75, SD = 11.07). In order to develop the scale, adjectives considered relevant to assess the audience’s affiliative valence in individuals with PSA were selected to build a total of 21 bipolar items (e.g., secure-threatening). Participants completed the AAVS-T (about usual assessment of audiences), and questionnaires of social safeness (SSPS), social anxiety (LSAS), fear of negative evaluation (BFNE), and fear of public speaking (PSAS). Next, participants were shown a recorded audience, and asked to imagine that they had to give a talk in front of it. Then, they filled out the AAVS-S (about this specific recorded audience), and visual analogue scales (VAS) for measuring fear and avoidance. An exploratory factor analysis using parallel analysis and maximum likelihood showed that one factor had to be retained, both in the trait and state versions. Factorial rotation with one factor explained 52.93% of the total variance. The factorial solution showed that 18 items had factor loadings greater than 0.40. The other 3 bipolar adjectives were excluded (they were measuring social-rank valence, e.g., dominant-submissive). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was excellent (α = 0.92). Regarding construct validity, AAVS-T was positively associated with social safeness (r = 0.60, p < 0.01), and negatively associated with social anxiety (r = -0.51, p < 0.01), fear of negative evaluation (r = -0.38, p < 0.01), and fear of public speaking (r = -0.42, p < 0.01). AAVS-S was negatively associated with VAS-fear (r = -0.48, p < 0.01), and VAS-avoidance (r = -0.41, p < 0.01). The AAVS is the first validated instrument to measure the affiliative valence of the audience, both for trait and state. This scale may be useful both in research and clinical practice. Moreover, this study reveals that the affiliative valence of the audience is related to variables associated with PSA. Future studies should test the effect of changing the affiliative valence of the audience in individuals with PSA.
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