无法忍受不确定性与担忧:对记忆偏差与解释偏差的检验

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Worry: An Investigation of Memory Bias and Interpretation Bias

本研究旨在探索记忆偏差与解释偏差在无法忍受不确定性(IU)与个体担忧之间的中介作用。实验1采用伴随学习任务范式,计算被试对中性词语和不确定词的回忆量。结果发现,IU对记忆偏差的预测不显著,记忆偏差在IU与担忧倾向之间的中介作用不显著。实验2采用情境评估任务范式收集被试在不确定情境下的担忧评分和解释倾向。结果发现,IU可以正向预测被试在不确定情境下的担忧评分,被试对情境的解释倾向在IU与担忧评分的关系中起到中介作用。概言之,高IU个体存在一定的信息加工偏差。

Intolerance of uncertainty(IU) was defined as a dispositional character, which could impact individuals’ emotional, cognitive and behavioral response towards uncertain information and situations. IU was found to be significantly related to individual’s level of worry, possibly because people who are intolerant of uncertainty may have information processing bias toward uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to examine whether memory bias for uncertain information and interpretative bias for uncertain situations exist. In addition, the mediating effect of memory bias and interpretation bias was analyzed.An incidental learning task was used in Study 1 to examine the relationship between IU and the recall of words denoting uncertainty, as well as the mediating effect of memory bias among the relationship between IU and worry. In study 1, undergraduate and postgraduate(N=103) participants finished four scales which measured IU, trait worry, depression and anxiety. Vignette task was used in study 2 to explore participants’ interpretation bias, as well as the mediating effect of interpretation bias among the relationship between IU and worry and the moderated effect of gender. One hundred and five undergraduate and postgraduate, who hadn’t participated in study 1, were asked to report their level of worry and interpretations of each uncertain situation. These participants also finished the IUS-12 used in study 1 to report their level of intolerance of uncertainty. Data analyses were conducted in SPSS 23.0.The result of study 1 did not support the hypothesis that IU would be a significant predictor of memory bias for uncertain stimuli. The mediating effect of memory bias was also not significant. These results were not consistent with the existing studies. This may be due to the different attitudes towards uncertainty between Eastern and Western culture, which were shaped by the wholistic thinking and analytical thinking respectively. In study 2, IU could positively predict participants’ level of worry in uncertain situations and the mediating effect of interpretative bias was significant, while the moderating effect of gender was not significant. These results supported the hypothesis that individuals with high IU would interpretate uncertain situation as negative and threatened, which leaded to their high level of worry. However, the relationship between IU and interpretation was universal for female and male. The different coping styles of male and female may be the reason for different level of worry between these two groups instead of their different interpretations.The general results showed that people who were intolerant of uncertainty may have information processing bias towards uncertain information and situations. For clinical populations, psychotherapists could try to increase their tolerance of uncertainty, which may reduce the negative affect such as worry and anxiety. Psychotherapists could help people to clarify that the presence of uncertainty may be not equivalent with danger and threat.Besides, exposure therapy could help people learn to tolerate uncertainty by exposing to uncertainty. And last, psychotherapist could also encourage people to be willing to accept the uncertainty.