Verolien Cauberghe

Bio: Verolien Cauberghe is an academic researcher from Ghent University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Crisis communication & Interactivity. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 70 publications receiving 1492 citations. Previous affiliations of Verolien Cauberghe include University of Antwerp.

How Adolescents Use Social Media to Cope with Feelings of Loneliness and Anxiety During COVID-19 Lockdown.

Abstract: Next to physical health problems and economic damage, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated lockdown measures taken by governments of many countries are expected to cause mental health problems. Especially for adolescents, who highly rely on social contacts with peers, the prolonged period of social isolation may have detrimental effects on their mental health. Based on the mood management theory, the current study examines if social media are beneficial for adolescents to cope with feelings of anxiety and loneliness during the quarantine. A survey study among 2,165 (Belgian) adolescents (13-19 years old) tested how feelings of anxiety and loneliness contributed to their happiness level, and whether different social media coping strategies (active, social relations, and humor) mediated these relations. Structural equation modeling revealed that feelings of loneliness had a higher negative impact on adolescents' happiness than feelings of anxiety. However, anxious participants indicated to use social media more often to actively seek for a manner to adapt to the current situation, and to a lesser extent as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. The indirect effect of anxiety on happiness through active coping was significantly positive. Participants who were feeling lonely were more inclined to use social media to cope with lacking social contact. However, this coping strategy was not significantly related to their happiness feelings. Humorous coping was positively related with feelings of happiness, but not influenced by loneliness or anxiety. To conclude, social media can be used as a constructive coping strategy for adolescents to deal with anxious feelings during the COVID-19 quarantine.

Comparing TV Ads and Advergames Targeting Children: The Impact of Persuasion Knowledge on Behavioral Responses

Abstract: Although thousands of advergames are directed at children, little is known about how advergames affect children and whether this persuasive process differs from traditional advertising formats. Investigating the underlying persuasive mechanism, Study 1 shows that, for TV advertising, persuasion knowledge drives the persuasive effects while, for advergames, persuasion is mainly driven by the attitude toward the game. Adding advertising cues to the advergame does not increase persuasion knowledge but does diminish the positive attitude toward the game effect, influencing behavior indirectly. Study 2 demonstrates that, for an advergame, the persuasive mechanism does not differ between a commercial versus a social persuasive message.

Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories.

Abstract: Fear appeals are a polarizing issue, with proponents confident in their efficacy and opponents confident that they backfire. We present the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis investigating fear appeals' effectiveness for influencing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We tested predictions from a large number of theories, the majority of which have never been tested meta-analytically until now. Studies were included if they contained a treatment group exposed to a fear appeal, a valid comparison group, a manipulation of depicted fear, a measure of attitudes, intentions, or behaviors concerning the targeted risk or recommended solution, and adequate statistics to calculate effect sizes. The meta-analysis included 127 articles (9% unpublished) yielding 248 independent samples (NTotal = 27,372) collected from diverse populations. Results showed a positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with the average effect on a composite index being random-effects d = 0.29. Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients. Overall, we conclude that (a) fear appeals are effective at positively influencing attitude, intentions, and behaviors; (b) there are very few circumstances under which they are not effective; and (c) there are no identified circumstances under which they backfire and lead to undesirable outcomes.

The Development of Emotional Competence

Abstract: Carolyn Saarni’s book is one of a very practical series of titles by Guilford Press examining emotional and social development. The author stated a number of goals for the book including: writing about emotional development in mid-childhood and adolescence, examining emotion as a part of culture, and establishing a pattern of studying emotion within the lives of children. The book was organized into three parts: research and theories of emotional competence; skill levels of emotional competence and the clinical application of emotional competence. In the first part, Dr. Saarni defined emotional competence as the functional capacity wherein a human can reach their goals after an emotion-eliciting encounter. She defined emotion as a building block of self-efficacy. She described the use of emotions as a set of skills achieved which then lead to the development of emotional competence. Attainment of the skills of emotional competence is crucial to self-efficacy. Dr. Saarni outlined her theoretical position in relation to theories of emotion and social learning and cognitive development. Her approach to theory in each of these fields was integrative and focussed on self-development with a strong social-contructivist perspective. I enjoyed the culture and folk theories of emotional regulation in chapter three. Also, chapter three contained an interesting section on parent and peer influences on emotional regulation, very useful for child psychiatrists who work to discern abnormal emotional regulation and mood patterns in context. The bulk of the book was devoted to the eight emotional competence skills: Awareness of one’s own emotions, Ability to discern and understand other’s emotions, Ability to use the vocabulary of emotion and expression, Capacity for empathic involvement, Ability to differentiate subjective emotional experience from external emotion expression, Adaptive coping with aversive emotions and distressing circumstances, Awareness of emotional communication within relationships, and Capacity for emotional self-efficacy. Skills one through six are based on developmental research on emotions but the final two skills are based on her experience as a clinical developmental psychologist. Each chapter contained organizing subtitles and ended with culture, developmental stage and gender information. In keeping with her leanings to Lewis and Michaelson, her most basic skill, ‘awareness of one’s own emotions,’ is one that requires cognitive ability. She stipulated that, to accomplish the first skill, (Lewis’ argument) the child must know how the body feels to have an emotion. A child needs to be age four or five to demonstrate this skill reliably. Of all the skills, skill four, the capacity for empathic involvement appears to be an outlier. While the material she presented was interesting to read, the role of empathy as a skill of emotional competence wasn’t argued convincingly. On the other hand, skill 7 had a great deal of face validity. It suggested that there is a skill of emotional meta-communication. A strength of the book is its comprehensive examination of the skills she proposed. She covered many practical issues in emotional competence. The book conveyed a strong sense of children in their world and thus it was easy and enjoyable to read. A limitation of the book related to Dr. Saarni’s description of the differences between the theoretical models and how she applied them. There is a distinct difference between the social constructivists and functionalists. If child psychiatrists or residents are not familiar with the difference, this book will confuse their understanding. The former see emotions as arising from the development of cognition and the latter see emotion as not developmentally dependent upon cognition, rather, an organizing principle in development in its own right. Despite this, the effort and breadth of the treatment of emotional competence as illustrated in this book makes it well worth the read.

Cultures And Organizations Software Of The Mind Intercultural Cooperation And Its Importance For Survival

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