Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence that self-uncertainty salience increases self-esteem striving

The Influence of Intolerance of Uncertainty on Social Anxiety in University Students: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Core Self-Evaluation and Attentional Control

Social anxiety is a serious and prevalent psychological problem among university students, with intolerance of uncertainty playing an important role in its formation and development. The underlying mediating processes remain elusive despite the existing research on the association between these two constructs. This investigation developed a sequential mediation model grounded in the triadic reciprocal determinism theory to examine the intermediary roles of core self-evaluation and attentional control. Utilizing a convenience sampling method, a total of 1580 undergraduate students were recruited for this study. The study variables were assessed using scales measuring intolerance of uncertainty, core self-evaluation, attention control, and social interaction anxiety. The results revealed a significant and positive predictive relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and social anxiety (effect = 0.10; SE = 0.02; 95% CI = [0.00, 0.05]; p < 0.001). Intolerance of uncertainty directly and indirectly impacted social anxiety via three pathways: the independent mediating influence of core self-evaluation (effect = 0.15; SE = 0.02; 95% CI = [0.12, 0.18]; p < 0.001), the independent mediating influence of attentional control (effect = 0.03; SE = 0.01; 95% CI = [0.02, 0.05]; p < 0.001), and a serial mediation effect involving both core self-evaluation and attentional control (effect = 0.04; SE = 0.01; 95% CI = [0.03, 0.06]; p < 0.001). These direct and indirect effects contributed 30.03% and 69.97% to the overall effect, respectively. This study offers novel insights for interventions and treatments targeting social anxiety in university students.

The link between self-uncertainty and conspicuous consumption: Tolerance of uncertainty as a moderator

This study, based on self-affirmation theory, aims to investigate the impact of self-uncertainty on individual consumption behavior. Self-uncertainty was categorized into moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty, and different types of self-uncertainty were manipulated through four experiments, including a moral dilemma, a recall paradigm, and a picture quiz task written by E-Prime software to examine the effects of different types of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption and their possible boundary conditions. Our results show that moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty contribute to a stronger tendency to engage in conspicuous consumption. Our results also suggest that tolerance of uncertainty moderates the effect of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption, meaning that subjects with a high tolerance of uncertainty are less inclined to engage in conspicuous consumption than those with a low tolerance of uncertainty, even if they have high self-uncertainty. This study may provide an explanation for conspicuous consumption behavior, further validating the theory of compensatory consumption. Additionally, the results from this study also provide a reference for understanding people's decision-making behavior in an uncertain social context and can provide new guidance to control irrational consumption behavior.

S, Ganesh P, Vasu HV. Job Search during COVID-19: How Online Mindfulness Intervention helped to Reduce Stress and Enhance the Self-esteem of the Job Seeker

Background: Immediately after graduation from university, college students need to make significant decisions about starting their careers or pursuing higher studies. They are also pressured to meet the expectations and demands of self, others, and the environment. Owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aforementioned challenging decisions may become hazardous stressors for college students. Hence, the researchers intended to assist and assess the college students involved in student placements. The research goal was to investigate the impact of mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on the stress and self-esteem of college students involved in student placements.  Methods: One hundred college students participating in the campus placements were selected using purposive sampling from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in Coimbatore, India. For evaluation purposes, college students were administered the perceived stress, Rosenberg self-esteem, and Kuppuswamy socio-economic scales. Seventy-five college students were selected for the MBI process and were administered with a pre-intervention and post-intervention without a control group research design. Results: Statistical analysis including analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Bonferroni post hoc test showed a significant increase in self-esteem and a decrease in the stress of the college students involved in placements. Conclusions: Thus, the researchers recommend that policymakers create awareness, include MBI in the curriculum, and allocate funds for training ventures in educational institutions to assist college students in their challenging life journeys.