| الوصف: |
Interoception refers to the sensing and the processing of inner bodily signals. A growing body of research has highlighted its crucial role in domains such as emotion regulationand experience, intuitive judgment and decision-making as well as behavioural selfregulation and body image. Also, various psychiatric disorders have been associated with deficits in the different facets of interoception. Therefore, it is important to develop effective interventions that can enhance interoceptive ability. Previous studies have shown that the induction of subjective feelings of power (e.g. through cognitive priming) appears to improve interoception, hypothetically through increases in self-focus. From an evolutionary perspective, powerless individuals are more likely to direct their attention outwards to detect potential threat and get access to resources. They, therefore, have less capacity to direct their attention inwards. On the other hand, powerful individuals are less likely to experience threat and are also less reliant on others for personal resources. They, therefore, have more capacity to direct their attention towards themselves, which might make them more sensitive to bodily information. Power posing is an intervention that involves the adoption of an expansive bodily posture and has repeatedly been found to increase subjective feelings of power. Therefore, it is likely that it could have beneficial effects on interoceptive ability as it may promote self-focus, which could make it easier to notice inner bodily signals. Study I examined whether a single session- and one week of daily power posing practice could improve interoceptive ability and subjective feelings of power in a non-clinical sample. Study II explored whether power posing was superior to neutral posing after a single session and two weeks of training regarding interoception and anxiety (state and trait). Study III investigated whether individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) could benefit from power posing, by testing whether a single session and one week of daily training would improve their interoceptive ability, compared to individuals without AN. The study further focused on affective states, such as self-reported positive affect, arousal and feelings of power. Study IV focused on feelings of power in women with and without AN by investigating explicit feelings of power as well as implicit power motives and by examining whether and how the discrepancies between these dimensions relate to anxiety. The central finding of this dissertation was that power posing appears to increase interoceptive accuracy and subjective feelings of power and reduce state-anxiety as well as self-reported arousal in the short-term. However, it does not seem to be superior to adopting a neutral posture, as effects on interoceptive accuracy and state-anxiety were also observed in individuals that held a neutral pose. Regarding the findings on interoceptive accuracy, one reason therefore could be that both postures require the individual to maintain a mindful body-focus, whilst adopting the poses, which may have promoted self-focus. Also, the neutral postures were neutral in the sense that they lacked the bodily features of power, however, they may have been more open than the postures individuals usually adopt. Furthermore, in studies I-III, power posing has been repeatedly been found to increase subjective feelings of power, which is in keeping with previous research. Regarding AN, in particular, study III highlighted that individuals with AN also appear to benefit from power posing, as there was a significant short-term effect of time and no significant group effect regarding interoceptive accuracy. However, it is noteworthy that they showed significantly lower feelings of interoceptive sensitivity, feelings of dominance and positive affect than individuals without AN. Study IV further revealed that women with AN display significantly lower explicit feelings of power but similar levels of implicit power motives compared to women without AN. The discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives was related to anxiety in women with AN and may represent a potential vulnerability factor to illness maintenance. It was also found that women with AN showed similar levels of fear of losing power and hope for power, whereas, in women without AN, the fear of losing power was significantly lower than the hope for power. The findings of this dissertation are discussed with a focus on their clinical implications. |
