Virtually Unexpected: No Role for Expectancy Violation in Virtual Reality Exposure for Public Speaking Anxiety.

ABSTRACT: In the current study, we examined the role of expectancy violation and retrospective reasoning about the absence of feared outcomes in virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET). Participants fearful of public speaking were asked to give speeches in virtual reality. We asked each participant individually to report their expectancies about feared outcomes in public speaking situations and which of these could be tested in VRET. Each of the expectancies was categorized as being related to: (1) participants' own reactions, (2) (overt) reactions of the audience, or (3) (covert) negative evaluation. We examined whether the proportion of testable expectancies could predict treatment outcome and which type of expectancies were evaluated as being more testable in VRET. Additionally, we experimentally

SUBMITTER: Scheveneels S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6928118 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature