Lower Levels of Directed Exploration and Reflective Thinking Are Associated With Greater Anxiety and Depression.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety and depression are often associated with strong beliefs that entering specific situations will lead to aversive outcomes - even when these situations are objectively safe and avoiding them reduces well-being. A possible mechanism underlying this maladaptive avoidance behavior is a failure to reflect on: (1) appropriate levels of uncertainty about the situation, and (2) how this uncertainty could be reduced by seeking further information (i.e., exploration). To test this hypothesis, we asked a community sample of 416 individuals to complete measures of reflective cognition, exploration, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found significant associations between each of these measures in expected directions (i.e., positive relationships between r

SUBMITTER: Smith R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8808291 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature