Self-beneficial belief updating as a coping mechanism for stress-induced negative affect

Czekalla, N.; Baumann, J.; Stolz, D. S.; Mayer, A. V.; Voges, J. F.; Rademacher, L.; Paulus, F. M.; Krach, S.; Müller-Pinzler, L.

doi:10.1101/2020.12.02.408096

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.12.02.408096

Self-beneficial belief updating as a coping mechanism for stress-induced negative affect

Czekalla, N.·Baumann, J.·Stolz, D. S.·Mayer, A. V.·Voges, J. F.·Rademacher, L.·Paulus, F. M.·Krach, S.·Müller-Pinzler, L.

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Abstract

Being confronted with social-evaluative stress elicits a physiological and a psychological stress response. This calls for regulatory processes to manage negative affect and maintain self-related optimistic beliefs. The aim of the current study was to investigate the affect-regulating potential of self-related belief updating after exposure to social-evaluative stress, in comparison to non-social physical stress or no stress. We assessed self-related belief updating using trial-by-trial performance feedback and described the updating behavior in a mechanistic way using computational modeling. We found that social-evaluative stress was accompanied by an increase in cortisol and negative affect which was related to a shift in self-related belief updating towards the positive direction. This self-beneficial belief updating, which was absent after physical stress or control, was associated with a better recovery from stress-induced negative affect. This indicates that enhanced integration of positive self-related feedback can act as a coping strategy to deal with social-evaluative stress.

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Czekalla, N., Baumann, J., Stolz, D. S., Mayer, A. V., Voges, J. F., Rademacher, L., Paulus, F. M., Krach, S., Müller-Pinzler, L.. 2020-12-03. Self-beneficial belief updating as a coping mechanism for stress-induced negative affect. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.02.408096

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