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Narcissistic and avoidant personality traits represent two contrasting patterns of behavior that significantly influence social interactions and self-perception. While individuals with narcissistic disorder seek admiration and validation, individuals with avoidant personality disorder withdraw due to fear of judgment.
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Distressed (Type D) personality is predicted by avoidance: evidence from a computer-based avatar task.

M Todd Allen1, Michelle M Shields1, Catherine E Myers2,3

  • 1School of Psychological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA.

Peerj
|November 2, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Distressed (Type D) personality, characterized by social inhibition and negative affectivity, is linked to avoidance behaviors. A new avatar task showed Type D individuals exhibit higher avoidance, suggesting its utility in identifying this tendency.

Keywords:
AssessmentAvoidanceDistressed personalityNegative affectPersonalitySocial inhibitionType D personality

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Personality Science
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Distressed (Type D) personality is linked to poor health and psychopathologies like PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
  • Avoidance is a proposed mechanism linking personality to these psychopathologies.
  • A computer-based avatar avoidance task has shown promise in assessing avoidant behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between distressed (Type D) personality and avoidance using a computer-based avatar task.
  • To determine if social inhibition (SI) and negative affectivity (NA) components of Type D personality correlate with avatar avoidance.
  • To compare avoidance scores between Type D and non-Type D individuals.

Main Methods:

  • 302 undergraduates completed the Distressed Type D Personality Scale (DS-14) and an avatar avoidance task.
  • Correlational and regression analyses were used to examine relationships between personality traits and avoidance scores.
  • Individuals were categorized into four groups based on DS-14 scores (low SI/NA, high SI, high NA, Type D) for comparison.

Main Results:

  • Type D personality, social inhibition (SI), and to a lesser extent negative affectivity (NA) were positively correlated with avatar avoidance scores.
  • Avoidance scores were significant predictors of Type D and SI, and also NA.
  • Type D individuals exhibited significantly higher avoidance scores compared to other groups.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support a role for avoidance in distressed (Type D) personality.
  • The computer-based avatar avoidance task is a potentially ecologically valid measure for identifying avoidance in Type D individuals.
  • This task may be useful for individuals who struggle with self-reporting their avoidant tendencies.