Question: Exploring the impact of self-esteem, self-compassion, and the fear of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms: a study of female students and individuals with eating disorders.

This study aimed to investigate the associations between self-compassion, body image, and eating disorder symptoms among university women. In the first investigation, 142 female undergraduate students participated, completing assessments on body image, self-esteem, and self-compassion. The findings revealed that a higher level of self-compassion was associated with reduced body image concerns, independent of self-esteem levels. Notably, when both self-compassion and self-esteem were considered as predictors, self-compassion uniquely explained variance in body preoccupation and weight worries, whereas self-esteem did not. In the subsequent study involving 187 undergraduate women, the results partly echoed these findings, with one facet of self-compassion—self-judgment—uniquely predicting body preoccupation. Furthermore, high self-compassion scores were linked to lower feelings of guilt about eating, again independently of self-esteem. The research also uncovered that self-compassion partially mediated the connection between body preoccupation and depressive symptoms. These outcomes underscore the potential significance of self-compassion in understanding body image issues and identifying individuals at higher risk for body shape concerns, particularly in the context of eating disorders.

To explore possible reasons for low self-identification rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities (LD), we asked students (38 with LD, 100 without LD) attending two large, public, research-intensive universities to respond to a questionnaire designed to assess stereotypes about individuals with LD and conceptions of ability. Responses were coded into six categories of stereotypes about LD (low intelligence, compensation possible, process deficit, nonspecific insurmountable condition, working the system, and other), and into three categories of conceptions of intelligence (entity, incremental, neither). Consistent with past findings, the most frequent metastereotype reported by individuals in both groups related to generally low ability. In addition, students with LD were more likely to espouse views of intelligence as a fixed trait. As a whole, the study's findings have implications for our understanding of factors that influence self-identification and self-advocacy at the postsecondary level.

In 2 studies, the authors developed and validated of a new set of standardized emotion expressions, which they referred to as the University of California, Davis, Set of Emotion Expressions (UCDSEE). The precise components of each expression were verified using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). The UCDSEE is the first FACS-verified set to include the three "self-conscious" emotions known to have recognizable expressions (embarrassment, pride, and shame), as well as the 6 previously established "basic" emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise), all posed by the same 4 expressers (African and White males and females). This new set has numerous potential applications in future research on emotion and related topics.

Do positive psychology interventions-that is, treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions-enhance well-being and ameliorate depressive symptoms? A meta-analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 individuals was conducted to address this question and to provide practical guidance to clinicians. The results revealed that positive psychology interventions do indeed significantly enhance well-being (mean r=.29) and decrease depressive symptoms (mean r=.31). In addition, several factors were found to impact the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions, including the depression status, self-selection, and age of participants, as well as the format and duration of the interventions. Accordingly, clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve. Our findings also suggest that clinicians would do well to deliver positive psychology interventions as individual (versus group) therapy and for relatively longer periods of time.

There is a growing body of research indicating the multiple ways that affective dysregulation (e.g., anxiety disorders, specific phobias, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)) may lead to significant impairments in normal life functioning. Anxiety and fear are concentrated emotional experiences that serve critical functions in organizing necessary survival responses (Fendt & Fanselow, 1999). In properly functioning affective systems, the responses are adaptive. LeDoux (2012a) posits survival circuits that enable humans to adapt to feared stimuli by organizing brain functions. The fear induced arousal and activation of survival circuits allows for adaptive responses to take priority and other responses are inhibited. Further, attentional processing focuses on pertinent environmental stimuli and learning occurs (Scherer, 2000; LeDoux, 2012b). Hence, adaptive survival circuits are optimized to detect threatening stimuli and relay the information as environmental challenges and opportunities. The adaptive survival circuits use this information to adjust behavioral and psychophysiological responses for appropriate adaptation and resolution. Excessive fear responses, however, can be restrictive and may be a sign of dysregulated anxiety. When exposure to stress occurs early in development and is repeated in persons with a particular genetic disposition, a decreased threshold for developing anxiety may result (Heim & Nemeroff, 1999). Further, over-excitation and deprivation can influence the affective system and may induce changes in the emotional circuitry of the brain that can contribute to stress-related psychopathology (Davidson, Jackson, & Kalin, 2000). A good deal of research has shown that exposure therapy is effective for reducing negative affective symptoms (Rothbaum & Schwartz, 2002). In vivo exposure therapy has been found to have greater efficacy when compared to imaginal exposure, especially in the treatment of specific phobias (Emmelkamp, 2003). Exposure to emotional situations and prolonged rehearsal result in the regular activation of cerebral metabolism in brain areas associated with inhibition of maladaptive associative processes (Schwartz, 1998). Identical neural circuits have been found to be involved in affective regulation across affective disorders (De Raedt, 2006; Mineka, Watson, & Clark, 1998). Systematic and controlled therapeutic exposure to phobic stimuli may enhance emotional regulation through adjustments of inhibitory processes on the amygdala by the medial prefrontal cortex during exposure and structural changes in the hippocampus after successful therapy (Hariri, Bookheimer, & Mazziotta, 2000). A novel tool for conducting exposure therapy is virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), in which users are immersed within a computer-generated simulation or virtual environment (VE) that updates in a natural way to the user’s psychophysiological arousal, head and/ or body motion (Parsons and Courtney, 2011, Parsons and Reinebold, 2012). Virtual environment applications that focus on treatment of affective (see Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008; Parsons et al., 2008a; Opris et al., 2012) and cognitive disorders (see Rose et al., 2005; Parsons 2009a) as well as assessment of component cognitive processes are now being developed and tested: attention (Parsons, et al., 2007, 2011) spatial abilities (Beck et al., 2010; Goodrich-Hunsaker and Hopkins, 2010; Parsons, et al., 2013), memory (Moffat, 2009; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008b; Parsons et al., 2013; Knight & Titov, 2009), spatial memory (Parsons et al., 2013); and executive functions (Armstrong et al., 2013; Henry et al., 2012; Parsons et al., 2012, 2013, 2014). The increased ecological validity of virtual scenarios may aid differential diagnosis and treatment planning. Within a virtual world, it is possible to systematically present cognitive tasks targeting neuropsychological performance beyond what are currently available using traditional methods (Parsons, 2011, 2012). Thomas D. Parsons University of North Texas, USA

URLs: Self-disclosure on Facebook among female users and its relationship to feelings of loneliness Author(s): Al-Saggaf, Y.M. ; Nielsen, S.G. Computers in Human Behavior

In this article we present a review of research on core self-evaluations, a broad personality trait indicated by 4 more narrow traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability. We review evidence suggesting that the 4 core traits are highly related, load on a single unitary factor, and have dubious incremental validity controlling for their common core. We more generally investigate the construct validity of core self-evaluations. We also report on the development and validation of the first direct measure of the concept, the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES). Cross-cultural evidence on the CSES is provided. We conclude by offering an agenda for future research, discussing areas where future core self-evaluations research is most needed.

Using recent research, I argue that beliefs lie at the heart of personality and adaptive functioning and that they give us unique insight into how personality and functioning can be changed. I focus on two classes of beliefs—beliefs about the malleability of self-attributes and expectations of social acceptance versus rejection—and show how modest interventions have brought about important real-world changes. I conclude by suggesting that beliefs are central to the way in which people package their experiences and carry them forward, and that beliefs should play a more central role in the study of personality. KEYWORDS—personality; personality theories; change; self-beliefs; interventions

There is a general consensus that Internet addiction (IA) is mainly related to social aspects of the Web, especially among adolescents. The empirical link between poor social skills and IA is well documented; however, theoretical explanations for this relationship are less developed. One possibility is that people with poor social skills are especially prone to develop a preference for online social interaction (POSI), which, in turn, predicts problematic usage. This hypothesis has been tested for loneliness and social anxiety, but not for self-esteem (SE; one of the main antecedents of IA). Furthermore, the mediating role of the perceived relevance of some Internet features (e.g., anonymity) in the relationship between SE and POSI has never been investigated. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 257 adolescents. Using mediation analyses, we found evidence among females for the mediating role of (a) POSI in the relationship between SE and IA, and (b) the subjective relevance of some Internet features in the association between SE and POSI. No significant effects were found for males.

The present study examined the effects of Zumba training (group fitness based on salsa and aerobics) on endurance, trunk strength, balance, flexibility, jumping performance and quality of life (QoL) in female college students. Thirty female participants were randomly assigned (strata: age, BMI and physical activity) to an intervention (INT, n = 15: age: 21.0 ± 2.3 years; BMI: 21.8 ± 3.0 kg/m(2); physical activity (PA): 7.6 ± 4.6 h/week) or control group (CON, n = 14: age: 21.0 ± 2.8 years; BMI: 21.0 ± 2.1 kg/m(2); PA: 7.3 ± 3.6 h/week). Instructed Zumba training was provided twice a week for 8 weeks (training attendance: 100%). QoL was assessed using the WHO-QoL-BREF questionnaire. Endurance was measured with the 6-min walking test (6MWT). Trunk flexibility was assessed with the stand-and-reach-test and lower-extremity strength with the jump-and-reach-test. The star excursion balance test (SEBT) was employed to assess dynamic balance. Trunk strength endurance was examined using the Swiss global trunk strength test in prone and lateral (left, right) positions. All testings were performed before and after the training period. We observed large statistically significant between-group effects of total QoL score (INT: +9.8%, CON: +0.4%, p < 0.001; partial eta squared [Formula: see text]), 6MWT distance (INT: +21%, CON: -2%, p < 0.001, [Formula: see text]), trunk strength endurance (prone, INT: +48%, CON: +11%, p = 0.04, [Formula: see text]; lateral-left, INT: +71%, CON: +11%, p = 0.01, [Formula: see text], lateral-right, INT: +54%, CON: +11%, p = 0.01, [Formula: see text]) and dynamic balance (all eight reaching distances of the SEBT, INT: +11-26%, CON: +1.1-3.8%, 0.001 < p < 0.04, 0.14 < [Formula: see text]) with significantly larger improvements for INT. Flexibility and jump performance were not relevantly affected (p > 0.05). Instructed Zumba training can be applied to improve well-being, aerobic fitness and neuromuscular function in female college students.

It is not—unless it triggers feelings of envy. This study uses the framework of social rank theory of depression and conceptualizes Facebook envy as a possible link between Facebook surveillance use and depression among college students. Using a survey of 736 college students, we found that the effect of surveillance use of Facebook on depression is mediated by Facebook envy. However, when Facebook envy is controlled for, Facebook use actually lessens depression. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Question: Exploring the influence of self-esteem, self-compassion, and the fear of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms: a comparative study of female students and individuals with eating disorders.

This study explores the concepts of self-compassion and global self-esteem, investigating their relationships with psychological well-being. Self-compassion is characterized by treating oneself with kindness, acknowledging shared human experiences, and adopting a mindful attitude towards one's shortcomings. In the first study (N=2,187), the researchers contrasted self-compassion and global self-esteem in terms of their impact on ego-centric responses. The findings revealed that self-compassion fostered a more stable sense of self-worth than self-esteem and was less reliant on specific outcomes. Self-compassion was also found to have a stronger inverse correlation with social comparison, public self-consciousness, self-rumination, anger, and the need for cognitive closure. Interestingly, self-esteem (but not self-compassion) showed a positive correlation with narcissistic traits. The second study (N=165) compared global self-esteem and self-compassion in relation to positive emotional states. The results indicated that both constructs were equally effective predictors of happiness, optimism, and positive affect. These findings suggest that self-compassion might serve as a beneficial alternative to global self-esteem when evaluating a healthy self-perception, particularly in contexts where self-esteem may foster negative psychological outcomes.

Online social networking sites have revealed an entirely new method of self-presentation. This cyber social tool provides a new site of analysis to examine personality and identity. The current study examines how narcissism and self-esteem are manifested on the social networking Web site Facebook.com . Self-esteem and narcissistic personality self-reports were collected from 100 Facebook users at York University. Participant Web pages were also coded based on self-promotional content features. Correlation analyses revealed that individuals higher in narcissism and lower in self-esteem were related to greater online activity as well as some self-promotional content. Gender differences were found to influence the type of self-promotional content presented by individual Facebook users. Implications and future research directions of narcissism and self-esteem on social networking Web sites are discussed.

To explore possible reasons for low self-identification rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities (LD), we asked students (38 with LD, 100 without LD) attending two large, public, research-intensive universities to respond to a questionnaire designed to assess stereotypes about individuals with LD and conceptions of ability. Responses were coded into six categories of stereotypes about LD (low intelligence, compensation possible, process deficit, nonspecific insurmountable condition, working the system, and other), and into three categories of conceptions of intelligence (entity, incremental, neither). Consistent with past findings, the most frequent metastereotype reported by individuals in both groups related to generally low ability. In addition, students with LD were more likely to espouse views of intelligence as a fixed trait. As a whole, the study's findings have implications for our understanding of factors that influence self-identification and self-advocacy at the postsecondary level.

Narcissists are thought to display extreme affective reactions to positive and negative information about the self. Two experiments were conducted in which high- and low-narcissistic individuals, as defined by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), completed a series of tasks in which they both succeeded and failed. After each task, participants made attributions for their performance and reported their moods. High-NPI participants responded with greater changes in anxiety, anger, and self-esteem. Low self-complexity was examined, but it neither mediated nor moderated affective responses. High-NPI participants tended to attribute initial success to ability, leading to more extreme anger responses and greater self-esteem reactivity to failure. A temporal sequence model linking self-attribution and emotion to narcissistic rage is discussed.

This qualitative study explored the feelings of students about using the library for research. Personal writing, collected in beginning composition courses over a two-year period, was analyzed for recurrent themes. It was found that 75 to 85 percent of the students in these courses described their initial response to library research in terms of fear. Three concepts emerged from these descriptions: (1) students generally feel that their own library-use skills are inadequate while the skills of other students are adequate, (2) the inadequacy is shameful and should be hidden, and (3) the inadequacy would be revealed by asking questions. A grounded theory of library anxiety was constructed from these data.

It has been alleged by some academics that excessive Internet use can be pathological and addictive. This paper reviews what is known from the empirical literature on ‘Internet addiction’ and its derivatives (e.g., Internet Addiction Disorder, Pathological Internet Use, etc.) and assesses to what extent it exists. Empirical research into ‘Internet addiction’ can roughly be divided into five areas: (1) survey studies that compare excessive Internet users with non-excessive users, (2) survey studies that have examined vulnerable groups of excessive Internet use, most notably students, (3) studies that examine the psychometric properties of excessive Internet use, (4) case studies of excessive Internet users and treatment case studies, and (5) correlational studies examining the relationship of excessive Internet use with other behaviours (e.g., psychiatric problems, depression, self-esteem, etc.). Each of these areas is reviewed. It is concluded that if ‘Internet addiction’ does indeed exist, it affects a relatively small percentage of the online population. However, exactly what it is on the Internet that they are addicted to still remains unclear.

There is a growing body of research indicating the multiple ways that affective dysregulation (e.g., anxiety disorders, specific phobias, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)) may lead to significant impairments in normal life functioning. Anxiety and fear are concentrated emotional experiences that serve critical functions in organizing necessary survival responses (Fendt & Fanselow, 1999). In properly functioning affective systems, the responses are adaptive. LeDoux (2012a) posits survival circuits that enable humans to adapt to feared stimuli by organizing brain functions. The fear induced arousal and activation of survival circuits allows for adaptive responses to take priority and other responses are inhibited. Further, attentional processing focuses on pertinent environmental stimuli and learning occurs (Scherer, 2000; LeDoux, 2012b). Hence, adaptive survival circuits are optimized to detect threatening stimuli and relay the information as environmental challenges and opportunities. The adaptive survival circuits use this information to adjust behavioral and psychophysiological responses for appropriate adaptation and resolution. Excessive fear responses, however, can be restrictive and may be a sign of dysregulated anxiety. When exposure to stress occurs early in development and is repeated in persons with a particular genetic disposition, a decreased threshold for developing anxiety may result (Heim & Nemeroff, 1999). Further, over-excitation and deprivation can influence the affective system and may induce changes in the emotional circuitry of the brain that can contribute to stress-related psychopathology (Davidson, Jackson, & Kalin, 2000). A good deal of research has shown that exposure therapy is effective for reducing negative affective symptoms (Rothbaum & Schwartz, 2002). In vivo exposure therapy has been found to have greater efficacy when compared to imaginal exposure, especially in the treatment of specific phobias (Emmelkamp, 2003). Exposure to emotional situations and prolonged rehearsal result in the regular activation of cerebral metabolism in brain areas associated with inhibition of maladaptive associative processes (Schwartz, 1998). Identical neural circuits have been found to be involved in affective regulation across affective disorders (De Raedt, 2006; Mineka, Watson, & Clark, 1998). Systematic and controlled therapeutic exposure to phobic stimuli may enhance emotional regulation through adjustments of inhibitory processes on the amygdala by the medial prefrontal cortex during exposure and structural changes in the hippocampus after successful therapy (Hariri, Bookheimer, & Mazziotta, 2000). A novel tool for conducting exposure therapy is virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), in which users are immersed within a computer-generated simulation or virtual environment (VE) that updates in a natural way to the user’s psychophysiological arousal, head and/ or body motion (Parsons and Courtney, 2011, Parsons and Reinebold, 2012). Virtual environment applications that focus on treatment of affective (see Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008; Parsons et al., 2008a; Opris et al., 2012) and cognitive disorders (see Rose et al., 2005; Parsons 2009a) as well as assessment of component cognitive processes are now being developed and tested: attention (Parsons, et al., 2007, 2011) spatial abilities (Beck et al., 2010; Goodrich-Hunsaker and Hopkins, 2010; Parsons, et al., 2013), memory (Moffat, 2009; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008b; Parsons et al., 2013; Knight & Titov, 2009), spatial memory (Parsons et al., 2013); and executive functions (Armstrong et al., 2013; Henry et al., 2012; Parsons et al., 2012, 2013, 2014). The increased ecological validity of virtual scenarios may aid differential diagnosis and treatment planning. Within a virtual world, it is possible to systematically present cognitive tasks targeting neuropsychological performance beyond what are currently available using traditional methods (Parsons, 2011, 2012). Thomas D. Parsons University of North Texas, USA

BACKGROUND
During recent decades, self-regulated learning (SRL) has become a major research field. SRL successfully integrates the cognitive and motivational components of learning. Self-regulation is usually seen as an individual process, with the social aspects of regulation conceptualized as one aspect of the context. However, recent research has begun to investigate whether self-regulation processes are complemented by socially shared regulation processes.

AIMS
The presented study investigated what kind of socio-emotional challenges students experience during collaborative learning and whether the students regulate the emotions evoked during these situations. The interplay of the emotion regulation processes between the individual and the group was also studied.

SAMPLE
The sample for this study was 63 teacher education students who studied in groups of three to five during three collaborative learning tasks.

METHOD
Students' interpretations of experienced social challenges and their attempts to regulate emotions evoked by these challenges were collected following each task using the Adaptive Instrument for the Regulation of Emotions.

RESULTS
The results indicated that students experienced a variety of social challenges. Students also reported the use of shared regulation in addition to self-regulation. Finally, the results suggested that intrinsic group dynamics are derived from both individual and social elements of collaborative situations.

CONCLUSION
The findings of the study support the assumption that students can regulate emotions collaboratively as well as individually. The study contributes to our understanding of the social aspects of emotional regulation in collaborative learning contexts.

In 2 studies, the authors developed and validated of a new set of standardized emotion expressions, which they referred to as the University of California, Davis, Set of Emotion Expressions (UCDSEE). The precise components of each expression were verified using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). The UCDSEE is the first FACS-verified set to include the three "self-conscious" emotions known to have recognizable expressions (embarrassment, pride, and shame), as well as the 6 previously established "basic" emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise), all posed by the same 4 expressers (African and White males and females). This new set has numerous potential applications in future research on emotion and related topics.


Question: Exploring the impact of self-esteem, self-compassion, and the fear of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms: a comparative study of female students and individuals with eating disorders.

This study explores the significance of shame and self-compassion in the early stages of treatment for eating disorders and their potential impact on patient outcomes. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT), a treatment strategy that emphasizes cultivating self-compassion and diminishing shame, is grounded in the hypothesis that shame perpetuates psychopathology, while self-compassion aids in its reduction. To test this theory, we investigated whether significant improvements in shame and self-compassion during the initial phase of treatment correlate with accelerated symptom remission in a diverse group of eating disorder patients over a 12-week period. Our study involved 97 individuals diagnosed with eating disorders who were admitted to specialized day hospital or inpatient care facilities. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire, Experiences of Shame Scale, and Self-Compassion Scale at the start of treatment and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 weeks post-intake. Using multilevel modeling, we found that patients who exhibited greater reductions in shame during the first 4 weeks of treatment experienced more rapid decreases in eating disorder symptoms over the course of 12 weeks. Moreover, patients who showed substantial increases in self-compassion early on had quicker declines in shame over the 12-week period, even when accounting for early changes in eating disorder symptoms. These findings support the notion that CFT theory offers valuable insights into the persistence of eating disorders. From a clinical perspective, the results suggest that addressing shame at the outset of treatment, potentially by fostering self-compassion, could enhance the effectiveness of eating disorder treatments.

We examined the relationships between sensitivity to three kinds of disgust (core, animalreminder, and contamination) and personality traits, behavioral avoidance, physiological responding, and anxiety disorder symptoms. Study 1 revealed that these disgusts are particularly associated with neuroticism and behavioral inhibition. Moreover, the three disgusts showed a theoretically consistent pattern of relations on four disgust-relevant behavioral avoidance tasks in Study 2. Similar results were found in Study 3 such that core disgust was significantly related to increased physiological responding during exposure to vomit, while animal-reminder disgust was specifically related to physiological responding during exposure to blood. Lastly, Study 4 revealed that each of the three disgusts showed a different pattern of relations with fear of contamination, fear of animals, and fear of blood– injury relevant stimuli. These findings provide support for the convergent and divergent validity of core, animal-reminder, and contamination disgust. These findings also highlight the possibility that the three kinds of disgust may manifest as a function of different psychological mechanisms (i.e., oral incorporation, mortality defense, disease avoidance) that may give rise to different clinical conditions. However, empirical examination of the mechanisms that underlie the three disgusts will require further refinement of the psychometric properties of the disgust scale. 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND
More than a third of the approximately 10 million women with histories of interpersonal violence in the United States develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Currently available treatments for this population have a high rate of incomplete response, in part because problems in affect and impulse regulation are major obstacles to resolving PTSD. This study explored the efficacy of yoga to increase affect tolerance and to decrease PTSD symptomatology.

METHOD
Sixty-four women with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD were randomly assigned to either trauma-informed yoga or supportive women's health education, each as a weekly 1-hour class for 10 weeks. Assessments were conducted at pretreatment, midtreatment, and posttreatment and included measures of DSM-IV PTSD, affect regulation, and depression. The study ran from 2008 through 2011.

RESULTS
The primary outcome measure was the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). At the end of the study, 16 of 31 participants (52%) in the yoga group no longer met criteria for PTSD compared to 6 of 29 (21%) in the control group (n = 60, χ²₁ = 6.17, P = .013). Both groups exhibited significant decreases on the CAPS, with the decrease falling in the large effect size range for the yoga group (d = 1.07) and the medium to large effect size decrease for the control group (d = 0.66). Both the yoga (b = -9.21, t = -2.34, P = .02, d = -0.37) and control (b = -22.12, t = -3.39, P = .001, d = -0.54) groups exhibited significant decreases from pretreatment to the midtreatment assessment. However, a significant group × quadratic trend interaction (d = -0.34) showed that the pattern of change in Davidson Trauma Scale significantly differed across groups. The yoga group exhibited a significant medium effect size linear (d = -0.52) trend. In contrast, the control group exhibited only a significant medium effect size quadratic trend (d = 0.46) but did not exhibit a significant linear trend (d = -0.29). Thus, both groups exhibited significant decreases in PTSD symptoms during the first half of treatment, but these improvements were maintained in the yoga group, while the control group relapsed after its initial improvement.

DISCUSSION
Yoga significantly reduced PTSD symptomatology, with effect sizes comparable to well-researched psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic approaches. Yoga may improve the functioning of traumatized individuals by helping them to tolerate physical and sensory experiences associated with fear and helplessness and to increase emotional awareness and affect tolerance.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00839813.

Recent research indicates that young adult college students experience increased levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. It is less clear what strategies college health care providers might use to assist students in decreasing these mental health concerns. In this paper, we examine the relative importance of coping style, life satisfaction, and selected demographics in predicting undergraduates' depression, anxiety, and stress. A total of 508 full-time undergraduate students aged 18-24 years completed the study measures and a short demographics information questionnaire. Coping strategies and life satisfaction were assessed using the Brief COPE Inventory and an adapted version of the Brief Students' Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relative influence of each of the independent variables on depression, anxiety, and stress. Maladaptive coping was the main predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress. Adaptive coping was not a significant predictor of any of the three outcome variables. Reducing maladaptive coping behaviors may have the most positive impact on reducing depression, anxiety, and stress in this population.

This study assessed the effectiveness of a writing task designed to foster self-regulatory coping with stressful experiences to reduce medical clinic visits and to promote adjustment. Students entering college (N = 122) who were classified as optimists or pessimists by using a dispositional optimism measure participated in a self-regulation task (expressing thoughts and feelings about entering college and then formulating coping plans), a disclosure task (expressing thoughts and feelings only), or a control task (writing about trivial topics) for 3 weekly writing sessions. Among optimists, both the self-regulation task and the disclosure task reduced illness-related clinic visits during the following month; among pessimists, only the self-regulation task reduced clinic visits. In general, the self-regulation task beneficially affected mood state and college adjustment whereas the disclosure task increased grade point averages.

This chapter addresses the psychological effects of social stigma. Stigma directly affects the stigmatized via mechanisms of discrimination, expectancy confirmation, and automatic stereotype activation, and indirectly via threats to personal and social identity. We review and organize recent theory and empirical research within an identity threat model of stigma. This model posits that situational cues, collective representations of one's stigma status, and personal beliefs and motives shape appraisals of the significance of stigma-relevant situations for well-being. Identity threat results when stigma-relevant stressors are appraised as potentially harmful to one's social identity and as exceeding one's coping resources. Identity threat creates involuntary stress responses and motivates attempts at threat reduction through coping strategies. Stress responses and coping efforts affect important outcomes such as self-esteem, academic achievement, and health. Identity threat perspectives help to explain the tremendous variability across people, groups, and situations in responses to stigma.

OBJECTIVE
This meta-analysis addressed the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to help people forgive others and to examine moderators of treatment effects.

METHOD
Eligible studies reported quantitative data on forgiveness of a specific hurt following treatment by a professional with an intervention designed explicitly to promote forgiveness. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted using k = 53 posttreatment effect sizes (N = 2,323) and k = 41 follow-up effect sizes (N = 1,716) from a total of 54 published and unpublished research reports.

RESULTS
Participants receiving explicit forgiveness treatments reported significantly greater forgiveness than participants not receiving treatment (Δ+ = 0.56 [0.43, 0.68]) and participants, receiving alternative treatments (Δ+ = 0.45 [0.21, 0.69]). Also, forgiveness treatments resulted in greater changes in depression, anxiety, and hope than no-treatment conditions. Moderators of treatment efficacy included treatment dosage, offense severity, treatment model, and treatment modality. Multimoderator analyses indicated that treatment dosage (i.e., longer interventions) and modality (individual > group) uniquely predicted change in forgiveness compared with no-treatment controls. Compared with alternative treatment conditions, both modality (individual > group) and offense severity were marginally predictive (ps < .10) of treatment effects.

CONCLUSIONS
It appears that using theoretically grounded forgiveness interventions is a sound choice for helping clients to deal with past offenses and helping them achieve resolution in the form of forgiveness. Differences between treatment approaches disappeared when controlling for other significant moderators; the advantage for individual interventions was most clearly demonstrated for Enright-model interventions, as there have been no studies of individual interventions using the Worthington model.

A second-order meta-analysis was conducted to assess the implications of using college student subjects in social science research. Four meta-analyses investigating response homogeneity (cumulative N 1 650,000) and 30 meta-analyses reporting effect sizes for 65 behavioral or psychological relationships (cumulative N 1 350,000) provided comparative data for college student subjects and nonstudent (adult) subjects for the present research. In general, responses of college student subjects were found to be slightly more homogeneous than those of nonstudent subjects.Moreover, effect sizes derived from college student subjects frequently differed from those derived from nonstudent subjects both directionally and in magnitude. Because there was no systematic pattern to the differences observed, caution must be exercised when attempting to extend any relationship found using college student subjects to a nonstudent (adult) population. The results augur in favor of, and emphasize the importance of, replicating research based on college student subjects withnonstudent subjects before attempting any generalizations.

Self-serving biases, found routinely in Western samples, have not been observed in Asian samples. Yet given the orientation toward individualism and collectivism in these 2 cultures, respectively, it is imperative to examine whether parallel differences emerge when the target of evaluation is the group. It may be that Asians show a group-serving bias parallel to the Western self-serving bias. In 2 studies, group-serving biases were compared across European Canadian, Asian Canadian, and Japanese students. Study 1 revealed that Japanese students evaluated a family member less positively than did both groups of Canadian students. Study 2 replicated this pattern with students' evaluations of their universities. The data suggest that cultural differences in enhancement biases are robust, generalizing to individuals' evaluations of their groups.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between peer victimization and child and parent reports of psychosocial adjustment and physical activity in a clinical sample of at-risk-for-overweight and overweight children and adolescents.

METHODS
The Schwartz Peer Victimization Scale, Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, PACE+ Adolescent Physical Activity Measure, and Asher Loneliness Scale were administered to 92 children and adolescents (54 females) aged 8-18 years. The youth's parent/guardian completed the Child Behavior Checklist.

RESULTS
Peer victimization was positively related to child-reported depression, anxiety, social physique anxiety, and loneliness, and parent-reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Peer victimization was negatively related to physical activity. Depressive symptoms and loneliness mediated the relations between peer victimization and physical activity.

CONCLUSION
Recognition of the magnitude of the problem and the means of evaluating for peer victimization is important for clinicians who work with overweight youth. Assessing peer experiences may assist in understanding rates of physical activity and/or past nonadherence to clinician recommendations.


Question: Exploring the influence of self-esteem, self-compassion, and the fear of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms: a comparative study of female students and individuals with eating disorders.

The Role of Self-Compassion in Fostering Self-Improvement and Motivation
Does cultivating self-compassion in the face of setbacks enhance one's drive for self-improvement? Across four studies, the researchers explored the notion that self-compassion catalyzes motivation to address personal flaws, rectify moral lapses, and enhance academic performance. Participants who were encouraged to practice self-compassion, in contrast to those in a self-esteem control group or those who received no intervention or a positive distraction, demonstrated stronger incremental beliefs regarding a personal weakness (Study 1). They also reported a heightened desire to rectify and prevent future moral transgressions (Study 2), devoted more time to studying for a challenging exam subsequent to an initial failure (Study 3), showed a preference for upward social comparison when contemplating a personal shortcoming (Study 4), and expressed a greater inclination to rectify the weakness (Study 4). These results indicate that, somewhat counterintuitively, adopting a compassionate attitude toward personal failings may paradoxically spur individuals to strive for self-enhancement.

BACKGROUND
As online social media have become prominent, much effort has been spent on identifying users with depressive symptoms in order to aim at early diagnosis, treatment, and even prevention by using various online social media. In this paper, we focused on Facebook to discern any correlations between the platform's features and users' depressive symptoms. This work may be helpful in trying to reach and detect large numbers of depressed individuals more easily.

OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to develop a Web application and identify depressive symptom-related features from users of Facebook, a popular social networking platform.

METHODS
55 Facebook users (male=40, female=15, mean age 24.43, SD 3.90) were recruited through advertisement fliers distributed to students in a large university in Korea. Using EmotionDiary, the Facebook application we developed, we evaluated depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. We also provided tips and facts about depression to participants and measured their responses using EmotionDiary. To identify the Facebook features related to depression, correlation analyses were performed between CES-D and participants' responses to tips and facts or Facebook social features. Last, we interviewed depressed participants (CES-D≥25) to assess their depressive symptoms by a psychiatrist.

RESULTS
Facebook activities had predictive power in distinguishing depressed and nondepressed individuals. Participants' response to tips and facts, which can be explained by the number of app tips viewed and app points, had a positive correlation (P=.04 for both cases), whereas the number of friends and location tags had a negative correlation with the CES-D scale (P=.08 and P=.045 respectively). Furthermore, in finding group differences in Facebook social activities, app tips viewed and app points resulted in significant differences (P=.01 and P=.03 respectively) between probably depressed and nondepressed individuals.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results using EmotionDiary demonstrated that the more depressed one is, the more one will read tips and facts about depression. We also confirmed depressed individuals had significantly fewer interactions with others (eg, decreased number of friends and location tagging). Our app, EmotionDiary, can successfully evaluate depressive symptoms as well as provide useful tips and facts to users. These results open the door for examining Facebook activities to identify depressed individuals. We aim to conduct the experiment in multiple cultures as well.

To explore possible reasons for low self-identification rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities (LD), we asked students (38 with LD, 100 without LD) attending two large, public, research-intensive universities to respond to a questionnaire designed to assess stereotypes about individuals with LD and conceptions of ability. Responses were coded into six categories of stereotypes about LD (low intelligence, compensation possible, process deficit, nonspecific insurmountable condition, working the system, and other), and into three categories of conceptions of intelligence (entity, incremental, neither). Consistent with past findings, the most frequent metastereotype reported by individuals in both groups related to generally low ability. In addition, students with LD were more likely to espouse views of intelligence as a fixed trait. As a whole, the study's findings have implications for our understanding of factors that influence self-identification and self-advocacy at the postsecondary level.

In 2 studies, the authors developed and validated of a new set of standardized emotion expressions, which they referred to as the University of California, Davis, Set of Emotion Expressions (UCDSEE). The precise components of each expression were verified using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). The UCDSEE is the first FACS-verified set to include the three "self-conscious" emotions known to have recognizable expressions (embarrassment, pride, and shame), as well as the 6 previously established "basic" emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise), all posed by the same 4 expressers (African and White males and females). This new set has numerous potential applications in future research on emotion and related topics.

BACKGROUND
To investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents and to explore the psychological features associated with Internet addiction.

METHODS
A total of 2620 high school students from four high schools in Changsha City were surveyed using Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction (YDQ), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (the edition for children, EPQ), Time Management Disposition Scale (TMDS) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The mean age of whole sample was 15.19 years (ranging from 12 years to 18 years). According to the modified YDQ criteria by Beard, 64 students who were diagnosed as Internet addiction (the mean age: 14.59 years) and 64 who were diagnosed as being normal in Internet usage (the mean age: 14.81 years) were included in a case-control study.

RESULTS
The rate of Internet use among the surveyed adolescents was 88%, among which the incidence rate of Internet addiction was 2.4%. The Internet addiction group had significantly higher scores on the EPQ subscales of neuroticism, psychoticism, and lie than the control group (P < 0.05). The Internet addiction group scored lower than the control group on the TMDS subscales of sense of control over time, sense of value of time, and sense of time efficacy (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the Internet addiction group had also significantly higher scores on the SDQ subscales of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, total difficulties and lower scores on the subscale of prosocial behaviours (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggests that Internet addiction is not rare among Chinese adolescents. In addition, adolescents with Internet addiction possess different psychological features when compared with those who use the Internet less frequently.

INTRODUCTION
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) (and earlier editions), a disturbance in "identity" is one of the defining features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Gender identity, a person's sense of self as a male or a female, constitutes an important aspect of identity formation, but this construct has rarely been examined in patients with BPD.

AIMS
In the present study, the presence of gender identity disorder or confusion was examined in women diagnosed with BPD.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
We used a validated dimensional measure of gender dysphoria. Recalled gender identity and gender role behavior from childhood was also assessed with a validated dimensional measure, and current sexual orientation was assessed by two self-report measures.

METHODS
A consecutive series of 100 clinic-referred women (mean age, 34 years) with BPD participated in the study. The women were diagnosed with BPD using the International Personality Disorder Exam-BPD Section.

RESULTS
None of the women with BPD met the criterion for caseness on the dimensional measure of gender dysphoria. Women who self-reported either a bisexual or a homosexual sexual orientation had a significantly higher score on the dimensional measure of gender dysphoria than the women who self-reported a heterosexual sexual orientation, and they also recalled significantly more cross-gender behavior during childhood. Results were compared with a previous study on a diagnostically heterogeneous group of women with other clinical problems.

CONCLUSION
The importance of psychosexual assessment in the clinical evaluation of patients with BPD is discussed.

BACKGROUND
The current study seeks to investigate the mechanisms through which mindfulness is related to mental health in a clinical sample of adults by examining (1) whether specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies (rumination, reappraisal, worry, and nonacceptance) mediate associations between mindfulness and depression and anxiety, respectively, and (2) whether these emotion regulation strategies operate uniquely or transdiagnostically in relation to depression and anxiety.

METHODS
Participants were 187 adults seeking treatment at a mood and anxiety disorders clinic in Connecticut. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures that included assessments of depression and anxiety (Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire), and emotion regulation (Ruminative Response Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale).

RESULTS
Simple mediation analyses indicated that rumination and worry significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and anxiety symptoms, whereas rumination and reappraisal significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. Multiple mediation analyses showed that worry significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and anxiety symptoms and rumination and reappraisal significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that mindfulness operates through distinct and common mechanisms depending on clinical context.

Objective self-awareness theory has undergone fundamental changes in the 3 decades since Duval and Wicklund's (1972) original formulation. We review new evidence that bears on the basic tenets of the theory. Many of the assumptions of self-awareness theory require revision, particularly how expectancies influence approach and avoidance of self-standard discrepancies; the nature of standards, especially when they are changed; and the role of causal attribution in directing discrepancy reduction. However, several unresolved conceptual issues remain; future theoretical and empirical directions are discussed. Article: The human dilemma is that which arises out of a man's capacity to experience himself as both subject and object at the same time. Both are necessary--for the science of psychology, for therapy, and for gratifying living. (May, 1967, p. 8) Although psychological perspectives on the self have a long history (e.g., Cooley, 1902; James, 1890; Mead, 1934), experimental research on the self has emerged only within the last 40 years. One of the earliest "self theories" was objective self-awareness (OSA) theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). OSA theory was concerned with the self-reflexive quality of the consciousness. Just as people can apprehend the existence of environmental stimuli, they can be aware of their own existence: "When attention is directed inward and the individual's consciousness is focused on himself, he is the object of his own consciousness--hence 'objective' self awareness" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, p. 2). This is contrasted with "subjective self-awareness" that results when attention is directed away from the self and the person "experiences himself as the source of perception and action" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, p. 3). By this, Duval and Wicklund (1972,chap. 3) meant consciousness of one's existence on an organismic level, in which such existence is undifferentiated as a separate and distinct object in the world. OSA theory has stimulated a lot of research and informed basic issues in social psychology, such as emotion (Scheier & Carver, 1977), attribution (Duval & Wicklund, 1973), attitude--behavior consistency (Gibbons, 1983), self-standard comparison (Duval & Lalwani, 1999), prosocial behavior (Froming, Nasby, & McManus, 1998), deindividuation (Diener, 1979), stereotyping (Macrae, Bodenhausen, & Milne, 1998), self-assessment (Silvia & Gendolla, in press), terror management (Arndt, Greenberg, Simon, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1998; Silvia, 2001), and group dynamics (Duval, 1976; Mullen, 1983). Self-focused attention is also fundamental to a host of clinical and health phenomena (Hull, 1981; Ingram, 1990; Pyszczynski, Hamilton, Greenberg, & Becker, 1991; Wells & Matthews, 1994). The study of self-focused attention continues to be a dynamic and active research area. A lot of research relevant to basic theoretical issues has been conducted since the last maj or review (Gibbons, 1990). Recent research has made progress in understanding links between self-awareness and causal attribution, the effects of expectancies on self-standard discrepancy reduction, and the nature of standards--the dynamics of selfawareness are now viewed quite differently. We review these recent developments[1] and hope that a conceptual integration of new findings will further stimulate research on self-focused attention. However, there is still much conceptual work left to be done, and many basic issues remain murky and controversial. We discuss these unresolved issues and sketch the beginnings of some possible solutions. Original Theory The original statement of OSA theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972) employed only a few constructs, relations, and processes. The theory assumed that the orientation of conscious attention was the essence of selfevaluation. Focusing attention on the self brought about objective self-awareness, which initiated an automatic comparison of the self against standards. The self was defined very broadly as the person's knowledge of the person. A standard was "defined as a mental representation of correct behavior, attitudes, and traits ... All of the standards of correctness taken together define what a 'correct' person is" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, pp. 3, 4). This simple system consisting of self, standards, and attentional focus was assumed to operate according to gestalt consistency principles (Heider, 1960). If a discrepancy was found between self and standards, negative affect was said to arise. This aversive state then motivated the restoration of consistency. Two behavioral routes were proposed. People could either actively change their actions, attitudes, or traits to be more congruent with the representations of the standard or could avoid the self-focusing stimuli and circumstances. Avoidance effectively terminates the comparison process and hence all self-evaluation. Early research found solid support for these basic ideas (Carver, 1975; Gibbons & Wicklund, 1976; Wicklund & Duval, 1971). Duval and Wicklund (1972) also assumed that objective self-awareness would generally be an aversive state--the probability that at least one self-standard discrepancy exists is quite high. This was the first assumption to be revised. Later work found that self-awareness can be a positive state when people are congruent with their standards (Greenberg & Musham, 1981; Ickes, Wicklund, & Ferris, 1973). New Developments OSA theory has grown considerably from the original statement (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). Our review focuses primarily on core theoretical developments since the last review (Gibbons, 1990). Other interesting aspects, such as interpersonal processes and interoceptive accuracy, have not changed significantly since previous reviews (Gibbons, 1990; Silvia & Gendolla, in press). We will also overlook the many clinical consequences of self-awareness; these have been exhaustively reviewed elsewhere (Pyszczynski et al., 1991; Wells & Matthews, 1994). Expectancies and Avoiding Self-Awareness Reducing a discrepancy or avoiding self-focus are equally effective ways of reducing the negative affect resulting from a discrepancy. When do people do one or the other? The original theory was not very specific about when approach versus avoidance would occur. Duval and Wicklund (1972) did, however, speculate that two factors should be relevant. The first was whether people felt they could effectively reduce the discrepancy; the second was whether the discrepancy was small or large. In their translation of OSA theory into a "test--operate--test--exit" (TOTE) feedback system, Carver, Blaney, and Scheier (1979a, 1979b) suggested that expectancies regarding outcome favorability determine approach versus avoidance behavior. When a self-standard discrepancy is recognized, people implicitly appraise their likelihood of reducing the discrepancy (cf. Bandura, 1977; Lazarus, 1966). If eventual discrepancy reduction is perceived as likely, people will try to achieve the standard. When expectations regarding improvement are unfavorable, however, people will try to avoid self-focus. Later research and theory (Duval, Duval, & Mulilis, 1992) refined Duval and Wicklund's (1972) speculations and the notion of outcome favorability. Expectancies are not simply and dichotomously favorable or unfavorable--they connote a person's rate of progress in discrepancy reduction relative to the magnitude of the discrepancy. More specifically, people will try to reduce a discrepancy to the extent they believe that their rate of progress is sufficient relative to the magnitude of the problem. Those who believe their rate of progress to be insufficient will avoid. To test this hypothesis, participants were told they were either highly (90%) or mildly (10%) discrepant from an experimental standard (Duval et al., 1992, Study 1). Participants were then given the opportunity to engage in a remedial task that was guaranteed by the experimenter to totally eliminate their deficiency provided that they worked on the task for 2 hr and 10 min. However, the rate at which working on the task would reduce the discrepancy was varied. In the low rate of progress conditions individuals were shown a performance curve indicating no progress until the last 20 min of working on the remedial task. During the last 20 min discrepancy was reduced to zero. In the constant rate of progress condition, participants were shown a performance curve in which progress toward discrepancy reduction began immediately and continued throughout such efforts with 30% of the deficiency being reduced in the first 30 min of activity and totally eliminated after 2 hr and 10 min. Results indicated that persons who believed the discrepancy to be mild and progress to be constant worked on the remedial task; those who perceived the problem to be mild but the rate of progress to be low avoided this activity. However, participants who thought that the discrepancy was substantial and the rate of progress only constant avoided working on the remedial task relative to those in the mild discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition. These results were conceptually replicated in a second experiment (Duval et al., 1992) using participants' time to complete the total 2 hr and 10 min of remedial work as the dependent measure. This pattern suggests that the rate of progress was sufficient relative to the magnitude of the discrepancy in the mild discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition; this in turn promoted approaching the problem. In the high discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition and the high and mild discrepancy and low rate of progress conditions, rate of progress was insufficient and promoted avoiding the problem. In a third experiment (Duval et al., 1992), people were again led to believe that they were either highly or mildly discrepant from a standard on an intellectual dimension and then given the opportunity to reduce that deficiency by working on a remedial task. A

Despite the fact that longitudinal data have been compiled over the past 30 years among undergraduate students in higher education settings regarding narcissism, the literature is devoid of empirical investigations that explore the relationships between narcissism and learning. Because the data suggest that narcissism scores are increasing each year among this population, an exploration of the relationship between narcissism and learning is timely and warranted. Sampling from university undergraduate students, this study uses the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Big Five Inventory, and the Achievement Goal Questionnaire to verify the known relationships between narcissism and the Big Five personality traits of extraversion and agreeableness; to verify the known relationships between the Big Five personality traits of extraversion and agreeableness and goal orientation; and to explore a previously undocumented empirical relationship between narcissism and performance goal orientation. Results of this exploratory study indicate that while narcissism does contribute to a performance goal orientation, it is not a substantial variable in determining achievement goal orientation in general. The study addresses the implications and limitations of this research in addition to areas for additional investigation.


Question: Exploring the influence of self-esteem, self-compassion, and the fear of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms: a study of female students and individuals with eating disorders.

The Development and Psychometric Assessment of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS): A Tool for Measuring Positive Body Image Among Women

Traditionally, the evaluation of body image has been heavily focused on its negative aspects, with limited attention paid to positive dimensions. To address this gap, the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) was developed and rigorously evaluated through a series of studies involving college women to assess its reliability and validity. The first study (N = 181) provided initial support for the BAS's unidimensionality and construct validity, as evidenced by its expected correlations with body esteem, body surveillance, body shame, and psychological well-being. The second study (N = 327) replicated these findings, confirming the BAS's unidimensionality across a larger sample. The third study (N = 424) further reinforced the BAS's construct validity, demonstrating its expected relationships with appearance evaluation, body preoccupation, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms, while also showing no correlation with impression management. Notably, the BAS was found to predict unique variance in psychological well-being beyond that accounted for by established body image measures, as observed in studies 1 and 3. The fourth study (N = 177) established the BAS's temporal stability, with scores remaining consistent over a 3-week interval. All studies collectively confirmed the BAS's internal consistency reliability. This scale holds significant potential for researchers and clinicians interested in exploring positive body image constructs and its implications for psychological health.

The literature reviewed suggests an attentional interpretation, of the adverse effects which test anxiety has on task performance. During task performance the highly test-anxious person divides his attention between self-relevant and task-relevant variables, in contrast to the low-test-anxious person who focuses his attention more fully on the task. This interpretation was supported by literature from diverse areas suggesting that (a) highly anxious persons are generally more self-preoccupied than are people low in anxiety; (b) the selffocusing tendencies of highly test-anxious persons are activated in testing situations; (c) those situational conditions in which the greatest performance differences occur are ones which elicit the self-focusing tendencies of highly test-anxious subjects, and the task-focusing tendencies of low-anxious subjects; (d) research examining the relationship between anxiety and task variables suggests that anxiety reduces the range of task cues utilized in performance; (e) "worry," an attentionally demanding cognitive activity, is more debilitating of task performance than is autonomic arousal. Treatment and research implications of this attentional interpretation of test anxiety are briefly discussed.

Incivility in nursing education is an unfortunate phenomenon affecting nursing students in all aspects of their educational experience. Students and their instructors are often ill equipped to deal with academic incivility and their lack of ability to handle such behaviors has proven detrimental to the future of the nursing profession. Nursing instructors need tools to help educate nursing students on how to recognize uncivil behaviors within themselves as well as others and ways to combat it. This research project addressed these aspects of academic incivility and implemented an e-learning module that was developed to educate students on incivility. The data was collected through a pre-test, post-test model with resulting statistical analysis using the McNemar's test. Results showed the nursing students obtained increased self-efficacy in regards to their ability to define, detect, and combat academic incivility after viewing the e-learning module. In conclusion, the successful implementation of the e-learning module provides further incentive for schools of nursing to consider implementing incivility education in their curriculums.

Objective self-awareness theory has undergone fundamental changes in the 3 decades since Duval and Wicklund's (1972) original formulation. We review new evidence that bears on the basic tenets of the theory. Many of the assumptions of self-awareness theory require revision, particularly how expectancies influence approach and avoidance of self-standard discrepancies; the nature of standards, especially when they are changed; and the role of causal attribution in directing discrepancy reduction. However, several unresolved conceptual issues remain; future theoretical and empirical directions are discussed. Article: The human dilemma is that which arises out of a man's capacity to experience himself as both subject and object at the same time. Both are necessary--for the science of psychology, for therapy, and for gratifying living. (May, 1967, p. 8) Although psychological perspectives on the self have a long history (e.g., Cooley, 1902; James, 1890; Mead, 1934), experimental research on the self has emerged only within the last 40 years. One of the earliest "self theories" was objective self-awareness (OSA) theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). OSA theory was concerned with the self-reflexive quality of the consciousness. Just as people can apprehend the existence of environmental stimuli, they can be aware of their own existence: "When attention is directed inward and the individual's consciousness is focused on himself, he is the object of his own consciousness--hence 'objective' self awareness" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, p. 2). This is contrasted with "subjective self-awareness" that results when attention is directed away from the self and the person "experiences himself as the source of perception and action" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, p. 3). By this, Duval and Wicklund (1972,chap. 3) meant consciousness of one's existence on an organismic level, in which such existence is undifferentiated as a separate and distinct object in the world. OSA theory has stimulated a lot of research and informed basic issues in social psychology, such as emotion (Scheier & Carver, 1977), attribution (Duval & Wicklund, 1973), attitude--behavior consistency (Gibbons, 1983), self-standard comparison (Duval & Lalwani, 1999), prosocial behavior (Froming, Nasby, & McManus, 1998), deindividuation (Diener, 1979), stereotyping (Macrae, Bodenhausen, & Milne, 1998), self-assessment (Silvia & Gendolla, in press), terror management (Arndt, Greenberg, Simon, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1998; Silvia, 2001), and group dynamics (Duval, 1976; Mullen, 1983). Self-focused attention is also fundamental to a host of clinical and health phenomena (Hull, 1981; Ingram, 1990; Pyszczynski, Hamilton, Greenberg, & Becker, 1991; Wells & Matthews, 1994). The study of self-focused attention continues to be a dynamic and active research area. A lot of research relevant to basic theoretical issues has been conducted since the last maj or review (Gibbons, 1990). Recent research has made progress in understanding links between self-awareness and causal attribution, the effects of expectancies on self-standard discrepancy reduction, and the nature of standards--the dynamics of selfawareness are now viewed quite differently. We review these recent developments[1] and hope that a conceptual integration of new findings will further stimulate research on self-focused attention. However, there is still much conceptual work left to be done, and many basic issues remain murky and controversial. We discuss these unresolved issues and sketch the beginnings of some possible solutions. Original Theory The original statement of OSA theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972) employed only a few constructs, relations, and processes. The theory assumed that the orientation of conscious attention was the essence of selfevaluation. Focusing attention on the self brought about objective self-awareness, which initiated an automatic comparison of the self against standards. The self was defined very broadly as the person's knowledge of the person. A standard was "defined as a mental representation of correct behavior, attitudes, and traits ... All of the standards of correctness taken together define what a 'correct' person is" (Duval & Wicklund, 1972, pp. 3, 4). This simple system consisting of self, standards, and attentional focus was assumed to operate according to gestalt consistency principles (Heider, 1960). If a discrepancy was found between self and standards, negative affect was said to arise. This aversive state then motivated the restoration of consistency. Two behavioral routes were proposed. People could either actively change their actions, attitudes, or traits to be more congruent with the representations of the standard or could avoid the self-focusing stimuli and circumstances. Avoidance effectively terminates the comparison process and hence all self-evaluation. Early research found solid support for these basic ideas (Carver, 1975; Gibbons & Wicklund, 1976; Wicklund & Duval, 1971). Duval and Wicklund (1972) also assumed that objective self-awareness would generally be an aversive state--the probability that at least one self-standard discrepancy exists is quite high. This was the first assumption to be revised. Later work found that self-awareness can be a positive state when people are congruent with their standards (Greenberg & Musham, 1981; Ickes, Wicklund, & Ferris, 1973). New Developments OSA theory has grown considerably from the original statement (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). Our review focuses primarily on core theoretical developments since the last review (Gibbons, 1990). Other interesting aspects, such as interpersonal processes and interoceptive accuracy, have not changed significantly since previous reviews (Gibbons, 1990; Silvia & Gendolla, in press). We will also overlook the many clinical consequences of self-awareness; these have been exhaustively reviewed elsewhere (Pyszczynski et al., 1991; Wells & Matthews, 1994). Expectancies and Avoiding Self-Awareness Reducing a discrepancy or avoiding self-focus are equally effective ways of reducing the negative affect resulting from a discrepancy. When do people do one or the other? The original theory was not very specific about when approach versus avoidance would occur. Duval and Wicklund (1972) did, however, speculate that two factors should be relevant. The first was whether people felt they could effectively reduce the discrepancy; the second was whether the discrepancy was small or large. In their translation of OSA theory into a "test--operate--test--exit" (TOTE) feedback system, Carver, Blaney, and Scheier (1979a, 1979b) suggested that expectancies regarding outcome favorability determine approach versus avoidance behavior. When a self-standard discrepancy is recognized, people implicitly appraise their likelihood of reducing the discrepancy (cf. Bandura, 1977; Lazarus, 1966). If eventual discrepancy reduction is perceived as likely, people will try to achieve the standard. When expectations regarding improvement are unfavorable, however, people will try to avoid self-focus. Later research and theory (Duval, Duval, & Mulilis, 1992) refined Duval and Wicklund's (1972) speculations and the notion of outcome favorability. Expectancies are not simply and dichotomously favorable or unfavorable--they connote a person's rate of progress in discrepancy reduction relative to the magnitude of the discrepancy. More specifically, people will try to reduce a discrepancy to the extent they believe that their rate of progress is sufficient relative to the magnitude of the problem. Those who believe their rate of progress to be insufficient will avoid. To test this hypothesis, participants were told they were either highly (90%) or mildly (10%) discrepant from an experimental standard (Duval et al., 1992, Study 1). Participants were then given the opportunity to engage in a remedial task that was guaranteed by the experimenter to totally eliminate their deficiency provided that they worked on the task for 2 hr and 10 min. However, the rate at which working on the task would reduce the discrepancy was varied. In the low rate of progress conditions individuals were shown a performance curve indicating no progress until the last 20 min of working on the remedial task. During the last 20 min discrepancy was reduced to zero. In the constant rate of progress condition, participants were shown a performance curve in which progress toward discrepancy reduction began immediately and continued throughout such efforts with 30% of the deficiency being reduced in the first 30 min of activity and totally eliminated after 2 hr and 10 min. Results indicated that persons who believed the discrepancy to be mild and progress to be constant worked on the remedial task; those who perceived the problem to be mild but the rate of progress to be low avoided this activity. However, participants who thought that the discrepancy was substantial and the rate of progress only constant avoided working on the remedial task relative to those in the mild discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition. These results were conceptually replicated in a second experiment (Duval et al., 1992) using participants' time to complete the total 2 hr and 10 min of remedial work as the dependent measure. This pattern suggests that the rate of progress was sufficient relative to the magnitude of the discrepancy in the mild discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition; this in turn promoted approaching the problem. In the high discrepancy and constant rate of progress condition and the high and mild discrepancy and low rate of progress conditions, rate of progress was insufficient and promoted avoiding the problem. In a third experiment (Duval et al., 1992), people were again led to believe that they were either highly or mildly discrepant from a standard on an intellectual dimension and then given the opportunity to reduce that deficiency by working on a remedial task. A

Of the offensive yet non-pathological personalities in the literature, three are especially prominent: Machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, and subclinical psychopathy. We evaluated the recent contention that, in normal samples, this Dark Triad of constructs are one and the same. In a sample of 245 students, we measured the three constructs with standard measures and examined a variety of laboratory and self-report correlates. The measures were moderately inter-correlated, but certainly were not equivalent. Their only common Big Five correlate was disagreeableness. Subclinical psychopaths were distinguished by low neuroticism; Machiavellians, and psychopaths were low in conscientiousness; narcissism showed small positive associations with cognitive ability. Narcissists and, to a lesser extent, psychopaths exhibited self-enhancement on two objectively scored indexes. We conclude that the Dark Triad of personalities, as currently measured, are overlapping but distinct constructs. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Internet addiction (IA) could be a major concern in university medical students aiming to develop into health professionals. The implications of this addiction as well as its association with sleep, mood disorders and self-esteem can hinder their studies, impact their long-term career goals and have wide and detrimental consequences for society as a whole. The objectives of this study were to: 1) Assess potential IA in university medical students, as well as factors associated with it; 2) Assess the relationships between potential IA, insomnia, depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem.

METHODS
Our study was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey conducted among 600 students of three faculties: medicine, dentistry and pharmacy at Saint-Joseph University. Four validated and reliable questionnaires were used: the Young Internet Addiction Test, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS 21), and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES).

RESULTS
The average YIAT score was 30 ± 18.474; Potential IA prevalence rate was 16.8% (95% confidence interval: 13.81-19.79%) and it was significantly different between males and females (p-value = 0.003), with a higher prevalence in males (23.6% versus 13.9%). Significant correlations were found between potential IA and insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression and self-esteem (p-value < 0.001); ISI and DASS sub-scores were higher and self-esteem lower in students with potential IA.

CONCLUSIONS
Identifying students with potential IA is important because this addiction often coexists with other psychological problems. Therefore, interventions should include not only IA management but also associated psychosocial stressors such as insomnia, anxiety, depression, stress, and self-esteem.

Four meta-analyses were conducted to examine gender differences in personality in the literature (1958-1992) and in normative data for well-known personality inventories (1940-1992). Males were found to be more assertive and had slightly higher self-esteem than females. Females were higher than males in extraversion, anxiety, trust, and, especially, tender-mindedness (e.g., nurturance). There were no noteworthy sex differences in social anxiety, impulsiveness, activity, ideas (e.g., reflectiveness), locus of control, and orderliness. Gender differences in personality traits were generally constant across ages, years of data collection, educational levels, and nations.

The development and validation of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) two companion measures for assessing social phobia fears is described. The SPS assesses fear of being scrutinised during routine activities (eating, drinking, writing, etc.), while the SIAS assesses fear of more general social interaction, the scales corresponding to the DSM-III-R descriptions of Social Phobia--Circumscribed and Generalised types, respectively. Both scales were shown to possess high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. They discriminated between social phobia, agoraphobia and simple phobia samples, and between social phobia and normal samples. The scales correlated well with established measures of social anxiety, but were found to have low or non-significant (partial) correlations with established measures of depression, state and trait anxiety, locus of control, and social desirability. The scales were found to change with treatment and to remain stable in the face of no-treatment. It appears that these scales are valid, useful, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications, and that they represent an improvement over existing measures of social phobia.

In the context of the social network service environment, we explore how discrete emotions—envy and shame, in particular—may mediate the effects of social comparison on behavior intention and psychological responses. Based on the survey responses of 446 university students, the results suggest that social comparison to media figures correlates with a range of emotional responses as well as with behavioral intention and psychological responses. Envy maintained a significantly greater association with switch intention as a behavioral intention compared to shame. Conversely, shame was significantly related to burnout as a psychological response. Further, mediational analyses were consistent with the argument that envy and shame mediate the social comparison–outcome variables relationship. This research helps to illuminate the driving mechanism for the emotional effect that social comparison on social network service could elicit from a user. This predicts the nature of the behavioral and psychological outcome associated with the comparison and has implications for an enhanced understanding of the way in which the unique social network service communication environment may stimulate this process. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Question: Design, execution, and evaluation of highly optimized algorithms for AES key recovery in access-driven cache-based side-channel assaults.

This research explores the cryptanalysis of the Data Encryption Standard (DES) implemented in various applications, utilizing side-channel information derived from CPU delay, as initially proposed in [11]. The technique leverages side-channel data from encryption processes to identify and gather plaintexts that are most effective for cryptanalysis, subsequently deducing information about the expanded key from these selected plaintexts. Our experiments have revealed that, using a personal computer equipped with a 600-MHz Pentium III processor, the cipher can be effectively broken with just 2 known plaintexts and 2 calculations, achieving a success rate of over 90%. We delve into the practicality of cache-based attacks on ciphers that require extensive S-box look-ups, by revisiting the outcomes of our experimental attacks on block ciphers other than DES, including the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). This analysis underscores the vulnerability of ciphers that involve multiple S-box look-ups to cache-based side-channel attacks, highlighting the need for robust countermeasures in their implementation.

A secure lightweight block cipher is an effective security solution for applications running on resource-constrained devices. The SPECK family of lightweight block ciphers is designed for low-end devices that need data security. The randomness of the keystream produced by this algorithm is a good indicator of its security strength. Nevertheless, the computed proportion of sequences based on empirical test results falls beyond the range of acceptable interval, an evidence of non-randomness to each algorithm. In this study, the researchers enhanced SPECK (k-SPECK) through the addition of a key derivation function in its processes. Both SPECK and k - SPECK were evaluated with the two sophisticated statistical test suite. The result shows that k - SPECK outperformed SPECK in terms of randomness as its three variations successfully passed all the test of statistical packages NIST and DieHarder, making it more cryptographically secured. Similarly, software implementation was also evaluated showing that k - SPECK 128/192 and 128/256 performed faster in encryption cycle compared to SPECK.

A growing number of commercial and enterprise systems increasingly rely on compute-intensive Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. While the demand for these compute-intensive applications is growing, the performance benefits from general-purpose platforms are diminishing. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) provide a promising path forward to accommodate the needs of machine learning algorithms and represent an intermediate point between the efficiency of ASICs and the programmability of general-purpose processors. However, acceleration with FPGAs still requires long development cycles and extensive expertise in hardware design. To tackle this challenge, instead of designing an accelerator for a machine learning algorithm, we present TABLA, a framework that generates accelerators for a class of machine learning algorithms. The key is to identify the commonalities across a wide range of machine learning algorithms and utilize this commonality to provide a high-level abstraction for programmers. TABLA leverages the insight that many learning algorithms can be expressed as a stochastic optimization problem. Therefore, learning becomes solving an optimization problem using stochastic gradient descent that minimizes an objective function over the training data. The gradient descent solver is fixed while the objective function changes for different learning algorithms. TABLA provides a template-based framework to accelerate this class of learning algorithms. Therefore, a developer can specify the learning task by only expressing the gradient of the objective function using our high-level language. Tabla then automatically generates the synthesizable implementation of the accelerator for FPGA realization using a set of hand-optimized templates. We use Tabla to generate accelerators for ten different learning tasks targeted at a Xilinx Zynq FPGA platform. We rigorously compare the benefits of FPGA acceleration to multi-core CPUs (ARM Cortex A15 and Xeon E3) and many-core GPUs (Tegra K1, GTX 650 Ti, and Tesla K40) using real hardware measurements. TABLA-generated accelerators provide 19.4x and 2.9x average speedup over the ARM and Xeon processors, respectively. These accelerators provide 17.57x, 20.2x, and 33.4x higher Performance-per-Watt in comparison to Tegra, GTX 650 Ti and Tesla, respectively. These benefits are achieved while the programmers write less than 50 lines of code.

Many cryptosystems have been released to secure electronic data on internet. Some data are very critical to be transmitted as plaintext. Thus, to ensure the data confidentiality and integrity, a list of cryptosystems have been elaborated. The most important ones are divided into two categories: symmetric algorithms encrypting and decrypting data in blocks using a single secret key; and asymmetric algorithms using public keys to cipher texts and secret keys to reconstruct plaintexts. The of the present work is the design and implement a new secret key cryptosystem encrypting and decrypting data in blocks according to a number of iterations. Each plaintext block is encrypted using cellular automata and a list of sub keys deduced from a secret key through cellular automata. To demonstrate the feasibility, the proposed scheme is compared with AES algorithm, the well-known symmetric block cipher. We prove that our algorithm resists against statistical attacks and it is faster than AES-256 achieving good confusion and diffusion tests.

As the world moves to digital storage for archival purposes, there is an increasing demand for systems that can provide secure data storage in a cost-effective manner. By identifying common chunks of data both within and between files and storing them only once, deduplication can yield cost savings by increasing the utility of a given amount of storage. Unfortunately, deduplication exploits identical content, while encryption attempts to make all content appear random; the same content encrypted with two different keys results in very different ciphertext. Thus, combining the space efficiency of deduplication with the secrecy aspects of encryption is problematic.
 We have developed a solution that provides both data security and space efficiency in single-server storage and distributed storage systems. Encryption keys are generated in a consistent manner from the chunk data; thus, identical chunks will always encrypt to the same ciphertext. Furthermore, the keys cannot be deduced from the encrypted chunk data. Since the information each user needs to access and decrypt the chunks that make up a file is encrypted using a key known only to the user, even a full compromise of the system cannot reveal which chunks are used by which users.

Address-space randomization is a technique used to fortify systems against buffer overflow attacks. The idea is to introduce artificial diversity by randomizing the memory location of certain system components. This mechanism is available for both Linux (via PaX ASLR) and OpenBSD. We study the effectiveness of address-space randomization and find that its utility on 32-bit architectures is limited by the number of bits available for address randomization. In particular, we demonstrate a <i>derandomization attack</i> that will convert any standard buffer-overflow exploit into an exploit that works against systems protected by address-space randomization. The resulting exploit is as effective as the original exploit, although it takes a little longer to compromise a target machine: on average 216 seconds to compromise Apache running on a Linux PaX ASLR system. The attack does not require running code on the stack.
 We also explore various ways of strengthening address-space randomization and point out weaknesses in each. Surprisingly, increasing the frequency of re-randomizations adds at most 1 bit of security. Furthermore, compile-time randomization appears to be more effective than runtime randomization. We conclude that, on 32-bit architectures, the only benefit of PaX-like address-space randomization is a small slowdown in worm propagation speed. The cost of randomization is extra complexity in system support.

In recent years, hardware Trojans have drawn the attention of governments and industry as well as the scientific community. One of the main concerns is that integrated circuits, e.g., for military or criticalinfrastructure applications, could be maliciously manipulated during the manufacturing process, which often takes place abroad. However, since there have been no reported hardware Trojans in practice yet, little is known about how such a Trojan would look like, and how difficult it would be in practice to implement one. In this paper we propose an extremely stealthy approach for implementing hardware Trojans below the gate level, and we evaluate their impact on the security of the target device. Instead of adding additional circuitry to the target design, we insert our hardware Trojans by changing the dopant polarity of existing transistors. Since the modified circuit appears legitimate on all wiring layers (including all metal and polysilicon), our family of Trojans is resistant to most detection techniques, including fine-grain optical inspection and checking against “golden chips”. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by inserting Trojans into two designs — a digital post-processing derived from Intel’s cryptographically secure RNG design used in the Ivy Bridge processors and a side-channel resistant SBox implementation — and by exploring their detectability and their effects on security.

Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are commonly used in cryptography to identify devices based on the uniqueness of their physical microstructures. DRAM-based PUFs have numerous advantages over PUF designs that exploit alternative substrates: DRAM is a major component of many modern systems, and a DRAM-based PUF can generate many unique identiers. However, none of the prior DRAM PUF proposals provide implementations suitable for runtime-accessible PUF evaluation on commodity DRAM devices. Prior DRAM PUFs exhibit unacceptably high latencies, especially at low temperatures (e.g., >125.8s on average for a 64KiB memory segment below 55C), and they cause high system interference by keeping part of DRAM unavailable during PUF evaluation. In this paper, we introduce the DRAM latency PUF, a new class of fast, reliable DRAM PUFs. The key idea is to reduce DRAM read access latency below the reliable datasheet specications using software-only system calls. Doing so results in error patterns that reect the compound eects of manufacturing variations in various DRAM structures (e.g., capacitors, wires, sense ampli- ers). Based on a rigorous experimental characterization of 223 modern LPDDR4 DRAM chips, we demonstrate that these error patterns 1) satisfy runtime-accessible PUF requirements, and 2) are quickly generated (i.e., at 88.2ms) irrespective of operating temperature using a real system with no additional hardware modications. We show that, for a constant DRAM capacity overhead of 64KiB, our implementation of the DRAM latency PUF enables an average (minimum, maximum) PUF evaluation time speedup of 152x (109x, 181x) at 70C and 1426x (868x, 1783x) at 55C when compared to a DRAM retention PUF and achieves greater speedups at even lower temperatures.

In this paper we work on the balance between hardware and software implementation of a machine learning algorithm, which belongs to the area of statistical learning theory. We use system-on-chip technology to demonstrate the potential usefulness of moving the critical sections of an algorithm into HW: the so-called hardware/software balance. Our experiments show that the approach can achieve speedups using a complex machine learning algorithm called a support vector machine. The experiments are conducted on a real-time Java virtual machine named Java optimized processor

In ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE), every secret key is associated with a set of attributes, and every ciphertext is associated with an access structure on attributes. Decryption is enabled if and only if the user's attribute set satisfies the ciphertext access structure. This provides fine-grained access control on shared data in many practical settings, e.g., secure database and IP multicast.
 In this paper, we study CP-ABE schemes in which access structures are AND gates on positive and negative attributes. Our basic scheme is proven to be chosen plaintext (CPA) secure under the decisional bilinear Diffie-Hellman (DBDH) assumption. We then apply the Canetti-Halevi-Katz technique to obtain a chosen ciphertext (CCA) secure extension using one-time signatures. The security proof is a reduction to the DBDH assumption and the strong existential unforgeability of the signature primitive.
 In addition, we introduce hierarchical attributes to optimize our basic scheme - reducing both ciphertext size and encryption/decryption time while maintaining CPA security. We conclude with a discussion of practical applications of CP-ABE.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2014.09.012 0950-5849/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Center of Informatics, Federal University of Pernambuco (CIn/UFPE), Av. Jornalista Anibal Fernandes, S/N, Cidade Universitária, 50. Recife, PE, Brazil. Tel.: +55 81 8250 0470. E-mail addresses: fss4@cin.ufpe.br (F. Selleri Silva), fsfs@cin.ufpe.br (F.S.F. Soares), alp5@cin.ufpe.br (A.L. Peres), ima2@cin.ufpe.br (I.M.d. Azevedo), aplfv@ci (A.P.L.F. Vasconcelos), fkk@cin.ufpe.br (F.K. Kamei), srlm@cin.ufpe.br (S.R.d.L. Meira). Fernando Selleri Silva a,b,⇑, Felipe Santana Furtado Soares , Angela Lima Peres , Ivanildo Monteiro de Azevedo , Ana Paula L.F. Vasconcelos , Fernando Kenji Kamei , Silvio Romero de Lemos Meira a,c