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Previous studies show positive correlations between boredom and aggression at a trait level, but little research is done into the direct (i.e. causal) effect of boredom on aggression. The current online study aims to examine which behavior people opt for when they are presented with the opportunity for both aggression and self-harm during boredom. In addition to aggression, research has shown that boredom can lead to other negative behaviors, such as increased self-harm (Nederkoorn, Vancleef, Wilkenhoner, Claes, & Havermans, 2016). One recent study (Pfattheicher, Lazarević, Westgate, & Schindler, 2020) found that boredom did have a causal effect on a specific form of proactive aggression, i.e. sadism. However, it is unclear whether this effect remains if participants are also presented with the option to self-harm. Additionally, the role of trait aggression as a positive moderator in the effect of boredom on aggression is examined, as well as the role of history of self-harm as a positive moderator in the effect of boredom on self-harm. The current design includes a video mood induction during which participants can engage in aggressive/self-harm behavior measured by pin-stabbing in a voodoo doll task.

Previous studies show positive correlations between boredom and aggression at a trait level, but little research is done into the direct (i.e. causal) effect of boredom on aggression. The current online study aims to examine whether boredom leads to both reactive (provoked) and proactive (unprovoked) forms of aggression. One recent study (Pfattheicher, Lazarević, Westgate, & Schindler, 2020) found that boredom did have a causal effect on a specific form of proactive aggression, i.e. sadism. However, whether this effect generalizes to other forms of aggression is unclear. Additionally, the role of trait aggression as a positive moderator in the effect of boredom on aggression is examined. The current design includes a video mood induction during which participants can engage in aggressive behavior, measured by pin-stabbing in a voodoo doll task.

Experimental study examining the impact of positive affect / optimism on extinction of pain-related fear.

Acute pain is an important sensation that serves a protective role, as it informs the body about potential physical harm or illness. However, acute pain loses its adaptive function when it transitions into chronic pain. Various psychosocial factors influence pain perception and the transition from acute to chronic pain, with psychological flexibility (including its subcomponents emotional and cognitive flexibility) and mindfulness being among those factors. However, the role of psychological flexibility in the development of chronic pain (i.e., non-recovery) remains largely unknown. This dissertation aimed to gain insight into the link between psychological flexibility and mindfulness, and pain experience and recovery. Findings did not uniformly point to a relationship between the relatively new concepts of psychological flexibility (i.e., emotional and cognitive flexibility) and mindfulness, and pain experience and recovery. However, first indications of associations between emotional flexibility and recovery from pain and of beneficial effects of mindfulness for wound healing have been put forward.

Why is it that some people develop chronic pain after an injury, while others do not? Pain has a clear function for our survival, because it signals potential harm or danger to the body and promotes behaviours, such as avoidance and escape, to protect ourselves against these dangers. However, pain could also become a false alarm, especially in the case of chronic pain, where there is often no objectifiable injury and where pain is disconnected from its original function. This PhD research project introduced a new line of experimental work to further investigate the relationship between pain-related avoidance behaviour and pain-related fear. In a series of studies (the perception of) avoidance behaviour was experimentally manipulated and its effects on changes in fear and pain reports were tested. The results of these studies indicated that engaging in avoidance may (paradoxically) increase rather than decrease pain-related fear (i.e. bidirectionality hypothesis, whereby pain-related fear leads to avoidance behaviour (one direction) and in turn, engaging in avoidance behaviour increases pain-related fear (other direction)).