Beyond Behavioral Inhibition: A Computer Avatar Task Designed to Assess Behavioral Inhibition Extends to Harm Avoidance

Abstract

Personality factors such as behavioral inhibition (BI), a temperamental tendency for avoidance in the face of unfamiliar situations, have been identified as risk factors for anxiety disorders. Personality factors are generally identified through self-report inventories. However, this tendency to avoid may affect the accuracy of these self-report inventories. Previously, a computer based task was developed in which the participant guides an on-screen "avatar" through a series of onscreen events; performance on the task could accurately predict participants' BI, measured by a standard paper and pencil questionnaire (Adult Measure of Behavioral Inhibition, or AMBI). Here, we sought to replicate this finding as well as compare performance on the avatar task to another measure related to BI, the harm avoidance (HA) scale of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). The TPQ includes HA scales as well as scales assessing reward dependence (RD), novelty seeking (NS) and persistence. One hundred and one undergraduates voluntarily completed the avatar task and the paper and pencil inventories in a counter-balanced order. Scores on the avatar task were strongly correlated with BI assessed via the AMBI questionnaire, which replicates prior findings. Females exhibited higher HA scores than males, but did not differ on scores on the avatar task. There was a strong positive relationship between scores on the avatar task and HA scores. One aspect of HA, fear of uncertainty was found to moderately mediate the relationship between AMBI scores and avatar scores. NS had a strong negative relationship with scores on the avatar task, but there was no significant relationship between RD and scores on the avatar task. These findings indicate the effectiveness of the avatar task as a behavioral alternative to self-report measures to assess avoidance. In addition, the use of computer based behavioral tasks are a viable alternative to paper and pencil self-report inventories, particularly when assessing anxiety and avoidance.

Keywords: anxiety; avoidance; behavioral inhibition; personality assessment; virtual reality.

FIGURE 1

Sample screenshots from the computer-based task (Myers et al., 2016a). (A) Participants selected a character (“avatar”) to represent them in the task; here the female in the lower row is selected. (B) In the first scenario, the avatar is invited to a party where s/he does not know any of the people present except his/her cousin; here the avatar has the choice to interact with someone they don’t know. (C) In the second scenario, the avatar participates in a volunteer construction activity in which the avatar has to interact with other volunteer workers. In both scenarios, at each choice point, response options include relatively behaviorally inhibited, relatively non-inhibited, or intermediate behaviors.

FIGURE 2

Total scores on the avatar task were strongly positively correlated with both (A) AMBI scores (r = 0.64) and (B) harm avoidance (HA) scores (r = 0.42).

FIGURE 3

Total scores on the avatar task were strongly positively correlated (A) anticipatory worry (r = 0.33), (B) fear of uncertainty (r = 0.42), (C) shyness (r = 0.44), but not (D) fatigability (r = 0.23).

FIGURE 4

The standard cut-off scores for BI and HA scores can be used to differentiate total avatar scores. (A) BI individuals exhibited higher avatar scores than non-BI individuals. (B) HA individuals exhibited higher avatar scores than non-HA individuals.

FIGURE 5

Total scores on the avatar task were not positively correlated with other TPQ subscales. (A) Total scores on the avatar task were significantly negatively correlated with novelty seeking (r = –0.39). (B) Total scores on the avatar task had a non-significant negative correlation with reward dependence (r = –0.20). (C) Total scores on the avatar task had no significant relationship with persistence (r = –0.02).