Negativity on two sides: Individuals with borderline personality disorder form negative first impressions of others and are perceived negatively by them.

Abstract

Impression formation is vital for social interactions and theorized to be negatively biased in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We assessed 2 sides of impression formation in BPD: BPD individuals as raters who form first impressions and as targets of others’ first impressions. We further investigated BPD-Rater × Target interactions. We showed videos of 52 targets (26 BPD, 26 healthy controls [HC], 46% male) to unmedicated women with BPD (n = 32), a clinical control group with social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 29), and a HC group (n = 37). We hypothesized (a) that BPD raters would evaluate targets more negatively than SAD and HC raters. Indeed, BPD raters evaluated targets as significantly less trustworthy, less approachable, and less similar to themselves than HC raters. Descriptively, rater groups showed a pattern of BPD < SAD < HC, but the differences between SAD and both other rater groups failed to reach statistical significance. We further expected (b) HC raters to evaluate BPD targets more negatively than HC targets, and results supported this hypothesis. Lastly, we hypothesized (c) that BPD raters would perceive BPD targets more positively than HC targets, which was not supported. We discuss how negative first impressions by and of BPD individuals could contribute to loneliness and interpersonal dysfunction and suggest potential interventions.

Mouse-tracking reveals cognitive conflict during negative impression formation in women with Borderline Personality Disorder or Social Anxiety Disorder

“…Moreover, the present study adds to an existing body of evidence on negative impression formation in the Thin Slices paradigm for the BPD population [ 22 – 24 ]. Together with the findings depicted in our companion paper [ 48 ], the present study is the first application of the Thin Slices paradigm to a SAD sample, demonstrating that SAD individuals show a stronger tendency to ascribe negative attributes to targets than HCs. While focusing on authentic, individual targets and not crowds, our findings parallel previous evidence that highly socially anxious individuals tend to evaluate videos of crowds more negatively than low socially anxious individuals [ 26 , 27 ].…”

“…The current study is part of phase III, in which we investigated BPD participants as raters of Thin Slices. We previously published data on other variables that were assessed within the present rater sample [ 48 ]. The previously published data included data from an economic game, trustworthiness, approachability, and similarity ratings (none of which were mouse-tracked).…”

“…After each target video, raters first saw a slide asking them to evaluate target qualities on a Likert-type scale, during which mouse-movements were not tracked. Data on these questions are presented in a previous publication by our group, which has no overlap with the variables used in the present study [ 48 ]. After this slide, raters were presented with 8 decision screens involving mouse-tracking in a randomized order.…”

The Temporal Relation of Arousal and Perceived Rejection in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and Depressive Disorders: An Experience Sampling Approach

“…In support of our first hypothesis and in line with predictions derived from an adaptation of the dynamic affect model (Ebner-Priemer et al, 2015), we found that patients with BPD report substantially higher trait levels of arousal than patients with DD and HC participants. As in previous studies, the point estimate of trait arousal in patients with BPD was more than double the value in HC participants (e.g., Stiglmayr et al, 2005;Santangelo et al, 2016;Wolff et al, 2007), whereas the difference was smaller when compared with patients with DD (e.g., Hepp et al, 2020;Stiglmayr et al, 2008). Because arousal is conceptualized as a highly unpleasant affective state (Stiglmayr et al, 2001), our finding corresponds to theoretical and empirical accounts of heightened levels of negative affect in patients with BPD (see Haskings et al, 2017 for a review).…”

“…In addition, results from e-diary studies suggest that exposure to rejection events increases in arousal among in-and outpatients with BPD (Stiglmayr et al, 2005), that increases in perceived rejection are followed by higher levels of intense rage in outpatients with BPD relative to healthy controls (Berenson et al, 2011), and that among outpatients with BPD more intense experiences of rejection relate to higher acute BPD symptoms in everyday live (Miskewicz et al, 2015). More so, a series of e-diaries has shown that experiences of rejection and disagreement predict feelings of hostility and sadness in outpatients with BPD (Hepp et al, 2018; also see Hepp et al, 2017;Hepp et al, 2020). One study that used daily retrospective measures linked higher BPD features and higher distress levels in undergraduates with more interpersonal conflicts in everyday live (Haliczer et al, 2020).…”