RUNNING HEAD; Application Assignment 3 1

Application Assignment 3

Ryan McClain

Mansfield University

PSY 2206: Research Methods 1

Dr. Karri Verno

November 3, 2021
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Application Assignment 3

Domsalla, M., Koppe, G., Niedtfeld, I., Vollstädt-Klein, S., Schmahl, C., Bohus, M., & Lis, S.
(2014). Cerebral processing of social rejection in patients with borderline personality disorder.
Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 9(11), 1789–1797. https://doi-org.proxy-
mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1093/scan/nst176

1. Give a brief overview of the purpose of the article. State a sentence or two about what
the authors mention in their literature review followed by the purpose of their article.
The formatting should look something like this:

In this article, Domsalla, M. et al. (2014), Koppe, G. et al. (2014), Niedtfeld, I. et

al. (2014), Vollstädt-Klein, S. et al. (2014), Schmahl, C. et al. (2014), Bohus, M. et al

(2014) , & Lis, S et. al. (2014) study the effects of social rejection situations on the brain

of people with Borderline Personality Disorder. This was done by taking 20 unmedicated

BPD patients and 20 healthy patients who were matched for age and education

background, and having them play a virtual tossing ball game with exclusionary,

inclusionary, and control con

2. Directly quote the hypothesis and then state the hypothesis in your own words.
Domsalla, M. et al. (2014), Koppe, G. et al. (2014), Niedtfeld, I. et al. (2014),

Vollstädt-Klein, S. et al. (2014), Schmahl, C. et al. (2014), Bohus, M. et al (2014) , &

Lis, S et. al. (2014) hypothesized that “in the cyberball paradigm, (i) BPD subjects would

feel more excluded during social interactions than HCs.” (healthy patients) (p. 1790).

The authors hypothesized that patients with BPD feel more ostracized in social

settings than people without BPD.

3. Give a brief overview of the methodology, including participants, materials, and

procedure. Make sure it is all in your own words to convey your understanding.
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A sample of 20 unmedicated adult women who meet at least 5 of the 9 DSM-IV criteria

for Borderline Personality Disorder, as well as 20 women who do not have a psychiatric

diagnosis was collected. People who had/ have a lifetime history of Bipolar I disorder, a

psychotic disorder, a current episode of major depression, current abuse of substances/

drug addiction, currently pregnant, history of brain disease of a biological cause, skull/

brain damage, severe neurological issues, a metal implant anywhere in their body, who

were left-handed, and those who suffered from claustrophobia were excluded from this

study. A cyber-ball game with a total of 18 games was played, each with virtual partners

who the subjects were told ahead of time these were actually other participants. Six

round were played in the exclusionary environment, six in the inclusionary, and six in the

control environment.

4. Was the hypothesis supported?

The hypothesis was supported. “Our data suggest that individuals with BPD have

difficulty in discriminating between social situations, and tend to hypermentalize during

social encounters that are not determined by the intentions of others” (Domsalla,

M. et al. (2014), Koppe, G. et al. (2014), Niedtfeld, I. et al. (2014), Vollstädt-Klein, S. et

al. (2014), Schmahl, C. et al. (2014), Bohus, M. et al (2014) , & Lis, S et. al. (2014) p.

1790). The study did in fact find patients with BPD will theorize untruths of their peers,

meaning that they will often feel more ostracized and this is likely in connection to the

“intense fear of abandonment criteria for BPD.

5. What are the major conclusions and implications of this research? How does it make the
world a better place?
The authors state that people with BPD have difficulty differentiating between

different types of social situations. Essentially, this behaves similarly to Autism

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Spectrum Disorder (although not mentioned in this study). This makes the world a better

place, because this discovery on the BPD thought process may help us better understand

the disorder and better treat it.

6. What type of experimental design was used in this study? (True experiment,
nonexperimental/descriptive, weak/strong, developmental [cross sectional, longitudinal,
sequential)

This was done as descriptive, cross sectional research. You cannot RA someone

to having Borderline Personality Disorder, or having no psychiatric diagnosis. It’s not

sequential because there’s only one age group, or longitudinal in that it’s not done over

time. It’s cross sectional because the groups are both the same age and gender group,

with the only separation being psychiatric diagnosis.

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References

Domsalla, M., Koppe, G., Niedtfeld, I., Vollstädt-Klein, S., Schmahl, C., Bohus, M., &

Lis, S. (2014). Cerebral processing of social rejection in patients with borderline personality

disorder. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 9(11), 1789–1797. https://doi-org.proxy-

mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1093/scan/nst176