Interpretation bias and social anxiety: does interpretation bias mediate the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety responses?

Two studies aimed to examine whether high socially anxious individuals are more likely to negatively interpret ambiguous social scenarios and facial expressions compared to low socially anxious individuals. We also examined whether interpretation bias serves as a mediator of the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety responses, in particular current state anxiety, bodily sensations, and perceived probability and cost of negative evaluation pertaining to a speech task. Study 1 used ambiguous social scenarios and Study 2 used ambiguous facial expressions as stimuli to objectively assess interpretation bias. Undergraduate students with high and low social anxiety completed measures of state anxiety responses at three time points: baseline, after the interpretation bias task, and after the preparation for an impromptu speech. Results showed that high socially anxious individuals were more likely to endorse threat interpretations for ambiguous social scenarios and to interpret ambiguous faces as negative than low socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, negative interpretations mediated the relationship between trait social anxiety and perceived probability of negative evaluation pertaining to the speech task in Study 1 but not Study 2. The present studies provide new insight into the role of interpretation bias in social anxiety.     

Mental Imagery and Post-Event Processing in Anticipation of a Speech Performance Among Socially Anxious Individuals

The present study investigated whether post-event processing (PEP) involving mental imagery about a past speech is particularly detrimental for socially anxious individuals who are currently anticipating giving a speech. One hundred fourteen high and low socially anxious participants were told they would give a 5 min impromptu speech at the end of the experimental session. They were randomly assigned to one of three manipulation conditions: post-event processing about a past speech incorporating imagery (PEP-Imagery), semantic post-event processing about a past speech (PEP-Semantic), or a control condition, (n = 19 per experimental group, per condition [high vs low socially anxious]). After the condition inductions, individuals’ anxiety, their predictions of performance in the anticipated speech, and their interpretations of other ambiguous social events were measured. Consistent with predictions, high socially anxious individuals in the PEP-Imagery condition displayed greater anxiety than individuals in the other conditions immediately following the induction and before the anticipated speech task. They also interpreted ambiguous social scenarios in a more socially anxious manner than socially anxious individuals in the control condition. High socially anxious individuals made more negative predictions about their upcoming speech performance than low anxious participants in all conditions. The impact of imagery during post-event processing in social anxiety and its implications are discussed.     

Terror mismanagement: evidence that mortality salience exacerbates attentional bias in social anxiety

Death anxiety is a basic fear underlying a range of psychological conditions, and has been found to increase avoidance in social anxiety. Given that attentional bias is a core feature of social anxiety, the aim of the present study was to examine the impact of mortality salience (MS) on attentional bias in social anxiety. Participants were 36 socially anxious and 37 non-socially anxious individuals, randomly allocated to a MS or control condition. An eye-tracking procedure assessed initial bias towards, and late-stage avoidance of, socially threatening facial expressions. As predicted, socially anxious participants in the MS condition demonstrated significantly more initial bias to social threat than non-socially anxious participants in the MS condition and socially anxious participants in the control condition. However, this effect was not found for late-stage avoidance of social threat. These findings suggest that reminders of death may heighten initial vigilance towards social threat.     

Experimental modification of interpretation bias in socially anxious children: Changes in interpretation, anticipated interpersonal anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms

We report on an experimental manipulation of interpretation bias in socially anxious youths. A non-clinical sample of 10–11-year-olds selected for high social anxiety was trained over three sessions to endorse benign rather than negative interpretations of potentially threatening social scenarios. This group was subsequently less likely to endorse negative interpretations of new ambiguous social situations than children in a test–retest condition. Children who received interpretation training also showed reduced trait social anxiety and reported significantly less anxiety about an anticipated interpersonal encounter, compared with the control group.     

Relations among Social Anxiety,Eye Contact Avoidance,State Anxiety,and Perception of Interaction Performance during a Live Conversation

There is building evidence that highly socially anxious (HSA) individuals frequently avoid making eye contact, which may contribute to less meaningful social interactions and maintenance of social anxiety symptoms. However, research to date is lacking in ecological validity due to the usage of either static or pre-recorded facial stimuli or subjective coding of eye contact. The current study examined the relationships among trait social anxiety, eye contact avoidance, state anxiety, and participants’ self-perceptions of interaction performance during a live, four-minute conversation with a confederate via webcam, and while being covertly eye-tracked. Participants included undergraduate women who conversed with same-sex confederates. Results indicated that trait social anxiety was inversely related to eye contact duration and frequency averaged across the four minutes, and positively related to state social anxiety and negative self-ratings. In addition, greater anticipatory state anxiety was associated with reduced eye contact throughout the first minute of the conversation. Eye contact was not related to post-task state anxiety or self-perception of poor performance; although, trends emerged in which these relations may be positive for HSA individuals. The current findings provide enhanced support for the notion that eye contact avoidance is an important feature of social anxiety.     

Impact of anticipatory processing versus distraction on multiple indices of anxiety in socially anxious individuals

In models of social phobia, anticipatory processing before a social-evaluative event is a key maintaining factor for the disorder. This study investigated the impact of anticipatory processing versus distraction before a social-evaluative task on affective (self-reported anxiety), psychophysiological (skin conductance), cognitive (self-reported maladaptive self-beliefs) and behavioural (in-situation performance) responses of participants. High and low socially anxious undergraduates were randomly allocated to either an anticipatory processing or distraction condition, and then completed an impromptu speech task. Relative to distraction, anticipatory processing increased self-reported anxiety in all participants, and increased skin conductance and the strength of conditional and high standard beliefs in the high (but not low) socially anxious participants. Unconditional beliefs were not affected. For high socially anxious individuals, anticipatory processing was also indirectly associated with poorer speech performance by increasing self-reported anxiety. Anticipatory processing appears to have multiple adverse effects in socially anxious individuals.     

Social anxiety and vulnerability for problematic drinking in college students: the moderating role of post-event processing

Socially anxious college students are at increased risk for engaging in problematic drinking (i.e. heavy or risky drinking) behaviors that are associated with the development of an alcohol use disorder. The present study examined whether post-event processing (PEP), repeatedly thinking about and evaluating one’s performance in a past social situation, strengthens the association between social anxiety and vulnerability to problematic drinking among college students. Eighty-three college drinkers with high or low social anxiety participated in a social interaction task and were exposed to a manipulation that either promoted or inhibited PEP about the social interaction. Among participants randomized to the PEP promotion condition, those with high social anxiety exhibited a greater urge to use alcohol after the social interaction and greater motivation to drink to cope with depressive symptoms over the week following the manipulation than did those with low social anxiety. These findings suggest that targeting PEP in college drinking intervention programs may improve the efficacy of such programs for socially anxious students.     

The causal role of self-awareness in blushing-anxious,socially-anxious and social phobics individuals

This study examined the effect of attentional focus on social anxiety in three groups of subjects: high versus low blushing-anxious participants (n=48); high versus low socially anxious participants (n=60); and social phobic patients compared to patients with other anxiety disorders (n=48). Participants were asked to imagine two series of social situations, in which the hero was in the centre of others' attention. In the first series of stories, the type of feedback from the audience (positive, negative and neutral) and the direction of attention of the hero (self- versus task-focused) were manipulated, and in the second series of stories, the presence or absence of blushing and the direction of attention of the hero were manipulated. In line with the expectations, self-focused attention (SFA) led to more social anxiety than task-focused attention (TFA) in all the three experiments, and high blushing-anxious, socially anxious, and social phobic groups reported higher levels of self-awareness than their low-anxious comparison groups. No evidence was found for the idea that self-focusing is specifically detrimental for participants who are already socially anxious, blushing-anxious, or socially phobic. Also, attentional focus did not interact with the valence of social feedback. Finally, results provided some support for the hypothesis that fear of blushing is mediated by self-focusing. The results suggest that irrespective of trait social anxiety, and irrespective of the outcome of a social situation (positive, neutral or negative), SFA increases state social anxiety, or TFA decreases state social anxiety.     

Differentiating between memory and interpretation biases in socially anxious and nonanxious individuals

Although individual cognitive biases toward threat in social anxiety are well established, few studies have examined the manner in which cognitive biases work in conjunction. In the present study, socially anxious ( n = 54 ) and nonanxious ( n = 58 ) individuals read 10 passages consisting of positive social or evaluative, negative social or evaluative, and neutral content and completed two cognitive tasks assessing memory of factual details and interpretation immediately and after 48 h. Socially anxious and nonanxious individuals did not differ in their memory for details presented in the passages. However, they made less positive and more negative interpretations of details included in the passages, particularly in positive passages that were self-relevant and particularly in positive passages after the delay. After including depression, state anxiety, and trait anxiety as covariates, biased interpretation of positive passages after the time delay remained significant, but biased interpretation of the self-relevant, positive passages did not. It is concluded that socially anxious individuals are characterized by accurate memory of threatening, factual material, but that they impose a biased interpretation upon that material, especially after some time has passed.     

Is the delay discounting paradigm useful in understanding social anxiety?

The delay discounting paradigm was used to examine its utility in understanding motivational factors among socially anxious individuals. Participants (n=88) who reported high and low levels of social anxiety were randomly assigned to either a social threat or non-threat condition and their subsequent rates of discounting were examined. A significant difference in rates of discounting was found between the high and low social anxiety groups within the non-threat condition, with high social anxiety participants showing increased discounting. This study suggests that a modified version of the delay discounting paradigm may be useful in understanding motivational factors in social anxiety.     

The relationship of post-event processing to self-evaluation of performance in social anxiety

Socially anxious and control participants engaged in a social interaction with a confederate and then wrote about themselves or the other person (i.e., self-focused post-event processing [SF-PEP] vs. other-focused post-event processing [OF-PEP]) and completed several questionnaires. One week later, participants completed measures concerning their evaluation of their performance in the social interaction and the degree to which they engaged in post-event processing (PEP) during the week. Socially anxious individuals evaluated their performance in the social interaction more poorly than control participants, both immediately after and 1 week later. Socially anxious individuals assigned to the SF-PEP condition displayed fewer positive feelings about their performance compared to the socially anxious individuals in the OF-PEP condition as well as controls in either condition. Also, the trait tendency to engage in PEP moderated the effect of social anxiety on participants' evaluation of their performance in the interaction, such that high socially anxious individuals with high trait PEP scores evaluated themselves in the interaction more negatively at the later assessment. These results suggest that PEP and other self-evaluative processes may perpetuate the cycle of social anxiety.     

Visual Attention Patterns of Socially Anxious Individuals When Using Facebook: An Eye Tracking Study

Social networking sites (SNSs) are an increasingly used medium for social interactions. For socially anxious individuals, SNS-based communication is often preferred over traditional face-to-face socializing. Yet, research on SNSs usage and social anxiety is still less common, with extant studies being mostly correlational among healthy nonanxious participants. Conversely, here, we examined differences in actual gaze patterns to social and nonsocial stimuli between socially anxious and nonanxious individuals while using Facebook. Socially anxious and nonanxious student participants freely viewed a genuine Facebook profile page designed for the present study, for 3.5 minutes, containing 12 social and 12 nonsocial picture stimuli. Gaze patterns on social and nonsocial areas of interest (AOIs) were explored. Subjective uneasiness experienced when viewing the social pictures and state anxiety were also assessed. Finally, 2 weeks following the task, we evaluated participants’ willingness to participate in a follow-up (fictitious) study that required them to passively view their own Facebook profile, and then to actively use it. Results showed that compared with nonanxious participants, socially anxious participants demonstrated a viewing pattern less favoring social pictures, reflecting an attentional avoidance tendency. A significant inverse correlation between subjective uneasiness and percent of dwell time spent on the social AOI emerged. Socially anxious participants also reported higher levels of state anxiety, which was significantly positively correlated with uneasiness scores. Finally, socially anxious participants were also less willing to actively use their Facebook profile page. This study suggests that social anxious individuals are characterized by attentional and behavioral avoidance tendencies when using Facebook.     

非自主闯入焦虑发生的机制：阈下启动效应的实验研究

本研究采用阈下情感启动范式, 研究威胁信息启动效应及其特质焦虑的调节作用,旨在揭示焦虑非自主闯入性特点形成的机制。实验在随机的三种条件下（阈上/阈下/基线）给38名被试呈现两种目标词（威胁词和中性词）,其中基线条件不呈现目标词;之后要求被试在回避目标词的条件下完成组词任务,结果：（1）无论是中性词还是威胁词,被试阈下条件下目标词的击中率显著高于基线条件;（2）特质焦虑对阈下启动效应起着调节作用：高焦虑组被试威胁词的启动效应显著高于中性词,低焦虑组被试中性词的启动效应显著高于威胁词。结论：阈下启动效应显著,高特质焦虑组个体对威胁信息的无意识加工会增强对威胁信息的意识加工,产生闯入性想法,导致焦虑非自主闯入性的特点。     

Paranoia predicts out-group prejudice: preliminary experimental data

This article examines the relationships between exposure to terrorism news and state social paranoia, death anxiety and Islamophobia. In two experiments we show that, contrary to previous research in this area, the terrorism news condition did not significantly increase state social paranoia, death anxiety and prejudice towards Muslims, but that paranoid thinking was the sole predictor of Islamophobia. Trait paranoia is associated with both poor well-being and with negative perceptions of Muslim competitive players – a form of inter-relational prejudice. Results indicated that the frequency of paranoid thoughts mediates the relationship between death anxiety and anti-Muslim prejudice and trait paranoia is the main predictor of the negative perceptions of a Muslim competing player. This study elucidates new pathways to understanding terror management theory, by including paranoia as a type of thinking that predisposes individuals to be suspicious of salient out-groups.     

A multi-session interpretation modification program: changes in interpretation and social anxiety symptoms

Previous research suggests that socially anxious individuals interpret ambiguous social information in a more threatening manner compared to non-anxious individuals. Recently, studies have experimentally modified interpretation and shown that this subsequently affected anxiety in non-anxious individuals. If similar procedures can modify interpretation biases in socially anxious individuals, they may lead to a reduction in social anxiety symptoms. In the current study, we examined the effect of a computerized Interpretation Modification Program (IMP) on interpretation bias and social anxiety symptoms. Twenty-seven socially anxious individuals were randomly assigned to the IMP or a control condition. Participants completed eight computer sessions over four weeks. The IMP modified interpretation by providing positive feedback when participants made benign interpretations and negative feedback in response to threat interpretations. The IMP successfully decreased threat interpretations, increased benign interpretations, and decreased social anxiety symptoms compared to the control condition. Moreover, changes in benign interpretation mediated IMP's effect on social anxiety. This initial trial suggests that interpretation modification may have clinical utility when applied as a multi-session intervention.     

Attention to Positive and Negative Social-Evaluative Words: Investigating the Effects of Social Anxiety,Trait Anxiety and Social Threat

The study investigated how attention to negative (threatening) and positive social-evaluative words is affected by social anxiety, trait anxiety and the expectation of social threat. High and low socially anxious individuals carried out a modified dot-probe task either while expecting to give a speech or under non-threatening conditions. High socially anxious individuals showed no significant attentional bias towards or away from social-evaluative words. This result significantly contrasted with an identical design that showed avoidance of emotional faces in high socially anxious participants drawn from the same population (Mansell et al ., 1999). Participants who expected to give a speech showed less attentional avoidance of negative and positive social-evaluative words. High trait anxiety was associated with selective attention to negative relative to positive social-evaluative words, consistent with earlier findings of attention to threat cues in high trait-anxious individuals. Implications for designing attention tasks and attentional bias across different dimensions of anxiety are discussed.     

Facilitating a benign interpretation bias in a high socially anxious population

Previous research has shown that high socially anxious individuals lack the benign interpretation bias present in people without social anxiety. The tendency of high socially anxious people to generate more negative interpretations may lead to anticipated anxiety about future social situations. If so, developing a more benign interpretation bias could lead to a reduction in this anxiety. The current study showed that a benign interpretation bias could be facilitated (or 'trained') in a high socially anxious population. Participants in the benign training groups had repeated practice in accessing benign (positive or non-negative) interpretations of potentially threatening social scenarios. Participants in the control condition were presented with the same social scenarios but without their outcomes being specified. In a later recognition task, participants who received benign interpretation training generated more benign, and less negative, interpretations of new ambiguous social situations compared to the control group. Participants who received benign training also predicted that they would be significantly less anxious in a future social situation than those in the control group. Possible implications of the findings for therapeutic interventions in social phobia are discussed.     

Is positive thinking in anticipation of a performance situation better than distraction? An experimental study in preadolescents

The current study compares the effects of experimentally induced positive anticipatory thinking and distraction in preadolescents aged 12–13. Eighty‐seven participants were instructed to either engage in positive anticipatory thoughts or perform a distraction task while preparing to perform a sporting activity in front of their peers. Results revealed that trait social anxiety was associated with more negative estimates of sport performance and catastrophic thoughts relating to the impending sport activity. Additionally, compared to children who distracted, children in the positive anticipation condition showed significantly increased anxiety levels, more catastrophic thoughts and more negative predictions of sport performance and appearance, although these effects did not appear to interact with trait social anxiety. Finally, no significant manipulation effect on participants’ observable behavior was found. The findings further highlight the utility of distracting from an impending, anxiety‐provoking situation to keep anxious feelings to a low level.