Jumping to interpretations: social anxiety disorder and the identification of emotional facial expressions

A small body of research suggests that socially anxious individuals show biases in interpreting the facial expressions of others. The current study included a clinically anxious sample in a speeded emotional card-sorting task in two conditions (baseline and threat) to investigate several hypothesized biases in interpretation. Following the threat manipulation, participants with generalized social anxiety disorders (GSADs) sorted angry cards with greater accuracy, but also evidenced a greater rate of neutral cards misclassified as angry, as compared to nonanxious controls. The controls showed the opposite pattern, sorting neutral cards with greater accuracy but also misclassifying a greater proportion of angry cards as neutral, as compared to GSADs. These effects were accounted for primarily by low-intensity angry cards. Results are consistent with previous studies showing a negative interpretive bias, and can be applied to the improvement of clinical interventions.     

Interpretation of facial expressions and social anxiety: Specificity and source of biases

Cognitive-behavioural models of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) propose that biased information processing contributes to the maintenance of social phobia. Given the importance of facial expressions in social interactions, recent investigations of these information-processing biases have increasingly used facial stimuli. The current study utilised schematic faces of emotional expressions to investigate interpretations of facial expressions and specific facial features in individuals with high and low social anxiety. Individuals with elevated social anxiety demonstrated biases in their perceptions of negative valence from the faces, whereas group differences were not observed for perceptions of activity or potency. Further, although the two groups generally utilised the same facial features to interpret facial expressions, the results suggested that individuals with high social anxiety may be more lenient in perceiving threat in faces than individuals without social anxiety.     

Threat is in the eye of the beholder: social anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguous facial expressions

The current study investigated the tendency of individuals with high levels of social anxiety to interpret ambiguous facial expressions in a threatening manner. Results obtained from self-report measures were consistent with previous studies in which highly socially anxious individuals endorsed threatening interpretations for ambiguous social information. More importantly, highly socially anxious participants showed relative facilitation of processing of threatening faces following neutral faces when a priming technique was used to eliminate artifact due to response selection bias. These findings support the hypothesized social anxiety-linked interpretive bias.     

The stroop effect: It is not the robust phenomenon that you have thought it to be

Five experiments demonstrate that context has a powerful effect on the ease with which people can name (Experiments 1-3) or categorize (Experiments 4-5) a stimulus while ignoring another stimulus, irrelevant or conflicting with the target. Selectivity of attention to the target dimension was gauged through Stroop and Garner effects. When the stimulus values along the target dimension and the to-be-ignored dimension were correlated over the experimental trials, large effects of Stroop and Garner influenced performance. However, when random allocation of values created zero dimensional correlation, the Stroop effects vanished. These results imply that when the nominally irrelevant dimension is in fact correlated with the relevant dimension, participants then attend to the irrelevant dimension and thus open themselves up to Stroop interference. Another variable of context, the relative salience of the constituent dimensions, also affected performance with the more discriminable dimension disrupting selective attention to the less discriminable dimension. The results demonstrate the importance of context in engendering the failure of selective attention and challenge traditional automaticity accounts of the Stroop effect.     

Characterization of facial emotion recognition in bipolar disorder: Focus on emotion mislabelling and neutral expressions

Increasing evidence suggests that facial emotion recognition is impaired in bipolar disorder (BD). However, patient–control differences are small owing to ceiling effects on the tasks used to assess them. The extant literature is also limited by a relative absence of attention towards identifying patterns of emotion misattribution or understanding whether neutral faces are mislabelled in the same way as ones displaying emotion. We addressed these limitations by comparing facial emotion recognition performance in BD patients and healthy controls on a novel and challenging task. Thirty-four outpatients with BD I and 32 demographically matched healthy controls completed a facial emotion recognition task requiring the labelling of neutral and emotive faces displayed at low emotional intensities. Results indicated that BD patients were significantly less accurate at labelling faces than healthy controls, particularly if they displayed fear or neutral expressions. There were no between-group differences in response times or patterns of emotion mislabelling, with both groups confusing sad and neutral faces, although BD patients also mislabelled sad faces as angry. Task performance did not significantly correlate with mood symptom severity in the BD group. These findings suggest that facial emotion recognition impairments in BD extend to neutral face recognition. Emotion misattribution occurs in a similar, albeit exaggerated manner in patients with BD compared to healthy controls. Future behavioural and neuroimaging research should reconsider the use of neutral faces as baseline stimuli in their task designs.     

It is not how much you have but how you use it: toward a rational use of simulation to support aviation training

One of the most remarkable changes in aviation training over the past few decades is the use of simulation. The capabilities now offered by simulation have created unlimited opportunities for aviation training. In fact, aviation training is now more realistic, safe, cost-effective, and flexible than ever before. However, we believe that a number of misconceptions--or invalid assumptions--exist in the simulation community that prevent us from fully exploiting and utilizing recent scientific advances in a number of related fields in order to further enhance aviation training. These assumptions relate to the overreliance on high-fidelity simulation and to the misuse of simulation to enhance learning of complex skills. The purpose of this article is to discuss these assumptions in the hope of initiating a dialogue between behavioral scientists and engineers.     

Affective priming in the valent/neutral categorisation task is due to affective matching,not encoding facilitation: Reply to Spruyt

Spruyt obtained an affective congruency effect in a valent/neutral categorisation task, which contrasts with the absence of such an effect in the same task that was reported by Werner and Rothermund. The crucial difference between the two studies is that Spruyt presented only valent primes, whereas Werner and Rothermund presented equal amounts of valent and neutral primes and targets in their experiments. Removing the neutral primes introduces a confound of affective matches with the required response. Affective congruency effects in Spruyt's study can be explained straightforwardly in terms of such an affective matching strategy. To demonstrate the influence of matching strategies in the valent/neutral task without neutral primes, we conducted an experiment in which we induced an affective mismatching strategy. In support of our reasoning, this study revealed an affective incongruency effect in the valent/neutral categorisation task. We conclude that affective congruency as well as incongruency effects in the valent/neutral categorisation task reflect post-lexical affective (mis-)matching strategies rather than encoding facilitation.     

A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders: it's not what you thought it was

The authors describe how contemporary learning theory and research provide the basis for perspectives on the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders that capture the complexity associated with individual differences in the development and course of these disorders. These insights from modern research on learning overcome the shortcomings of earlier overly simplistic behavioral approaches, which sometimes have been justifiably criticized. The authors show how considerations of early learning histories and temperamental vulnerabilities affect the short- and long-term outcomes of experiences with stressful events. They also demonstrate how contextual variables during and following stressful learning events affect the course of anxiety disorder symptoms once they develop. This range of variables can lead to a rich and nuanced understanding of the etiology and course of anxiety disorders.     

Emotional facial expressions and the attentional blink: Attenuated blink for angry and happy faces irrespective of social anxiety

Although facial information is distributed over spatial as well as temporal domains, thus far research on selective attention to disapproving faces has concentrated predominantly on the spatial domain. This study examined the temporal characteristics of visual attention towards facial expressions by presenting a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) paradigm to high (n=33) and low (n=34) socially anxious women. Neutral letter stimuli (p, q, d, b) were presented as the first target (T1), and emotional faces (neutral, happy, angry) as the second target (T2). Irrespective of social anxiety, the attentional blink was attenuated for emotional faces. Emotional faces as T2 did not influence identification accuracy of a preceding (neutral) target. The relatively low threshold for the (explicit) identification of emotional expressions is consistent with the view that emotional facial expressions are processed relatively efficiently.     

Attachment in individuals with social anxiety disorder: the relationship among adult attachment styles,social anxiety,and depression

Despite their apparent implications for social functioning, adult attachment styles have never been specifically explored among persons with social anxiety disorder. In the current study, a cluster analysis of the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (N. L. Collins, 1996) revealed that 118 patients with social anxiety were best represented by anxious and secure attachment style clusters. Members of the anxious attachment cluster exhibited more severe social anxiety and avoidance, greater depression, greater impairment, and lower life satisfaction than members of the secure attachment cluster. This pattern was replicated in a separate sample of 56 patients and compared with the pattern found in 36 control participants. Social anxiety mediated the association between attachment insecurity and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of their relevance to the etiology, maintenance, and cognitive-behavioral treatment of social anxiety disorder.     

Self-compassion induction enhances recovery from social stressors: Comparing adults with social anxiety disorder and healthy controls

Background and objectives: This study evaluates the process and consequence of inducing self-compassion during recovery from social performance stressors. Though interest in self-compassion as an intervention target is growing, extant findings suggest that initially cultivating self-compassion can be challenging for those with high self-criticism and anxiety, common features of social anxiety disorder (SAD).

Design: Quasi-experimental design.

Methods: The current study evaluates the feasibility, content, and outcomes of a brief written self-compassion induction administered after consecutive laboratory social stressors, among adults with SAD (n?=?21) relative to healthy controls (HC; n?=?35).

Results: Findings demonstrate the feasibility of employing a written self-compassion induction among adults with (and without) SAD, reveal group differences in written responses to the induction, and suggest that the SAD group benefitted more from the induction than the HC group, based on greater reductions in state anxiety and greater increases in self-compassion during stressor recovery. Greater use of negative affect words within written responses to the self-compassion induction, but not during general writing, predicted lower subsequent state anxiety across groups, by a medium effect size.

Conclusions: Collectively, the findings support the feasibility and utility of cultivating self-compassion among adults with SAD.     

Making room for neutral affect: Evidence indicating that neutral affect is independent of and co-occurs with eight affective states

Motivation and Emotion - This project investigates four central issues concerning the nature of neutral affect. Specifically, whether neutral affect is (a) a common experience, (b) dependent on...     

Working alliance for clients with social anxiety disorder: relationship with session helpfulness and within-session habituation

It has been suggested that a strong working alliance encourages clients to take risks during therapy (Raue, Castonguay, & Goldfried, 1993). This encouragement may be important for clients who fear negative evaluations as they engage in risk-taking elements of therapy. This study examined the relationship between working alliance, session helpfulness and measures of emotional processing in 18 clients undergoing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder. Results indicate a positive correlation between client-rated, but not observer-rated, working alliance and session helpfulness. Moderate levels of working alliance were associated with higher initial anxiety and deeper within-session habituation. Overall, a strong alliance was associated with clients engaging with the session and finding the session helpful. Implications for the use of CBT for social anxiety are discussed.     

When the face reveals what words do not: facial expressions of emotion,smiling, and the willingness to disclose childhood sexual abuse

For survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), verbal disclosure is often complex and painful. The authors examined the voluntary disclosure-nondisclosure of CSA in relation to nonverbal expressions of emotion in the face. Consistent with hypotheses derived from recent theorizing about the moral nature of emotion, CSA survivors who did not voluntarily disclose CSA showed greater facial expressions of shame, whereas CSA survivors who voluntarily disclosed CSA expressed greater disgust. Expressions of disgust also signaled sexual abuse accompanied by violence. Consistent with recent theorizing about smiling behavior, CSA nondisclosers made more polite smiles, whereas nonabused participants expressed greater genuine positive emotion. Discussion addressed the implications of these findings for the study of disclosure of traumatic events, facial expression, and the links between morality and emotion.     

Negative priming is not task bound: A consistent pattern across naming and categorization tasks

When a word that was a to-be-ignored flanker on an initial prime trial becomes the target on the subsequent probe trial, responding to that word on the probe trial is slowed, a phenomenon callednegative priming. Virtually all prior studies have required subjects to perform the same task on both the prime and the probe trials. Thus, the extent to which negative priming is task bound is uncertain. We manipulated task factorially on the prime and probe trials, resulting in four groups: name-name, name-categorize, categorize-name, and categorize-categorize. The results showed equivalent negative priming of about 22 msec both within and between tasks for identical words, but no negative priming for semantically related words from the same category. These findings suggest (1) that negative priming for identical words can readily cross task types; and (2) that semantic negative priming does not occur for words, at least when categorical relatedness alone determines the semantic relation.     

Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: A phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful

Worrying is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a specific way of coping with perceived threats and feared situations. Meanwhile, it is not considered to be a helpful coping strategy, and the phenomenological account developed in this paper aims to show why. It builds on several phenomenological notions and in particular on Michael Wheeler's application of these notions to artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences. Wheeler emphasizes the value of 'online intelligence' as contrasted to 'offline intelligence'. I discuss and apply these concepts with respect to worrying as it occurs in GAD, suggesting that GAD patients overrate the value of detached contemplation (offline intelligence), while underrating their embodied-embedded adaptive skills (online intelligence). I argue that this phenomenological account does not only help explaining why worrying is used as a coping strategy, but also why cognitive behavioral therapy is successful in treating GAD.     

Exaggerated anxiety is not unique to CO2 in panic disorder: a comparison of hypercapnic and hypoxic challenges.

Current biological models of panic disorder (PD) assert that this disorder is maintained by hypersensitivity to carbon dioxide (CO2) and related asphyxia cues, which is manifested as an exaggerated suffocation alarm (D. Klein, 1993). Because suffocation can result from both increased CO2 (hypercapnia) and decreased oxygen (O2; hypoxia), this study examined respiratory responding and anxiety during 5% CO2 (a hypercapnic challenge) and 12% O2 (a hypoxic challenge) in 14 PD patients and 14 matched controls (MC). Results demonstrate that irrespective of the source of suffocation, PD patients respond with increased anxiety relative to MC participants. Significant group differences were observed in respiratory functioning, with the PD patients showing higher respiratory rates in response to both challenges. The MC sample demonstrated the expected respiratory responses to both hypercapnia and hypoxia. The findings indicate that PD patients are hypersensitive to alterations in breathing and that this reactivity is not specific to CO2.     

“Seeing is believing”: The effects of facial expressions of emotion and verbal communication in social dilemmas

In social dilemmas, verbal communication of one's intentions is an important factor in increasing cooperation. In addition to verbal communication of one's intentions, also the communication of emotions of anger and happiness can influence cooperative behavior. In the present paper, we argue that facial expressions of emotion moderate verbal communication in social dilemmas. More specifically, three experiments showed that if the other person displayed happiness he or she was perceived as honest, trustworthy, and reliable, and cooperation was increased when verbal communication was cooperative rather than self‐interested. However, if the other person displayed anger, verbal communication did not influence people's decision behavior. Results also showed interactive effects on people's perceptions of trustworthiness, which partially mediated decision behavior. These findings suggest that emotion displays have an important function in organizational settings because they are able to influence social interactions and cooperative behavior. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自尊与社交焦虑的关系：基于中国学生群体的元分析

运用元分析方法探讨自尊与社交焦虑的关系。经过文献检索和筛选, 共纳入原始文献58篇, 含58个独立样本, 被试总数达32181名。根据同质性检验结果, 选择随机效应模型分析发现, 自尊与社交焦虑存在中等程度的负相关(r = -0.35, 95%CI为[-0.39, -0.31]), 社交焦虑测量工具类型能够显著调节两者的关系, 但性别和被试类型对二者的关系不存在显著的调节效应。结果表明个体的自尊水平与社交焦虑关系密切, 支持了自尊的恐惧管理理论和社交焦虑认知理论。未来应开展纵向研究或实验研究来揭示自尊与社交焦虑的因果关系。