Negative self‐imagery in social anxiety contaminates social interactions

Patients with social phobia report experiencing negative images of themselves performing poorly when in feared social situations. The present study investigates whether such negative self‐imagery (based on memory of past social situations) contaminates social interactions. High socially anxious volunteers participated in two conversations with another volunteer (conversational partner). During one conversation, the socially anxious volunteers held in mind a negative self‐image, and during the other they held in mind a less negative (control) self‐image. As predicted, when holding the negative image the socially anxious volunteers felt more anxious, reported using more safety behaviours, believed that they performed more poorly, and showed greater overestimation of how poorly they came across (relative to ratings by the conversational partner). Conversational partners rated the socially anxious volunteers' performance as poorer in the negative image condition. Furthermore, the conversation was contaminated since both groups of participants rated its quality as poorer in the negative image condition.     

Self-images play a causal role in social phobia

Patients with social phobia often experience negative self-images in social situations. The current study investigated whether negative self-images have a causal role in maintaining social phobia. Patients with social phobia participated twice in a conversation with a stranger, once whilst holding their usual negative self-image in mind and once whilst holding a less negative (control) self-image in mind, with order counterbalanced across participants. Compared to the control image condition, when participants held the negative image in mind they experienced greater anxiety, rated their anxiety symptoms as being more visible, and rated their performance as poorer. An assessor who did not know which image was being held also rated participants' anxiety as more evident and their behaviour as less positive when the negative image was being held in mind. Finally, when participant and assessor ratings were compared, participants underestimated their performance and overestimated the visibility of their anxiety to a significantly greater extent in the negative imagery condition. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that negative self-imagery has a causal role in maintaining social phobia.     

Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety?

Negative self-images play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder. We propose that these images represent the working self in a Self-Memory System that regulates retrieval of self-relevant information in particular situations. Self-esteem, one aspect of the working self, comprises explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) components. Implicit self-esteem reflects an automatic evaluative bias towards the self that is normally positive, but is reduced in socially anxious individuals. Forty-four high and 44 low socially anxious participants generated either a positive or a negative self-image and then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants who held a negative self-image in mind reported lower implicit and explicit positive self-esteem, and higher explicit negative self-esteem than participants holding a positive image in mind, irrespective of social anxiety group. We then tested whether positive self-images protected high and low socially anxious individuals equally well against the threat to explicit self-esteem posed by social exclusion in a virtual ball toss game (Cyberball). We failed to find a predicted interaction between social anxiety and image condition. Instead, all participants holding positive self-images reported higher levels of explicit self-esteem after Cyberball than those holding negative self-images. Deliberate retrieval of positive self-images appears to facilitate access to a healthy positive implicit bias, as well as improving explicit self-esteem, whereas deliberate retrieval of negative self-images does the opposite. This is consistent with the idea that negative self-images may have a causal, as well as a maintaining, role in social anxiety disorder.     

Social anxiety and the effects of negative self-imagery on emotion, cognition, and post-event processing

Numerous studies have shown that social phobia patients experience negative self-impressions or images during social situations. Clark and Wells (1995) posited that such negative self-images are involved in the maintenance of social phobia. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of negative self-imagery on cognition and emotion during and following a brief social situation. Specifically, high and low socially anxious participants (N = 77) were instructed to hold either a negative or control self-image as they engaged in a brief speech. Participants then rated their anxiety, performance, cognitions, and focus of attention. Twenty-four hours later, they returned to the laboratory and completed questionnaires assessing the amount of post-event processing (PEP) they engaged in. The results showed that, irrespective of the level of social anxiety or depressive symptoms, participants that held the negative self-image experienced higher levels of anxiety, were more self-focused, experienced more negative thoughts, rated their anxiety as more visible, appraised their performance more negatively, and engaged in more negative and less positive PEP than participants that held the control self-image. Collectively the results indicate that negative imagery is causally involved in the maintenance of social phobia, as well as in the generation of social anxiety among non-anxious individuals.     

Social anxiety in children: social skills deficit, or cognitive distortion?

BACKGROUND: Treatments for childhood social anxiety have traditionally employed social skills training, based on the assumption that effected children have social skills deficits. Recent conceptualisations of social anxiety in adults have questioned this assumption, and have suggested that socially anxious individuals merely believe that they have skill deficits. A recent study using children provided preliminary confirmation of this for younger populations, and also suggested that beliefs about appearing nervous are of particular importance. METHODS: Two groups of children, aged 10-11 years (analogue high social anxiety/low social anxiety), participated in a conversation with an unfamiliar adult. They then rated their performance in a number of domains, after which independent observers also rated their performances. RESULTS: Independent observers were unable to distinguish between the low and high social anxiety groups. However, high socially anxious children rated themselves as appearing significantly less skilled than their low socially anxious counterparts. Notably, high socially anxious children rated themselves particularly poorly in terms of how nervous they looked. CONCLUSIONS: Socially anxious children may not necessarily display social skill deficits. However, they may believe that they appear nervous during social encounters. Clinicians should consider using CBT techniques to address these concerns, rather than relying on social skill remediation.     

Communication and social skills in socially anxious and nonanxious individuals in the context of romantic relationships

This study examined differences between socially anxious and nonanxious individuals' ability to use effective communication skills and social skills in the context of romantic relationships. Socially anxious (n = 13) and nonanxious (n = 14) individuals and their romantic partners were videotaped while participating in 10-minute neutral, negative, and pleasant conversations. Regardless of the type of conversation in which they were involved, socially anxious individuals demonstrated impairment in 10 of the 11 social skill variables assessed. In negative conversations, socially anxious individuals displayed more "very negative" behaviors than nonanxious individuals, and across all conversations they displayed fewer "positive" behaviors than nonanxious individuals. Partners of socially anxious and nonanxious individuals did not differ in their communication quality. The results suggest that social anxiety is associated with deficits in relationship maintenance behavior and call for the completion of a larger study examining the interpersonal consequences of social anxiety.     

Social skills deficits among the socially anxious: Rejection from others and loneliness

Based on evidence linking social anxiety with social skills deficits, it was hypothesized that socially anxious individuals would exhibit diminished social skills in a naturalistic interaction, relative to socially nonanxious persons, and that they would also elicit rejection from their conversational partners and experience loneliness. Socially anxious and nonanxious persons were surreptitiously videotaped while they waited with partners for an experiment to begin. Analyses of subjects' social skills indicated that, behaviorally, the socially anxious appear very similar to their nonanxious peers. At the same time, however, they exhibited a tendency to negatively misperceive their own social skills. Although socially anxious persons did not elicit significantly more rejection from their conversational partners, they did report being more lonely than nonanxious persons. Socially anxious subjects were also rated by their conversational partners as lower in social skill than were nonanxious subjects. Implications for further study of social skills among the socially anxious are discussed.We would like to thank Richard Davidson for his assistance in recruiting subjects: Dean Geller, Lynn Jorgenson, Joey Kaupie, and Karen Toft for their assistance with data collection; and Andrea Attebery, Monica Bannon, Noreen Checci, Heather Collier, Michelle Givertz, Perry Loeder, Lisa Meyer, Nancy Nell, Beth O'Keefe, Bruce Rist, Becky Sapinski, and Shaunda Wenberg for their assistance as coders.     

Post-event processing in social anxiety

Clark and Wells’ [1995. A cognitive model of social phobia. In: R. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D.A. Hope, & F.R. Schneier (Eds.) Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 69-93). New York: Guildford Press.] cognitive model of social phobia proposes that following a social event, individuals with social phobia will engage in post-event processing, during which they conduct a detailed review of the event. This study investigated the relationship between self-appraisals of performance and post-event processing in individuals high and low in social anxiety. Participants appraised their performance immediately after a conversation with an unknown individual and prior to an anticipated second conversation task 1 week later. The frequency and valence of post-event processing during the week following the conversation was also assessed. The study also explored differences in the metacognitive processes of high and low socially anxious participants. The high socially anxious group experienced more anxiety, predicted worse performance, underestimated their actual performance, and engaged in more post-event processing than low socially anxious participants. The degree of negative post-event processing was linked to the extent of social anxiety and negative appraisals of performance, both immediately after the conversation task and 1 week later. Differences were also observed in some metacognitive processes. The results are discussed in relation to current theory and previous research.     

Self-perception and rumination in social anxiety

The present study examined the relationship between perceptions of performance and post-event processing (PEP) following task feedback in individuals with social phobia and matched control participants. Groups of high and low socially anxious participants engaged in a structured 5-min conversation in groups of four people. Following the conversation, false feedback (given in the form of either high scores or moderate scores) was given and self-appraisals of performance, levels of positive and negative mood, and levels of PEP were assessed. Results showed that participants' perceptions of their own performance and levels of positive affect significantly predicted the degree to which they engaged in negative rumination about the task. The moderate score condition was found to be detrimental for socially anxious individuals' self-appraisals and PEP, whereas controls showed no significant difference in self-appraisal and PEP, regardless of feedback. The results are discussed in relation to current cognitive models of social phobia and both treatment implications and directions for future research are explored.     

The relevance of specific conversational behaviors to ratings of social skill: An experimental analysis

Research on the social effectiveness of specific conversational behaviors is reviewed and a new study is presented. Eight versions of the same tape-recorded conversation between a man and a woman were prepared in a 2×2×2 design, where the woman systematically varied her conversation either high or low on questions, compliments, and 4-sec latencies. Subjects listened to one of these tapes and rated the female's social skill. Results of the major social skill variable showed that high questions and high compliments elicited higher skill ratings. The effect of low latencies was only marginally significant. While other factors such as personal appearance or self-evaluation differences may also be important, this study suggests that it may be valuable to include assessment and training relevant to compliments and questions (and possibly latencies) in programs for women who are socially anxious.     

Expanding the topography of social anxiety. An experience-sampling assessment of positive emotions, positive events, and emotion suppression

The relation between social anxiety and hedonic activity remains poorly understood. From a self-regulatory perspective, we hypothesized that socially anxious individuals experience diminished positive experiences and events on days when they are unable to manage socially anxious feelings adequately. In this 21-day experience-sampling study, we constructed daily measures of social anxiety and emotion regulation. Greater dispositional social anxiety was associated with less positive affect and fewer positive events in everyday life. Among individuals defined as socially anxious from their scores on a global self-report measure of social anxiety, the number of positive events was lowest on days when they both were more socially anxious and tended to suppress emotions and highest on days when they were less socially anxious and more accepting of emotional experiences. Irrespective of dispositional social anxiety, participants reported the most intense positive emotions on the days when they were both least socially anxious and most accepting of emotional experiences. Possible clinical implications are discussed.     

A transactional approach to social anxiety and the genesis of interpersonal closeness: Self, partner, and social context

It remains unclear whether social anxiety interferes with the generation of closeness during initial encounters. We addressed the question of whether perceived closeness between strangers differs as a function of dyad characteristics (i.e., self and partner levels of social anxiety) and social context. We conducted an experiment with 90 participants randomly assigned to either a 45-minute personal disclosure or small-talk dyadic conversation. Multilevel modeling results yielded a 3-way interaction, such that the effect of social anxiety on closeness generated during the interaction was moderated by social anxiety reported by interaction partners and social context. In the personal disclosure condition, perceived closeness was greatest when the most socially anxious individuals interacted with each other. In the small-talk condition, perceived closeness was greatest when the least socially anxious individuals interacted with each other. Across conditions, partners with substantial differences in social anxiety (i.e., mixed dyads) reported relatively less closeness than partners with similar levels of social anxiety. Social anxiety effects were not attributable to depressive symptoms or physical attraction to partners. These findings suggest that neglecting specific qualities of interaction partners and social situational factors may lead to spurious conclusions in understanding interpersonal outcomes related to social anxiety.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Implicit self-esteem and social anxiety: differential self-favouring effects in high and low anxious individuals

This study was designed to investigate the role of negative self-image in social phobia. Participants were 19 high and 19 low socially anxious women. Because self-report measures of self-esteem are sensitive to self-presentation and impression management strategies, an implicit association test (IAT) was used to assess participants' self-esteem as well as their general evaluation of others ('other-esteem'). Socially anxious women displayed relatively low levels of self-esteem on self-report measures. However, at the implicit level, low and high anxious women were characterised by a similar, highly positive self-image. Both groups displayed a relatively low 'other-esteem'. Yet, this self-favouring effect was considerably weaker in high than in low anxious participants. The results provide no unequivocal support for the idea that low self-esteem plays an important role in social anxiety. Yet, rather than by low self-esteem per se, socially anxious people are characterised by a small discrepancy between esteem of self and others, and it may be this reduced tendency to self-favouring that is pivotal to social anxiety.     

Consistency of social anxiety in psychiatric patients: Properties of persons,situations, response classes,and types of data

The focus of this study was to investigate the consistency of observed overt behaviors, psychophysiological measures, and reported cognitions in high and low socially anxious psychiatric patients. Forty-seven psychiatric patients (25 high and 22 low socially anxious ones) were exposed to two situations: the initiation of a conversation and the refusal of a request. For both groups of subjects, consistency across situations (Situations) and trait indicators (Reactions) was highest for psychophysiological measures. Observed overt behaviors showed the lowest consistency across Situations and Reactions. Substantial evidence was found for the consistency of Persons x Situations and Persons x Reactions interactions. Moreover, high socially anxious subjects showed a higher consistency than low socially anxious patients with respect to observed overt behaviors and reported cognitions. Using psychophysiological measures, low socially anxious patients showed higher consistency than high socially anxious subjects. The implications for the assessment of social anxiety are discussed.     

Effects of gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived attractiveness on social anxiety for women across social situations

Background and objectives: Psychosocial factors, such as gender role norms, may impact how social anxiety disorder (SAD) is experienced and expressed in different social contexts for women. However to date, these factors have not been examined via experimental methodology. Design: This was a cross-sectional, quasi-experimental controlled study. Methods: The current study included 48 highly socially anxious (HSA) women (70.9% meeting criteria for SAD) and examined the relationships among psychosocial factors (i.e. gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived physical attractiveness), self-perceived social performance, and state anxiety, across two in vivo social tasks (i.e. conversation and opinion speech). Results: On average, participants reported belief that they ought to be less feminine for the speech task and more masculine for both the conversation and speech tasks. Also, for the conversation task, only lower self-rated attractiveness predicted poorer self-perceived performance and greater post-task state anxiety, above gender role self-discrepancies and confederate gender. For the speech task, only greater self-discrepancy in prototypical masculine traits predicted poorer performance ratings, and it was related to greater state anxiety in anticipation of the task. Conclusion: For HSA women, psychosocial factors may play different roles in social anxiety across social contexts.