I blush, therefore I will be judged negatively: influence of false blush feedback on anticipated others’ judgments and facial coloration in high and low blushing-fearfuls

In the present study, we investigate whether people attribute costs to displaying a blush. Individuals with and without fear of blushing were invited to have a short conversation with two confederates. During the conversation, half of the individuals received the feedback that they were blushing intensely. The study tested whether the belief that one is blushing leads to the anticipation that one will be judged negatively. In addition, the set-up permitted the actual physiological blush response to be investigated. In line with the model that we propose for erythrophobia, participants in the feedback condition expected the confederates to judge them relatively negatively, independent of their fear of blushing. Furthermore, sustaining the idea that believing that one will blush can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, high-fearfuls showed relatively intense facial coloration in both conditions, whereas low-fearfuls only showed enhanced blush responses following false blush feedback.     

The contributions of arousal and self-focused attention to avoidance in social anxiety

Abstract

Fear of blushing is a specific syndrome generally subsumed under the diagnostic category of social anxiety disorder (SAD). This study aims at gathering preliminary data about an intensive weekend intervention specifically designed for individuals with fear of blushing as the predominant complaint. Treatment consisted of a combination of attention training and behavioral therapy. Thirty-one blushing-fearful individuals meeting the criteria for SAD following the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) were treated in three groups. The study was conducted as an open trial. Full assessments were performed before treatment, six weeks after treatment, and at six-month follow-up. Only fear of blushing, the main outcome criterion, was assessed immediately before and after the treatment weekend. The intensive therapy program was well accepted. Fear of blushing and SAD were significantly reduced and reductions remained stable. At follow-up, nearly two-thirds of the participants achieved significant changes in fear of blushing. Despite the preliminary nature of this study, the condensed format of weekend therapy for treating fear of blushing calls for further investigation.     

Validity of Two Questionnaires to Assess Social Fears: The Dutch Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory and the Blushing, Trembling and Sweating Questionnaire

This report evaluates some psychometric properties of the Dutch Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI-N) as well as a newly developed instrument to assess fear of showing somatic symptoms among social phobic, the Blushing, Trembling and Sweating Questionnaire (BTS-Q). Results support the reliability and discriminative validity of the Dutch SPAI and the BTS-Q. Both questionnaires are able to discriminate social phobics from a community sample. Social phobics with fear of blushing, trembling, and sweating as the main complaint could be discriminated from social phobics without fear of blushing, trembling, and sweating as the main complaint using the BTS-Q. In contrast with expectations derived from cognitive models of social phobia, social phobics with fear of blushing, trembling, and sweating did not have stronger dysfunctional beliefs about (the social consequences of) blushing, trembling, and sweating than social phobics without such fears.     

Learning history in fear of blushing

Two studies, investigating the learning history (i.e. traumatic conditioning experiences, vicarious learning, informational learning) of individuals with and without fear of blushing, are presented. In study 1, individuals high (n=61) and low (n=59) in fear of blushing completed the (revised) Phobic Origin Questionnaire [POQ; Öst, L. G., & Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behavior Research and Therapy, 19, 439–447]. In study 2, individuals who applied for treatment for fear of blushing (n=31) and a nonfearful, matched control group (n=31) were interviewed with the same instrument, taking into account only specific memories. High fearful individuals reported more negative learning experiences in connection with blushing than low fearful individuals, irrespective of the type of questioning. Meanwhile, study 1 (written POQ) produced higher percentages of negative learning experiences for both high and low fearful individuals than study 2 (interview). It is concluded that the POQ interview showed a more realistic picture than the written POQ. The possible role of learning history in the acquisition of fear of blushing is discussed.     

Chronic blushing,self-consciousness,and social anxiety

This study was designed to investigate factors associated with chronic blushing. One hundred seven self-defined chronic blushers completed the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS), the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), and two single-item ratings for severity and effect of blushing. Mean SADS scores obtained in the present study were not dissimilar to those obtained in studies of DSM-III-defined socially phobic patients. There was a predicted significant positive correlation between the severity/effect of blushing and the SADS and the Public and Private Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety subscales of the SCS. The implications of the results for understanding chronic blushing are discussed.     

Blushing May Signify Guilt: Revealing Effects of Blushing in Ambiguous Social Situations

Although blushing after a social infraction can function as a remedial gesture, people generally consider blushing as an undesirable response. To address this apparent inconsistency, we tested the idea that blushing has remedial properties after clear-cut antecedent behaviors, but can undermine the actor's image in ambiguous situations. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 49) read vignettes referring to prototypical mishaps, transgressions, and ambiguous situations. In Experiment 2 (N = 58), we specifically varied the actor's intentionality while keeping the actor's behavior constant. In support of its alleged face-saving properties, blushing had remedial effects after obvious mishaps and voluntary transgressions. However, in ambiguous social situations and after transgressions that are ambiguous with respect to the actor's intentionality, blushing undermined the actor's trustworthiness.