Stroop interference, self-focus and perfectionism in social phobics

Stroop interference was studied in a group of social phobics under two conditions: presence or absence of a mirror. The mirror was used with the purpose of inducing a higher level of self-focus during testing; this was expected to activate dysfunctional self structures that would increase Stroop interference on socially threatening words. The social phobics showed a Stroop interference effect on socially threatening words, but not on physically threatening words or colour words, relative to the control group. The hypothesis that the presence of the mirror would increase the Stroop interference on socially threatening words, however, was not supported by the data. On the other hand, the social phobics scored significantly higher than the controls on trait measures of self-consciousness and perfectionism. There was a correlation between perfectionism (concern over mistakes) and Stroop interference on socially threatening words. Self-consciousness also correlated with Stroop interference, but this effect was unexpectedly seen most clearly on physically threatening words.