scholarly journals Reactions to Prospective Positive vs. Negative Evaluation in the Laboratory: A Comparison of High and Low Socially Anxious Participants

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin C. Barber ◽  
David A. Moscovitch
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Social Threat ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Fear Of Positive Evaluation ◽  
Positive Evaluation

We present a study designed to investigate fear of positive vs. negative evaluation within the context of a laboratory-based paradigm designed to evoke social threat. Eighty-nine undergraduates with high (n = 43) or low (n = 46) levels of trait social anxiety took part in a “getting acquainted” task. Participants rated their anxiety about receiving prospective positive vs. negative evaluation in anticipation of receiving public feedback on a filmed introduction of themselves that they had made for an unknown social partner whom they expected they would later meet. Results demonstrated, in contrast to extant theories of fear of positive evaluation in social anxiety, that all participants, including those with high levels of social anxiety, rated the prospect of positive evaluation as anxiety reducing. This finding raises important questions about the construct of fear of positive evaluation and how to measure it “in vivo” in an ecologically valid manner.

Fear of Positive Evaluation and Social Anxiety

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Kocijan ◽  
Lynne M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Standard Group ◽  
Cognitive Behaviour ◽  
Social Interaction Anxiety ◽  
Interaction Anxiety ◽  
Group Cbt ◽  
Fear Of Positive Evaluation ◽  
Positive Evaluation

Fear of negative evaluation (FNE) is a recognised diagnostic feature of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Recently, the role of fear of positive evaluation (FPE) as a factor contributing to SAD has been a focus of research: there is evidence that FPE is associated with measures of social anxiety independent of measures of FNE and that measures of FPE may be sensitive to interventions for SAD. The present study examined the relationships between FPE, FNE and measures of social anxiety and depression in a sample assessed as suitable for group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for social anxiety (n = 35), and the responsiveness of measures of FPE and FNE to standard group CBT for social anxiety in a subset of this group (n = 20). Measures of FNE and FPE were positively associated with each other and with measures of social interaction anxiety, general social anxiety concerns, and depression. However, the relationship between the FPE measure and measures of general social anxiety concerns and depression was not significant when FNE was statistically controlled. This is consistent with the view that FPE is specifically related to social interaction anxiety. In this sample, a measure of FPE was reduced in a sample receiving standard group CBT for social anxiety compared to a waitlisted group. The implications of these findings for the conceptualisation of SAD and for the delivery of interventions for those with SAD are considered.

scholarly journals Are you Watching Me? Interacting Effects of Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Context on Cognitive Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin L. Maresh ◽  
Bethany A. Teachman ◽  
James A. Coan
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Improved Accuracy

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency rather than effectiveness. Thus, social anxiety may elicit cognitive performance impairments even in minimally evaluative environments.

Targeting fear of positive evaluation in patients with social anxiety disorder via a brief cognitive behavioural therapy protocol: a proof-of-principle study

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-750
Author(s):  
Justin W. Weeks ◽  
M. Taylor Wilmer ◽  
Carrie M. Potter ◽  
Elizabeth M. Waldron ◽  
Mark Versella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Proof Of Principle ◽  
Fear Of Positive Evaluation ◽  
Positive Evaluation

AbstractBackground:Our aim was to develop a brief cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) protocol to augment treatment for social anxiety disorder (SAD). This protocol focused specifically upon fear of positive evaluation (FPE). To our knowledge, this is the first protocol that has been designed to systematically target FPE.Aims:To test the feasibility of a brief (two-session) CBT protocol for FPE and report proof-of-principle data in the form of effect sizes.Method:Seven patients with a principal diagnosis of SAD were recruited to participate. Following a pre-treatment assessment, patients were randomized to either (a) an immediate CBT condition (n = 3), or (b) a comparable wait-list (WL) period (2 weeks; n = 4). Two WL patients also completed the CBT protocol following the WL period (delayed CBT condition). Patients completed follow-up assessments 1 week after completing the protocol.Results:A total of five patients completed the brief, FPE-specific CBT protocol (two of the seven patients were wait-listed only and did not complete delayed CBT). All five patients completed the protocol and provided 1-week follow-up data. CBT patients demonstrated large reductions in FPE-related concerns as well as overall social anxiety symptoms, whereas WL patients demonstrated an increase in FPE-related concerns.Conclusions:Our brief FPE-specific CBT protocol is feasible to use and was associated with large FPE-specific and social anxiety symptom reductions. To our knowledge, this is the first treatment report that has focused on systematic treatment of FPE in patients with SAD. Our protocol warrants further controlled evaluation.

scholarly journals Social anxiety compared to depression better accounts for enhanced acquisition of self-reported anxiety toward faces paired with negative evaluation in a conditioning task

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 204380871988830
Author(s):  
Klint Fung ◽  
Lynn E. Alden
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Differential Conditioning ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Diagnostic Validity ◽  
Potential Mechanism ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Larger Sample

Previous studies have shown that social anxiety was associated with enhanced acquisition of anxiety as measured by subjective ratings in conditioning tasks using faces as the conditioned stimulus and negative evaluation as the unconditioned stimulus. However, a recent study failed to replicate the effect. The current study re-examined the enhanced acquisition effect with a larger sample, explored whether differences in expectancy of negative evaluation was a potential mechanism, and compared the contribution of social anxiety to that of depression on enhanced acquisition. Two hundred and sixty-three unselected participants took part in a differential conditioning task in which three faces each were paired with hostile, neutral, and friendly reaction during acquisition, and all three were paired with neutral reaction during extinction. Results replicated earlier findings that participant social anxiety was associated with enhanced acquisition of anxiety. Socially anxious participants did not show higher expectancy of hostile reaction during acquisition, which suggested the need to consider alternative mechanisms underlying enhanced acquisition. Depression was also associated with enhanced acquisition; however, that association was accounted for by social anxiety. The effect of social anxiety was significant over and above depression, which supported its diagnostic validity.

Examining self-verification processes in social anxiety

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell P. A. Howarth ◽  
Miriam Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Beliefs ◽  
Positive And Negative Feedback

AbstractSocially anxious individuals hold negative beliefs about their appearance, abilities and personality. These negative self-conceptions increase expectations of negative evaluation from others and, consequently increase anxiety. Self-verification theory states that individuals seek, accept and prefer feedback that is congruent with their self-conceptions. This study explored the assumptions of self-verification theory in social anxiety. This was achieved by examining the type of feedback socially anxious individuals seek and how positive and negative feedback is processed. Results from an undergraduate sample (n = 84) indicate that socially anxious individuals were no more or less likely to seek negative feedback than individuals with low social anxiety. However, participants with greater social anxiety rated positive feedback as less accurate, rated negative feedback as more accurate, and were more comfortable with negative feedback, compared to participants with low social anxiety. Greater social anxiety was also found to predict increased discomfort with positive feedback, and fear of negative evaluation fully mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that self-verification processes operate in social anxiety and highlight the need for researchers to include measures of fears of evaluation when examining self-verification theory in samples of socially anxious individuals.

SOCIAL ANXIETY, SELF-FOCUSED ATTENTION, AND THE DISCRIMINATION OF NEGATIVE, NEUTRAL AND POSITIVE AUDIENCE MEMBERS BY THEIR NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOURS

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Perowne ◽  
Warren Mansell
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Social Threat ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Anxiety Group ◽  
Threat Cues ◽  
High Social Anxiety

Recent research indicates the apparent paradox that social anxiety may be associated with both self-focused attention and selective attention to external social threat cues. A naturalistic paradigm was designed to explore both processes. High and low socially anxious individuals were asked to make a speech to a monitor displaying six people whom they believed to be watching them live. Two audience members exhibited only positive behaviours, two only neutral ones and two only negative behaviours. In contrast to the low social anxiety group who selectively discriminated positive audience members, the high social anxiety group selectively discriminated the negative individuals, yet they were no more accurate at discriminating the negative behaviours the audience members had performed and they reported more self-focused attention than the low social anxiety group. The effects remained while covarying for differences in dysphoria. The results indicate that socially anxious individuals base their judgements of being disapproved by others on limited processing of their social environment.

scholarly journals Fear of Evaluation and Online Self-Disclosure on WeChat: Moderating Effects of Protective Face Orientation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Runxi Zeng ◽  
Di Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Loss Of Face ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fear Of Positive Evaluation ◽  
Positive Evaluation

Fear of evaluation is a key factor that affects how social media users present themselves to others, but little is known about the effects and mechanisms involved, especially on the relationship between fear of positive evaluation and online self-disclosure. This study explores how fear of evaluation affects online self-disclosure and examines how this relationship is moderated by protective face orientation in the Chinese context. A total of 750 Chinese WeChat users constituted the sample for a questionnaire-based analysis and regression analysis. The results showed that both fear of positive evaluation and fear of negative evaluation had a significant negative effect on the amount of online self-disclosure and a significant positive effect on the depth of online self-disclosure. Protective face orientation had a moderating effect on the relationship between fear of evaluation and online self-disclosure for both the amount and depth of online self-disclosure. Our findings suggest that social network site (SNS) users' fear of evaluation can be attributed to their cognitive attitude toward the external environment, and the loss of face in the Chinese context can be included in the social context.

scholarly journals Self-report questionnaires, behavioral assessment tasks, and an implicit behavior measure: do they predict social anxiety in everyday life?

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel L. Kampmann ◽  
Paul M.G. Emmelkamp ◽  
Nexhmedin Morina
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Experiential Avoidance ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
Implicit Approach ◽  
Approach Avoidance

Social anxiety is commonly assessed with self-report measures. This study aimed to investigate whether maximum anxiety levels during in vivo and virtual reality behavioral assessment tasks (BATs), and implicit approach-avoidance tendencies during the approach-avoidance task (AAT) explain more variation as predictors of daily social anxiety than self-report measures. A total of 62 university students (Mage = 20.79; SD = 4.91) with high levels of social anxiety completed self-report measures on fear of negative evaluation (FNE-B) as well as fear and avoidance in social situations (Liebowitz social anxiety scale-self report), in vivo and virtual reality BATs, and the AAT (independent variables) in the laboratory. On seven consecutive days, social anxiety, experiential avoidance, and negative social events (dependent variables) were assessed. The results revealed that fear of negative evaluation predicted everyday social anxiety and experiential avoidance. Fear and avoidance in social situations only predicted experiential avoidance. Neither implicit approach-avoidance tendencies during the AAT nor maximum anxiety levels during the in vivo and virtual reality BATs predicted any outcome variable. Our results support the use of self-report questionnaires in the assessment of social anxiety.

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