Abstract
Background
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is often conceptualized as arising from maladaptive cognitions. One cognitive domain that has received relatively little attention, despite endorsement from people struggling with social anxiety, is the belief that they may lose control over their speech/behaviour and/or their physical symptoms of anxiety. The present study aimed to evaluate the causal role of these beliefs on social anxiety symptoms in an analogue sample.
Methods
Beliefs were manipulated using false feedback in undergraduate psychology students (N = 130) to induce either high or low levels of beliefs about losing control. Participants then engaged in a social interaction task with a confederate.
Results
The high beliefs about losing control (HLC) condition reported greater anxiety just before meeting the confederate than the low loss of control (LLC) condition. Further, HLC participants reported worse social performance and greater perceived failures of control than did those in the LLC condition during their interaction with a confederate.
Conclusion
Results suggest beliefs about losing control are producing cognitive and behavioural changes which may in part explain differences in performance in social interactions. Beliefs about losing control appear to be relevant to the cognitive model of social anxiety. Future studies should consider whether these beliefs are malleable among individuals with SAD.
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Notes
Though both sex and gender were included in demographics, all participants reported their gender as matching their sex assigned at birth.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant Number 435-2017-0922).
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Kenneth Kelly-Turner and Adam S. Radomsky declared that they have no conflict of interest.
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This study was conducted in compliance with the Canadian Tri-Council Standards of Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. It received approval from the Concordia University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference # 30009859).
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Kelly-Turner, K., Radomsky, A.S. The Fear of Losing Control in Social Anxiety: An Experimental Approach. Cogn Ther Res 44, 834–845 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10104-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10104-5