When ambiguity hurts: Social standards moderate self-appraisals in generalized social phobia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2006.07.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Thirty-nine individuals with generalized social phobia (social anxiety disorder) and 39 nonclinical controls performed a public speech after receiving cues about social standards. Using a novel video manipulation paradigm, one third of participants received cues indicating that standards for performance were high, one third received cues that standards were low, and the remaining third were given no explicit information about expected standards (i.e., standards were ambiguous). Individuals with social phobia performed objectively worse than controls in all conditions, but rated their performance as being worse only in the high and ambiguous standards conditions. These results suggest that in social phobia, negative self-perception is context-dependent. Implications for the cognitive model and treatment are discussed.

Introduction

Social anxiety is thought to arise when individuals are highly motivated to make a good impression on others in social situations but believe they are incapable of doing so (Gilbert, 2001; Leary, 2001; Leary & Kowalski, 1995; Schlenker & Leary, 1982). Cognitive theories suggest that negative perception of self plays a central role in the maintenance of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). On the basis of early learning experiences, individuals with social phobia develop a number of negative assumptions about themselves (e.g., “I’m stupid,” “I’m unattractive,” etc.; Clark & Wells, 1995) that become reinforced over time by selective information processing errors, which occur both within and between social encounters (see Clark & McManus, 2002; Heinrichs & Hofmann, 2001; Hirsch & Clark, 2004). When faced with social threat, individuals with social phobia shift their attention inward and engage in a process of detailed self-monitoring (Spurr & Stopa, 2002), during which they experience spontaneous, recurrent, and excessively negative self-images that they perceive as being accurate (Hackmann, Clark, & McManus, 2000; Hackmann, Surawy, & Clark, 1998).

Following a social encounter, socially phobic individuals appraise their own behavior in a manner that greatly exaggerates their shortcomings and minimizes their performance accomplishments (Alden & Wallace, 1995; Norton & Hope, 2001; Rapee & Lim, 1992; Stopa & Clark, 1993). But what is the proximal cause of these negative self-appraisals? From the perspective of the cognitive model, individuals with social phobia form negative mental self-representations based on how they believe the “implicit audience” views them at any given moment (e.g., Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). This intriguing theory suggests that negative self-appraisals are flexible, dynamic, responses that are dependent on the nature and type of information that is available about potential audience evaluators and their standards for performance. Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with social phobia perceive their self-attributes to fall short of the characteristics they believe others expect them to possess (e.g., Strauman (1989), Strauman (1992); Strauman & Higgins, 1987; Weilage & Hope, 1999). Furthermore, socially anxious or phobic individuals under social threat experience state self-discrepancies that are characterized by an underestimation of their abilities relative to others’ standards (Alden, Bieling, & Wallace, 1994; Wallace & Alden, 1991). To our knowledge, however, no studies have directly examined the hypothesis that negative state self-appraisals are activated by the nature and type of information that is available about audience performance standards.

Evidence suggests that socially anxious and phobic individuals are attuned to the standards that others hold for their social behavior and that perceived standards may, in turn, influence self-perception, affect, and performance. Baldwin and Main (2001) found that implicit contextual cues signifying “rejection” may activate cognitive networks that are associated with negative self-judgments in high self-conscious female undergraduates. Others have found that socially anxious individuals might employ the self-presentational strategy of purposeful failure as a way to influence others to lower their performance standards to a level they can more confidently match (Baumgardner & Brownlee, 1987). Finally, Wallace & Alden (1995), Wallace & Alden (1997) found that individuals with social phobia who received unexpected positive feedback following a social encounter reported increased anxiety about a future interaction because they believed that their interaction partners would subsequently hold higher standards for their performance.

In the present study, our objectives were twofold. First, we wished to examine more closely whether individuals with social phobia believe that audience evaluators hold excessively high standards for social performance. Although patients with social phobia tend to report high levels of socially-prescribed perfectionism on trait self-report questionnaires (e.g., Antony, Purdon, Huta, & Swinson, 1998), previous studies examining social phobic beliefs that are activated during actual social situations have found, surprisingly, that patients’ estimations of others’ standards do not exceed those of nonanxious controls (Alden et al., 1994; Wallace & Alden, 1991). However, studies reporting this null effect did not control for the possibility that socially anxious participants may have assumed that audience members were aware that they were socially anxious. Thus, anxious participants may have rated perceived standards in line with their belief that audience members expected them to perform poorly as a result of their anxiety and, therefore, held low expectations for them. In the present study, we attempted to control for this possible confound by informing participants that audience members “will not know anything about you or the purpose of the experiment.” We expected that under these conditions, individuals with social phobia would provide ratings of audience standards that were significantly higher than those of controls. We also expected that individuals with social phobia would provide lower predicted ratings of their own performance in comparison to controls.

Second, we examined whether self-appraisals and social performance are moderated by the nature and type of information presented to individuals about social standards. To answer this question, we randomly assigned patients with social phobia and healthy controls to one of three conditions that differed according to the nature and availability of information about social standards. Prior to performing a socially threatening task, one third of participants were exposed to cues indicating that standards for performance were high, one third were exposed to cues indicating that standards were low, and the remaining third were given no explicit information about expected standards (i.e., standards were ambiguous). We expected the self-appraisals, performance, and affect of individuals with social phobia to be more negative than controls in the high standards condition relative to the low standards condition. In addition, since previous studies have demonstrated that individuals with social phobia tend to interpret ambiguous social information in a negative manner (e.g., Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998; Stopa & Clark, 2000), we expected patients’ self-appraisals, affect, and performance in the no standards condition to resemble those of patients in the high standards condition.

Finally, we wished to explore the accuracy of participants’ performance appraisals across conditions by comparing the effects of group and condition on self versus observer ratings. Although previous studies have shown that individuals with social phobia tend to appraise their social performance less accurately than controls (when self ratings are compared to those of objective observers), we did not know how our experimental manipulation might moderate the accuracy of participants’ appraisals and, therefore, we did not predict a specific pattern of results for these analyses.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample consisted of 39 individuals with generalized social phobia and 39 healthy control participants. Most of the clinical participants (N=29) were recruited through the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, a large community outpatient clinic at Boston University. The remaining clinical participants (N=10) and all control participants were recruited through the community via newspaper, Internet, and flyer advertisements. In exchange for their participation, community participants were

Trait measures

Table 1 displays descriptive statistics and results of 2 (group) by 3 (condition) ANOVAs examining each self-report questionnaire separately for clinical versus control participants. Results showed significant group effects across all measures (values are indicated in the table), but no significant effects of condition, (all F's<2.47, all p's>.09, all ηp2<.07) and no significant interaction effects (all F's<2.57, all p's>.08, all ηp2<.07).

Manipulation checks

A 2 (group) by 3 (condition) univariate ANOVA examining

Discussion

The present study advances our understanding of information processing in social phobia. First, as hypothesized, we demonstrated that in anticipation of a social event, individuals with social phobia believe that others hold excessively high standards for their performance. A likely reason for our novel finding was that participants in the present study were told that audience evaluators would know nothing about them. Previous studies (e.g., Alden et al., 1994; Wallace & Alden, 1991) may have

Acknowledgements

David A. Moscovitch is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo. This manuscript was adapted from the first author's doctoral dissertation. The research was partially supported by a Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid-of-Research Award and a Boston University Psychology Department Felicia Sorembe Lambrose Dissertation Award.

We thank David H. Barlow, Tibor P. Palfai, Michael W. Otto, and Stefan Schulz for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We thank Michael K.

References (62)

  • N. Heinrichs et al.

    Information processing in social phobia: A critical review

    Clinical Psychology Review

    (2001)
  • A. Hiemisch et al.

    Mindsets in social anxiety: A new look at selective information processing

    Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry

    (2002)
  • C.R. Hirsch et al.

    Information-processing bias in social phobia

    Clinical Psychology Review

    (2004)
  • R. Klorman et al.

    Psychometric description of some specific-fear questionnaires

    Behavior Therapy

    (1974)
  • P.J. Norton et al.

    Kernels of truth or distorted perceptions: Self and observer ratings of social anxiety and performance

    Behavior Therapy

    (2001)
  • R.M. Rapee et al.

    A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (1997)
  • J.M. Spurr et al.

    Self-focused attention in social phobia and social anxiety

    Clinical Psychology Review

    (2002)
  • L. Stopa et al.

    Cognitive processes in social phobia

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (1993)
  • L. Stopa et al.

    Social phobia and interpretation of social events

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (2000)
  • L.E. Alden et al.

    Perfectionism in an interpersonal context: A self regulation analysis of dysphoria and social anxiety

    Cognitive Therapy and Research

    (1994)
  • L.E. Alden et al.

    Social standards and social withdrawal

    Cognitive Therapy and Research

    (1991)
  • N. Amir et al.

    Negative interpretation bias in social phobia

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    (1998)
  • M.W. Baldwin et al.

    Social anxiety and the cued activation of relational knowledge

    Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

    (2001)
  • A.H. Baumgardner et al.

    Strategic failure in social interaction: Evidence for expectancy disconfirmation processes

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1987)
  • A.T. Beck et al.

    Assessment of depression: The depression inventory

  • M.E. Bouton

    Context and behavioral processes in extinction

    Learning & Memory

    (2004)
  • T.A. Brown et al.

    Long-term outcome in cognitive-behavioral treatment of panic disorder: Clinical predictors and alternative strategies for assessment

    Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

    (1995)
  • Brown, T. A., DiNardo, P. A., & Barlow, D. H. (1994). Mini Anxiety Disorders Interview for DSM-IV (Mini-ADIS)....
  • T.A. Brown et al.

    Reliability of DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders: Implications for the classification of emotional disorders

    Journal of Abnormal Psychology

    (2001)
  • D.M. Clark et al.

    A cognitive model of social phobia

  • M.E. Coles et al.

    Psychometric evaluation of the Beck Depression Inventory in adults with social anxiety disorder

    Depression and Anxiety

    (2001)
  • Cited by (54)

    • Post-event processing in social anxiety disorder: Examining the mediating roles of positive metacognitive beliefs and perceptions of performance

      2017, Behaviour Research and Therapy
      Citation Excerpt :

      Although the phenomenon of PEP in social anxiety has been well established, the precise nature of the relationship between social anxiety, PEP, and perceptions of performance is not yet clearly understood. Several empirical studies have demonstrated that socially anxious individuals have negatively biased perceptions of their own social performance (e.g., Moscovitch & Hofmann, 2007; Rapee & Lim, 1992), and that these negative perceptions are associated with increased engagement in PEP following socially threatening events (e.g., Abbott & Rapee, 2004; Perini, Abbott, & Rapee, 2006). One premise of the Clark and Wells (1995) model of social anxiety is that engagement in PEP may maintain or even exacerbate initial negative self-perceptions so that they become more negatively distorted over time.

    • Internet-based interpretation bias modification for social anxiety: A pilot study

      2015, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
      Citation Excerpt :

      Untreated, SAD often follows a chronic and unremitting course (Keller, 2003). Cognitive models emphasize the key role of information processing biases in the development and maintenance of social phobia, including biases in attention, memory, interpretation, judgment, and self-perception (Clark & Wells, 1995; Moscovitch & Hofmann, 2007; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). Interpretation bias has been investigated in numerous studies using different experimental paradigms.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text