Cognitive aspects of social phobia: a review of theories and experimental research

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.Z. Musa ◽  
J.P. Lépine
Keyword(s):  
Social Phobia ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Memory Bias ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Threatening Information ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
Attention Memory

SummaryCognitive theories of social phobia have largely been inspired by the information-processing models of anxiety. They propose that cognitive biases can, at least partially, explain the etiology and maintenance of this disorder. A specific bias, conceived as a tendency to preferentially process socially-threatening information, has been proposed. This bias is thought to intervene in cognitive processes such as attention, memory and interpretation. Research paradigms adopted from experimental cognitive psychology and social psychology have been used to investigate these hypotheses. The existence of a bias in the allocation of attentional resources and the interpretation of information seems to be confirmed. A memory bias in terms of better retrieval for threat-relevant information appears to depend on specific encoding activities.

Cognitive Biases and the Emotional Disorders

1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Mineka ◽  
Steven K. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Memory Bias ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Selective Processing

Four types of cognitive bias involving selective processing of emotion-relevant information are discussed vis-à-vis their relevance for understanding emotion-cognition interactions and for understanding the etiology and maintenance of the emotional disorders. Anxiety, but not depression, appears to be associated with an attentional bias for threatening material. Depression, but not anxiety, appears to be associated with a memory bias for negative mood-congruent material. Phobias, anxiety, and depression all appear to be associated with mood-congruent judgmental biases. Finally, selective associations in fear conditioning are a form of associative bias implicated in the origins of fears and phobias.

Multidimensional Anxiety and Content-specificity Effects in Preferential Processing of Threat

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel G. Calvo ◽  
P. Avero ◽  
M. Dolores Castillo ◽  
Juan J. Miguel-Tobal
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Color Naming ◽  
Memory Bias ◽  
Ego Threat ◽  
Phobic Anxiety ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Content Specificity ◽  
Specificity Effects

We examined the relative contribution of specific components of multidimensional anxiety to cognitive biases in the processing of threat-related information in three experiments. Attentional bias was assessed by the emotional Stroop word color-naming task, interpretative bias by an on-line inference processing task, and explicit memory bias by sensitivity (d') and response criterion (β) from word-recognition scores. Multiple regression analyses revealed, first, that phobic anxiety and evaluative anxiety predicted selective attention to physical- and ego-threat information, respectively; cognitive anxiety predicted selective attention to both types of threat. Second, phobic anxiety predicted inhibition of inferences related to physically threatening outcomes of ambiguous situations. And, third, evaluative anxiety predicted a response bias, rather than a genuine memory bias, in the reporting of presented and nonpresented ego-threat information. Other anxiety components, such as motor and physiological anxiety, or interpersonal and daily-routines anxiety made no specific contribution to any cognitive bias. Multidimensional anxiety measures are useful for detecting content-specificity effects in cognitive biases.

Investigating the Ease-of-Retrieval Effect in an Eyewitness Context

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Groncki ◽  
Jennifer L Beaudry ◽  
James D. Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Perceived Quality ◽  
Expected Effect ◽  
Bayesian Testing ◽  
Finding Study ◽  
Identification Confidence

The way in which individuals think about their own cognitive processes plays an important role in various domains. When eyewitnesses assess their confidence in identification decisions, they could be influenced by how easily relevant information comes to mind. This ease-of-retrieval effect has a robust influence on people’s cognitions in a variety of contexts (e.g., attitudes), but it has not yet been applied to eyewitness decisions. In three studies, we explored whether the ease with which eyewitnesses recall certain memorial information influenced their identification confidence assessments and related testimony-relevant judgements (e.g., perceived quality of view). We manipulated the number of reasons participants gave to justify their identification (Study 1; N = 343), and also the number of instances they provided of a weak or strong memory (Studies 2a & 2b; Ns = 350 & 312, respectively). Across the three studies, ease-of-retrieval did not affect eyewitnesses’ confidence or other testimony-relevant judgements. We then tried—and failed—to replicate Schwarz et al.’s (1991) original ease-of-retrieval finding (Study 3; N = 661). In three of the four studies, ease-of-retrieval had the expected effect on participants’ perceived task difficulty; however, frequentist and Bayesian testing showed no evidence for an effect on confidence or assertiveness ratings.

scholarly journals Cognitive processes in evaluation anxiety: An experimental study based on memory bias

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Sanz-Blasco ◽  
Juan José Miguel-Tobal ◽  
María Isabel Casado-Morales
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Memory Bias ◽  
Evaluation Anxiety

scholarly journals Possible cognitive processes underlying competency assessment

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Boshoff ◽  
R. Van Wyk ◽  
C. L. Bester
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Competency Assessment ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Cognitive Evaluation ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
Cognitive Choice ◽  
Theoretical Frame ◽  
Social Cognitive Theories

Indications are that research on competency assessment lacks a theoretical frame of reference. An attempt is made to explore cognitive processes taking place during assessment explaining the large percentage of rater variance. The principles of five different cognitive theories are discussed in the search for possible explanations namely: cognitive choice-, cognitive evaluation-, social cognitive theories, metacognitive- and the new paradigm approaches.

Memory bias for threatening information related to anxiety: an updated meta-analytic review

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 832-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Herrera ◽  
Ignacio Montorio ◽  
Isabel Cabrera ◽  
Juan Botella
Keyword(s):  
Memory Bias ◽  
Threatening Information ◽  
Analytic Review

Cognitive processes underlying the self–other perspective in women’s judgments of sexual victimization risk

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 1381-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny K. Rinehart ◽  
Elizabeth A. Yeater ◽  
Teresa A. Treat ◽  
Richard J. Viken
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Sexual Victimization ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Rape Myth Acceptance ◽  
The Self ◽  
Rape Myth ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
Victimization Risk ◽  
Risk Judgments ◽  
Myth Acceptance

This study examined the cognitive processes underlying self–other differences in women’s judgments of sexual victimization risk, as well as individual difference factors associated with those processes. Participants were 518 undergraduate women between the ages of 18 and 24. The majority of the women were either White (47.5%) or Hispanic (31.9%). Stimuli were 81 vignettes depicting social situations varying in degree of sexual victimization risk and potential impact on the woman’s popularity. Participants imagined either themselves (Self condition) or an anonymous undergraduate woman (Other condition) in the situations and classified each as high or low risk. Participants also completed the Sexual Experiences Survey, Sociosexuality Scale, and Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Participants’ risk judgments were modeled using two-level, logistic regression, which provided participant-specific estimates of sensitivity and threshold parameters. Women in the Other condition, relative to the Self condition, showed lower thresholds for judging situations as risky and greater sensitivity to risk-relevant information when judging risk. Women higher in sociosexuality showed higher thresholds and reduced sensitivity to both risk and popularity impact information when judging risk, while women higher in rape myth acceptance were more sensitive to popularity impact information when judging risk. These findings suggest that self–other differences in sexual victimization risk judgments are due to differences in both sensitivity and threshold. Sexual assault prevention interventions for college women may be improved by addressing these cognitive processes.

Pain and affective memory biases interact to predict depressive symptoms in multiple sclerosis

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Bruce ◽  
D Polen ◽  
P A Arnett
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Direct Relationship ◽  
Cognitive Vulnerability ◽  
Memory Bias ◽  
Memory Biases ◽  
Treatment Of Depression ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
A Performance

A large literature supports a direct relationship between pain and depressive symptoms among various patient populations. Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently experience both pain and depression. Despite this, no relationship between pain and depression has been found in MS. The present investigation explored the relationship between pain and depression in a sample of patients with MS. Consistent with cognitive theories of depression, results supported the hypothesis that pain would only contribute to depression when MS patients exhibited a concomitant cognitive vulnerability. Cognitive vulnerability to depression was measured using a performance based affective memory bias (AMB) task. Patients with high levels of pain and negative AMB reported more depressive symptoms compared to patients with pain and positive AMB. Implications for the identification and treatment of depression in MS are discussed.

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