scholarly journals The Relation Between Social Anxiety and Audience Perception: Examining Clark and Wells’ (1995) Model Among Adolescents

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 555-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke W. Blöte ◽  
Anne C. Miers ◽  
David A. Heyne ◽  
David M. Clark ◽  
P. Michiel Westenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Social Event ◽  
Performance Expectations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Clark and Wells’ cognitive model of social anxiety proposes that socially anxious individuals have negative expectations of performance prior to a social event, focus their attention predominantly on themselves and on their negative self-evaluations during an event, and use this negative self-processing to infer that other people are judging them harshly. Aims: The present study tested these propositions. Method: The study used a community sample of 161 adolescents aged 14–18 years. The participants gave a speech in front of a pre-recorded audience acting neutrally, and participants were aware that the projected audience was pre-recorded. Results: As expected, participants with higher levels of social anxiety had more negative performance expectations, higher self-focused attention, and more negative perceptions of the audience. Negative performance expectations and self-focused attention were found to mediate the relationship between social anxiety and audience perception. Conclusions: The findings support Clark and Wells’ cognitive model of social anxiety, which poses that socially anxious individuals have distorted perceptions of the responses of other people because their perceptions are coloured by their negative thoughts and feelings.

Can Clark and Wells' (1995) Cognitive Model of Social Phobia be Applied to Young People?

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate J. Hodson ◽  
Freda V. McManus ◽  
David M. Clark ◽  
Helen Doll
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Phobia ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Treatment Protocol ◽  
Social Cognitions ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Event Processing ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Anxiety Depression

AbstractSocial phobia is a common and disabling condition for both children and adults. In recent years Clark and Wells' (1995) cognitive model of social phobia has given rise to an effective treatment protocol for the condition in adults (e.g. Clark et al., 2003, 2006). The current study investigates the applicability of this model to younger people. One hundred and seventy-one 11–14 year-old participants completed questionnaires measuring social anxiety, depression, and the variables hypothesized to maintain social phobia in Clark and Wells' (1995) cognitive model: negative social cognitions, safety behaviours, self-focused attention, and pre- and post-event processing. High socially anxious children scored significantly higher than low socially anxious children on all of the variables in Clark and Wells' model. Negative social cognitions, self-focused attention, safety behaviours, and pre- and post-event processing were all significant predictors of social anxiety, accounting for 48% of the variance in social anxiety. Furthermore, these variables showed specificity to social anxiety, predicting significantly more variance in social anxiety than in depression. Findings suggest that although Clark and Wells' (1995) model of social phobia was developed from research on adult populations, it may be equally applicable to younger people with social phobia.

Self-image and self-focused attention in a social interaction situation: what is relevant for social anxiety?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Yasemin Meral ◽  
Noortje Vriends
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Real Time ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Self Image ◽  
A Current

Abstract Background: According to Clark and Wells’ cognitive model (Clark and Wells, 1995), social anxiety is maintained by both a negative self-image and self-focused attention (SFA). Although these maintaining factors were investigated extensively in previous studies, the direction of this relationship remains unclear, and so far, few studies have investigated self-image and SFA together within a current social interaction situation. Aims: The aim of this experiment is to investigate the influence of a negative versus positive self-image on social anxiety and on SFA during a social interaction. Method: High (n = 27) and low (n = 36) socially anxious participants, holding a manipulated negative versus positive self-image in mind, had a real-time video conversation with a confederate. Social anxiety, SFA and state anxiety before and during the conversation were measured with questionnaires. Results: An interaction between negative self-image and social anxiety showed that high socially anxious individuals with a negative self-image in mind were more anxious than those with a positive self-image in mind during the conversation. They were also more anxious compared with low socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, high socially anxious individuals reported higher SFA; however, SFA was not affected by negative or positive self-image. Conclusion: The present results confirm once again the strong influence of self-image and SFA on social anxiety, highlighting that a negative self-image has more impact on socially anxious individuals. Moreover, the present results suggest that SFA is not necessarily affected by a negative self-image, indicating that therapies should focus on both.

ANTICIPATORY PROCESSING IN SOCIAL ANXIETY

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanos Ph. Vassilopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
Social Event ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Anticipatory Processing ◽  
Report Measure

A psychometric study was conducted with the aim of collecting basic information about anticipatory processing and its relationship to social anxiety. A self-report measure of anticipatory processing was developed and utilized in a large student sample. The results confirmed that such processing is very common before an anticipated feared social event and a significant correlation (r=0.49) between anticipatory processing scores and social anxiety was found, which remained when trait anxiety and depression were controlled. A factor analysis indicated that all items of the measure except for two loaded significantly on one factor and accounted for the 47.3% of the variance. Socially anxious individuals in the study reported that their thoughts about the event were recurrent, intrusive, interfered with their concentration and increased their state of anxiety. Also, they reported that they wished they could avoid the situation. The results are discussed in terms of the Clark and Wells cognitive model of social phobia.

scholarly journals A preliminary study on the Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs about Stuttering (UTBAS) questionnaire in Croatia

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Ena Klarin ◽  
Ana Leko Krhen ◽  
Suzana Jelčić Jakšić
Keyword(s):  
Therapy Outcome ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
The Relationship

Along with disrupted speech fluency, people who stutter often develop a fear of speaking or fear of social situations that may lead to the emergence of social anxiety disorder. This has been the subject of numerous studies during recent decades, and specific questionnaires have been developed to assess relationships between stuttering and anxiety. The Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs About Stuttering (UTBAS) Questionnaire (St Clare et al. 2009) was developed recently and has been applied to evaluate the frequency and belief in thoughts about stuttering and the degree of anxiety induced by such thoughts. The aim of our preliminary study was to test the Croatian translation of the UTBAS (UTBAS-C) on people who stutter and those who do not stutter and to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between these two groups, i.e. whether people who stutter are more socially anxious than people who do not stutter. Participants were 16 adults who stutter and 16 controls with normal fluence, aged 18-40 years. Because the results were not distributed normally, all data were analyzed with a non-parametric statistical method. The results showed a statistically significant difference between adults who stutter and those who do not. People who stutter had higher total scores on the Questionnaire, i.e. they are more socially anxious or have more negative thoughts and beliefs regarding speech-related situations than fluent adults. The results of our preliminary study are not unexpected and are consistent with most previous studies on the relationship between stuttering and anxiety. However, as there is a lack of specific instruments in the Croatian language that can be used in diagnosing adults who stutter, especially their attitudes and emotions, our translation of and further research on the UTBAS should help to fill that absence. This study should also alert clinicians working with adults who stutter of the importance and influence of attitudes and beliefs on therapy outcome.

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.

Somatic symptoms in those with performance and interaction anxiety

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1400-1409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna C May ◽  
Brittany M Rudy ◽  
Thompson E Davis ◽  
Whitney S Jenkins ◽  
Erin T Reuther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
The Other ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Interaction Anxiety ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
The Relationship

This study ( n = 304) examined the relationship between somatic symptoms and social anxiety. Significant differences in the experience of somatic symptoms were found among four groups (i.e. performance anxious, interaction anxious, generalized socially anxious, and controls). Post hoc analyses revealed that those who exceeded the clinical cutoff for generalized social anxiety exhibited more somatic symptoms than those who exceeded the clinical cutoff in the other two social anxiety domains or controls. Individuals in each group exhibited more somatic symptoms than controls, but subtypes did not differ in the amount of somatic symptoms experienced. Additionally, regression analyses revealed that type of somatic symptoms experienced varied depending on subtype.

Articulated Thoughts and Styles of Self-Presentation in Heterosexual Anxiety

1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen W. Bates ◽  
Henry J. Jackson ◽  
Jeanette Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Articulated Thoughts ◽  
Negative Thoughts

This study adopted a self-presentation perspective to examine cognitive factors involved in maintaining social anxiety in men in heterosexual situations. The self-regulatory appraisals of 25 socially anxious and 25 nonanxious men were compared using a modified version of the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) procedure (Davison, Robins, & Johnson, 1983). Subjects viewed videotapes of two enacted situations between a male actor and a female actor which differed on whether the individuals were strangers or acquaintances. The subjects were instructed to identify with different male actors who depicted contrasting styles of self-presentation. In contrast to nonanxious men, socially anxious subjects consistently made pessimistic self-appraisals, articulating more negative self-focused thoughts, and displaying negative self-other biases. However, nonanxious men showed equivalent levels of self-focused negative thoughts in response to representations of a protective style of self-presentation. Unexpectedly, for all subjects, the less intimate first meeting situation elicited more negative self-focused thoughts than did the more intimate dating situation. The findings are discussed in terms of self-regulatory components of self-presentational styles and the implications for treatment of social anxiety.

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