title: Blushing-Fearful Individuals' Judgmental Biases and Conditional Cognitions: An Internet Inquiry.
abstract: The present study examines two mechanisms that might explain why blushing-fearful individuals fear blushing: Judgmental biases for blushing in ordinary social situations that usually do not elicit a blush, and negative conditional cognitions about blushing irrespective of situation. A web-based self-report measure, linked to a German internet forum for people with fear of blushing, was completed by a group of high blushing-fearful participants (n = 155) and a low fear group (n = 61). Supporting the idea that cognitive biases are involved in fear of blushing, blushing-fearful participants showed inflated estimates of both the probability and the costs of blushing in these situations. In addition, blushing-fearful individuals were characterized by relatively negative conditional cognitions about blushing.
authors.forename: Corine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dijk
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Wietse
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Boersma