title: Not self-focused attention but negative beliefs affect poor social performance in social anxiety: an investigation of pathways in the social anxiety-social rejection relationship.
abstract: Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) not only fear negative evaluation but are indeed less likeable than people without SAD. Previous research shows social performance to mediate this social anxiety-social rejection relationship. This study studied two pathways hypothesized to lead to poor social performance in social anxiety: increased self-focused attention and negative beliefs. State social anxiety was experimentally manipulated in high and low-blushing-fearful individuals by letting half of the participants believe that they blushed intensely during a 5 min getting-acquainted interaction with two confederates. Participants rated their state social anxiety, self-focused attention, and level of negative beliefs. Two confederates and two video-observers rated subsequently likeability (i.e., social rejection) and social performance of the participants. In both groups, the social anxiety-social rejection relationship was present. Although state social anxiety was related to heightened self-focused attention and negative beliefs, only negative beliefs were associated with relatively poor social performance. In contrast to current SAD models, self-focused attention did not play a key-role in poor social performance but seemed to function as a by-product of state social anxiety. Beliefs of being negatively evaluated seem to elicit changes in behavioral repertoire resulting in a poor social performance and subsequent rejection.
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Postbox 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. m.voncken@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Marisol J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Voncken
authors.forename: Corine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dijk
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roelofs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D001821:Blushing / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012016:Reference Values; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012928:Social Desirability; D012938:Social Perception