title: The effect of shame and shame memories on paranoid ideation and social anxiety.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social wariness and anxiety can take different forms. Paranoid anxiety focuses on the malevolence of others, whereas social anxiety focuses on the inadequacies in the self in competing for social position and social acceptance. This study investigates whether shame and shame memories are differently associated with paranoid and social anxieties.
  
  
  METHODS
  Shame, traumatic impact of shame memory, centrality of shame memory, paranoia and social anxiety were assessed using self-report questionnaires in 328 participants recruited from the general population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results from path analyses show that external shame is specifically associated with paranoid anxiety. In contrast, internal shame is specifically associated with social anxiety. In addition, shame memories, which function like traumatic memories, or that are a central reference point to the individual's self-identity and life story, are significantly associated with paranoid anxiety, even when current external and internal shame are considered at the same time. Thus, traumatic impact of shame memory and centrality of shame memory predict paranoia (but not social anxiety) even when considering for current feelings of shame.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study supports the evolutionary model suggesting there are two different types of 'conspecific' anxiety, with different evolutionary histories, functions and psychological processes. Paranoia, but less so social anxiety, is associated with traumatic impact and the centrality of shame memories. Researchers and clinicians should distinguish between types of shame memory, particularly those where the self might have felt vulnerable and subordinate and perceived others as threatening and hostile, holding malevolent intentions towards the self.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive and Behavioural Research Centre (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. marcela.s.matos@gmail.com
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinto-Gouveia
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011174:Portugal; D012649:Self Concept; D012752:Shame; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult