title: The relation between social anxiety and audience perception: examining Clark and Wells' (1995) model among adolescents.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study tested these propositions.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors: Leiden University,The Netherlands.
authors: Anke W
authors: AW
authors: Blöte
authors: Leiden University,The Netherlands.
authors: Anne C
authors: AC
authors: Miers
authors: Leiden University,The Netherlands.
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Heyne
authors: University of Oxford,UK.
authors: David M
authors: DM
authors: Clark
authors: Leiden University,The Netherlands.
authors: P Michiel
authors: PM
authors: Westenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D001288:Attention; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D013060:Speech
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