title: Vicarious learning of children's social-anxiety-related fear beliefs and emotional Stroop bias.
abstract: Models of social anxiety suggest that negative social experiences contribute to the development of social anxiety, and this is supported by self-report research. However, there is relatively little experimental evidence for the effects of learning experiences on social cognitions. The current study examined the effect of observing a social performance situation with a negative outcome on children's (8 to 11 years old) fear-related beliefs and cognitive processing. Two groups of children were each shown 1 of 2 animated films of a person trying to score in basketball while being observed by others; in 1 film, the outcome was negative, and in the other, it was neutral. Children's fear-related beliefs about performing in front of others were measured before and after the film and children were asked to complete an emotional Stroop task. Results showed that social fear beliefs increased for children who saw the negative social performance film. In addition, these children showed an emotional Stroop bias for social-anxiety-related words compared to children who saw the neutral film. The findings have implications for our understanding of social anxiety disorder and suggest that vicarious learning experiences in childhood may contribute to the development of social anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Askew
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D057190:Stroop Test