title: An empirical analysis of Moscovitch's reconceptualised model of social anxiety: How is it different from fear of negative evaluation?
abstract: Cognitive-behavioural models propose that excessive fear of negative evaluation is central to social anxiety. Moscovitch (2009) instead proposes that perceived deficiencies in three self attributes: fears of showing signs of anxiety, deficits in physical appearance, or deficits in social competence are at the core of social anxiety. However, these attributes are likely to overlap with fear of negative evaluation. Responses to an online survey of 286 participants with a range of social anxiety severity were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression to identify the overall unique predictive value of Moscovitch's model. Altogether, Moscovitch's model provided improvements in the prediction of safety behaviours, types of fears and cognitions; however only the fear of showing anxiety subscale provided unique information. This research supports further investigations into the utility of this revised model, particularly related to utility of explicitly assessing and addressing fears of showing anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Isilay N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Kizilcik
authors.affiliation: Centre of Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: bree.gregory@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bree
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.affiliation: Centre of Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia; NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use/Centre of Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: andrew.baillie@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Baillie
authors.affiliation: NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use/Centre of Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: erica.crome@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crome
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive-behavioral; Negative evaluation; Self-attributes; Social anxiety; Theoretical model