A false sense of security: safety behaviors erode objective speech performance in individuals with social anxiety disorder

Vulnerabilities in social anxiety: Integrating intra- and interpersonal perspectives

What are the major vulnerabilities in people with social anxiety? What are the most promising directions for translational research pertaining to this condition? The present paper provides an integrative summary of basic and applied translational research on social anxiety, emphasizing vulnerability factors. It is divided into two subsections: intrapersonal and interpersonal. The intrapersonal section synthesizes research relating to (a) self-representations and self-referential processes; (b) emotions and their regulation; and (c) cognitive biases: attention, interpretation and judgment, and memory. The interpersonal section summarizes findings regarding the systems of (a) approach and avoidance, (b) affiliation and social rank, and their implications for interpersonal impairments. Our review suggests that the science of social anxiety and, more generally, psychopathology may be advanced by examining processes and their underlying content within broad psychological systems. Increased interaction between basic and applied researchers to diversify and elaborate different perspectives on social anxiety is necessary for progress.

Just do something: An experimental investigation of brief interventions for reducing the negative impact of post-event processing in social anxiety disorder

Post-Event Processing (PEP) is prevalent and problematic in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) but is typically not a direct target in evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for SAD. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the impact of several theoretically and empirically derived interventions for PEP in SAD, including concrete thinking, abstract thinking, and distraction in comparison to a control (i.e., do nothing) condition. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that the concrete and distract conditions would be associated with positive benefits, including reductions in PEP and improvements in self-perception, whereas the abstract and control conditions would not. The second aim of the study was to identify baseline variables that predict the trajectory of change in PEP over time. Participants (N=92) with a principal diagnosis of SAD completed a social stress task and were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. Participants completed measures at baseline, post-intervention/control, and at 1-week, and 1-month follow-up. Contrary to hypotheses, all three active conditions were similarly effective at reducing PEP and improving self-perceptions relative to the control condition. In the absence of an intervention, engagement in PEP remained high up to a month following the social stress task. Higher levels of baseline state anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and use of safety behaviours predicted greater PEP, even in the presence of an intervention. These results highlight the benefits of relatively brief interventions that disrupt the course of PEP for people with SAD. Such interventions can be easily incorporated into CBT protocols for SAD to enhance their effects.

Examining Safety Behavior Subtypes Across Distinct Social Contexts in Social Anxiety Disorder and Major Depression

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) use different types of safety behaviors that have been classified as avoidance vs. impression management. The current study investigated differences in safety behavior subtype use in 132 individuals with principal diagnoses of social anxiety disorder (SAD, n = 69), major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 30), and nonpatient controls (n = 33) across two social contexts: an interpersonal relationship-building task (social affiliation) and a speech task (social performance). We examined whether diagnostic groups differed in safety behavior subtype use and whether group differences varied by social context. We also explored relationships between avoidance and impression management safety behaviors, respectively, and positive and negative valence affective and behavioral outcomes within the social affiliation and social performance contexts. Safety behavior use varied by diagnosis (SAD > MDD > nonpatient controls). The effect of diagnosis on impression management safety behavior use depended on social context: use was comparable for the principal SAD and MDD groups in the social performance context, whereas the SAD group used more impression management safety behaviors than the MDD group in the social affiliation context. Greater use of avoidance safety behaviors related to higher negative affect and anxious behaviors, and lower positive affect and approach behaviors across contexts. Impression management safety behaviors were most strongly associated with higher positive affect and approach behaviors within the social performance context. These findings underscore the potential value of assessing safety behavior subtypes across different contexts and within major depression, in addition to SAD.

The impact of particular safety behaviours on perceived likeability and authenticity during interpersonal interactions in social anxiety disorder

BACKGROUND

Safety behaviours are hypothesized to play a vital role in maintaining social anxiety disorder (SAD), in part by orienting socially anxious individuals to adopt an avoidance-based mindset focused on self-protection and self-concealment. Evidence suggests an association between safety behaviour use and negative social outcomes for individuals with SAD. However, research has largely focused on the broad group of safety behaviours, whereas specific subtypes have received less attention.

AIM

The present study aimed to further our understanding of the negative interpersonal consequences of specific types of safety behaviours for individuals with SAD by examining whether active, inhibiting/restricting, or physical symptom management safety behaviour use affects perceived likeability and authenticity during a conversation with a stranger.

METHOD

Individuals with SAD (n = 29; mean age 35.5 years) and healthy control (non-SAD) participants (n = 40; mean age 18.6 years) engaged in a semi-structured social interaction with trained confederates.

RESULTS

Participants with SAD were perceived as significantly less likeable and authentic by the confederates, and rated themselves as significantly less authentic compared with those without SAD. The association between group status and likeability was mediated by the use of inhibiting/restricting safety behaviours and the association between group status and participant-rated authenticity was mediated by the use of both inhibiting/restricting and active safety behaviours, but not physical symptom management strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

These results contribute to a growing literature suggesting that some, but not all, safety behaviours may play an important role in creating the negative social outcomes that individuals with SAD experience.

Validity and reliability of safety behaviors questionnaire for Persian adults who stutter: A cultural perspective

INTRODUCTION

Adults who stutter (AWS) are reported to have higher social anxiety compared to those who do not stutter. Previous studies have suggested that safety behaviors, which are cognitive or behavioral strategies used by people with anxiety to prevent negative consequences, are important factors in maintaining anxiety. However, the frequency and types of such behaviors might vary in different cultures. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to develop a transcultural adaptation of Safety Behaviors Questionnaire (Helgadottir et al., 2014) for Persian-speaking AWS and assess its validity and reliability.

METHODS

In the first step, the original English questionnaire was translated into Persian using the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) method. Then, 17 speech and language pathologists (SLPs) and 5 AWS evaluated all questionnaire items using Likert scales to determine face validity. Finally, 167 Persian-speaking AWS completed the questionnaire to assess its construct validity and reliability. Their responses were analyzed using factor analysis and Cronbach's Alpha.

RESULTS

Some items of the original questionnaire were modified or combined with other similar items after assessing the face validity of the Persian-translated questionnaire. Construct validity analysis categorized the remaining 29 questionnaire items into four factors: general avoidance, practice and control, rehearsal, and choosing safe and easy people. The high Cronbach's Alpha of 0.89 for all items confirmed the internal reliability of the Persian-translated questionnaire.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS

The results confirmed the psychometric characteristics of the Persian- translated version of the Safety Behaviors Questionnaire (Helgadottir et al., 2014); therefore, speech pathologists can apply it in future clinical and research settings. Similar to Australian AWS, Persian participants of this study self-reported use of various types of safety behaviors frequently.

Always Saying the Wrong Thing: Negative Beliefs About Losing Control Cause Symptoms of Social Anxiety

Background

Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) often report a fear that they will lose control of their emotions or report intense, unpleasant thoughts or images of uncontrollably humiliating themselves in social situations. These fears and associated beliefs that one is likely to lose control may underlie the anxiety and/or cognitive biases (e.g., self-focused attention and negative post-event processing) experienced during and following social situations. The present experiment examined whether manipulating beliefs about losing control would cause changes in symptoms of SAD.

Methods

One hundred and twenty-six undergraduate psychology students were given false feedback that they were either at high or low risk of losing control, and then completed a social interaction task with an actor. Participants rated their anxiety before and during the interaction and completed a post-event processing questionnaire 24-hours later.

Results

Participants in the high beliefs about losing control (HLC) condition reported significantly greater subjective anxiety than those in the low beliefs about losing control (LLC) condition leading up to the social interaction task, and significantly more negative post-event processing.

Conclusion

Results suggest beliefs about losing control may play a causal role in the development and maintenance of SAD. These beliefs may represent a novel domain to be targeted in CBT.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-022-10325-w.

Adolescent Safety Behaviors and Social Anxiety: Links to Psychosocial Impairments and Functioning with Unfamiliar Peer Confederates

Socially anxious adolescents often endure anxiety-provoking situations using safety behaviors: strategies for minimizing in-the-moment distress (e.g., avoiding eye contact, rehearsing statements before entering a conversation). Studies linking safety behaviors to impaired functioning have largely focused on adults. In a sample of one hundred thirty-four 14 to 15 year-old adolescents, we tested whether levels of safety behaviors among socially anxious adolescents relate to multiple domains of impaired functioning. Adolescents, parents, and research personnel completed survey measures of safety behaviors and social anxiety, adolescents and parents reported about adolescents' evaluative fears and psychosocial impairments, and adolescents participated in a set of tasks designed to simulate social interactions with same-age, unfamiliar peers. Relative to other adolescents in the sample, adolescents high on both safety behaviors and social anxiety displayed greater psychosocial impairments, evaluative fears, and observed social skills deficits within social interactions. These findings have important implications for assessing and treating adolescent social anxiety.

The moderating effects of reported pre-pandemic social anxiety, symptom impairment, and current stressors on mental health and affiliative adjustment during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Individuals with social anxiety (SA) have well-established fears of being negatively evaluated and exposing self-perceived flaws to others. However, the unique impacts of pre-existing SA on well-being and interpersonal outcomes within the stressful context of the pandemic are currently unknown.

DESIGN

In a study that took place in May 2020, we surveyed 488 North American community participants online.

METHODS

We used multiple linear regression to analyze whether retrospective reports of pre-pandemic SA symptoms predicted current coronavirus anxiety, loneliness, fears of negative evaluation, use of preventive measures, and affiliative outcomes, and whether pre-pandemic functional impairment and recent COVID-related stressors moderated these relations.

RESULTS

Results highlighted the negative effects of pre-pandemic SA on current mental health functioning, especially for participants with higher pre-pandemic functional impairment and greater exposure to COVID-related stressors. Although participants with higher pre-pandemic SA reported currently feeling lonelier and more fearful of negative evaluation, they also endorsed greater efforts to affiliate with others.

CONCLUSIONS

High SA individuals may have heightened desire for social support within the isolating context of the pandemic, in which COVID-related social restrictions enable greater avoidance of social evaluation but may also mask the enduring impairment associated with pre-pandemic SA.

Effects of mask-wearing on social anxiety: an exploratory review

BACKGROUND

A unique feature of the global coronavirus pandemic has been the widespread adoption of mask-wearing as a public health measure to minimize the risk of contagion. Little is known about the effects of increased mask-wearing on social interactions, social anxiety, or overall mental health.

OBJECTIVES

Explore the potential effects of mask-wearing on social anxiety.

DESIGN

We review existing literatures to highlight three preselected sets of factors that may be important in shaping the effects of mask-wearing on social anxiety. These are: (a) people's perceptions of the social norms associated with wearing masks; (b) people's experiences of the degree to which masks prevent accurate interpretation of social and emotional cues; and (c) people's use of masks as a type of safety behavior that enables self-concealment.

METHODS

APA PsycNet and PubMed were searched principally between September and November 2020 for articles describing the relationship between social anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, ambiguous feedback, and safety behavior use and for research on the relationship between mask-wearing and social norms and social interactions. Information identified as relevant from articles of interest was extracted and included in our review.

RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS

The effects of mask-wearing on social anxiety are likely to be substantial and clinically relevant.

Unfamiliar Untrained Observers' Ratings of Adolescent Safety Behaviors Within Social Interactions with Unfamiliar Peer Confederates

Adolescents experiencing social anxiety often engage in safety behaviors-covert avoidance strategies for managing distress (e.g., avoiding eye contact)-that factor into the development and maintenance of their concerns. Prior work supports the psychometric properties of the Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination (SAFE), a self-report survey of safety behaviors. Yet, we need complementary methods for assessing these behaviors within contexts where adolescents often experience concerns, namely, interactions with unfamiliar peers. Recent work indicates that, based on short, direct social interactions with adolescents, individuals posing as unfamiliar peers (i.e., peer confederates) and without assessment training can capably report about adolescent social anxiety. We built on prior work by testing whether we could gather valid SAFE reports from unfamiliar untrained observers (UUOs), who observed adolescents within archived recordings of these short social interactions. A mixed clinical/community sample of 105 adolescents self-reported on their functioning and participated in a series of social interaction tasks with peer confederates, who also provided social anxiety reports about the adolescent. Based on video recordings of these tasks, trained independent observers rated adolescents' observed social skills, and an additional set of UUOs completed SAFE reports of these same adolescents. Unfamiliar untrained observers' SAFE reports (a) related to adolescents' SAFE self-reports, (b) distinguished adolescents on clinically elevated social anxiety concerns, (c) related to trained independent observers' ratings of adolescent social skills within interactions with peer confederates, and (d) related to adolescents' self-reported arousal within these same interactions. Our findings support use of unfamiliar observers' perspectives to understand socially anxious adolescents' interpersonal functioning.

Psychometric properties of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales in individuals with social anxiety disorder

BACKGROUND

Although numerous self-report measures of social anxiety exist, most instruments assess symptom severity by examining the range of social situations that provoke anxiety, rather than the distress and impairment associated with social anxiety. The Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS; Lenton-Brym, A. P., Rogojanski, J., Hood, H. K., Vorstenbosch, V., McCabe, R. E., & Antony, M. M. (2020). Development and validation of the Ryerson Social Anxiety Scales (RSAS). Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 33(6), 642-660), a measure assessing breadth of social anxiety inducing situations and severity of associated distress and impairment, was recently developed to fill this gap. The present study is the first to investigate the psychometric properties of the RSAS in a clinical sample.

METHOD/DESIGN

Participants included 110 individuals with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A subsample of participants (n = 23) completed cognitive-behavioural group treatment (CBGT) for SAD.

RESULTS

The RSAS demonstrated excellent internal consistency. Examination of the correlations between the RSAS and other conceptually related and distinct measures supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the RSAS. The RSAS was also sensitive to changes in severity of social anxiety following CBGT.

CONCLUSION

The RSAS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the severity of SAD.

I'm Not Feeling It: Momentary Experiential Avoidance and Social Anxiety Among Individuals With Social Anxiety Disorder

Previous studies have found that social anxiety and experiential avoidance (EA) are significantly associated, but the directionality of this relationship has not been firmly established. The present study examined momentary EA and social anxiety using repeated measurements during an opposite-sex interaction. Participants were 164 individuals (50% female): 42 were diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and the remaining 122 were non-socially-anxious individuals (NSAs). Participants formed 42 experimental dyads including 1 individual with SAD and 1 NSA individual, and 40 control dyads including 2 NSA individuals. Lower-level mediational modeling indicated that for individuals with SAD, a reciprocal relationship was observed in which changes in both EA and social anxiety mediated changes in each other. However, changes in EA explained approximately 89% of changes in social anxiety whereas changes in social anxiety explained approximately 52% of changes in EA throughout the interaction. For NSA individuals, only social anxiety predicted EA. These findings point to a deleterious cycle driven mostly by EA among individuals with SAD, but not NSA individuals. Findings are discussed within the context of previous empirical findings as well as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive-behavioral models of psychopathology.

Biased distance estimation in social anxiety disorder: A new avenue for understanding avoidance behavior

OBJECTIVES

People regulate their interpersonal space appropriately to obtain a comfortable distance for interacting with others. Socially anxious individuals are especially prone to discomfort from and fear of physical closeness, leading them to prefer a greater interpersonal distance from others. Previous studies also indicate that fear can enhance the threat-related elements of a threatening stimulus. For example, spider phobia is associated with estimating spiders as bigger and faster than they actually are. Nonetheless, it is still unclear whether the preference of those with social anxiety disorder (SAD) to maintain greater distance from others is associated with biased estimations of interpersonal distance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 87 participants (44 clinically diagnosed with SAD and 43 control) performed validated computerized and ecological tasks in a real-life setting while social space estimations and preferences were measured.

RESULTS

Participants with SAD felt comfortable when maintaining a greater distance from unfamiliar others compared to the control group and estimated unfamiliar others to be closer to them than they actually were. Moreover, the estimation bias predicted their preferred distance from strangers, indicating a strong association between estimation bias severity and actual approach-avoidance behavior.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that distance estimation bias underlies avoidance behavior in SAD, suggesting the involvement of a new cognitive mechanism in personal space regulation.

The effects of positive interpretation bias on cognitive reappraisal and social performance: Implications for social anxiety disorder

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) lack non-socially anxious individuals' tendency to interpret ambiguous social information in a positively biased manner. To gain a better understanding of the specific in-vivo social consequences of positive interpretation bias, we recruited 38 individuals with SAD and 31 healthy controls (HC) to participate in an in-vivo social task. We tested whether a positive interpretation bias, measured using a sentence completion task, might confer benefits for the adaptive emotion regulation strategy of cognitive reappraisal, and whether such benefits depended on participants' emotional states. We also examined whether positive interpretation bias might confer additional benefits such as improved self-perceived and observer-rated social performance. In support of prior research, HC participants exhibited a positive interpretation bias on the sentence completion task, whereas participants with SAD did not. Regression analyses revealed that positive interpretation bias predicted greater cognitive reappraisal during social stress, particularly when state positive affect was low. Moreover, positive interpretation bias predicted more positive self-perception of social performance and reduced underestimations of performance relative to observer ratings. These results suggest that positive interpretations of ambiguous social information may be related to increased use of cognitive reappraisal and more positive self-perceptions of social performance.

Exploring the impact of safety behaviour use on cognitive, psychophysiological, emotional and behavioural responses during a speech task

BACKGROUND

There is a debate among researchers and clinicians regarding whether the judicious use of safety behaviours (SBs) during exposure therapy is helpful or detrimental. Central to this debate is the premise that SBs may interfere with one's ability to gather disconfirmatory evidence.

AIMS

No study to date has assessed how SB use may impact cognitive mechanisms implicated during an exposure-like task. We investigated multiple cognitive, emotional, psychophysiological and behavioural underpinnings of exposure with and without SBs.

METHOD

Speech anxious participants (n = 111) were randomly assigned to deliver an evaluated speech with or without SBs. Self-reported anxiety ratings and psychophysiological arousal measures were recorded at baseline, in anticipation of the speech, and following the speech. Measures of working memory, ability to gather disconfirmatory evidence, speech duration, objective and subjective speech performance, and speech task acceptability were administered.

RESULTS

There were no differences between conditions on working memory, self-reported anxiety, psychophysiological arousal, ability to gather disconfirmatory evidence, speech duration, or objective and subjective speech performance. All participants were able to gather disconfirmatory evidence. However, condition did influence willingness to deliver future speeches. Our sample was largely female undergraduate students, and we offered only a small number of specific safety behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS

Judicious SB use may not necessarily be detrimental, but clients may believe them to be more helpful than they actually are.

Examining the Relation Between Adolescent Social Anxiety and Positive Affect Regulation: Self-Report vs. Observation

Social anxiety symptomatology is associated with disruptions in positive affect, though no study has examined deficits in responses to positive affect related to adolescent social anxiety symptoms. The present study tested whether adolescents' self-reported and observed social anxiety symptoms were uniquely associated with specific responses to positive affect. Moreover, we examined whether adolescent gender moderated these relations. Ninety adolescents (ages 11 to 18, M_age = 14.26, SD = 2.03; girls = 62%; white = 79%) completed self-report measures, participated in a social stressor task, and engaged in two positively-valenced interaction tasks with their female caregivers. Adolescent self-reported social anxiety symptoms were not uniquely associated with responses to positive affect. However, observed social anxiety symptoms were uniquely related to greater self-reported inhibiting positive affect responses and fewer observed positive affect maximizing behaviors. These findings highlight the need to examine self-reported and observed social anxiety symptoms in understanding associated disruptions in positive affect regulation.

Psychometric Properties of the Safety Maneuver Scale for Adolescents (SMS-A) and Relationship to Outcomes of a Transdiagnostic Treatment

Safety behaviors are common in anxiety and have been thought to reduce the efficacy of exposure therapy, although some investigations have indicated that safety behaviors may have a non-significant or beneficial impact on exposure efficacy. There have been few investigations of the characteristics and impact of safety behavior use in youth compared to adults, and no known validated, transdiagnostic youth measure of safety behaviors exists. In Study 1, we investigated the psychometric properties of a transdiagnostic measure of adolescent safety behavior use. In Study 2, we examined the relationship between safety behavior use and treatment outcome in 51 anxious and depressed adolescents. Results of Study 1 supported the measure's psychometric properties, while results of Study 2 revealed that decreased safety behavior use is associated with better treatment outcomes. This investigation supports the importance of safety behavior reduction and provides a tool for further investigating adolescent safety behavior use.

Out of my league: Appraisals of anxiety and confidence in others by individuals with and without social anxiety disorder

Forty participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and 42 healthy controls (HCs) were randomized to watch a confederate deliver a speech in either a visibly anxious or confident manner. Participants rated their perception of the presenter's desirability across five attributes and compared themselves to the presenter along these same dimensions. Participants then delivered their own speeches, and were rated in a similar manner by trained research assistants who were naïve to participants' group status and study objectives. Results demonstrated that all participants, irrespective of group status, judged the visibly anxious presenter as being less desirable and the confident presenter as more desirable. Socially anxious participants tended to view themselves as inferior to confident others. Coders also rated participants with SAD, based on their speeches, as being less interpersonally desirable than HCs. These results suggest that individuals who appear visibly anxious may be objectively disadvantaged in their ability to make a positive first impression on others. We discuss these findings in relation to theoretical models of social anxiety and explore how to address such interpersonal factors in psychological interventions for SAD.

Evaluation of an integrated group cognitive-behavioral treatment for comorbid mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders: A pilot study

This paper presents the development and preliminary evaluation of an integrated group cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for comorbid mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. The 12-session, manualized treatment was developed collaboratively by a mental health program in a teaching hospital and a community-based addictions service and administered in both settings. Results from an uncontrolled effectiveness trial of 29 treatment completers suggest that integrated group CBT may reduce stress and alcohol use symptoms and improve substance refusal self-efficacy. Changes in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and drug use were not significant, although the effect size for anxiety reduction was in the medium range. Nonetheless, the clinical significance of treatment effects on mood, anxiety, and substance use symptoms was modest. Changes in coping skills and quality of life were not significant, although medium-to-large effects were observed for changes in several coping skills. Participants reported being highly satisfied with treatment, found the treatment strategies to be useful, and noted an improvement in their functioning, particularly socially. Methodological and sample size limitations warrant more rigorous follow-up investigations of this treatment. Results are considered in the context of the current literature on integrated psychological treatments for these common comorbidities.

Safety Behaviors in Adults With Social Anxiety: Review and Future Directions

Safety behaviors are considered an important factor in the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Safety behaviors are typically employed by socially anxious individuals to reduce anxiety in feared social situations. However, by preventing individuals with social anxiety from gathering evidence that would disconfirm their maladaptive beliefs about social situations, the use of safety behaviors ultimately maintains social anxiety over time. Twenty years ago, Wells and colleagues (1995) demonstrated that use of safety behaviors diminishes the efficacy of exposure treatment for SAD, suggesting that reduction in the use of safety behaviors during exposure can enhance treatment response. Research on safety behaviors has expanded considerably since Wells et al.'s seminal publication, and our understanding of the role safety behaviors may play in the maintenance of social anxiety has grown in breadth and depth. In this paper, we present a detailed review of the published research on safety behaviors relevant to social anxiety and social-anxiety-related processes. Finally, we evaluate the impact of safety behaviors on the outcome of treatment for SAD, and we look to the literature on safety behaviors in other anxiety disorders to inform our understanding of use of safety behaviors during exposure and to facilitate future research in SAD.

Early memories in social anxiety: A meaningful and enduring collaboration with my Dad

In this short paper in honour of my father's Festschrift, I describe a recent collaboration with him in which we joined forces to investigate the nature of autobiographical images and memories in social anxiety. I outline our work together and the unique insights that were gleaned from our interactive contributions. Then, I reflect on how this collaboration has helped to lay the foundation for subsequent work in my lab and illuminate new directions in my program of research, enhance my career as a scientist-practitioner, and ultimately, enrich both my personal and professional identities. In so doing, I aim to highlight one of the most important and enduring aspects of my father's legacy: the profound positive impact he has on the people with whom he has worked.

The effects of social anxiety on interpersonal evaluations of warmth and dominance

Social anxiety disorder is associated with interpersonal dysfunction, but it is not clear why people with the disorder feel unsatisfied with their relationships. One possibility is that higher social anxiety could lead to changes in sensitivity to interpersonal traits. We examined whether social anxiety moderates the types of interpersonal evaluations people make regarding warmth and dominance. We developed vignettes in which central characters systematically varied in dominance and warmth and asked two samples of participants (undergraduate students, n=176, and online workers, n=403) to rate their willingness to interact with, and the social desirability of, these characters. Participants in general reported stronger desire to interact with warmer and less dominant characters, and rated warmer and more dominant characters as being more socially desirable. People with higher social anxiety exhibited greater tolerance for colder and more submissive characters on both rated dimensions. The perceived similarity of the characters accounted for the bulk of these effects. Participants indicated a higher desire to interact with characters more similar to themselves, and people with higher social anxiety were more likely to rate submissive and cold characters as being like themselves. The results have implications for clinical interventions for social anxiety disorder.

Out of the shadows and into the spotlight: Social blunders fuel fear of self-exposure in social anxiety disorder

In a study designed to clarify and extend previous research on social blunders in social anxiety, 32 participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD), 25 anxious control (AC) participants with anxiety disorders other than SAD, and 25 healthy control (HC) participants with no history of anxiety problems estimated the costs of hypothetical blunders committed by either themselves or by others. Participants with SAD rated the costs of their own imagined blunders as highly inflated relative to both AC and HC participants. In contrast, for blunders participants imagined others committing, only SAD and healthy control participants' cost estimates differed from one another. Moreover, concerns about revealing self-flaws--and, in particular, about appearing socially incompetent--accounted for significant, unique variance in SAD participants' exaggerated cost estimates of self blunders, over and above symptoms of social anxiety and depression. These results enhance our understanding of how and why socially anxious individuals negatively appraise social blunders and help to clarify the potential function and role of social mishap exposures in the treatment of SAD.