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Azoulay R, Gilboa-Schechtman E. Specificity of cost and probability biases in social anxiety: Comparing status and belongingness threats. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 63:273-280. [PMID: 38717962 DOI: 10.1111/bjc.12472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Social anxiety (SA) is characterized by concerns about the expected occurrence (probability) and anticipated distress (cost) of social threats. Unclear is whether SA correlates specifically with biased expectations of belongingness or status threats. AIMS We aimed to discern if SA is uniquely tied to biased expectancies of either belongingness or status threats. MATERIALS AND METHODS We assessed 757 participants' perceptions of exclusion and put-down scenarios, analysing associations between SA and threat perceptions. DISCUSSION Our findings support the status-sensitivity hypothesis, suggesting individuals with high SA are particularly attuned to the perceived cost of status threats, potentially informing treatment approaches. CONCLUSION Understanding SA's link to status concerns enhances therapeutic strategies, emphasizing the need to address status-related situations, cognitions, and emotions in interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roy Azoulay
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Ginat-Frolich R, Gilboa-Schechtman E, Huppert JD, Aderka IM, Alden LE, Bar-Haim Y, Becker ES, Bernstein A, Geva R, Heimberg RG, Hofmann SG, Kashdan TB, Koster EHW, Lipsitz J, Maner JK, Moscovitch DA, Philippot P, Rapee RM, Roelofs K, Rodebaugh TL, Schneier FR, Schultheiss OC, Shahar B, Stangier U, Stein MB, Stopa L, Taylor CT, Weeks JW, Wieser MJ. Vulnerabilities in social anxiety: Integrating intra- and interpersonal perspectives. Clin Psychol Rev 2024; 109:102415. [PMID: 38493675 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Idan M Aderka
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Lynn E Alden
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Yair Bar-Haim
- School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| | - Eni S Becker
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Amit Bernstein
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Ronny Geva
- Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Israel
| | - Richard G Heimberg
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, United States of America
| | - Stefan G Hofmann
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, United States of America
| | - Todd B Kashdan
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Ernst H W Koster
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium
| | | | - Jon K Maner
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Florida, United States of America
| | - David A Moscovitch
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Mental Health Research & Treatment, University of Waterloo, Canada
| | - Pierre Philippot
- Department of Psychology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
| | - Ronald M Rapee
- Centre for Emotional Health and School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands; Donders Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Thomas L Rodebaugh
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Franklin R Schneier
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States of America
| | | | - Ben Shahar
- The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ulrich Stangier
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Murray B Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and School of Public Health, University of California San Diego, United States of America
| | - Lusia Stopa
- Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Charles T Taylor
- Department of Psychiatry and School of Public Health, University of California San Diego, United States of America
| | - Justin W Weeks
- Department of Psychology, Nebraska Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America; Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America
| | - Matthias J Wieser
- Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
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Azoulay R, Gilboa-Schechtman E. The scarring impact of status loss in social anxiety: An evolutionary perspective. J Anxiety Disord 2022; 90:102600. [PMID: 35841783 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Evolutionary models suggest that social anxiety (SA) is associated with sensitivity to status loss. These models make several additional predictions concerning the strength as well as the specificity of the association between post-event distress (PED) following status losses and SA. First, the strength of this association is postulated to be enhanced in men, especially following status losses inflicted by other men (intra-male status losses). Second, given the evolutionary postulated relationship between social status and physical fitness, sensitivity to status loss in SA is expected to extend to physically threatening events. We examined these predictions in four online samples (total N = 1123; 59% females, 27% above the cutoff for clinically elevated SA). In all studies, participants recalled social status-loss events and rated the emotional and distressing impact of these experiences. In two samples, participants also identified and recalled physically threatening events. Our findings were consistent with evolutionary predictions. SA was associated with PED following social status-loss events (β = 0.27). This association was stronger in men than in women (β = 0.40, β = 0.16, respectively). Moreover, the SA-PED association was especially enhanced following intra-male, compared to intra-female and inter-gender, status losses (β = 0.47, β = 0.26, and β = 0.17, respectively). Furthermore, SA was uniquely associated with PED following physically threatening events, over and above PED following social status-loss events (β = 0.21). Our data highlights the significant impact of socially and physically threatening events and delineates the scarring signature of such events in SA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roy Azoulay
- Department of Psychology and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
| | - Eva Gilboa-Schechtman
- Department of Psychology and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
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Scheunemann J, Gawęda Ł, Reininger KM, Jelinek L, Hildebrandt H, Moritz S. Advice weighting as a novel measure for belief flexibility in people with psychotic-like experiences. Schizophr Res 2020; 216:129-137. [PMID: 31924370 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Jumping to conclusions and bias against disconfirmatory evidence are two cognitive biases common in people with psychotic-like experiences and psychosis. However, many participants show comprehension problems doing traditional tasks; new paradigms with additional applied scenarios are thus needed. A large MTurk community sample (N = 1422) was recruited and subdivided into participants with high levels of psychotic-like experiences (at least 2 SD above the mean, n = 79) and participants with low levels of psychotic-like experiences (maximum 0.5 SD above the mean, n = 1110), based on the positive subscale of the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). In the context of a judge-advisor system, participants made an initial estimate and then received advice that was either confirmatory or disconfirmatory. Participants then gave a new, possibly revised estimate and were allowed to seek additional advice. Participants with high levels of psychotic-like experiences gave their final assessment after receiving significantly less advice and were significantly more confident in their decision than participants with low psychotic-like experiences, in line with previous studies on jumping to conclusions and overconfidence. Contrary to the hypothesis and earlier studies, however, no deficit in belief revision was found. In fact, participants with high psychotic-like experiences weighted advice significantly higher in the condition with disconfirmatory advice, but only for the first advice they received. The increased weighting of a single piece of disconfirmatory advice can be explained by the hypersalience of evidence-hypothesis matches theory, according to which more weight is attached to the most recently available information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Scheunemann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Łukasz Gawęda
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Klaus-Michael Reininger
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Lena Jelinek
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Helmut Hildebrandt
- Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Steffen Moritz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
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