916 research outputs found
The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in social anxiety
No full text[Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In: R. G. Heimberg, M. R.
Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp.
69–93). New York: Guildford Press] cognitive model of social phobia suggests that both public and private
sources of information contribute to the construction of the self as a social object, which is thought to
maintain the disorder. This study used two concepts developed in social psychology that might help to
explain the processes that contribute to the development of this constructed self. These two concepts are the
spotlight effect [Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment:
an egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one’s own actions and appearance. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 78(2), 211–222] and the illusion of transparency [Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., &
Savitsky, K. (1998). The Illusion of transparency: biased assessments of others’ ability to read one’s own
emotional states. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(2), 332–346]. Participants performed a
memory task under either a low or a high social-evaluative condition. In the high social-evaluative
condition, participants reported higher levels of the spotlight effect and more negative evaluation of task
performance, compared to participants in the low social-evaluative condition. There were no differences
between the two conditions in levels of the illusion of transparency. Surprisingly, however, in the low socialevaluative
condition, participants reported higher levels of the illusion of transparency than the spotlight
effect, whereas, in the high social-evaluative condition, they reported the opposite. Results suggest that the
spotlight effect may be specific to social-evaluative concerns, whereas, the illusion of transparency may
represent more general features of social anxiety concerns. Implications of the results for Clark and Wells’
cognitive model of social phobia model are discussed
Does anticipation help or hinder performance in a subsequent speech?
No full textThis study examined the effects of anticipatory processing on a subsequent speech in high and low socially anxious participants. Forty participants (n = 20 in each group) gave two speeches, one after no anticipatory processing and one after 10-minutes of anticipatory processing. In anticipatory processing, high socially anxious participants were more anxious, and experienced more negative and unhelpful self-images than low socially anxious participants did. However, both groups rated memories of past speeches as having a somewhat helpful effect on their speech preparation. High socially anxious participants tended to use the observer perspective more in the anticipated speech, while, in the unanticipated speech, they might have been switching between observer and field perspectives. Low socially anxious participants tended to use the field perspective in both speeches. High and low socially anxious participants reported better speech performances after the anticipated, compared to after the unanticipated speech. Results suggest that anticipatory processing may have both positive and negative effects on socially anxious individuals' cognitive processing and performance before and during a speech
Why is the self important in understanding and treating social phobia?
No full textCurrent cognitive models of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995; Hofmann, 2007;
Moscovitch, 2008; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) all agree that the self plays a key maintaining role in the
disorder. However, all of these models use a relatively limited conceptualisation of the self. The
author proposes a tripartite approach in which theories of the self are grouped into three broad
categories: content, structure, and process. Content refers to knowledge and information about the
self, structure to the way that information is organised, and process to the ways in which individuals
attend to and regulate the self. Structure has been largely neglected to date, and the author outlines
ways in which the structural organisation of self-knowledge could contribute to social anxiety. High
social anxiety is associated with low clarity about the self and with more uncertainty about selfjudgments.
Structure interacts with content, and in the final part of the article potential interactions
among imagery, self-concept, and self-structure are discussed
Post-event processing in social anxiety
No full textClark and Wells’ [1995. A cognitive model of social phobia. In: R. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D.A. Hope, & F.R. Schneier (Eds.) Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: Guildford Press.] cognitive model of social phobia proposes that following a social event, individuals with social phobia will engage in post-event processing, during which they conduct a detailed review of the event. This study investigated the relationship between self-appraisals of performance and post-event processing in individuals high and low in social anxiety. Participants appraised their performance immediately after a conversation with an unknown individual and prior to an anticipated second conversation task 1 week later. The frequency and valence of post-event processing during the week following the conversation was also assessed. The study also explored differences in the metacognitive processes of high and low socially anxious participants. The high socially anxious group experienced more anxiety, predicted worse performance, underestimated their actual performance, and engaged in more post-event processing than low socially anxious participants. The degree of negative post-event processing was linked to the extent of social anxiety and negative appraisals of performance, both immediately after the conversation task and 1 week later. Differences were also observed in some metacognitive processes. The results are discussed in relation to current theory and previous researc
Self-focused attention in social phobia and social anxiety
No full textSelf-focused attention is an awareness of self-referent information and is present in many emotional disorders. This review concentrates on the role of self-focused attention in social anxiety with particular reference to the Clark and Wells [Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. R. G. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & S. Scheier (Eds.), Social phobia: diagnosis, assessment and treatment. New York: Guilford.] model of social phobia. According to Clark and Wells, self-focused attention is an important maintaining factor in the disorder because it increases access to negative thoughts and feelings, can interfere with performance, and prevents the individual from observing external information that might disconfirm his or her fears. Clark and Wells also propose that socially phobic individuals construct a distorted impression of themselves, based on internally generated information, that takes the form of a visual image (often seen from the perspective of an observer) or felt sense. This paper describes the model and then reviews other theories of self-focused attention, and empirical evidence on self-focused attention. Two types of evidence are reviewed: one, studies that have been conducted from a variety of theoretical perspectives that have relevance either to social anxiety in general or to the Clark and Wells model in particular; two, studies that were designed as a direct test of Clark and Wells' predictions. The final section of the review summarizes the conclusions and suggests areas for future examination
Implicit views of the self in social anxiety
No full textWe investigated dysfunctional attitudes in high (N=29) and low (N=28) socially anxious participants following a social-threat activation task (being told to give a speech) using the implicit association task (IAT: [Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association task. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480]) and the Social Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ: [Clark, D. M. (2001). Social Attitudes Questionnaire, revised. Unpublished manuscript, University of Oxford]). The study also looked at anticipatory thoughts about the speech using questionnaire (Social Cognitions Questionnaire (SCQ): [Wells, Stopa, & Clark (1993). The social cognitions questionnaire. Unpublished]) and think aloud methods. High socially anxious participants endorsed more negative attitudes on the SAQ. In the IAT both groups showed a bias towards associating positive words with self and negative words with other but this was weaker in the high socially anxious group than in the low. The high socially anxious group endorsed more negative thoughts about the speech on the SCQ, believed these thoughts more, and had more thoughts overall on the think-aloud task. There were no differences between the groups on the think-aloud task, but there was an interaction between level of depressive symptoms and thought valence. The results are considered in relation to other studies that have used an IAT to measure associations in social anxiety and in relation to Clark and Wells’ [(1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment. New York: Guilford] model of social phobia
Strategic cognition in paranoia: the use of thought control strategies in a non-clinical population
No full textBackground: Recent work in the area of cognition and emotion has focused on the process as well as the content of thought. Metacognitive approaches have included studies of people's relationship with internal experience (cf. Teasdale and Barnard, 1993), and the overarching beliefs that guide allocation of internal resources to manage distress (cf. Wells, 2000). At the same time, cognitive models of psychosis have emphasized the clinical value of a multidimensional understanding of paranoia (Chadwick, 2006; Freeman and Garety, 2004b). Method: This study examined paranoia in a non-clinical group, specifically (i) the relationship between a single measure of trait paranoia and dimensions of paranoid thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the metacognitive strategies that people use. It was predicted that trait paranoia would be associated with (i) dimensions of thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the internal strategies of “punishment” and “worry.” Results: Regression analyses showed that trait paranoia uniquely predicted frequency, conviction and distress associated with paranoid thoughts. Trait paranoia accounted for the use of “reappraisal”, whereas “punishment” and “worry” were accounted for by anxiety. Conclusions: The implications for clinical work and further research are discussed
Skeletal status and body composition in young women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea.
No full textFunctional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA) related to hypoestrogenism and hormonal status may influence skeletal homeostasis and body composition. The study aimed to evaluate hormones concentrations, body composition and bone strength in FHA cases.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
Total body scans using DXA method (DPX-L, GE Lunar) were performed in a group of 27 women aged 21.8 years ± 3.9 with FHA related to weight loss. References of healthy control subjects were used to calculate Z-scores (age and gender matched), SD-scores (height and gender matched), and SDs-scores (weight and gender matched). Whole skeleton bone mineral content (TBBMC, g) and density (TBBMD, g/cm(2)), lumbar spine (L2-L4) bone mineral density (SBMD; g/cm(2)), lean body mass (LBM, g) and fat mass (FM, g) were investigated. Relative bone strength index was calculated as the TBBMC/LBM ratio. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol, testosterone, and prolactin (PRL) concentrations were assayed to characterize hormonal profile of FHA cases.
RESULTS:
Hormonal evaluation in patients with FHA revealed significantly decreased serum concentrations of gonadotropins and estradiol. Serum LH concentrations were 1.47 ± 0.89 mIU/ml, FSH 4.44 ± 1.94 mIU/ml. Estradiol concentrations in serum were 27.08 ± 13.10 pg/ml. As evidenced by Z-scores, FHA cases had decreased SBMD, TBBMD and TBBMC Z-scores of -1.23 ± 0.90 (p < 0.0001), -0.72 ± 0.86 (p < 0.001), and -0.90 ± 1.40 (p < 0.01), respectively. Reduced FM, LBM and FM/LBM ratio Z-scores of -1.80 ± 2.28 (p < 0.001), -0.59 ± 1.49 (p < 0.05) and -0.74 ± 1.55 (p < 0.05), but not TBBMC/LBM Z-score of -0.54 ± 2.14 (ns) were noted in FHA cases compared with healthy control cases. TBBMC, TBBMD, TBBMC/LBM when BH- or BW-matched were normal as evidenced by SD-scores and SDs-scores. SBMD remained reduced when BH-matched (SD-score = -0.40 ± 0.86; p < 0.05) whereas FM and FM/LBM were lower than expected in healthy, both compared to BH- and BW-dependent references. The length of amenorrhea in months negatively correlated with SBMD Z-score (R = -0.39, p < 0.05), and SD-scores for SBMD (R = -0.48), TBBMD (R = -0.43), TBBMC (R = -0.46) (all p < 0.05) and positively with SDs-scores for FM (R = 0.44, p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Patients with FHA were characterized by lower concentrations of serum FSH, LH and estradiol concentrations. Moreover, FHA cases had decreased FM and an imbalanced relationship between BW, FM, and LBM. Despite reduced BMD and BMC, bone strength was not significantly affected by FHA
Are the short and long forms of Young Schema Questionnaire comparable and how well does each version predict psychopathology scores?
No full textYoung's Schema Questionnaire (YSQ; Young & Brown,1994) was developed to measure schemas that may need to be modified during therapy. This study examines whether the long and short forms of the YSQ produce comparable scores in a heterogenous group of psychiatric outpatients. The study also looks at how well each version predicts psychopathology measured by the SCL-90 -R (Derogatis 1977). The results of this study show that the two versions of the YSQ have similar levels of internal consistency, parallel forms reliability and concurrent validity, and indicate that the short from can be used with reasonable confidence by the clinician and researcher. Both versions of the YSQ were modest predictors of psychopathology scores and each version produced slightly different patterns of predictions although there was overlap between the predicted schemas in each version
Imagery and the self in social phobia
No full textCurrent cognitive models (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) emphasise the importance of negative self-images in the maintenance of social phobia. Although evidence suggests that in social phobia these images influence some cognitive, affective and behavioural responses in social situations, it is unclear how they exert their effect. The literature review examines the proposition that these images function as self-representations that have their roots in autobiographicalmemory. The role of self-images, within a theoretical model of self and autobiographical memory is explored (i.e., the Self-Memory System; Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). A possible relationship between self-images and the working self (i.e., the current self-view) is discussed as a useful framework within which the effects of negative self-images in social phobia could be understood. Research is proposed which will begin to empirically test this relationship. The empirical paper investigates the effect of positive and negative self-images on difference aspects of the self. Negative self-images were associated with a weaker positive implicit selfesteem bias, and less positive and more negative explicit self-esteem, in both high and low socially anxious participants. Negative self-images were also associated with reduced self-concept clarity, but only in low socially anxious participants. Following social threat activation, the increase in self-esteem associated with positive selfimagery was still evident. Findings provide some support for a relationship between self-imagery and specific self-evaluative components of the self. The potential contribution of this relationship to the persistence of social phobia is discussed
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