problem 4 - social anxiety disorder Flashcards
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
interpretation bias
- Social situations often ambiguous → signs of approval or disapproval from other are not always readily apparent
- more likely to interpret this ambiguity in a threatening manner + judge themselves negatively
- in non-ambiguous social situations: people with HSA evaluate mildly neg situations as catastrophic + appraise pos events more negatively
- study: individuals with SAD interpreted ambiguous social scenarios negatively, but not nonsocial scenarios
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
judgement bias
- individuals with high social anxiety (HSA) judge their own behavior more neg in social situations, but more accurately judge others’ behavior
- overestimate the likelihood of neg social events occurring + their related costs
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
selective attention bias
- selectively attend to threatening info + do not attend to more pos/neutral info = miss potentially corrective social info
- importance of automatic processing of disorder-relevant info → expectation that social anxious people will be especially primed & motivated to orient toward potential threat cues (cog models)
- BUT this initial hypervigilance for threat cues followed by motivated avoidance of the cues because of the perceived danger of interacting with it (vigilance-avoidance models)
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
experimental tasks for measuring biases
- Dot probe: trying to compare the response in following threatening stimuli compared to neutral stimuli (attentional bias in looking at the dot which had the threatening stimulii)
- Emotional Stroop: slower to name the color of socially threatening words (focusing more on the threatening words)
- Visual search: speed in which individuals detect faces of different facial expression (angry/threatening faces are detected faster no matter how much distraction is involved)
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
post-event processing & memory
- engage in repetitive, self-focused thought processes following social interactions = further distorts their self-perceptions in memory
- post-event processing → negatively biases memory for social-evaluative situations → maintains and reinforces socially anxious individuals’ neg beliefs about themselves in social situations
cognitive biases among individuals with SAD
implicit associations
- often uncontrollably associate social cues & bodily sensations w neg outcomes + have lower levels of implicit self-esteem
- uncontrollable processing: a key feature of pathological anxiety - the inability to stop or modify processing of disorder-relevant material once it has begun
- Implicit Association Test (IAT): p’s view stimuli from 4 superordinate categories which are paired together in ways that match or contradict their hypothesized implicit associations in memory - compare RT
- Found that individuals with SAD have stronger associations between social cues and negative outcomes, than normal ppl & ppl w panic disorder
behaviors that contribute to neg evaluations (SAD)
avoidance behaviors
- Attentional vigilance and subsequent (impulsive) avoidance of social cues (e.g., facial expressions)
- May signal to others that the SAI doesn’t like them → others show subtle devaluation → picked up by SAI → more anxiety and avoidance
- Approach avoidance task: show faster avoidance of happy faces + slower approach of emotional faces
behaviors that contribute to neg evaluations (SAD)
interpersonal distance & personal space
- SAIs keep more interpersonal space
- May respond with uneasy behaviour once their personal space is entered by others
- Virtual reality – approaching an avatar → SAD approached the avatar slower and kept more distance
behaviors that contribute to neg evaluations (SAD)
behavioral & facial mimicry
- SAIs mimic others less and appreciate being mimicked less
- SAIs do not respond to facial expressions in an appropriate way (uncontrolled and unintended)
- Show less mimickery, see an avatar as less friendly
behaviors that contribute to neg evaluations (SAD)
social skills
- Lack certain social skills (but findings are debated)
- Dimensions
▪ Deficit in skill acquisition
▪ Deficit in social performance→acquire the skill but don’t perform it as frequently as they should
▪ Deficit in fluency→have the skill, can perform it, but they don’t master it correctly - Anxiety may worsen social performance (although their social skills are intact)
behaviors that contribute to neg evaluations (SAD)
anxious behaviors
- SAIs fear that they will show anxiety symptoms in social interactions → neg evaluation by others
- E.g. nervous movements when being approached, avoiding eye contact or maintaining a rigid body posture, stuttering
Models of biased processing & behavior
role of amygdala in SAD
The amygdala plays a key role in emotion-related processes, including anxiety - 2 neural pathways are involved in the processing of fear-relevant cues: the high & low roads
Low road: based on key features analysis of the emotional relevance of a stimulus
* is quickl - if necessary, preparatory reflexive behavior patterns are initiated
* ABs occur here especially
High road: threat cues, env cues, earlier experiences & knowledge gained over previous experiences are taken into consideration
* further action guided by all available info & continues or inhibits the behavior triggered by low road
Models of biased processing & behavior
motivation-emotional approach (Lang)
Hypothesized that emotions are action disposition states of vigilant readiness that vary widely in reported affect, physiology & behavior - are driven by 2 opponent motivation systems
Models of biased processing & behavior
cognitive-motication model - Mogg & Bradely
based on Lang’s idea - introduced valence evaluation system, goal engagement system, etc
* Extended the model: proposed that pos evaluations must feed into the goal engagement system too
* + valence system must be imagined as an entity predicting degrees of reward & punishment on a continuous scale
* = an organism that is motivated to pursue goals that either avoid punishment or gain reward will engage in initial orienting, but predominantly avoidance or approach behaviors
treatments & therapies for SAD
exposure therapy
- Exposure creates a context in which a socially anxious individual may receive feedback that provides important disconfirmatory information that modifies irrational beliefs
- instructed not to use safety behaviors & to focus attention externally on the targeted situation
Has resulted in greater reduction in social anxiety than waitlist, pill placebo & relaxation training but high chance of relapse without cognitive reconstruction
Criticism:
* Questioning the maintenance of treatment gains over long term with exposure alone
* Higher frequency of treatment seeking during the follow-up period
