BACKGROUND & AIMS:
:Current social phobia models (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995; Leary & Kowalski, 1995) postulate that socially anxious individuals negatively appraise their anxiety sensations (e.g., sweating, heart racing, blushing) as evidence of poor social performance, and thus fear these anxiety symptoms will be noticed and judged negatively by others. Consequently, they become self-focused and hypervigilant of these sensations and use them to judge how they appear to others. To test this model, high (N=41) and low (N=38) socially anxious participants were shown false physiological feedback regarding an increase or decrease in heart rate prior to and during an impromptu speech task. Relative to participants who observed a false heart rate decrease, those in the increase condition reported higher levels of negative affect, more negative performance appraisals, and more frequent negative ruminative thoughts, and these effects were mediated by an increase in self-focused attention. The unhelpful effects of the physiological feedback were not specific to high socially anxious participants. The results have implications for current cognitive models as well as the treatment of social phobia.
背景与目标:
: 当前的社交恐惧症模型 (例如,Clark & Wells,1995; Leary & Kowalski,1995) 假设社交焦虑的个体对他们的焦虑感 (例如,出汗,心跳加速,脸红) 进行负面评价,作为社交表现不佳的证据,因此,担心这些焦虑症状会被他人注意到并做出负面判断。因此,他们变得对这些感觉的自我关注和高度警惕,并使用它们来判断它们在他人面前的样子。为了测试该模型,在即兴演讲任务之前和期间,高 (N = 41) 和低 (N = 38) 社交焦虑的参与者被显示出关于心率增加或减少的错误生理反馈。相对于观察到虚假心率降低的参与者,处于增加状态的参与者报告了更高水平的负面影响,更多的负面绩效评估和更频繁的负面反刍思想,这些影响是由自我关注的注意力增加所介导的。生理反馈的无益影响并非针对高社交焦虑的参与者。这些结果对当前的认知模型以及社交恐惧症的治疗都有影响。