Information processing in social phobia: a critical review

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Abstract

This review critically discusses the empirical evidence for information-processing biases in social phobia. Distortions in attention, interpretation, and memory processes are analyzed as they apply to individuals with social phobia. The literature provides evidence for a specific attentional bias towards socially threatening stimuli and a specific interpretational/judgment bias towards self-relevant social information. However, there is little evidence to suggest that social phobia is associated with a memory bias for socially threatening stimuli. Furthermore, the relationship between the empirical evidence from information processing studies and the cognitive model of social phobia by Clark and Wells (1995) will be discussed.

Section snippets

Attention

As of to date, at least 10 studies have been published using cognitive–experimental tasks to explore attentional processes in social phobia Amir et al., 1996b, Asmundson & Stein, 1994, Cloitre et al., 1992, Hope et al., 1990, Horenstein & Segui, 1997, Lundh & Öst, 1996a, Maidenberg et al., 1996, Mattia et al., 1993, McNeil et al., 1995, Niekerk et al., 1999. Most of these studies used either the dot-probe paradigm or the Stroop task (e.g., Stroop, 1938), two common cognitive–experimental

Interpretation and judgment

Several studies analyzed information processes related to interpreting and judging information as socially threatening Amir et al., 1998a, Amir et al., 1998b, de Jong et al., 1998, Foa et al., 1996, Lucock & Salkovskis, 1988, Mellings & Alden, 2000, Rapee & Lim, 1992, Stopa & Clark, 2000, Wallace & Alden, 1997, Wells et al., 1998. Interpretations about the meaning of a social situation as well as its cost influence an individual's readiness to enter and re-enter the situation. Furthermore, the

Memory

It has been suggested that cognitive interpretations of threat reside in a partially activated state in memory (McNally, 1994). Therefore, individuals with social phobia should display memory biases favoring information about social threat (Clark & Wells, 1995).

Several memory studies have been conducted with social phobics Becker et al., 1999, Cloitre et al., 1995, Lundh & Öst, 1996b, Lundh & Öst, 1997, Rapee et al., 1994, Stopa & Clark, 1993 and socially anxious individuals Breck & Smith, 1983

Discussion and future directions

Our review of the current literature suggests that different information processing biases in social phobia exist. Specifically, individuals with social phobia seem to show an attentional and judgmental bias towards socially threatening information but there is little evidence for a memory bias in social phobia. Few studies have used other stimuli than words. Facial expressions of emotions have only recently been used. Preliminary data seem to indicate that these stimuli produce a different

Relationship to Clark and Wells' cognitive model

How does the empirical evidence from information processing biases reviewed and summarized here relate to the cognitive model of social phobia as presented by Clark and Wells (1995)? This model partly accounts for the empirical evidence coming from information processing studies. Similar models have also been developed by others (e.g., Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). According to the Clark and Wells' model, social phobics misinterpret social situations because they hold dysfunctional beliefs about

Acknowledgements

Supported in part by NIMH grant MH-57326 to Dr. Hoffman. We thank Molly Choate for her valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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