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Social phobia and the recall of autobiographical memories
Author(s) -
Wenzel Amy,
Jackson Lydia C.,
Holt Craig S.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.10053
Subject(s) - autobiographical memory , psychology , recall , social anxiety , childhood amnesia , cognition , anxiety , affect (linguistics) , cued speech , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , episodic memory , psychiatry , childhood memory , communication
Although cognitive theories of anxiety suggest that anxious individuals are characterized by the biased tendency to recall negative experiences with perceived threat, few empirical studies have confirmed this notion. To investigate personal memories associated with threatening experiences, individuals with socio phobia (n=16) and nonanxious individuals (n=17) completed an autobiographical memory‐cueing procedure. Participants were presented with 15 social threat words and 15 neutral words, and they recorded the first specific memory that came to mind. Autobiographical memories were coded for specificity and affective tone. There were no group differences in the extent to which participants retrieved specific memories. A greater number of memories cued by social threat words were characterized by negative affect in the social phobia group than in the nonanxious group. However, examination of the means suggests that this effect was small and most likely not of practical significance. It is suggested that memory biases toward threat are not a prominent part of cognitive symptoms that characterize individuals with social phobia. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.