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Memory bias against threat in social phobia
Author(s) -
Wenzel Amy,
Holt Craig S.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1348/014466502163804
Subject(s) - psychology , recall , social anxiety , anxiety disorder , anxiety , vigilance (psychology) , free recall , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , psychiatry
Objectives. The present study examined whether social phobia is an anxiety disorder associated with a memory bias toward threat. Design. Social phobic ( N = 16) and non‐anxious ( N = 17) individuals were compared on their recall of evaluative threat and neutral prose passage content. Method. Participants were presented with two evaluative threat and two neutral prose passages and completed an immediate free recall task after each trial. Results. Contrary to expectation, individuals with social phobia recalled a smaller percentage of units from the evaluative threat passages than non‐anxious individuals. Conclusion. Consistent with the vigilance‐avoidance theory, it is suggested that social phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by the avoidance of elaborate processing of threatening material.