Patients with generalized social phobia direct their attention away from faces
Abstract
The experiment tested whether patients with social phobia direct their attention to or away from faces with a range of emotional expressions. A modified dot probe paradigm (J. Abnorm. Psychol. 95 (1986) 15) measured whether participants attended more to faces or to household objects. Twenty patients with social phobia were faster in identifying the probe when it occurred in the location of the household objects, regardless of whether the facial expressions were positive, neutral, or negative. In contrast, controls did not exhibit an attentional preference. The results are in line with recent theories of social phobia that emphasize the role of reduced processing of external social cues in maintaining social anxiety.
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Other studies report that socially anxious people direct attention away from threatening cues.
“some studies have found that socially anxious individuals avoid threatening stimuli (Chen, Ehlers, Clark, & Mansell, 2002; Mansell, Clark, Ehlers, & Chen, 1999).”
From Attentional bias and emotional reactivity as predictors and moderators of behavioral treatment for social phobia (2013) · cites this paper as Chen, Ehlers, Clark, & Mansell, 2002
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- Authors
- Chen, Y. P., Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., & Mansell, W.
- Corresponding author
- Ehlers, A
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-06
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 677-687
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2165788048
- Cited by
- 325
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 15.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (069777)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, attentional bias, face processing, emotional facial expressions, dot-probe task, social anxiety, social cue processing, household products
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Face, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Male, Phobic Disorders, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Severity of Illness Index
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