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Cognitive processes in social anxiety: the effects of self-focus, rumination and anticipatory processing
Abstract
We examined three cognitive processes hypothesized to contribute to biases in judgments about and memory for social events: self-focused attention, post-event rumination, and anticipatory processing. Socially anxious (N = 58) and nonanxious (N = 58) subjects participated in a social interaction and then completed measures of self-focused attention and anxiety-related physiological sensations and behavior. The next day, subjects completed measures that assessed frequency of post-event processing and recall of the interaction. The results indicated that selective attention to negative self-related information led to biases in social judgments and recollections and that post-event processing contributed to the recall of negative self-related information. No evidence was found for selective retrieval of negative self-related information prior to a second social interaction. The results reconcile inconsistent previous findings related to memory bias in social anxiety.
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“Mellings and Alden (2000) found that post-event worry/rumination in high socially anxious subjects predicted recall of negative selfrelevant information, negative self-judgements and recall of anxiety symptoms on anticipation of a subsequent social interaction.”
From Metacognitive Theory and Therapy for Worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Review and Status (2010) · cites this paper as Mellings and Alden (2000)
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“Extensive research has linked this cognitive pattern to an increased likelihood of developing depressive symptoms, heightened susceptibility to major depressive episodes, and the initiation of depressive episodes (Mellings & Alden, 2000).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mellings, T. M. B., & Alden, L. E.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Alden, Lynn E
- ORCID
- Alden, Lynn E
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 243-257
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2062470464
- Cited by
- 506
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 13.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- social anxiety, self-focus, post-event rumination, anticipatory processing, memory bias, social judgment, self-related information, selective attention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Anxiety, Cognition, Double-Blind Method, Ego, Female, Humans, Judgment, Male, Memory, Phobic Disorders, Random Allocation, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Self Psychology
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