Cited by 480Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychological Treatments and AssessmentsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

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Social Anxiety and Social Anxiety Disorder

Morrison, Amanda S., Heimberg, Richard G.·2013·Annual Review of Clinical Psychology

DOI 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185631

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Abstract

Research on social anxiety and social anxiety disorder has proliferated over the years since the explication of the disorder through cognitive-behavioral models. This review highlights a recently updated model from our group and details recent research stemming from the (a) information processing perspective, including attention bias, interpretation bias, implicit associations, imagery and visual memories, and (b) emotion regulation perspective, including positive emotionality and anger. In addition, we review recent studies exploring the roles of self-focused attention, safety behaviors, and post-event processing in the maintenance of social anxiety. Within each area, we detail the ways in which these topics have implications for the treatment of social anxiety and for future research. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of how several of the areas reviewed contribute to our model of social anxiety disorder.

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Influential
Implicit associations in social anxiety disorder: The effects of comorbid depression
Wong, J., Morrison, A. S., Heimberg, R. G., Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2014) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.05.008 · Cited by 16
“…the occurrence of one type of dysfunctional information processing, attentional bias toward social threat stimuli, in SAD (for a review, see Morrison & Heimberg, 2013; for a review of attentional bias toward threat stimuli in the anxiety disorders more generally, see Bar-Haim, Lamy,…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Stopping the past from intruding the present: Social anxiety disorder and proactive interference
Moore, H. T. A., Gómez-Ariza, C. J., & Garcia-Lopez, L.-J. (2016) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.02.053 · Cited by 12
Association between childhood trauma and social anxiety in adolescents: The mediating role of self-compassion and loneliness
Li, Y., Tang, H., Dong, W., Lu, G., & Chen, C. (2024) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107109 · Cited by 16
The relationship between physical activity and career decision-making self-efficacy in Chinese college students: the mediating roles of self-control and social anxiety
Fang, Y., Xu, T., Ye, M., & Li, C. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1541211 · Cited by 14
The Role of Loneliness in the Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Subjective Well-Being: Using the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) as a Measure
Hrvatski studiji, Z., Maričić, A., & Štambuk, M. (2015) · Drustvena istrazivanja · doi:10.5559/di.24.3.05 · Cited by 15
“Social anxiety (SA) is a common human experience characterized by an intense fear of evaluation from others in social situations (Morrison & Heimberg, 2013).”
Background
Cortical processing of speaker politeness: Tracking the dynamic effects of voice tone and politeness markers
Caballero, J. A., Mauchand, M., Jiang, X., & Pell, M. D. (2021) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2021.1938667 · Cited by 16
“It is possible that the LSAS-SR assessment, which is specifically designed to measure social anxiety (Fresco et al., 2001; Mennin et al., 2002; Morrison & Heimberg, 2013), is uniquely sensitive to our manipulation of pragmatic distinctions in a task focused on how speakers manage social impressions.”
Background
Developmental change and stability of social anxiety from toddlerhood to young adulthood: A three-level meta-analysis of longitudinal studies
Bizhong, C. H. E. N., HUANG, X., Niu, G., Sun, X., & Cai, Z. (2023) · Acta Psychologica Sinica · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1041.2023.01637 · Cited by 12
“1 学步期至青年期社交焦虑的发展轨迹和稳定性：一项基于纵向研究的三水平元分析* 陈必忠 1 黄璇 2 牛更枫 1 孙晓军 1 蔡志慧 1 (1青少年网络心理与行为教育部重点实验室; 华中师范大学心理学院, 武汉 430079) (2北京师范大学心理学部, 北京 100875) 摘要鉴于社交焦虑的高患病率和广泛的不良后效，大量理论和纵向研究对社交焦虑的发展进行了探讨，但观点和研究结果存在矛盾。为厘清争议，准确刻画社交焦虑平均水平变化和稳定性的年龄趋势，采用三水平模型的方法，对来自 173项纵向研究的 192个独立样本(N =…”
Explanatory model of cyberbullying, cybervictimization, aggressiveness, social anxiety, and adaptation to university: a structural equation analysis
Aparisi, D., Delgado, B., & Bo, R. M. (2024) · Journal of Computers in Education · doi:10.1007/s40692-023-00308-5 · Cited by 11
“Social anxiety is a common human experience characterized by an intense fear of evaluation from others in social situations (Morrison & Heimberg, 2013).”
The association between chronotype and social anxiety among Chinese university students: a moderated mediation analysis of loneliness and perceived social support
Zhu, Y., Liu, J., Chen, F., Qian, W., Cao, K., Huang, J., Wang, H., Wang, Q., & Luo, X. (2024) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-024-20811-3 · Cited by 12
“Its clinical form is social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, which can lead to mental, physical, or social dysfunctions [2].”
Gender Differences in the Difficulty in Disengaging from Threat among Children and Adolescents With Social Anxiety
Zhang, P., Ni, W., Xie, R., Xu, J., & Liu, X. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00419 · Cited by 14
Tuned to voices and faces: Cerebral responses linked to social anxiety
Kreifelts, B., Eckstein, K. N., Ethofer, T., Wiegand, A., Wächter, S., Brück, C., Erb, M., Lotze, M., & Wildgruber, D. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.05.018 · Cited by 11
“Accordingly, increased sensitivity to socially threatening nonverbal signals reflected in cognitive biases towards these signals is one of the key features in SA (Morrison and Heimberg, 2013).”
Background
Modeling the subjective perspective of consciousness and its role in the control of behaviours
Rudrauf, D., Sergeant-Perthuis, G., Belli, O., Tisserand, Y., & Serugendo, G. D. M. (2021) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110957 · Cited by 15
“They appear to struggle with shifting their attention towards positive cues that could disconfirm their negative beliefs [115], which is reinforced by their avoidance of social exposure [114].”
Background
Problematic mobile gamers have attention bias toward game social information
Guo, Y., Elhai, J. D., Montag, C., Wang, Y., & Yang, H. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.108074 · Cited by 10
The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on attention bias modification in children with ADHD
Nejati, V., & Estaji, R. (2024) · Journal of Neural Transmission · doi:10.1007/s00702-024-02775-1 · Cited by 10
“…attention bias to negative/threat-related stimuli increases several psychiatric conditions such as anxiety (Gulley et al. 2014; Mogg & Bradley 2002; Morrison & Heimberg 2013), depression (Ajilchi & Nejati 2013; Duque & Vázquez 2015; Nejati et al. 2019), post-traumatic stress disorder (McNeill et…”
Mindfulness, social evaluation anxiety, and self-regulation: exploring their association on impulsive behavior among athletes
Zhong, Z., Jiang, H., Wang, H., & Liu, Y. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1404680 · Cited by 14
“Another factor is self-anxiety and social anxiety (47).”
Background
Childhood trauma and social anxiety in adolescents: Mediating role of cardiovascular response to social stress
Ji, H., Wang, Y., & Lü, W. (2024) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.14688 · Cited by 12
Social interpretation bias and inflexibility: Mapping indirect pathways from pathological personality traits to symptom clusters of anxiety and depression
Vernimmen, G., Polack, R. G., Bronstein, M. V., Putter, L. M. S. D., & Everaert, J. (2024) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2024.112920 · Cited by 10
The effects of mindfulness-based intervention on social anxiety, mindfulness, intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation——a serial multiple mediating structural equation model
Jiang, X., Zhang, A., & Zhang, Q. (2025) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-025-07362-5 · Cited by 12
“…anxiety inherently include components of emotion regulation (including expression inhibition and maladaptive beliefs about emotion regulation) (Morrison & Heimberg, 2013), socially anxious patients report more negative beliefs about emotion inhibition and emotion expression with respect to…”
High risk, high reward: Daily perceptions of social challenge and performance in social anxiety disorder
Blalock, D. V., Kashdan, T. B., & McKnight, P. E. (2018) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.01.006 · Cited by 10
Gaze Avoidance Explains the Association Between Anxiety Sensitivity Social Concerns and Social Anxiety
Judah, M. R., Hager, N., Nako, K., & Blanchette, D. (2019) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1007/s41811-019-00050-w · Cited by 10
“Theories conceptualize gaze avoidance as a safety behavior that maintains social anxiety (Morrison and Heimberg 2013).”
Background
Context matters: The role of subjective arousal during Attentional Bias Modification targeting socially anxious students
Nuijs, M. D., Larsen, H., Bögels, S. M., Wiers, R. W. H. J., & Salemink, E. (2019) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.101545 · Cited by 10
Predictive Relationships Between Social Anxiety, Internet Addiction and Alexithymia in Adolescents
Büyükbayraktar, Ç. G. (2020) · Journal of Education and Learning · doi:10.5539/jel.v9n2p222 · Cited by 11
“Social anxiety is particularly disruptive when it involves fears about social situations (Kessler, Stein, & Berglund, 1998; Morrison & Heimberg, 2013).”
Background
Examining the Effects of Stuttering and Social Anxiety on Interpretations of Ambiguous Social Scenarios Among Adolescents
Rodgers, N. H., Lau, J. Y. F., & Zebrowski, P. M. (2021) · Journal of Communication Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106179 · Cited by 12
Social anxiety and quality of life in adolescents : cognitive aspect, social interaction and cultural tendency
Alkhathami, S. S. (2014) · University of Bedfordshire Repository (University of Bedfordshire) · Cited by 10
Prediction model of interaction anxiousness based on Weibo data
Wang, Y., & Zhao, N. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.1045605 · Cited by 9
Stuttering severity and social anxiety among adults who stutter: A multilevel analysis
Lei, X., Nguyen‐Feng, V. N., & Sasisekaran, J. (2024) · Journal of Fluency Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jfludis.2024.106088 · Cited by 9
Problem Solving and Emotion Coping Styles for Social Anxiety: A Meta-analysis of Chinese Mainland Students
Dong, Z., Chiu, M. M., Zhou, S., & Zhang, Z. (2023) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-023-01561-6 · Cited by 12
Social anxiety and phubbing: The mediating role of problematic social networking and the moderating role of family socioeconomic status
Chu, X., Chen, Y., Litifu, A., Yang, Z., Xie, X., Wei, X., & Lei, L. (2023) · Psychology in the Schools · doi:10.1002/pits.23067 · Cited by 12
The influence of parental educational involvement on social anxiety among Chinese middle school students: The mediating role of psychological Suzhi and the moderating role of family socioeconomic status
Chen, J., Huang, J., Zhao, W., Du, F., & Cheng, G. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01752-1 · Cited by 11
“In this study, the psychological Suzhi questionnaire and the SAD (simplified version) were completed by students at school, using a self-rating method, while family SES and PEI were objectively reported by parents.”
BackgroundInfluential
Association between social phobia and the risk of arrhythmia using the Korean National Sample Cohort: a retrospective cohort study
Kim, H., Jeong, W., Kim, S. H., Seo, J. H., Ryu, J. S., Kim, Y.-S., Seok, J., Jang, S., & Park, E. (2022) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03689-6 · Cited by 9
“Among various anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder or social phobia is one of the most common and distressing conditions, wherein a person feels severe anxiety and associated physical symptoms in social situations [13, 14].”
Background
The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for social anxiety symptoms in people living with alopecia areata: a single-group case-series design
Heapy, C., Norman, P., Cockayne, S., & Thompson, A. R. (2023) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465823000292 · Cited by 9
“Attention is biased towards threat-related social cues that the individual interprets as indicators of negative evaluation which, in turn, increases anxiety (Hirsch and Clark, 2004; Morrison and Heimberg, 2013).”
Background
Longitudinal Associations of Social Anxiety Trajectories with Internet-Related Addictive Behaviors Among College Students: A Five-Wave Survey Study
Li, X., Chen, X., Ya, Z., & Shi, X. (2024) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-024-01300-5 · Cited by 9
“Numerous studies have shown that social anxiety is indicative of distorted perceptions, such as low self-worth and excessive concern for negative feedback from others (Iancu et al., 2015; Morrison & Heimberg, 2013).”
Abnormal large‐scale brain functional network dynamics in social anxiety disorder
Zhang, X., Wu, B., Yang, X., Kemp, G. J., Wang, S., & Gong, Q. (2024) · CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics · doi:10.1111/cns.14904 · Cited by 7
“83 The perceptual system is involved in information transmission in the context of the external environment, emotion perception and experience, 84 perceptions of facial fear expression (for processing of social facial information), 85 and emotional regulation in the face of threatening signals.”
Background
The Impact of Perceived Escapism on Visitor Experience and Engagement in Digital Exhibitions: Empirical Research Evidence from Sanxingdui
Xu, J., Meng, H., & Yang, L. (2024) · Leisure Sciences · doi:10.1080/01490400.2024.2398775 · Cited by 8
The Influence of Intolerance of Uncertainty on Social Anxiety in University Students: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Core Self-Evaluation and Attentional Control
Shen, H., Xia, T., & Fu, S. (2024) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs14121183 · Cited by 13
The role of social comparative orientation in social anxiety among breast cancer survivors: a moderated mediation model of body image and self-concept clarity
Chen, X., Dong, C., Zhuang, Y., Lu, L., Lu, P., Li, Y., Gu, Z., & Shen, C. (2025) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-025-06821-4 · Cited by 12
“Social anxiety(SA)refers to an individual’s intense emotional response, characterized by anxiety, tension, fear, and avoidance behavior, in interpersonal situations [4].”
Attention to faces in images is associated with personality and psychopathology
Rubo, M., Käthner, I., & Munsch, S. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280427 · Cited by 10
“Enhanced sensitivity to social rejection, which is found in SAD, but also in major depression and other mental disorders [22], was associated with faster attention towards rejecting faces [23, 24] as well as sad faces [25].”
Background

Authors: Morrison, A. S., & Heimberg, R. G.
Affiliations: Temple University (US)
ORCID: Morrison, Amanda S.
Heimberg, Richard G.
Venue: Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
Publisher: Annual Reviews
Published: 2013-03-28
Volume: 9
Issue: 1
Pages: 249-274
ISSN: 1548-5943 (ISSN-L)
1548-5951
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185631
OpenAlex: W2147509803
Cited by: 480
References: 127
Citations by year: 2026: 54 · 2025: 71 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 3
FWCI: 3.53
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Annual Review of Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords: social anxiety, social anxiety disorder, cognitive-behavioral model, attentional bias, interpretation bias, implicit associations, imagery, visual memory, positive affectivity, anger, self-focus, safety behavior, post-event processing, social anxiety treatment
MeSH terms: Attention, Emotions, Humans, Models, Psychological, Phobic Disorders, Self Concept

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Social Anxiety and Social Anxiety Disorder

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