Facial affect and interpersonal affiliation: displays of emotion during relationship formation in social anxiety disorder
Open accessAbstract
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) often involves difficulty developing relationships. Facial expressions are important in relationship formation, but data are limited regarding facial display production among persons with SAD during social interaction. The current study compared facial displays of individuals diagnosed with SAD (n=41) to control participants (n=24) as they interacted with a confederate; confederates and observers then rated their desire for future interaction with participants. Automated software used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS; Ekman & Friesen, 1978) to classify displays. During portions of the interaction that involved listening to partners, the SAD group smiled less frequently and less intensely than controls, and lower smiling was associated with others' lower desire for future interaction with participants. Diminished positive facial affect in response to interaction partners may disrupt relationship formation in SAD and may serve as an effective treatment target.
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These behaviors have been shown to interfere with the development and maintenance of the kinds of close and secure relationships that are essential to adaptive functioning.
“In addition, these behaviors have been shown to interfere with the development and maintenance of the kinds of close and secure relationships that are essential to adaptive functioning (125, 126).”
From MDMA-Assisted Therapy as a Means to Alter Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neurological Systems Underlying Social Dysfunction in Social Anxiety Disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [125]
The Results and Discussion (page numbers unavailable) link reduced smiling while listening to lower desire for future interaction, supporting a possible obstacle to forming relationships. But the Discussion says the study modeled new friendship development, did not examine existing relationships, and cannot establish causation. It therefore does not show that these behaviors interfere with maintaining close, secure relationships. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn one study, people with SAD showed less smiling during social encounters compared to controls and this predicted less interest in future interactions from conversational partners.
“In one study, people with SAD showed less smiling during social encounters compared to controls and this predicted less interest in future interactions from conversational partners (125).”
From MDMA-Assisted Therapy as a Means to Alter Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neurological Systems Underlying Social Dysfunction in Social Anxiety Disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [125]
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References 79 · Cited by 17
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Barlow DH (Ed.). (2014). Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by-step treatment manual New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
- Ekman P, & Friesen WV (1978). Manual for the facial action coding system Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Gilboa-Schechtman E, Shachar I, & Sahar Y (2014). Positivity impairment as a broad-based feature of social anxiety. In Weeks JW (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Social Anxiety Disorder (409– 432). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. doi: 10.1002/9781118653920.ch19/summary · DOI
- Reis HT & Shaver P (1988). Intimacy as an interpersonal process. In Duck SW (Ed.), Handbook of Personal Relationships, 24(3), 367– 389. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/uwcssc/sites/default/files/Reis%20%26%20Shaver,%201988.pdf
- Authors
- Pearlstein, S. L., Taylor, C. T., & Stein, M. B.
- Affiliations
- San Diego State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Taylor, Charles T.
- Venue
- Clinical Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-03-12
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 826-839
- ISSN
- 2167-7026 (ISSN-L)
- 2167-7034
- PMC
- PMC6764757
- OpenAlex
- W2922112793
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Clinical Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH090243)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, facial expressions, smiling, relationship formation, facial affect, interpersonal interaction, treatment goals
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