Previous studies investigating the hypothesis that elevated social anxiety vulnerability is characterized by an attentional bias to negative social information have yielded inconsistent findings. One possible explanation for this inconsistency is that most such studies have failed to distinguish bias in attentional engagement with, and in attentional disengagement from, negative social information. It has been proposed that only one of these two possible forms of attentional bias may be associated with elevated social anxiety vulnerability, potentially giving rise to observed inconsistencies when assessment approaches have failed to dissociate them. The few studies that have sought to investigate this issue have been hampered by methodological limitations, which have compromised their capacity to differentially assess these two facets of attentional selectivity. In the present study, we employed a recently developed variant of the attentional-probe task that has proven capable of dissociating attentional engagement bias and disengagement bias, to contrast the patterns of attentional selectivity shown by participants high and low in social anxiety. Our findings reveal that elevated social anxiety vulnerability is characterized only by facilitated attentional engagement with socially negative information and not by impaired attentional disengagement from socially negative information.

References

Aderka, I., Hofmann, S., Nickerson, A., Hermesh, H., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Marom, S. ( 2012 ). Functional impairment in social anxiety disorder . Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 393 – 400 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Asmundson, G. J. G., Stein, M. B. ( 1994 ). Selective processing of social threat in patients with generalized social phobia: Evaluation using a dot-probe paradigm . Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 8, 107 – 117 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H. ( 2007 ). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study . Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1 – 24 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Bögels, S., Mansell, W. ( 2004 ). Attention processes in maintenance and treatment of social phobia: Hypervigilance, avoidance, and self-focused attention . Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 827 – 856 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., Lee, S. C. ( 1997 ). Attentional biases for negative information in induced and naturally occurring dysphoria . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35(10), 911 – 927 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Broadbent, D., Broadbent, M. ( 1988 ). Anxiety and attentional bias: State and trait . Cognition & Emotion, 2, 165 – 183 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Buckner, J. D., Maner, J. K., Schmidt, N. B. ( 2010 ). Difficulty disengaging attention from social threat in social anxiety . Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34, 99 – 105 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Chen, Y. P., Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., Mansell, W. ( 2002 ). Patients with generalized social phobia direct their attention away from faces . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 677 – 687 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Cougle, J. R., Keough, M. E., Riccardi, C. J., Sachs-Ericsson, N. ( 2009 ). Anxiety disorders and suicidality in the National Comorbidity Survey–Replication . Journal of Psychiatric Research, 43, 825 – 829 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Davila, J., Beck, J. G. ( 2002 ). Is social anxiety associated with impairment in close relationships? A preliminary investigation . Behavior Therapy, 33, 427 – 446 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Demyttenaere, K., Bruffaerts, R., Posada-Villa, J., Gasquet, I., Kovess, V., Lepine, J., … & Chatterji, S. ( 2004 ). Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys . JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 291, 2581 – 2590 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Foa, E. B., Amir, N. ( 1999 ). Attentional biases for facial expressions in social phobia: The face-in-the-crowd paradigm . Cognition & Emotion, 13, 305 – 318 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Grafton, B., MacLeod, C. ( 2014 ). Enhanced probing of attentional bias: The independence of anxiety-linked selectivity in attentional engagement with and disengagement from negative information . Cognition & Emotion, 28, 1287 – 1302 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Grafton, B., Watkins, E., MacLeod, C. ( 2012 ). The ups and downs of cognitive bias: Dissociating the attentional characteristics of positive and negative affectivity . Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 24, 33 – 53 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Hedman, E., Ljótsson, B., Rück, C., Furmark, T., Carlbring, P., Lindefors, N., Andersson, G. ( 2010 ). Internet administration of self-report measures commonly used in research on social anxiety disorder: A psychometric evaluation . Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 736 – 740 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Heeren, A., Mogoase, C., Philippot, P., McNally, R. ( 2015 ). Attentional bias modification for social anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis . Clinical Psychology Review, 40, 76 – 90 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Heimberg, R. G., Mueller, G. P., Holt, C. S., Hope, D. A., Liebowitz, M. R. ( 1992 ). Assessment of anxiety in social interaction and being observed by others: The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale . Behavior Therapy, 23, 53 – 73 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Heinrichs, N., Hofmann, S. G. ( 2001 ). Information processing in social phobia: A critical review . Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 751 – 770 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Horenstein, M., Segui, J. ( 1997 ). Chronometrics of attentional processes in anxiety disorders . Psychopathology, 30, 25 – 35 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Klumpp, H., Amir, N. ( 2009 ). Examination of vigilance and disengagement of threat in social anxiety with a probe detection task . Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 22, 283 – 296 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

LeMoult, J., Joormann, J. ( 2012 ). Attention and memory biases in social anxiety disorder: The role of comorbid depression . Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36, 47 – 57 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Lundqvist, D., Flykt, A., Ohman, A. ( 1998 ). The averaged Karolinska directed emotional faces. Stockholm, Sweden : Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section Psychology .

Google Scholar

MacLeod, C., Clarke, P. ( 2015 ). The attentional bias modification approach to anxiety intervention . Clinical Psychological Science, 3, 58 – 78 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

MacLeod, C., Mathews, A. ( 1988 ). Anxiety and the allocation of attention to threat . Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A, 40, 653 – 670 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

MacLeod, C., Mathews, A. ( 2012 ). Cognitive bias modification approaches to anxiety . Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 189 – 217 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., Tata, P. ( 1986 ). Attentional bias in emotional disorders . Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15 – 20 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mansell, W., Clark, D. M., Ehlers, A., Chen, Y. P. ( 1999 ). Social anxiety and attention away from emotional faces . Cognition & Emotion, 13, 673 – 690 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Mathews, A., MacLeod, C. ( 2005 ). Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders . Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 167 – 195 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mattick, R., Clarke, C. ( 1998 ). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455 – 470 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

McNally, R. J. ( 1995 ). Automaticity and the anxiety disorders . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 747 – 754 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P. ( 1998 ). A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 809 – 848 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P. ( 2002 ). Selective orienting of attention to masked threat faces in social anxiety . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 1403 – 1414 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., De Bono, J., Painter, M. ( 1997 ). Time course of attentional bias for threat information in non-clinical anxiety . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 297 – 303 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Hallowell, N. ( 1994 ). Attentional bias to threat: Roles of trait anxiety, stressful events, and awareness . Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47, 841 – 864 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Mogg, K., Philippot, P., Bradley, B. ( 2004 ). Selective attention to angry faces in clinical social phobia . Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 160 – 165 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Musa, C. Z., Lepine, J. P. ( 2000 ). Cognitive aspects of social phobia: A review of theories and experimental research . European Psychiatry, 15, 59 – 66 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Musa, C., Lepine, J., Clark, D. M., Mansell, W., Ehlers, A. ( 2003 ). Selective attention in social phobia: The effect of a concurrent depressive disorder . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 1043 – 1054 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Niles, A., Mesri, B., Burkland, L., Lieberman, M., Craske, M. ( 2013 ). Attentional bias and emotional reactivity as predictors and mediators of behavioural treatment for social phobia . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51, 669 – 679 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Ononaiye, M., Turpin, G., Reidy, J. ( 2007 ). Attentional bias in social anxiety: Manipulation of stimulus duration and social evaluative anxiety . Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 727 – 740 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Pishyar, R., Harris, L. M., Menzies, R. G. ( 2004 ). Attentional bias for words and faces in social anxiety . Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 17, 23 – 36 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Purdon, C., Antony, M., Monteiro, S., Swinson, R. ( 2001 ). Social anxiety in college students . Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 15, 203 – 215 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Rapee, R. M., Heimberg, R. G. ( 1997 ). A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 741 – 756 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Rapee, R. M., MacLeod, C., Carpenter, L., Gaston, J., Frei, J., Peters, L., Baillie, A. ( 2013 ). Integrating cognitive bias modification into a standard cognitive behavioural treatment package for social phobia: A randomized control trial . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 207 – 215 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Rodebaugh, T., Woods, C., Heimberg, R., Liebowitz, M., Schneier, F. ( 2006 ). The factor structure and screening utility of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale . Psychological Assessment, 18, 231 – 237 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Rudaizky, D., Basanovic, J., MacLeod, C. ( 2014 ). Biased attentional engagement with, and disengagement from, negative information: Independent cognitive pathways to anxiety vulnerability? Cognition & Emotion, 28, 245 – 259 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Schofield, C., Johnson, A., Inhoff, A., Coles, M. ( 2012 ). Social anxiety and difficulty disengaging threat: Evidence from eye-tracking . Cognition & Emotion, 26, 300 – 311 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Shiffrin, R. M., Schneider, W. ( 1977 ). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory . Psychological Review, 84, 127 – 190 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R. E., Vagg, P., Jacobs, G. ( 1983 ). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Self-Evaluation Questionnaire). Palo Alto, CA : Consulting Psychologists Press .

Google Scholar

Spurr, J., Stopa, L. ( 2002 ). Self-focused attention in social phobia and social anxiety . Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 947 – 975 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Stein, M. B., Kean, Y. M. ( 2000 ). Disability and quality of life in social phobia: Epidemiologic findings . American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1606 – 1613 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Vassilopoulos, S. F. ( 2005 ). Social anxiety and the vigilance-avoidance pattern of attentional processing . Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 33, 13 – 24 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Waters, A. M., Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Pine, D. S. ( 2011 ). Attention bias for angry faces in children with social phobia . Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2, 475 – 489 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Weinstock, L. ( 1998 ). Gender differences in the presentation and management of social anxiety disorder . Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 60, 9 – 13 .

Google Scholar ISI

Wells, A., Clark, D. M. ( 1997 ). Social phobia: A cognitive approach . In Davey, G. C. L. (Ed.), Phobias—A handbook of description, treatment and theory (pp. 3 – 26 ). Chichester, England : Wiley .

Google Scholar

Wittchen, H. U., Fuetsch, M., Sonntag, H., Müller, N., Liebowitz, M. ( 2000 ). Disability and quality of life in pure and comorbid social phobia: Findings from a controlled study . European Psychiatry, 15, 46 – 58 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Yiend, J. ( 2010 ). The effects of emotion on attention: A review of attentional processing of emotional information . Cognition & Emotion, 24, 3 – 47 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI