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Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 29, No. 4, August 2005 ( CDOI: 10.1007/s10608-005-2413-9 2005), pp. 387398Self-Evaluative Biases in Social AnxietyAndrea R. Ashbaugh,1,2,4 Martin M. Antony,1,3,5 Randi E. McCabe,1,3Louis A. Schmidt,2 and Richard P. Swinson1,3This study examined how social anxiety influences the evaluation of others, and the
evaluation of the self. High (HSA; n = 24) and low (LSA; n = 24) socially anxious undergraduates watched a video of either an anxious or confident actor presenter
and rated various aspects of the presenter and the presentation. Participants then gave
their own speech, which they later evaluated with the same measures used to evaluate
the other presenter. Both the HSA and LSA groups rated the anxious actor presenter
more negatively than the confident actor presenter on most measures. The two groups
did not differ in their evaluations of the actor presenters. However, when rating their
own performance, the HSA group rated themselves more negatively on some measures than did the LSA group, even after controlling for observable differences in
performance and anxiety between the two groups. This suggests that although socially
anxious individuals may have clear performance skills deficits, they overestimate the
extent to which these behavioral deficits are apparent to others.KEY WORDS: social phobia; information processing bias; social anxiety; performance anxiety.A number of current cognitive theoretical models of social anxiety and social
phobia propose that anxiety in social situations arises when an individuals selfperceived performance is inconsistent with what he or she believes are the expectations of the audience. In other words, individuals with elevated social anxiety are
often convinced that they will behave inappropriately, that others will judge them
negatively, and that the consequences of making a negative social impression will
be great (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997).1Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre, St. Josephs Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.2Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada.4Present address: Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.5Correspondence should be directed to Martin M. Antony, PhD, Anxiety Treatment and Research
Centre, 6th Floor, Fontbonne Building, St. Josephs Healthcare, Hamilton, 50 Charlton Avenue East,
Hamilton, Ontario L8N 4A6, Canada; e-mail: [email protected]/05/0800-0387/0 C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.388 Ashbaugh, Antony, McCabe, Schmidt, and SwinsonResearch generated from these...