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Self-focused attention has been demonstrated to influence and be influenced by situational social anxiety in clients with social phobia, but the mechanisms of this relationship have yet to be established. This study examines the degree to which self-focus
exacerbates anxiety and impairs social performance in normal controls as well as
social phobics. In addition, the role of fear of negative evaluation as a moderator of
this relationship is examined. Results supported the hypothesis of a functional role
of self-focused attention in anxiety but not social performance, and this relationship
held true for participants in the normal control group as well as the social phobia
group. Fear of negative evaluation was surprisingly not a factor in this relationship.
These results are discussed in a framework of shifting attributions for social effectiveness based on the shift in perspective engendered by self-focused attention.
KEY WORDS: self-focus; social phobia; anxiety; attention.
The relationship between negative affect and self-focused attention has received
increasing research attention in the last decade. Several investigators have documented the self-focusing effect of negative mood (Salovey, 1992; Wegner & Guiliano, 1980; Wood, Saltzberg, & Goldsamt, 1990; Wood, Saltzberg, Neale, Stone, &
Rachmiel, 1990), while others have examined the reverse effect, or the degree to
which self-directed attention impacts affect, cognition, or perception (Burgio,
Glass, & Merluzzi, 1982; Fenigstein, 1979; Gibbons, Carver, Scheier, & Hormuth,
st, 1996; Scheier & Carver, 1977; Woody, 1996). Theoretical papers
1979; Lundh & O
have been devoted to explaining the widely documented relationship between selffocused attention and negative affect (Palfai & Salovey, 1992) or psychopathology
(Ingram, 1990). In particular, several writers have attempted to explain the role of
self-focused attention in social anxiety (Hartman, 1983; Hope, Gansler, & Heimberg,
1989; Sarason, 1975; Schlenker & Leary, 1982).
Definitions of self-focused attention abound. Palfai and Salovey (1992) use
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0147-5916/00/0800-0473$18.00/0 2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation
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METHOD
Participants
Two groups of participants were recruited from the greater New Haven area.
The clinical group consisted of 20 clients with a primary diagnosis of social phobia.
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477
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and said nothing. Because this was an unusual social role, the participant in the
Passive role was given several examples of analogous situations that might occur
outside the laboratory. Appropriate models for behavior would be situations in
which the Passive participant was the subject of a lengthy introduction or roast
in front of an audience. The order of the speeches was counterbalanced. Both
participants were fully briefed on the task before entering the testing room. During
that briefing, participants rated how much anxiety (0100) they anticipated experiencing during each speech. They also rated the degree to which they believed their
social performance would be skillful, on another 0100 scale. Because this was a
novel task, every Speaker received a list of prompts to use as a guide for both
speeches. These prompts included positive and negative emotions, thoughts, bodily
sensations, and overt behavior. While anxiety and related sensations were certainly
a part of this prompt list, most of the items were not related to anxiety. Thus,
Speakers were free to discuss their own anxiety or to discuss other emotions such
as feeling bored, annoyed, rushed, or curious about the experimental task.
Previous research has demonstrated that having other people look directly at a
participant exacerbates social anxiety and self-consciousness (Leary, Britt, Cutlip, &
Templeton, 1992). To ensure that each participant perceived equal scrutiny from
the audience, the experimenter assigned half of the audience to observe the Speaker
and half to observe the Passive participant for the duration of the entire task,
regardless of the focus of the Speakers speech. This was done to constrain the
audience members from their natural tendency to look directly at someone who is
speaking to them. This assignment was undertaken in full view of the participants
before they began the task. Participants were not explicitly informed about the role
of the audience, other than gaze direction.
Although the task was somewhat stressful for some participants, all completed
both trials of the task without escape. Immediately following each speech,
participants rated their anxiety during the speech and gave a self-rating of their
social performance on the same 0100 scales used before the task. Additionally,
participants completed the FAQ following each speech. Participants also completed an FNE during the experiment, which was randomized either before or
after the task.
Observer ratings were taken from videotapes of the tasks. During the rating
sessions, half of the video monitor was covered while observers rated one participant
at a time. This procedure also allowed for all observers to rate all participants. A
pool of four volunteer judges, unaware of the specific hypotheses of the study or
the diagnostic status of participants, viewed the videotapes of the speeches in real
time. Judges had received instruction in rating social performance and anxious
appearance from the first author, and they had previously practiced rating anxious
appearance and social performance on archival videotapes. Because of the unique
nature of the Passive role, judges used the same referent for skillful appearance as
the Passive participants used, namely, a lengthy introduction or roast before an
audience. The four judges were all bachelors or masters level research assistants.
Despite their minimal training, judges ratings were reliable; intraclass correlations
ranged from .76.99 for judgments of anxious and skillful appearance in both the
self- and other-focus conditions.
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RESULTS
Results were analyzed using a split-plot factorial analysis of variance. There
were two between-participants factors, speech role and diagnostic group, and one
within-participants factor, focus of attention. Focus of attention was a repeated
measure, with each participant experiencing both a self-focusing and an otherfocusing condition. Dependent variables were self-ratings of anticipated anxiety
and social performance, as well as self-rated anxiety and social performance during
the task. Main effects for focus of attention on anxiety were expected, indicating
self-focused attention increased the amount of anxiety experienced by participants.
Consistent with the results from Woody (1996), attention was not expected to affect
social performance measures.
Manipulation Check
A manipulation check was conducted to ensure that the experimental task
succeeded in changing focus of attention across speech conditions. A split-plot
ANOVA revealed a significant within-subject effect of focus of attention condition
on the FAQself subscale (F(1,37) 17.20, p .0002, partial 2 .32) indicating
the manipulation succeeded in changing self-focus in the intended direction. The
between-subjects main effect for group was also significant (F(1,37) 5.82, p
.02, partial 2 .14); participants with social phobia were generally more selffocused than the control group participants. However, there was no significant main
effect for speech role and no interaction effect. Changes in focus of attention in
each focus condition are depicted graphically in Fig. 1.
Similarly, an ANOVA using the FAQexternal subscale as the dependent variable
indicated an effect of focus condition (F(1,37) 12.12, p .001, partial 2 .25),
confirming that the participants level of external-focus also changed corresponding
to focus condition. The analysis also revealed a significant effect for speech role
(F(1,37) 10.67, p .002, partial 2 .22) on FAQexternal. Participants in the Passive
role scored significantly higher in external focus than Speakers across conditions
of the experiment (t 3.5, p .003; see Table I for means). This result may be due
to the fact that Passive participants attention was naturally drawn to the Speaker,
whereas the nature of the Passive role made it a less salient stimulus to attract the
Speakers attention. In contrast to the significant differences between diagnostic
groups observed on the FAQself, the socially phobic and nonphobic control groups
were equivalent on the FAQexternal scale. The interaction between focus of attention
and diagnostic group was also not significant.
Anxiety
A preliminary examination of the data ruled out the presence of extreme scores.
Means and standard deviations for measures of anxiety and social performance are
listed in Table I. Analyses of measures of social anxiety and social performance
were conducted using split-plot analysis of variance, with focus of attention as a
within-subjects factor and speech role and diagnosis as between-subjects factors.
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Three dependent measures of anxiety were examined: anticipated anxiety, selfreported anxiety during the task, and anxious appearance. Analysis of anticipated
anxiety revealed a significant main effect for focus of attention (F(1,37) 9.07,
p .005, partial 2 .20). Participants anticipated more anxiety in self-focusing
speech conditions than in other-focusing conditions. There was also a main effect
for speech role (F(1,37) 4.16, p .05, partial 2 .10), in which Speakers
anticipated more anxiety than those assigned to the Passive role. Surprisingly, there
were no significant main effects or interactions involving diagnostic group, indicating
that participants anticipated equivalent amounts of anxiety in the face of these
experimental conditions, regardless of diagnostic status.
Self-report of anxiety during the task, arguably the most important measure,
demonstrated a main effect of focus of attention (F(1,37) 6.15, p .02, partial
2 .14). Participants reported experiencing more anxiety in the self-focus condition
than in the other-focus condition. There were no effects of speech role or diagnostic
group and no interactions for anxiety during the task.
Observer ratings revealed participants appeared more anxious in the self-focus
condition (F(1,37) 22.79, p .0001, partial 2 .38) and in the Speaker role
12.6
9.0
60.6
50.2
64.3
56.2
53.8
50.2
Mean
3.4
1.8
22.2
22.9
10.4
20.3
21.4
17.2
SD
Speaker role
11.8
11.7
46.5
39.9
55.4
54.3
56.3
52.9
Mean
3.3
2.5
20.0
23.1
14.3
26.4
20.5
12.2
SD
Passive role
Self-focus condition
11.2
11.1
48.9
43.3
57.5
58.9
53.9
52.1
Mean
4.3
3.1
23.1
24.1
14.5
19.0
21.4
17.7
SD
Speaker role
10.0
12.7
37.3
31.0
48.9
59.8
53.8
54.1
Mean
3.5
2.1
25.4
23.3
12.2
23.8
23.4
14.7
SD
Passive role
Other-focus condition
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in general agreement with the observers regarding their level of social performance
(t(18) 1.12 and 1.56, p .14, for self- and other-focus conditions, respectively).
However, nonphobic control group members consistently rated themselves as more
skillful than the observers rated them to be (t(18) 2.75 and 2.87, p .01, for selfand other-focus conditions, respectively). This complicated interaction is depicted in
Fig. 2.
Fear of Negative Evaluation
As described, the members of the normal comparison group showed substantially the same response to self-focused attention in a speech situation as those with
social phobia. We next turned to evaluating the role of fear of negative evaluation
in moderating the relationship between self-focus and social anxiety.
A preliminary comparison revealed an expected difference between diagnostic
groups on the FNE (t(31) 3.95, p .0004). Participants with social phobia reported
significantly more FNE (21.3 8.2) than those without social phobia (12.9 4.9).
Self-focused attention, as measured by the FAQself, was significantly correlated with
FNE, particularly when participants were in a self-focused condition (r .57 and
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.35 for self- and other-focus conditions, respectively). This pattern of correlations
suggests that participants who were higher in FNE more readily became self-focused.
To test whether fear of negative evaluation serves to moderate the relationship
between self-focus and anxiety, the FNE and FAQself were used as predictors of selfreported anxiety in a multiple regression analysis. Predictors were simultaneously
entered into the analysis. The regression analysis revealed a strong relationship
between self-focus and social anxiety during both experimental conditions, both
when participants attention was intended to be focused on themselves and when
their attention was manipulated toward their social partner. However, neither FNE
nor the interaction between FNE and self-focus were significant predictors of selfreported anxiety (Table II). These regressions were also repeated separately by
diagnostic group. Although the groups were small, the results were no different
from those reported for the full sample.
Correlations between FNE and social anxiety in the self- and other-focused
conditions were moderately low and not statistically significant (r .22 and .27,
respectively). Thus, while self-focused attention was related to FNE and to selfreported anxiety, FNE was not related to anxiety, suggesting that it does not
moderate the relationship between self-focus and social anxiety.
DISCUSSION
The main purpose of this study was to further examine the previously observed
relationship between self-focused attention and anxiety in social phobia. Specifically,
the study addressed whether the anxiety-provoking effects of self-focused attention
would generalize to a normal comparison group. As expected, under conditions of
self-focused attention, participants anticipated more anxiety and reported feeling
more anxiety during the task. Participants also appeared more anxious to objective
judges when they were in a self-focused condition, even though these judges were
unaware of the purposes of the experiment and diagnostic category. Surprisingly,
the normal comparison group did not respond differently to the self-focus manipulation than the social phobia group. These findings, which replicate and extend those
of an earlier study (Woody, 1996), suggest that self-focused attention does play a
functional role in the exacerbation and maintenance of social anxiety. However,
the results also imply that this relationship is not unique to those with pathologic
levels of social anxiety.
Table II. Results of Regressions using Self-Focus and Fear of Negative Evaluation to
Predict Self-Reported Anxiety During the Task
Self-Focus condition
(Full Model R 2 .46)
Other-Focus condition
(Full Model R 2 .45)
FAQself
FNE
FAQself FNE
FAQself
FNE
FAQself FNE
Partial R 2
F Value
p Value
.42
.05
.12
.43
.03
.02
26.36
1.91
2.56
27.12
0.96
0.87
.0001
.17
.12
.0001
.33
.36
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486
devalue their social performance as compared to observer judgments (Alden & Wallace, 1995; Rapee & Lim, 1992; Stopa & Clark, 1993). Surprisingly, in the current study
socially phobic participants rated their own social performance relatively accurately.
While their ratings of their own social skill were lower than observer ratings, the
difference was not significant. Conversely, normal control participants significantly
overrated how well they performed compared to the ratings of observers.
This finding brings to mind the depressive realism described by Alloy and
Abramson (1979). In that study, dysphoric college students were more accurate in
their estimations of their own degree of control over a noncontingent event than
happier students, who overestimated their control. Alloy and Abramson concluded
that the perceptions of nondysphoric students were influenced by a self-serving
attributional bias that caused them to overestimate their amount of control. In a
similar way, self-focused attention may impact on ones judgment of social performance by altering attributional biases that are influenced by perspective. The widely
studied actor-observer bias is an example: individuals making attributions must
often cite circumstances of the situation to explain their own behavior, whereas
uninvolved observers of the same situation tend to point to personal characteristics
of the individuals involved in the action. Perhaps attributional biases shift as a
result of self-focus, so that social phobics make judgments about themselves as
though they were observers rather than actors. This hypothesis is currently being
tested by members of our research group.
One implication of this theory is that persons with social phobia may rely more
heavily on current and past attributions of social performance to form estimates
of their likely future social effectiveness. Rapee and Hayman (1996) have similarly
suggested that self-appraisal of performance might be based on a mental representation of how one looks to an observer. Excessive focus on internal sensations and
anxiety-related cognitions may provide a poor mental image of ones performance.
Rapee and Hayman found that self-ratings of performance quality were enhanced
after participants viewed a videotape of themselves giving a speech. Viewing the
videotape of their own performance also influenced participants to make more
positive ratings of their performance in a subsequent speech.
Assuming normal control participants have a wider variety of successful experiences on which to base estimates of future performance, social phobics may be
unduly influenced by these attributions based on a self-focused perspective. Thus,
social phobics may from their expectations for future (and current) performance
from internal comparisons based on internal attributions, such as I dont want to
mess this up like I did my last date/interview/speech. Less socially anxious persons
who are less self-focused during social interactions may be inclined to base expectations for performance partly on situational contingencies, such as I think I can do
as well as my friend/classmate/peer did in the same situation.
Another surprising finding was that socially phobic participants did not experience more anxiety during the task than nonphobic controls. In most cases for those
with social phobia, giving a speech represents their greatest fear, and being the
object of others evaluative attention certainly provokes intense anxiety. Although
we replicated the methodology from Woody (1996) as closely as possible, and the
general pattern of results is the same, the social phobia group in this study reported
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considerably less anxiety in the same scenario than the Woody (1996) sample
composed only of generalized social phobics. Anxiety ratings for social phobics in
this study were approximately one standard deviation below those obtained in the
earlier study. In addition, reflecting the effect of negative affect in raising selffocused attention, FAQexternal scores were much higher in the earlier study, although
FAQexternal scores were comparable.
It is probable that the clients in the present study, being a mixed group of
those with generalized and specific social phobia, formed a less severe experimental
group than the one in the earlier study. The FNE scores (21.3 8.2) of these social
phobics were akin to other socially phobic samples reported in the literature. The
Turner and Beidel group have reported means of 22.2 and 23.3 (Beidel et al., 1985;
Turner, Beidel, Dancu, & Keys, 1986), which are very comparable to our group.
The differences between the current social phobia sample and the earlier sample
may nevertheless lie in the inclusion of mixed subtypes of social phobia in the
present study. However, even with a potentially less severe clinical group, selffocused attention increased anxiety but did not influence social performance, and
this process was observed in both the clinical and normal comparison groups.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the many students and staff members who contributed
to this project. Although they are too numerous to list them all, special thanks go
to Jamelah Salahi, Betty Litto, and Helena Grenham.
Portions of this paper were presented as a poster at the 1996 conference of
the Eastern Psychological Association in Washington, DC.
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