Social Anxiety And Cognitive Behavior Analysis

Anxiety is something I have struggled with my whole life especially social anxiety. It has really effected the relationships I’ve had and the way people treat me. So I took a great interest when we covered this topic. Information-processing biases based on the cognitive and cognitive behavioral models have been reported in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The article uses two methods to asses and examine the functions of attention bias, tests such as the dot-probe paradigm and modified Stroop task have been used. Studies have indicated that SAD patients demonstrate both avoidance and approach responses. Cognitive models have been developed for each anxiety disorder. Wells and Mathews suggest that “the balance between self-focused attention and attention toward external elements is important in socially interactive situations”. To much attention on one person makes individuals see themselves as the social subject and can lead to increased SAD symptoms. The Stroop effect is delayed response that occurs when the name of a color is indicated …show more content…
They conducted the dot-probe task with a group of 18 SAD patients and a control group of 17 undergraduate students who agreed to participate. They conducted the dot-probe task with each participant. After presenting a masked stimulus for 500 ms, a pair of a neutral words and a threat word was presented for 500 ms on the left and right of the screen. After the pair of words disappears, a dot was presented either on the left or the right of the screen. Participants were instructed to press the enter button as quickly as possible after the dot was presented. The results indicated no difference between T and N words, in contrast attention bias scores indicated the the response times of the SAD group were significantly