Differential effects of safety behaviour subtypes in social anxiety disorder

Try to Find Me: Social Anxiety and Peer First Impressions

“…For example, they respond to partner smiles with artificial rather than genuine smiles (Heerey & Kring, 2007) and have difficulty reciprocating others' intimate disclosures (e.g., Alden & Bieling, 1998;Sparrevohn & Rapee, 2009). A necessary direction for future work would be to examine whether the failure of perceivers to detect a socially anxious target's unique characteristics is related to the adoption of safety behaviors and other efforts at self-concealment (Plasencia et al, 2011;Rodebaugh, 2009a).…”

“…A second, and not mutually exclusive, possibility is that other people have difficulty forming accurate impressions of socially anxious individuals due to their emotional reserve and nonexpressiveness. In support of the latter possibility, socially anxious individuals report that they engage in self-concealment to prevent others from rejecting them (Rodebaugh, 2009a) and adopt subtle avoidance (safety-seeking) behaviors, such as minimizing selfdisclosure and emotional expression, to prevent feared social outcomes (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995;Hirsch, Meynen, & Clark, 2004;Plasencia, Alden, & Taylor, 2011;Rapee & Heimberg, 1997;. They also acknowledge that their behavior does not reflect their "true" (authentic) selves (Plasencia et al, 2011).…”

“…In support of the latter possibility, socially anxious individuals report that they engage in self-concealment to prevent others from rejecting them (Rodebaugh, 2009a) and adopt subtle avoidance (safety-seeking) behaviors, such as minimizing selfdisclosure and emotional expression, to prevent feared social outcomes (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995;Hirsch, Meynen, & Clark, 2004;Plasencia, Alden, & Taylor, 2011;Rapee & Heimberg, 1997;. They also acknowledge that their behavior does not reflect their "true" (authentic) selves (Plasencia et al, 2011). Self-concealment and reliance on safety behaviors are likely to stand in the way of providing relevant personality cues, a critical step in the formation of accurate impressions (Funder, 1995).…”

Out of the shadows and into the spotlight: Social blunders fuel fear of self-exposure in social anxiety disorder

“…They tend to view themselves as having low social currency and as holding an especially tenuous position within the social hierarchy (Antony, Rowa, Liss, Swallow, & Swinson, 2005;Moscovitch, Gavric, Merrifield, Bielak, & Moscovitch, 2011;Rodebaugh, 2009;Weisman, Aderka, Marom, Hermesh, & Gilboa-Schechtman, 2011). When their self-evaluative concerns are activated by social threat, they often adopt the use of safety behaviors that function to conceal the self and prevent perceived personal flaws from being exposed to the criticism of others (Moscovitch et al, 2013;Plasencia, Alden, & Taylor, 2011;. Thus, from the perspective of the socially anxious, social mishaps may be particularly threatening by virtue of their power to thrust them unexpectedly into the spotlight, illuminating their deficiencies for all to see (Moscovitch, 2009).…”

Engaging in Less Protective Self-Presentation: The Effects of a Friend's Presence on the Socially Anxious

“…For socially anxious people, these disaffiliative tendencies may make them appear unfriendly, cold, and aloof (Leary & Kowalski, 1995;Stangier et al, 2006), thereby creating an unfavorable impression on others (Alden & Bieling, 1998;Pilkonis, 1977). Similarly, the clinical literature demonstrates that using safety behaviors such as saying little and avoiding eye contact can have significant negative intra-and interpersonal consequences (Plasencia, Alden, & Taylor, 2011;. In short, although socially anxious people use protective self-presentation tactics to cope with their anxiety in social life-which in some instances may be an appropriate reaction (Laux & Weber, 1991;Renner, Laux, Schü tz, & Tedeschi, 2004), in doing so they may (at best) avoid failure or embarrassment, or (at worst) bring about the exact outcomes they are so intent on preventing.…”