Fear and Anxiety in Social Setting

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of dispositional and situational factors on cognitive biases. The theoretical background was based on Kimbrel’s Mediated Model of Social Anxiety and the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory by Gray and McNaughton. Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 (78 participants [85.9% females, aged 19–21 years]) included the induction of potential social threat, while in Study 2 (121 participants [85.1% females, aged 19–23 years]) real threat was used. The Reinforcement Sensitivity Questionnaire was employed as a measure of personality traits (Behavioral Inhibition System [BIS], Behavioral Approach System [BAS], Fight, Flight, and Freeze). Cognitive biases were assessed with the Dot Probe Task (attentional bias), Incidental Free Recall Task (memory bias), and Social Probability Cost Questionnaire (judgmental bias). The probability of occurrence of negative events was higher in the experimental group. BIS contributed positively to the prediction of probability of occurrence of negative events; and Freeze was positively related to attention bias toward pleasant stimuli. The results of the second study showed that experimentally induced circumstances of social threats did not affect cognitive biases. BIS and Freeze contributed positively to prediction of probability and distress in social context, while BIS was positively related with probability of occurrence of negative social events.

Social anxiety and rumination in the context of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory and the mediation model of social anxiety

“…In this analysis, the effect of Flight on the RTSQ is also insignificant. This effect was not expected and also here shown to be unstable (likely artefactual) and this can be associated with the findings of somewhat lower reliability of Flight scale (Krupić et al, 2016;Ranđelović et al, 2018;Sadiković et al, 2020;Smederevac et al, 2014). Also, no out-of-bound standardized estimates occurred.…”

“…Therefore, it can be noticed that BIS and BAS have a positive correlation with rumination, and their effects on social anxiety are positive and mediated by rumination. The previous studies suggest that BAS is a protective factor against cognitive biases (Kimbrel, 2009;Kimbrel et al, 2010;Kimbrel et al, 2012;Ranđelović, 2016;Ranđelović et al, 2018), and that rumination has a positive correlation with attentional and interpretative biases (Hsu et al, 2015, Mor et al, 2014. Moreover, previous studies point to a positive relationship between rumination and BAS (Li et al, 2015;Randles et al, 2010), and thus suggest a difference in rumination with respect to these cognitive biases.…”

“…The hypersensitivity of BIS-FFFS is a primary biological/personal basis for both social anxiety and cognitive biases for threatening stimuli (Gray & McNaughton, 2000;Kimbrel, 2008;Kimbrel et al, 2012;Ranđelović, 2016;Ranđelović et al, 2018). Although the MMSA includes the cognitive bias domain, it would be important to expand the model to include other cognitive processes that increase discomfort in social situations, resulting in inhibition and avoidance.…”

Daily Monitoring of Emotional Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic in Serbia: A Citizen Science Approach

“…Prediction both of worry and fear through a low BAS can be interpreted as a connection between impulsivity and lack of functional anxiety, which indicates the possibility that BAS regulates complex reactions to sudden situations and unconditional stimuli, for which there are no previously developed patterns of behavior. Namely, previous studies have shown that BIS and FFFS predict anxiety both in the domain of self-assessment (Ignjatović et al, 2013) and in experimental conditions (Ranąelović et al, 2018). However, the coronavirus pandemic represents a completely new and unexpected threat, and it is possible that it provoked the activation of a system that regulates reactions to novel situations, such as BAS.…”

Individual differences in social reward and threat expectancies linked to grey matter volumes in key regions of the social brain

“…The imagined scenario is ambiguous, in that it simultaneously holds the possibility for social reward and social threat, thus maximizing opportunities for individual differences to emerge. 58,59 Individuals' social reward and threat expectancies as measured by the LODESTARS are stable over time, are associated with other stable affective traits such as self-esteem, and may be grounded in temperament and attachment experiences. 60,61 Given this trait-like stability, we predicted that individual differences in expectancies for social threat and reward would be associated with stable, structural aspects of the brain.…”