Self‐reported and actual physiological responses in social phobia

Abstract

There were no group differences on any of the physiological measures during any of the four tasks. However, there were a number of between-group differences with regard to ratings of bodily sensations. Both clinical groups had higher ratings of racing heart than the non-anxious control group during the imagery task. In addition, social phobics had significantly higher ratings of racing heart during the social conversation in relation to both comparison groups. With regard to ratings of body heat, the anxious group had greater ratings than the non-anxious controls during the imagery task. Finally with regard to ratings of sweaty hands, both clinical groups had higher ratings than the non-anxious controls during the social conversation. All three groups were generally inaccurate in their ratings of bodily sensations.

Exposure to social-evaluative video clips: Neural, facial-muscular, and experiential responses and the role of social anxiety

“…With regard to subjective experience, these hypotheses were supported: individuals with higher scores on the BFNE-R experienced negative videos as more arousing; those with high FPES experienced positive videos as less pleasant. This is consistent with several studies showing that social anxiety, also in subclinical forms, is a key moderator of subjective, but not physiological, responses to social stimuli (e.g., Edelmann & Baker, 2002). However, these results are inconsistent with findings of Reichenberger and colleagues (2015) which are due to a different statistical approach using orthogonal variables.…”

Eye Contact Evokes Blushing Independently of Negative Affect

“…In general, people with or without social anxiety disorder appear to base their perception of blushing and other symptoms of anxiety more strongly on emotional experiences than on physiological cues (Drummond 1997;Mulkens et al 1997;Mulkens et al 1999;Gerlach et al 2001;Drummond 2001;Dijk et al 2009b;Edelmann and Baker 2002;Mauss et al 2004), and this was borne out in the present study (Table 2). This dissociation between subjective experiences and physiological activity presents challenges for theoretical views of emotion that posit a tight coupling between experiential, physiological and behavioural response systems.…”

Self-Focus and Cardiovascular Effects of Stressor Anticipation and Active Coping: The Moderating Influence of Trait Social Anxiety

“…Furthermore, some studies found differential cardiovascular effects of trait social anxiety confined to women [19,50]. As regards generalizability to clinical populations, available research suggests similar cardiovascular and psychological effects in nonclinical and clinical socially anxious individuals [51], however greater cognitive impairment might have strengthened withdrawal tendencies in a clinical population.…”