Theory of mind ability in high socially anxious individuals

Lenton-Brym, Ariella P.; Moscovitch, David A.; Vidovic, Vanja; Nilsen, Elizabeth S.; Friedman, Ori

doi:10.1080/10615806.2018.1483021

Cited by 29 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Significant impairments have been reported in individuals with schizophrenia (254, 255) [also first-degree relatives: Refs. (256, 257)], depression (258), ASD (69, 150, 151, 231, 259–261), high social anxiety (262), borderline personality disorder (250, 263, 264), bipolar disorder (265, 266), anorexia nervosa (267), and substance misuse (268, 269). However, no such difficulties were revealed in other studies that involved patients with remitted bipolar disorder (270), obsessive–compulsive disorder (271), borderline personality disorder (272), or depression (273).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do You Have in Mind? Measures to Assess Mental State Reasoning in Neuropsychiatric Populations

Eddy

2019

Front. Psychiatry

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Social interaction is closely associated with both functional capacity and well-being. Previous research has not only revealed evidence of social dysfunction in individuals with a wide range of psychiatric and neurological disorders but also generated an abundance of potential measures for assessing social cognition. This review explores the most popular measures used within neuropsychiatric populations to investigate the ability to recognize or reason about the mental states of others. Measures are also critically analyzed in terms of strengths and limitations to aid task selection in future clinical studies. The most frequently applied assessment tools use verbal, visual or audiovisual forms of presentation and assess recognition of mental states from facial features, self-rated empathy, the understanding of other’s cognitive mental states such as beliefs and intentions, or the ability to combine knowledge of other’s thoughts and emotions in order to understand subtle communications or socially inappropriate behavior. Key weaknesses of previous research include limited investigation of relationships with clinical symptoms, and underutilization of measures of everyday social functioning that offer a useful counterpart to traditional “lab” tasks. Future studies should aim to carefully select measures not only based on the range of skills to be assessed but also taking into account potential difficulties with interpretation and the need to gain insight into the application of social cognitive skills as well as ability per se . Some of the best measures include those with well-matched control trials (e.g., Yoni Task) or those that restrict the influence of verbal deficits (e.g., intentions comic strip task), elicit spontaneous mentalizing (e.g., Animations Task), and possess greater ecological validity (e.g., Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition). Social cognitive research within psychiatric populations will be further enhanced through the development of more closely matched control tasks, and the exploration of relationships between task performance, medication, strategy use, and broader emotional and motor functions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do You Have in Mind? Measures to Assess Mental State Reasoning in Neuropsychiatric Populations

Eddy

2019

Front. Psychiatry

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“…The disparity between the findings and current treatment for SAD is consistent with recent criticisms of the treatment options available (Chapdelaine et al, 2018) and highlights the necessity for updated recommendations. However, SOCIAL ANXIETY AND THEORY OF MIND 38 the findings regarding ToM deficits in SAD have not been unanimous with some, like this study, not finding an association with social anxiety (Lenton-Brym et al, 2018), and others finding an association (Washburn, 2012;Hezel & McNally, 2014;Washburn et al, 2016). This demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between social anxiety and ToM ability, and means that more concordance in the literature regarding the mechanisms and characteristics of SAD is required before firm recommendations for treatment can be made.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 46%

“…This means that it cannot be irrefutably determined that those that participated did not have a diagnosis of (or undiagnosed) SAD. This presents a limitation as the findings demonstrate -in the context of current publications -differential ToM ability in individuals scoring high in social anxiety but without a clinical disorder (Lenton-Brym et al, 2018), and individuals with SAD (Washburn, 2012;Hezel & McNally, 2014;Washburn et al, 2016).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Likewise, Hezel and McNally's (2014) finding of a ToM reasoning deficit has not been consistently reported. Lenton-Brym, Moscovitch, Vidovic, Nilsen, and Friedman (2018), when administering the MASC to a sub-clinical sample of participants identified as having a high level of social anxiety (HSA) or a low level of social anxiety (LSA), found no difference between the two groups in terms of 'excessive ToM'. This therefore means that there cannot be full confidence in interpretations as there is a lack of consistency in results.…”

Section: Tom and Sadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This suggestion is purely speculative and the association between social anxiety scores and cognitive and affective ToM ability was not found to be significant. However, given that the limited research in this area has demonstrated a reasonable argument that there may be a difference in the ToM abilities of individuals with SAD (Washburn, 2012;Hezel & McNally, 2014;Washburn et al, 2016) and individuals without SAD but highly scoring on measures of SOCIAL ANXIETY AND THEORY OF MIND 31 social anxiety (Lenton-Brym et al, 2018), it is of importance to discuss the potential reasons for this as it is not a matter that has been explicitly explored.…”

Section: Social Anxiety and Theory Of Mind 30mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Anxiety and Theory of Mind: A Comparison of Self-Report and Objective Measures

Paricos¹

2019

Preprint

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This study aims to explore the relationship between social anxiety and Theory of Mind (ToM) ability. Findings are evaluated in the context of theoretical models (Clark & Wells, 1995; Heimberg et al., 2010), to aid improvement of the understanding of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Two hypotheses are proposed: (1) social anxiety will negatively associate with self-report and objective measures of ToM ability; (2) objective and self-report measures of ToM will be positively associated. Literature assessing the relationship between social anxiety and ToM has not produced consistent results and has exclusively focused on ToM decoding and reasoning ability. This study is the first to explore the relationship between social anxiety, cognitive and affective ToM ability, and self-reported ToM ability. A correlational study was conducted (36 participants), comparing Social Interaction Anxiety Scale scores (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) for social anxiety levels; Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) perspective-taking subscale scores for self-reported ToM ability (Davis, 1980); error rate (in millimeters) on the Paper and Pencil Sandbox Task (Coburn, Bernstein, & Begeer, 2015) for cognitive ToM ability; and reaction times on the Yoni Task (Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007) for cognitive and affective ToM ability. Contrary to expectations, no significant relationships were found between any of the measures. The results prompt re-thinking regarding the mechanisms of SAD and offer insight into the complexity of the relationship between social anxiety and ToM ability. However, the implications can only be inferred within the context of the study limitations, these are discussed alongside recommendations for future research.

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Mentalizing strategies for navigating the social world in adolescence

Williamson

Mills

2022

Infant and Child Development

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Mentalizing-the ability to represent or infer the mental states of others-continues to develop into and throughout adolescence. Increased mentalizing sophistication during adolescence is thought to support the navigation of increasingly complex social relationships and contexts. However, developmental science has yet to aggregate the seemingly disparate findings from research relating mentalizing to functional outcomes, such as internalizing mental health concerns, into clear and comprehensive theories that explain individual variability during adolescence. In this review, we describe approaches that have been used to measure mentalizing during adolescence and propose a methodological framework to measure mentalizing as a multi-dimensional process that continues to develop as a response to the environment during adolescence.

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Theory of mind ability in high socially anxious individuals

Cited by 29 publications

References 47 publications

What Do You Have in Mind? Measures to Assess Mental State Reasoning in Neuropsychiatric Populations

What Do You Have in Mind? Measures to Assess Mental State Reasoning in Neuropsychiatric Populations

Social Anxiety and Theory of Mind: A Comparison of Self-Report and Objective Measures

Mentalizing strategies for navigating the social world in adolescence

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