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Cognitive aspects of social phobia: a review of theories and experimental research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

C.Z. Musa  and
J.P. Lépine
C.Z. Musa
Affiliation:
Hôpital Lariboisière-F. Widal, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Service de psychiatrie adulte, 200 rue du Fbg Saint Denis,75475Paris cedex 10, France
J.P. Lépine
Affiliation:
Hôpital Lariboisière-F. Widal, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Service de psychiatrie adulte, 200 rue du Fbg Saint Denis,75475Paris cedex 10, France
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Summary

Cognitive theories of social phobia have largely been inspired by the information-processing models of anxiety. They propose that cognitive biases can, at least partially, explain the etiology and maintenance of this disorder. A specific bias, conceived as a tendency to preferentially process socially-threatening information, has been proposed. This bias is thought to intervene in cognitive processes such as attention, memory and interpretation. Research paradigms adopted from experimental cognitive psychology and social psychology have been used to investigate these hypotheses. The existence of a bias in the allocation of attentional resources and the interpretation of information seems to be confirmed. A memory bias in terms of better retrieval for threat-relevant information appears to depend on specific encoding activities.

Keywords

attentioncognitive theoriesinformation processinginterpretationmemorysocial phobia
Type
Review
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , 2000 , pp. 59 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS 2000

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