Social anxiety and social cognition: The influence of sex

    Authors

    S. R. Sutterby; J. S. Bedwell; J. S. Passler; A. E. Deptula;F. Mesa

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Psychiatry Res.

    Keywords

    Emotional intelligence; Interpersonal relations; Social phobia; Social; anxiety disorder; Theory of mind; Gender; EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE; BEHAVIORAL-INHIBITION; FACIAL EXPRESSIONS; EYES; TEST; PHOBIA; MIND; INFORMATION; DISORDER; CHILDREN; POPULATION; Psychiatry

    Abstract

    Current theoretical models predict a negative relationship between social anxiety and performance on measures of social cognition, yet there appears to be relatively little research that directly examines this relationship and the potential interaction of sex. Two samples of undergraduates self-reporting either a high (n = 27; 59% female) or low (n = 29; 62% female) level of social anxiety on the abbreviated Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory completed two social cognition measures: the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Eyes Test) and The Awareness of Social Inference Test-Parts 2 and 3). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant group by sex interaction on overall social cognition performance. Follow-up analyses indicated that males with high and low levels of social anxiety did not differ on any of the social cognition measures. In contrast, females with high social anxiety performed significantly better on the Eyes Test and the TASIT-Part 3 than females with low social anxiety. Contrary to expectations, results of this study suggest that females with high social anxiety may exhibit better-developed social cognition abilities than those with low social anxiety. These preliminary results have clinical implications in the treatment of individuals with social phobia. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Psychiatry Research

    Volume

    197

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    242

    Last Page

    245

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000308768100010

    ISSN

    0165-1781

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