ORCID

0009-0001-7570-354X

Keywords

Social anxiety, shame, self-focused attention, post-event processing, emotion-focused therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology | Counseling Psychology | Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how emotional processes, represented by internalized shame and daily shame (from the emotion-focused therapy model), and cognitive processes, represented by self-focused attention and post-event processing (from cognitive-behavioral models), operate on a daily basis to contribute to social anxiety. Data collected from a sample of 39 individuals with high social anxiety via an online survey and daily diaries was analyzed using multilevel path analysis. The results showed that, at the within-person level, daily shame experienced during an important social interaction influenced self-focused attention during that same interaction and subsequent post-event processing, which in turn predicted follow-up social anxiety. At the between-person level, however, internalized shame predicted daily social anxiety through daily shame rather than self-focused attention or post-event processing. These findings suggest that while daily occurring cognitive biases may be significant contributors to everyday social anxiety, the connection between the tendency to exhibit biased cognitive processing and baseline daily social anxiety appears minimal. Instead, internalized shame may be a better predictor of this baseline daily social anxiety. While cognitive-behavioral therapy may alleviate social anxiety by addressing maladaptive cognitive biases, with benefits potentially being more profound at the daily level, it may also be beneficial, as suggested by emotion-focused therapy, to resolve internalized shame to reduce the baseline social anxiety at the individual level. Collectively, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the emotional and cognitive mechanisms underlying social anxiety and provides counselors with evidence to support more flexible and potentially effective clinical interventions.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Summer

Committee Chair

Hagedorn, W. Bryce

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Community Innovation and Education

Department

Counselor Education & School Psychology

Format

PDF

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

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