Todd B. Kashdan - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research plan seeks to investigate the effects of social anxiety and attentional focus on positive affect (PA), curiosity, interpersonal closeness, and negative affect (NA) via experimental designs and treatment outcome studies. Socially anxious (SA) individuals tend to be preoccupied with negative thoughts, including expectations of being rejected, potentially interfering with their ability to be attentive and responsive during social interactions. In social interactions, listening and responding are important ingredients that lead to reciprocal self-disclosure and intimacy. Excessive self-focused attention may prevent attention from being allocated outward, toward other people, potentially impairing the quality and enjoyment of social interactions. The primary experimental study will test the hypotheses that: (1) self-focused attention will amplify the relationship between high-SA and low levels of PA, curiosity, poor social performance, and high NA during social interactions, (2) self-focused attention will amplify differences between high and low-SA groups for ratings of affect, self-disclosure, and social skills as measured by confederates and independent raters, (3) immediately following and the day after interactions, high-SA individuals will demonstrate greater ruminative post-event cognitive processing and recall biases to negative stimuli relative to low-SA individuals. To test these hypotheses, an interpersonal closeness-generating experimental task, previously validated in a pilot study, will be employed. High and low-SA students will interact with same-sex confederates trained in standardized scripted roles. All participants will take part in both a self and external-focus experimental manipulation. In the self-focus condition, participants will answer questions while a camera is directed at them. In the external-focus condition, participants will ask questions with the camera focused on the confederate. A secondary study is planned to test the potential moderating role of self-focused attention on symptom reduction and affectivity during the course of a cognitive-behavioral group treatment for depression. Comparisons will be made between individuals with depression vs. comorbid depression and social anxiety disorder. The overarching goal of this research is to identify the potential contributing role of attentional focus to the affect, motivation, and interpersonal behavior of SA individuals. A better understanding of these mechanisms could ultimately lead to the development of treatment modules designed to re-train attention from a self-orientation to a better balance of positively-valenced self and other orientation.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research seeks to identify characteristics and processes that potentially contribute to the persistence and disability of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). There is growing evidence that anhedonic processes (e.g., diminished pleasure) apply to excessive social anxiety and not just depression. We will test a model suggesting that normal feelings of social anxiety transform into pathology when individuals engage in rigid and inflexible internal struggles to regulate and avoid anxious experiences. The devotion of enormous time and energy toward experiential avoidance may interfere with movement toward pleasurable and valued directions. The proposed research will address limitations of prior work including an over- reliance on global self-reports, analogue samples, and an absence of theory. In the present study, individuals with SAD will be compared to a non-disordered control group. Cellular phones with interactive voice response (IVR) systems will be used to collect real-time data in each individual's natural environment for 14 consecutive days (e.g., self-monitoring of social anxiety and experiential avoidance during and after social interactions). IVR reporting will occur after each social interaction lasting at least 10 minutes, during random daily prompts, and at end-of-day interviews. Participants will self-monitor daily social anxiety, emotion regulation strategies (e.g., suppression), experiential avoidance, attentional focus, affect, life events, and other variables (e.g., perceived intimacy). After the 14 days of IVR reporting, data will be collected on each interaction partner (e.g., relationship quality). It is hypothesized that: (1) individuals with SAD will report diminished positive experiences, fewer positive events, and these relations will be moderated by social context (e.g., greater versus lower social status of interaction partner) and experiential avoidance (i.e., individuals with SAD reporting greater struggles to suppress and avoid anxious experiences will report particularly diminished positive experiences), (2) greater social anxiety during social interactions will be related to diminished positive experiences and more experiential avoidance, (3) experiential avoidance will mediate relationships between SAD and positive outcomes, and (4) effects will not be the result of comorbidity. This research will identify the experiences and processes of individuals with and without SAD in everyday life. Findings could ultimately lead to the development of more effective intervention efforts. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]