Self-schemasare deeply held beliefs about oneself that shape how individuals process and interpret information.
In social anxiety, negative self-schemas (e.g., “I’m socially incompetent”) can reinforce anxiety and influence behavior in social situations. Social autobiographical memories are personal recollections of past social experiences.
For individuals with social anxiety, these memories often become biased, with negative experiences being more readily recalled and given greater weight. This selective memory reinforces negative self-schemas and perpetuates anxiety.
Key Points
Rationale
Individuals with SAD tend to view themselves as socially undesirable, with negative self-images derived from past distressing social experiences (Hackmann et al., 1998, 2000).
The autobiographical memory system plays a crucial role in constructing a stable sense of self across time (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000).
Past research has shown that socially anxious individuals prioritize processing negative social information (Hirsch & Clark, 2004) and recall aversive social memories more easily (Moscovitch et al., 2018).
While extensive research exists on negative memories in social anxiety, little is known about how socially anxious individuals process positive social memories.
Understanding these processes could inform the development of memory-based therapeutic interventions for SAD.
Method
Procedure
Participants wererandomly assignedto recall either a positive or negative social autobiographical memory.
They provided a brief summary, audio-recorded a detailed description, and rated the memory’s impact and meaningfulness. Participants then completed measures of social anxiety symptoms and self-schemas.
Sample
343 participants aged 18-35 were recruited via Prolific. The majority were White/European (75.80%) and resided in the United Kingdom (92.42%).
Measures
Statistical measures
Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined main effects and interactions between memory valence condition, social anxiety symptoms, and self-schema strength on memory impact and meaningfulness ratings.
Results
Hypothesis 1:Social anxiety symptoms would amplify impact and meaningfulness ratings for negative memories and constrain ratings for positive memories.
Hypothesis 2:Negative self-schemas would amplify impact and meaningfulness ratings for negative memories and constrain ratings for positive memories.
Hypothesis 3:Positive self-schemas would amplify impact and meaningfulness ratings for positive memories and constrain ratings for negative memories.
Insight
This study provides novel insights into how social anxiety and self-schemas influence the processing of positive and negative social autobiographical memories.
The finding that positive memories were generally rated as more impactful and meaningful aligns with research on positivity bias in the general population (Korn et al., 2012).
However, individuals with higher social anxiety or stronger negative self-schemas rated negative memories as more impactful, suggesting a negativity bias in memory appraisal.
Interestingly, social anxiety and negative self-schemas did not significantly affect ratings of positive memories.
This contrasts with previous research highlighting positivity deficits in social anxiety (Alden et al., 2008).
The authors suggest that positive memories may undergo more deliberate processing due to their incongruence with existing negative self-schemas, making them less susceptible to bias.
It suggests that negative memories may be more vulnerable to biased processing in socially anxious individuals, potentially due to their congruence with existing schemas and susceptibility to post-event processing (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008).
Future research could explore the linguistic properties of memory narratives, incorporate behavioral measures, and investigate how memory age influences appraisals.
Additionally, replication with a clinical sample of individuals diagnosed with SAD would enhance the generalizability of findings.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
Limitations
This study also had several methodological limitations, including:
Clinical Implications
The findings have significant implications for understanding andtreating social anxiety:
References
Primary reference
Martin, K. E., Kudryk, S. M., & Moscovitch, D. A. (2024). Effects of social anxiety and self‐schemas on the impact and meaningfulness of positive versus negative social autobiographical memories.British Journal of Clinical Psychology.https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12504
Other references
Alden, L. E., Taylor, C. T., Mellings, T. M., & Laposa, J. M. (2008). Social anxiety and the interpretation of positive social events.Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(4), 577–590.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders( 5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.
Brozovich, F., & Heimberg, R. G. (2008). An analysis of post-event processing in social anxiety disorder.Clinical Psychology Review, 28(6), 891–903.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2008.01.002
Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system.Psychological Review, 107, 261–288.https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.2.261
Hackmann, A., Clark, D. M., & McManus, F. (2000). Recurrent images and early memories in social phobia.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 601–610.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00161-8
Hackmann, A., Surawy, C., & Clark, D. M. (1998). Seeing yourself through others’ eyes: A study of spontaneously occurring images in social phobia.Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 26, 3–12.
Hirsch, C. R., & Clark, D. M. (2004). Information-processing bias in social phobia.Clinical Psychology Review, 24(7), 799–825.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2004.07.005
Korn, C. W., Prehn, K., Park, S. Q., Walter, H., & Heekeren, H. R. (2012). Positively biased processing of self-relevant social feedback.The Journal of Neuroscience, 32(47), 16832 16844.https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3016-12.2012
Moscovitch, D. A., Gavric, D. L., Merrifield, C., Bielak, T., & Moscovitch, M. (2011). Retrieval properties of negative vs. positive mental images and autobiographical memories in social anxiety: Outcomes with a new measure.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(8), 505-517.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.05.002
Moscovitch, D. A., Vidovic, V., Lenton-Brym, A. P., Dupasquier, J. R., Barber, K. C., Hudd, T., Zabara, N., & Romano, M. (2018). Autobiographical memory retrieval and appraisal in social anxiety disorder.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 107, 106–116.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.06.008
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Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
