The Effects of Social Anxiety and State Anxiety on Visual Attention: Testing the Vigilance-Avoidance Hypothesis

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
J Suzanne SinghDebra A Hope

Abstract

A growing theoretical and research literature suggests that trait and state social anxiety can predict attentional patterns in the presence of emotional stimuli. The current study adds to this literature by examining the effects of state anxiety on visual attention and testing the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis, using a method of continuous visual attentional assessment. Participants were 91 undergraduate college students with high or low trait fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a core aspect of social anxiety, who were randomly assigned to either a high or low state anxiety condition. Participants engaged in a free view task in which pairs of emotional facial stimuli were presented and eye movements were continuously monitored. Overall, participants with high FNE avoided angry stimuli and participants with high state anxiety attended to positive stimuli. Participants with high state anxiety and high FNE were avoidant of angry faces, whereas participants with low state and low FNE exhibited a bias toward angry faces. The study provided partial support for the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis. The findings add to the mixed results in the literature that suggest that both positive and negative emotional stimuli may be important in ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 18, 2015·Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience·Matt R JudahNancy B Carlisle
Aug 27, 2016·Journal of Personality Assessment·Daniel J LeeJessica L Domino
Jun 8, 2018·Anxiety, Stress, and Coping·Richard WermesSylvia Helbig-Lang
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Feb 11, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Jonas ReichenbergerAndreas Mühlberger
Jul 21, 2017·Current Psychiatry Reports·Nigel T M Chen, Patrick J F Clarke

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