Lecture 10 - Social Anxiety, Shyness and Embarrassment Flashcards
What are the 3 things in the family of social anxieties
- Embarrassment
- Shyness
- Social Anxiety
Social anxiety contains elements of the first two, but embarrassment and shyness can
What has social anxiety told us about?
- Informed us about why people feel embarrassed and the impact this an have
- The extreme form = Social Anxiety Disorder - helps us understand effects of shyness and embarassment combining
Outline Mattick & Clarke’s (1997) distinctions between:
- Social ‘Interaction’ anxiety
- Social Phobia
- Social ‘Interaction’ anxiety
- Problems with interactions in social world
- Dealing with different, odd social situations
- Distress on meeting and talking to others
- Fear of being inarticulate, sounding stupid etc
- Anxiety about the situation in general - Social Phobia
- Anxiety/ fear at prospect of being observed by others
- What others will think of you, how they are perceivng you
- Fear of being structinised in that situation, not just the situation as a whole
- Eating, using public toilets etc
- Insecure in unseucre company
How is Socialy Interaction Anxiety measured?
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS)
- Statements you have to agree/ disagree too
- E.g. i have difficulty making eye contact with others (important measure as it is frequent in social interactions)
- Tension vs relaxation is important too
How is Social Phobia measured?
Social Phobia scale
- Again statements you have to agree/ disagree to
- E.g. i worry i might do something to attract the attention of other people
- SPS looks more at experience of anxiety, and how it effects a performance on a task
- Comparing from when they do that task in a social situation vs on their own
Outline Social Anxiety Disorders
- Significant combination of embarrassment and shyness
- Problems with social interactions
- Fear of social situations due to being judged negatively
- Always anticipating what could happen and what could go wrong
- recognise anxiety levels are unreasonable/ excessive
- interferes with daily life
How can S.A.D impact life?
- Educational
- Occupational
- Interpersonal
Major impact on life:
- Education
- may not attend lectures if feeling too self-concious
- may not like doing group presentations - Occupational
- may not take a job if it involves giving presentations, or lots of group work
- May prefer to work alone - Interpersonal
- May not socialise very much/ prefer their own company
What did Heckelm & Schneier (1995) define Social Anxiety Disorder as?
- Central aspect is fear of performing or “showing oneself up” in social situation - as this was lead to embarrassment, humiliation and shame
- Anticipation is key - anticipating something will go wrong, so they avoid the situation. But may feel shame/ embarrassment that they have missed the social interactions - its a vicious circle
Who does SAD affect?
- Usually before age of 25, rare above then
- Children and teens
- Varies between individuals
- Shyness may increase with age, and increase with your knowledge of peer intreactions and social judgement
- Other cases may be linked to specific life events
What are the 3 manifestations of Social Anxiety Disorder?
- Generalised Social Anxiety Disorder
2, Non-generalised (performance) Social anxiety disorder - Avoidant Personality
Outline Generalised Social Anxiety Disorder
- Wide range of social situations
- Persistant shyness throughout life
- Not event specific - just their temperament
Outline Non-generalised (performance) Social anxiety disorder
Anxiety response to certain situations
- performing in front of others
- Much more specific
Outline Avoidant Personality
- Most severe form of social anxiety
- Detached personality pattern
- No close friends, avoid activities
- Detached from social envronment
- Avoid situations
What are Markway & Markway (2003) 3 categories of SAD symptoms?
- Cognitive SYmptoms (What they think)
- Phsyical Reactions (How their body feels)
- Behavioural Avoidance (What they do)
Need to meet all 3 to be categorised with a form of SAD
Outline Cognitive Symptoms according to Markway & Markway (2003)
- Negative thoughts and doubts about themselves (Will i sound stupid, do i look okay?)
- Search for affirmation from outside world - if they can see everything is going okay, it will calm their social anxiety symptoms
- If audience is giving indication that the do in fact look stupied, their symptoms may be manifested a bit more
Outline Physical reactions according to Markway & Markway (2003)
- Vicious cycle: cognitive symptoms may cause physical reactions and vice versa
- Panic attacks, dizziness, shaking, sweating, short breath, increased HR, tight chest, numb body nausea
Outline Behavioural Avoidance according to Markway & Markway (2003)
- It is in our nature to avoid disttress and pain
- Extent of avoidance determined by severity of anxiety
- Choices always based on fear: either of the situation, or their actions in the situation
- Avoidance reinforces anxiety - you avoid learning that you can cope and manage the situations
What are the 3 causes of Social Anxiety Disorder
- Genetic and Biological
- Developmental Theory
- Chemical Imbalances
Outline Genetic and Biological as a cause for Social Anxiety Disorder
- Kagan’s Syndrome
Kagan (1994, 1998) - Explored genetic influences on Social anxiety
- Came up with Kagan’s Syndrome: Genetically expressed trait of anxiety
- Socially anxiety may be a result of a genetically dirven trait
- Related to inhibited temperament in children - restraining impulses and desires
- Possible to inherit genes that amplify shyness into social anxiety
Outline Kendler et al (1992) Twin study into heritability of anxiety
- Looked at Female MZ twins
- found only a 30% heritability estimate for SAD
Outline Development theory as a cause for Social Anxiety Disorder
- Burch & Cheek (1995)
Bruch & Cheek (1995)
- Children could have an anxious temperament
- at 7 months, likely anxiety is about: stranger or seperation anxiety
- at like 6-8 years, anxiety largely about being alone
- Argued if you have an anxious temperement at few months old, you are more likely to have it later in life, and develop social anxiety
- Early Traumatic/ stressful life events associated with increased risk
Outline Chemical imbalances as a cause for Social Anxiety Disorder
- IMbalance in several neurotransmitters:
- They are mood stabilisers, heart rate and blood pressure, muscle stimulation (tenseness)
- Serotonin - associated with bodily processes in tense situations
- Noradrenaline - responsible for bodily functions, hr/ Bp, important in stressful, fearful, anxious situations
- Gamma - Aminobutyric acid - how your brain connects to nerve impulses in body. If you brain is telling that your in an anxious situation, this gets transmitted to the different parts of the body
- These processes are important for sense of emotional well-being, which is damaged if there is an imbalance
- Can be treated with stuff like SSRI’s
Define Shyness
Tendency to feel awkward, worried and tense during social interaction, especially with unfamiliar people
- Less severe than social anxiety Disorder
- Symptoms are similar, but not as severe, and not as interupting
Outline Prevalence of chronic shyness (throughout entire life)
- up to 50% report feeling chronically shy
- Not necessarily just in social situations, can be in all scenarios (Zimbardo, 1977)
How is Shyness linked to health?
Shyness associated with poor physical and mental health:
• Self-conciousness - negative self thoughts/ talk
•Feeling Awkward, unfriendly, or incompetent at their job
•Affects verbal and non-verbal communication - tend to avoid eye-contact, not likely to interact with others as much due to fear of being judged
•Negatively describe the self
•Loneliness and social isolation as they avoid situation
Outline Henderson & Zimbardo’s (1998) defintion of Shyness
- Discomfort/ inhibition in interpersonal situations
- This has an effect on interpersonal of professional goals - may be prepared for a presentation but shyness stops them
- Excessive self-focus
- Pre-occupation with own thoughts, feelings and physical reactions to the situation
- Especially worse with unfamiliar people
Outline what Henderson & Zimbardo’s (1998) said Shyness can be:
Shyness can be
•Chronic (long lasting) and dispositional (seen in all situations)
• Central to a persons definition of their own identity
•Situational = nervous in delivering a talk, but not talking to friends
• Occur at any of the following levels, not necessarily all at once:
- Cognitive
- Affective
- Physiological
- Behavioural
Outline the cognitive level of Shyness
- Fear of negative evaluation/ looking foolish, cant make any mistakes
- Negative thoughts about self, situation or others
- Worry and rumination
- Self-blaming
- Believing self as weak, seeing others as strong
- Negative bias around self-concept - its my fault, focus on the negatives
Outline the Affective level of Shyness
- Embarrassment and self-concioussness
- Shame - for mistakes, cant see them as constructive
- Low Self-esteem
- Dejection and sadness
- Loneliness/ depression - reflection & Rumination
- Anxiety
Outline the Physiological level of Shyness
- Similar to social anxiety: shaking, nervous, racing heartbeat
- Feeling unreal or detached
- Fear of losing control (over body), having panic attack, heart attck
Outline the Behavioural level of Shyness
- Inhibition or passivity - may not engage in conversation/ activity, let world pass by
- Averting gaze
- Avoidance of previous situations that have made them feel shy
- Little body movement or over-the-top body movement - over-compensate to give impression of the opposite
- Speaking quietly
- Speech faults (e.g. speaking too fast)
- Nervous behaviour
How Can you assess shyness?
One way = The Revised Cheek & Buss Shyness scale
- Agree or disagree statements
- Some are reversed scored, prevents someone ticking the same box for everything
Outline State vs trait shyness
State:
•Situational, immediate experience of shyness
•Everyone has this at some point - e.g. with strangers
Trait:
•Permanent tendency to experience shyness
•Stable personality trait
Both can lead to social withdrawal, but depends on person and the situation
Outline Russell et al (1986) longitudinal into trait anxiety
Russell et al (1986) found it was consistent over time, from childhood to older age and adulthood, doesn’t change despite how many situations you put yourself in
Outline Zimbardo (1977) into distnctions between shyness and introversion
Shyness and introversion clearly distinguishable
- Introverts DONT FEAR SOCIAL SITUATIONS, but prefer their own company and solitary activities
- Shy people often prefer to be with others, just feel anxious about it
Outline Henderson & Zimbardo (1998) into extroverts and shyness
Some extraverts are shy
- They are okay in a structured familiar social situatoins
- But are introverted in new or one-to-one situations
Define Embarrassment
Self-concious feeling you get after realising you have done something stupid, silly or dishonourable
- Results from believing you have done something that will lower them in others estimations
- It is healthy, as you learn to deal with it
- But its unhealthy if it directs your life
What can embarrassment result from?
- Things you have done
- People you know
- Things you dont know
- Personal or biological drives
- Money issues
- Some can laught it off, others are debilitated by it
- some can use it as a learning curves, other cant recover from it and avoid potentially embarrassing situations
What are Sabini et al (2000) 3 kinds of triggers for embarrassment
- Faux Pas (Social Blunders) - something wrong in eyes of society, wont do that next time
- Sticky Situations - e.g. taking out loan, knowing they cant pay it back
- Being centre of attention - Not always a bad thing, and doesnt always last long
What are the 3 models/ theories of embarrassment
- Social Evaluation Model
- Situational self-esteem model
- Personal Standards Model
Outline the Social Evaluation Model of Embarrassment
- Edelmann (1987)
- Embarrassment is driven by concern for what others think
- Failure to impress (Edelmann (1987)
- How you think others are viewing you - determines what is considered embarrassing
- If someone is not concerened about what others think, they will not feel embarrassed
- Tendency to avoid situations that will embarrass them
What are limitations of the Social evaluation model?
X - Too simple?
X - Ignores situational and genetic factors - its just about what other people think
Outline the Situational Self-esteem model of Embarrassment***
- Modigliani (1971)
More about your own opinions of your self, and how you act in situations
- Negative self-evaluations set in motion further events which cause the embarrassment - feel like you cant do it
- Public failures leads to temporary loss of Self-esteem so you avoid it again in the future
- If something embarassing happens you evalute yourself badly, so avoid future ones
- Modigliani (1971) argues root cause is temporary loss of self-esteem that results from public failure
Outline the Personal Standards Model of Embarrassment (Babcock, 1988)
When someone realises they have failed in the standards of behaviour they have set for themselves
- (Babcock, 1988)
- It is not the situation that is embarrassing, it is your failure to meet your standards that you set last time you were in that situation
- Less about others/ society/ situation
How could an embarrassing situation influence all 3 of the models?
- Result in fear of unwanted social evaluations (Social evaluation model)
- Affect Self-esteem (Situational Self-esteem model)
- Result in feeling that one has let onself down (Personal standards model)
- Could affect all 3 at one time
Outline Kelly & Jones (1997) theory - into indivdual predictors of embarassment
three individual predictors of embarrassment:
- Personality
- levels of neuroticism and extraversion can increase embarrasment, shyness and social anxiety
- e.g. Neuroticism may lead to more self-evaluation/ negative self-esteem - Vulnerability - isolating self more could lead to feeling more vulnerable -vicious cycle
- Anxiety and Depression - more embarrassment
