Memory bias against threat in social phobia.

OBJECTIVES

The present study examined whether social phobia is an anxiety disorder associated with a memory bias toward threat.

DESIGN

Social phobic (N = 16) and non-anxious (N = 17) individuals were compared on their recall of evaluative threat and neutral prose passage content.

METHOD: Participants were presented with two evaluative threat and two neutral prose passages and completed an immediate free recall task after each trial.

RESULTS

Contrary to expectation, individuals with social phobia recalled a smaller percentage of units from the evaluative threat passages than non-anxious individuals.

CONCLUSION

Consistent with the vigilance-avoidance theory, it is suggested that social phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by the avoidance of elaborate processing of threatening material.