Social Anxiety, Self-Schemas, And Autobiographical Memory Appraisals

Self-schemas are 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.

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

Key Points

• Participants rated positive social autobiographical memories as more impactful and meaningful overall compared to negative memories.
• Higher social anxiety symptoms and stronger negative self-schemas were associated with rating negative social memories as more impactful, but did not affect ratings of positive memories.
• Stronger positive self-schemas were associated with rating negative social memories as less impactful.
• Social anxiety symptoms and negative self-schemas did not significantly affect ratings of memory meaningfulness.
• When social anxiety and negative self-schemas were analyzed together, only negative self-schemas remained a significant predictor of memory impact ratings.
• The study suggests that negative social memories may be more susceptible to biased processing in socially anxious individuals compared to positive memories.
• Limitations include the use of a non-clinical community sample and reliance on self-report measures.
• This research provides insights into how social anxiety and self-schemas influence autobiographical memory appraisals, with implications for developing therapeutic interventions for social anxiety disorder.

Rationale

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by fear of social scrutiny and negative evaluation (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

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.

This study aimed to fill this gap by examining how social anxiety symptoms and self-schemas influence the appraised impact and meaningfulness of both positive and negative social autobiographical memories.

Understanding these processes could inform the development of memory-based therapeutic interventions for SAD.

Method

Procedure

Participants were randomly assigned to 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

• Memory impact and meaningfulness: Rated using subscales from Moscovitch et al. (2018)
• Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN): Assessed social anxiety symptoms
• Brief Core Schema Scale (BCSS): Measured positive and negative self-schemas

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.

• Partially supported: Higher social anxiety was associated with higher impact ratings for negative memories, but did not affect ratings of positive memories or meaningfulness ratings.

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Hypothesis 2: Negative self-schemas would amplify impact and meaningfulness ratings for negative memories and constrain ratings for positive memories.

• Partially supported: Stronger negative self-schemas were associated with higher impact ratings for negative memories, but did not affect ratings of positive memories or meaningfulness ratings.

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Hypothesis 3: Positive self-schemas would amplify impact and meaningfulness ratings for positive memories and constrain ratings for negative memories.

• Partially supported: Stronger positive self-schemas were associated with lower impact ratings for negative memories. The effect on positive memory ratings approached significance.

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.

The study extends previous research by examining both positive and negative memories in relation to social anxiety and self-schemas.

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:

• Preregistered study design, enhancing transparency and reducing researcher bias
• Large sample size, increasing statistical power
• Random assignment to memory valence conditions, allowing for causal inferences about memory valence effects
• Use of validated measures for social anxiety symptoms and self-schemas
• Inclusion of both positive and negative social memories, providing a more comprehensive understanding of memory processes in social anxiety

Limitations

This study also had several methodological limitations, including:

• Non-clinical community sample, limiting generalizability to individuals with diagnosed SAD
• Reliance on self-report measures, which may be subject to response biases
• Lack of control for memory age, which could influence appraisals
• Limited cultural diversity in the sample, with most participants being White/European and residing in the UK
• Cross-sectional design, precluding causal inferences about the relationships between social anxiety, self-schemas, and memory appraisals

Clinical Implications

The findings have significant implications for understanding and treating social anxiety:

1. Clinical interventions: The results suggest that targeting negative self-schemas may be crucial in reducing the impact of negative social memories. Therapies focused on modifying self-schemas, such as cognitive restructuring or schema therapy, could be particularly beneficial.
2. Memory-based interventions: The study supports the potential of both negative memory rescripting and positive memory enhancement techniques. Clinicians could help clients process negative memories to reduce their impact while also encouraging retrieval and elaboration of positive social experiences.
3. Differential processing of positive and negative memories: The finding that positive memories may be less influenced by social anxiety suggests that interventions focusing on enhancing positive memory retrieval and processing could be particularly valuable.
4. Post-event processing: The results highlight the importance of addressing post-event processing in social anxiety treatment, as this may contribute to the heightened impact of negative memories.
5. Resilience factors: The protective role of positive self-schemas in reducing the impact of negative memories suggests that building positive self-concepts could be an important treatment goal.
6. Assessment considerations: Clinicians should consider assessing both positive and negative self-schemas, as well as memory appraisals, when working with socially anxious individuals.
7. Preventive interventions: Understanding how self-schemas influence memory appraisals could inform early interventions to prevent the development or exacerbation of social anxiety symptoms.

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

Keep Learning

1. How might cultural differences influence the relationship between social anxiety, self-schemas, and autobiographical memory appraisals?
2. What neurological mechanisms might underlie the differential processing of positive and negative social memories in socially anxious individuals?
3. How could the findings of this study inform the development of technology-based interventions for social anxiety, such as smartphone apps or virtual reality exposure therapy?
4. In what ways might the COVID-19 pandemic and increased reliance on virtual social interactions have affected the formation and retrieval of social autobiographical memories?
5. How might the relationship between social anxiety, self-schemas, and memory appraisals change across the lifespan, from adolescence to older adulthood?
6. What role might emotional regulation strategies play in moderating the relationship between social anxiety and autobiographical memory appraisals?
7. How could the findings of this study be applied to other anxiety disorders or mental health conditions that involve negative self-schemas?
8. What ethical considerations should be taken into account when developing memory-based interventions for social anxiety based on these findings?