Social anxiety, anxious self-preoccupation, and recall of self-relevant information

Theoretical and empirical efforts concerning cognitive processes associated with anxiety have typically emphasized either cognitive deficits (i.e., reduced learning, memory, and task performance) or cognitive excesses (i.e., increased self-focused, ruminative thought). To date, evidence of these two types of cognitive processes has primarily been based on different types of sources (i.e., performance measures vs. self-reports), which precludes direct comparisons of the extent to which cognitive deficits and/or excesses characterize anxiety states. The present study attempted to directly compare the cognitive excesses and deficits associated with social anxiety by operationalizing both types of cognitive phenomena with similar performance measures. A modified self-referent depth-of-processing paradigm was employed. The results indicated that socially anxious individuals in a socially evaluative situation evidenced a specific type of cognitive excess (i.e., concern over evaluations by others) but not cognitive deficits. The results are discussed in the context of person-by-situation models of anxiety and in the context of the nature and treatment of social anxiety.