Social anxiety biases the evaluation of facial displays: evidence from single face and multi-facial stimuli

Cogn Emot. 2012;26(6):1107-15. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2011.632494. Epub 2011 Nov 28.

Abstract

This study examined the contribution of social anxiety to the evaluation of emotional facial stimuli, while controlling for the gender of participants and stimuli. Participants (n=63) completed two tasks: a single face evaluation task in which they had to evaluate angry versus neutral faces and, a facial crowd evaluation task in which they had to evaluate displays with a varying number of neutral and angry faces. In each task, participants had to evaluate the stimuli with respect to (a) the degree of disapproval expressed by the single face/crowd, and (b) the perceived difficulty of interacting with the face/crowd (emotional cost). Consistent with earlier studies, results showed that social anxiety modulated the evaluation of single faces for emotional cost, but not for disapproval ratings. In contrast, the evaluation of facial crowds was modulated by social anxiety on both ratings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety / psychology*
  • Emotions*
  • Facial Expression*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / statistics & numerical data
  • Social Perception*