Perceptual Sensitivity and Response Bias in Social Anxiety: An Application of Signal Detection Theory

K. Lira Yoon; Jae Won Yang; Sang Chul Chong; Kyung Ja Oh

doi:10.1007/s10608-014-9619-7

Perceptual Sensitivity and Response Bias in Social Anxiety: An Application of Signal Detection Theory

K. Lira Yoon, Jae Won Yang, Sang Chul Chong, Kyung Ja Oh

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social anxiety is associated with tendencies to perceive other people’s facial expressions in a negative manner. Two independent factors, sensitivity to and response criteria for emotional faces, may contribute to this bias. By applying signal detection theory and employing morphed facial stimuli with equated levels of intensity, we examined sensitivity to and response criteria for faces that were subtly angry or happy with a sample of 88 college students. Higher levels of social anxiety were associated with both greater sensitivity to mild anger and tendencies to label facial expressions as angry. In contrast, levels of social anxiety were not significantly associated with either sensitivity to or response criteria for mildly happy faces. These results indicate that the processing of negative facial expressions in social anxiety is affected by both greater sensitivity to the detection of threats and a bias for judging ambiguous social cues as threatening.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	551-558
Number of pages	8
Journal	Cognitive Therapy and Research
Volume	38
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9619-7
Publication status	Published - 2014 Oct

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2012S1A5A2A03034516). The study was approved by the IRB at Yonsei University. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2000.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Clinical Psychology

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10.1007/s10608-014-9619-7

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title = "Perceptual Sensitivity and Response Bias in Social Anxiety: An Application of Signal Detection Theory",

abstract = "Social anxiety is associated with tendencies to perceive other people{\textquoteright}s facial expressions in a negative manner. Two independent factors, sensitivity to and response criteria for emotional faces, may contribute to this bias. By applying signal detection theory and employing morphed facial stimuli with equated levels of intensity, we examined sensitivity to and response criteria for faces that were subtly angry or happy with a sample of 88 college students. Higher levels of social anxiety were associated with both greater sensitivity to mild anger and tendencies to label facial expressions as angry. In contrast, levels of social anxiety were not significantly associated with either sensitivity to or response criteria for mildly happy faces. These results indicate that the processing of negative facial expressions in social anxiety is affected by both greater sensitivity to the detection of threats and a bias for judging ambiguous social cues as threatening.",

author = "Yoon, {K. Lira} and Yang, {Jae Won} and Chong, {Sang Chul} and Oh, {Kyung Ja}",

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N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2012S1A5A2A03034516). The study was approved by the IRB at Yonsei University. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2000. Publisher Copyright: © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

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AB - Social anxiety is associated with tendencies to perceive other people’s facial expressions in a negative manner. Two independent factors, sensitivity to and response criteria for emotional faces, may contribute to this bias. By applying signal detection theory and employing morphed facial stimuli with equated levels of intensity, we examined sensitivity to and response criteria for faces that were subtly angry or happy with a sample of 88 college students. Higher levels of social anxiety were associated with both greater sensitivity to mild anger and tendencies to label facial expressions as angry. In contrast, levels of social anxiety were not significantly associated with either sensitivity to or response criteria for mildly happy faces. These results indicate that the processing of negative facial expressions in social anxiety is affected by both greater sensitivity to the detection of threats and a bias for judging ambiguous social cues as threatening.

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Perceptual Sensitivity and Response Bias in Social Anxiety: An Application of Signal Detection Theory

Abstract

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