Abstract
The present study uses a relational frame approach (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche, 2001) to perspective taking for individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder (SAD). Perspective taking is conceptualized as the ability to relate events in accordance with the deictic frames of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then. We hypothesized that the systematic underrehearsal of such behavioral repertoires, set off by the characteristic avoidance of social encounters in patients with SAD, could contribute to an impairment of perspective taking. We examined deictic relational responding skills in a sample of adults suffering from SAD and compared their performances with an age-matched sample of healthy peers. Participants with SAD performed significantly less accurately across all trial types, with group differences reaching significance for reversed trials (i.e., trials demanding a shift in perspective taking). Results indicated more pronounced difficulties at an earlier stage of perspective taking for those individuals diagnosed with SAD. Methodological shortcomings and implications for further research and training were discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achim, A., Maziade, M., Raymond, E., Olivier, D., Mérette, C., & Roy, M. (2011). How prevalent are anxiety disorders in schizophrenia? A meta-analysis and critical review on a significant association. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 37, 811–821. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp148.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Arrindell, W. A., & van der Ende, J. (1985). An empirical test of the utility of the observations-to-variables ratio in factor and components analysis. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9, 165–178. doi:10.1177/014662168500900205.
Arrindell, W. A., van der Ende, J., Sanderman, R., Oosterhof, L., Stewart, R., & Lingsma, M. (1999). Normative studies with the scale for interpersonal behavior (SIB). Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 417–431. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00252-9.
Arrindell, W. A., Bridges, K. R., van der Ende, J., St. Lawrence, J. S., Gray-Shellberg, L., & Harnish, R. (2001). Normative studies with the scale for interpersonal behaviour (SIB): II. US students. A cross-cultural comparison with Dutch data. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1461–1479.
Arrindell, W. A., Akkerman, A., van der Ende, J., Schreurs, P., Brugman, A., & Stewart, R. E. (2005). Normative studies with the scale for interpersonal behaviour (SIB): III. Psychiatric inpatients. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 941–952. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.06.019.
Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger’s syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Barnes-Holmes, Y. (2001). Analysing relational frames: Studying language and cognition in young children (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland.
Barnes-Holmes, Y., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2002). Naming, story-telling, and problem-solving: critical elements in the development of language and cognition. Behavior Developmental Bulletin, 1, 34–38.
Barnes-Holmes, D., Hayes, S. C., & Dymond, S. (2001). Self and self-directed rules. In S. C. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, & B. Roche (Eds.), Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition (pp. 119–139). New York: Plenum Press.
Bellini, S. (2004). Social skill deficits and anxiety in high functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 19, 78–96. doi:10.1177/10883576040190020201.
Bellini, S. (2006). The development of social anxiety in high functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 2, 138–145. doi:10.1177/10883576060210030201.
Berens, N. M., & Hayes, S. C. (2007). Arbitrarily applicable comparative relations: experimental evidence for a relational operant. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40, 45–71. doi:10.1901/jaba.2007.7-06.
Bouma, A., Mulder, J., & Lindeboom, L. (1998). Neuropsychologische diagnostiek. Handboek, Deel 2. The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger Lisse.
Cartwright-Hatton, S., Tschernitz, N., & Gomersall, H. (2005). Social anxiety in children: social skills deficit, or cognitive distortion? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 131–141. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2003.12.003.
Connor, K. M., Davidson, J. R. T., Churchill, L. E., Sherwood, A., & Weisler, R. H. (2000). Psychometric properties of the social phobia inventory (SPIN). The British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 379–386. doi:10.1192/bjp.176.4.379.
Corcoran, R., Mercer, G., & Frith, C. D. (1995). Schizophrenia, symptomatology and social inference: investigating ‘theory of mind’ in people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 17, 5–13. doi:10.1016/0920-9964(95)00024-G.
Davidson, J. R. T., Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., Keefe, F. J., Franklin, M. E., & Compton, J. S. (2004). Fluoxetine, comprehensive cognitive behavioral therapy, and placebo in generalized social phobia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 1005–1013. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.61.10.1005.
Dymond, S., & Roche, B. (2009). A contemporary behaviour analysis of anxiety and avoidance. The Behaviour Analyst, 32, 7–27.
Ferreri, F., Lapp, L. K., & Peretti, C. (2011). Current research on cognitive aspects of anxiety disorders. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 24, 49–54. doi:10.1097/YCO.0b013e32833f5585.
Gillot, A., Furniss, F., & Walter, A. (2001). Anxiety in high functioning children with autism. Autism, 5, 277–286. doi:10.1177/1362361301005003005.
Gould, E., Tarbox, J., O’Hora, D., Noone, S., & Bergstrom, R. (2011). Teaching children with autism a basic component skill of perspective-taking. Behavioral Interventions, 26, 50–66. doi:10.1002/bin.320.
Green, J., Gilchrist, A., Burton, D., & Cox, A. (2000). Social and psychiatric functioning in adolescents with Asperger syndrome compared with conduct disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 279–293. doi:10.1023/A:1005523232106.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (2001a). Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. New York: Plenum Press.
Hayes, S. C., Fox, E., Gifford, E. V., Wilson, K. G., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Healy, O. (2001b). Derived relational responding as learned behavior. In S. C. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, & B. Roche (Eds.), Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition (pp. 21–50). New York: Plenum Press.
Heagle, A. I., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2006). Teaching perspective-taking skills to typically developing children through derived relational responding. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, 3, 1–34.
Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hadwin, J. (1999). Teaching children with autism to mind-read: A practical guide. Chichester: Wiley.
Kessler, R. C., Stang, P., Wittchen, H. U., Stein, M., & Walters, E. E. (1999). Lifetime comorbidities between social phobia and mood disorders in the U.S. National Comorbidity Survey. Psychological Medicine, 29, 555–567.
Koppers, A. (2011). Social experience, transformation of stimulus functions and perspective taking in individuals with social anxiety. Unpublished manuscript, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Kwapil, T. R. (1998). Social anhedonia as a predictor of the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 558–565.
Lezak, M. D., Howieson, D. B., Loring, D. W., Hannay, H. J., & Fisher, J. S. (2004). Neuropsychological assessment (4th ed.). Oxford: University Press.
Lysaker, P. H., Salvatore, G., Grant, M. L., Procacci, M., Olesek, K. L., & Buck, K. D. (2010). Deficits in theory of mind and social anxiety as independent pathways to paranoid features in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 124, 81–85. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.06.019.
McHugh, L., Barnes-Holmes, Y., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2003). Training perspective-taking with a four year old child. Paper presented at the First World Congress on ACT, RFT and the New Behavioral Psychology, Linkoping, Sweden.
McHugh, L., Barnes-Holmes, Y., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2004a). Developmental trends in perspective-taking. The Psychological Record, 54, 115–145.
McHugh, L., Barnes-Holmes, Y., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2004b). A relational frame account of the development of complex cognitive phenomena: perspective-taking, false belief understanding, and deception. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 4, 303–324.
McHugh, L., Barnes-Holmes, Y., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Stewart, I. (2006). Understanding false beliefs as generalized operant behavior. The Psychological Record, 56, 341–364.
Mennin, D. S., Heimberg, R. G., & MacAndrew, J. S. (2000). Comorbid generalized anxiety disorder in primary social phobia: symptom severity, functional impairment, and treatment response. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 14, 325–343.
Mishlove, M., & Chapman, L. J. (1985). Social anhedonia in the prediction of psychosis proneness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 384–396. doi:10.1037/0021843X.94.3.384.
Moscovitch, D. A. (2009). What is the core fear in social phobia? A new model to facilitate individualized case conceptualization and treatment. Cognitive and Behavorial Practice, 16, 123–134. doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2008.04.002.
Otto, M. W., Pollack, M. H., Gould, R. A., Worthington, J. J., McArdle, E. T., Rosenbaum, J. F., et al. (2000). A comparison of the efficacy of clonazepam and cognitive behavioral group therapy for treatment of social phobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 14, 345–358.
Penn, D. L., Hope, D. A., Spaulding, W., & Kucera, J. (1994). Social cognition in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 11, 277–284. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.114.
Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1984). Manual for Raven’s progessive matrices and vocabulary scales. London: UK H. K. Lewis.
Rehfeldt, R. A., Dillen, J. E., Ziomek, M. M., & Kowalchuk, R. K. (2007). Assessing relational learning deficits in perspective-taking in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. The Psychological Record, 57, 23–47.
Stewart, I., Barnes-Holmes, D., Hayes, S. C., & Lipkens, R. (2001). Relations among relations: Analogies, metaphors, and stories. In S. C. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, & B. Roche (Eds.), Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition (pp. 73–86). New York: Plenum Press.
Törneke, M. (2010). Learning RFT: An introduction to relational frame theory and its clinical application. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.
Vilardaga, R. (2009). A relational frame account of empathy. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 5, 178–184.
Villatte, M., Monestès, J. L., McHugh, L., Freixa i Baqué, E., & Loas, G. (2008). Assessing deictic relational responding in social anhedonia: a functional approach to the development of theory of mind impairments. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 4, 360–373.
Villatte, M., Monestès, J. L., McHugh, L., Freixa i Baqué, E., & Loas, G. (2010). Assessing perspective taking in schizophrenia using relational frame theory. The Psychological Record, 60, 413–424.
Weissman, M. M., Bland, R. C., Canino, G., Greenwald, S., Hwu, H. G., & Joyce, P. R. (1994). The cross national epidemiology of obsessive compulsive disorder: the Cross National Collaborative Group. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 55, 5–10.
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children’s understanding of deception. Cognition, 13, 103–128.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Janssen, G., De Mey, H., Hendriks, A. et al. Assessing Deictic Relational Responding in Individuals With Social Anxiety Disorder: Evidence of Perspective-Taking Difficulties. Psychol Rec 64, 21–29 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-014-0013-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-014-0013-3