Modifying automatic approach action tendencies in individuals with elevated social anxiety symptoms
Highlights
► We manipulated automatic action tendencies in socially anxious participants. ► A computerized Approach Avoidance Task modified approach of positive social cues. ► We examined differences in behavior and partner reactions during a social task. ► Approach-positive training led to greater approach behavior and partner liking. ► Increasing automatic approach tendencies may facilitate relationship development.
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were 47 undergraduate psychology students drawn from a pool of undergraduate students at a large university. Data from three participants were excluded from the analysis: two participants displayed less than 50% accuracy on the AAT assessment or training tasks, and one participant had response latencies on the AAT tasks that were greater than three SDs from the sample mean. Thus, the final sample comprised 44 participants (18 men, 26 women). Participants were selected on the basis
Demographic and clinical characteristics
Table 1 presents demographic information and self-report symptom scores for participants in the approach-positive and control groups. Participants in the two conditions did not differ on any of the demographic or symptom measures, all p > .10.
Manipulation check
The experimental manipulation comprised a difference in the frequency with which positive versus neutral pictures were presented in the pull (approach) format. Thus, to establish that groups differed following the manipulation on automatic action
Discussion
The goal of the current study was to examine the effects of manipulating automatic action tendencies on the behavior of individuals with elevated levels of social anxiety during a controlled social interaction. Consistent with our prediction, participants trained to repeatedly pull pictures of faces displaying positive emotional expressions toward them displayed greater social approach behavior during the relationship-building task relative to participants in the control group. Groups differed
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health awarded to the first author (K99MH090243) and second author (R01MH087623). We would like to thank Laura Greathouse, Karalani Cross, John Plocharczyk, Daniel Fry, and Acacia Schmidt for their help with data collection and management.
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