Attentional Focus and Causal Attributions in Social Phobia: Implications from Social Psychology

Authors

• Debra A. Hope, State University of New York at AlbanyFollow
• David A. Gansler, State University of New York at Albany
• Richard G. Heimberg, State University of New York at AlbanyFollow

ORCID IDs

Debra A. Hope

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1989

Citation

Clinical Psychology Review 9:1 (1989), pp. 49–60.

doi: 10.1016/0272-7358(89)90046-9

Comments

Copyright © 1989 Pergamon Press/Elsevier. Used by permission.

Abstract

This article reviews the social psychological literature on attentional focus and causal attributions as they apply to social phobia. Excessive self-focused attention is increased by physiological arousal, interferes with task performance under some conditions, increases the probability of internal attributions, and intensifies emotional reactions. Social anxiety is also associated with a reversal of the self-serving bias for causal attributions. Implications of these findings for the maintenance and treatment of social phobia are discussed.