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.