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An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety a
a
Melissa A. Mitchell & Norman B. Schmidt a
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Published online: 29 Apr 2014.
To cite this article: Melissa A. Mitchell & Norman B. Schmidt (2014) An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 43:3, 221-229, DOI: 10.1080/16506073.2014.914078 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2014.914078
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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3, 221–229, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2014.914078
An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety Melissa A. Mitchell and Norman B. Schmidt
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Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Abstract. Negative self-appraisal is thought to maintain social anxiety particularly when comparing oneself to others. Work on social comparison suggests that gender may moderate the effects of social comparison in social anxiety. Self-appraisals of the desirability of one’s personality may be more important to women, whereas self-appraisal of signs of anxiety may be more important to men. Within each gender, those with high social anxiety are expected to report more negative self-appraisal when comparing themselves to someone else described as high achieving. This study is the first we are aware of that examined gender-based interactive effects after a social comparison manipulation. Participants read a bogus profile of a fellow student’s adjustment to college. They were randomly assigned to read a profile suggesting that the fellow student was “high achieving” or more normative in his/her achievements. When comparing to a “high achieving” individual, men with high social anxiety reported the most negative self-appraisals of their signs of anxiety. In addition, greater social anxiety was associated with a poorer self-appraisal of personality only among men. The implications of the findings for conceptualizing the role of social comparison in social anxiety are discussed. Key words: social anxiety; social comparison; self-appraisal; personality; signs of anxiety. Received 1 July 2013; Accepted 8 April 2014 Correspondence address: Norman B. Schmidt, PhD, Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4301, USA. Tel: þ1 850-644-1707. Fax: þ1 850-644-7739. Email: [email protected]
Introduction Negative self-appraisal is thought to play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder (SAD; Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). Those with SAD underestimate their performance in social situations and perceive their performance more negatively than others do (see Hofmann, 2007 for a review). In addition, negative self-appraisal usually ameliorates as symptoms of SAD reduce during treatment (Hofmann, 2000; Hofmann, Moscovitch, Kim, & Taylor, 2004). This area of research suggests that negative self-appraisal may play a key role in maintaining SAD. Social comparison plays a key role in negative self-appraisal and refers to evaluating where one stands—higher, the same, or lower—relative to another person on a specific attribute (Suls, Martin, & Wheeler, 2002; Wood, 1996). Individuals compare themselves to others in social situations (Antony, Rowa, q 2014 Swedish Association for Behaviour Therapy
Liss, Swallow, & Swinson, 2005; Giordano, Wood, & Michela, 2000) where they may experience two types of social comparisons: upward and downward social comparisons. Upward social comparisons (UCs) are comparisons of oneself to an appraised higher standard, whereas downward social comparisons are comparisons of oneself to an appraised lower standard (Wood, 1996). Current understanding of the role that UCs play in negative self-appraisal comes mainly from research on depression. Depression and anxiety were positively associated with a greater frequency of UCs among undergraduates (Butzer & Kuiper, 2006). Also, individuals with a history of depression reported more social comparisons than those without a history of depression (Bazner, Bromer, Hammelstein, & Meyer, 2006). Furthermore, UCs appeared to maintain or worsen negative selfappraisals in dysphoric and depressed individuals (Swallow & Kuiper, 1990, 1992, 1993).
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Taken together, UCs appear to be linked with negative self-appraisal. Theory and work (Antony et al., 2005; Trower & Gilbert, 1989) suggest that individuals with SAD also make UCs. Individuals with SAD think they rank lower than others (Roberts, Hart, Coroiu, & Heimberg, 2011; Trower & Gilbert, 1989), which may result in their self-perceptions that they fell short on a specific attribute (Antony et al., 2005). Antony et al. (2005) conducted the first study of social comparison in SAD. Using an ecological momentary assessment method, participants with SAD (n ¼ 59) and nonclinical controls (n ¼ 58) wrote down each time they made a social comparison in their daily lives for 2 weeks. A greater percentage of UCs and a lower percentage of downward comparisons were reported by those with SAD than by nonclinical controls (64% vs. 39% and 25% vs. 43%, respectively). With each comparison, participants noted all of the dimensions on which they compared themselves to others (e.g., intelligence, appearance, quality of relationship, artistic abilities, sense of humor, personality, wealth, signs of anxiety, achievement, age, social skills, quality of life, current happiness, athletic abilities, and other). The top areas participants with SAD made comparisons were in regard to their personality, such as “I am boring” or “I am not cool” (Moscovitch, 2009), and social skills. Consistent with previous research (Wheeler & Miyake, 1992), social comparisons occurred most often in social situations. These results suggest that UCs may influence negative selfappraisal among those with SAD. Because understanding of the influence of social comparison on negative self-appraisal is at an early stage, much remains to be clarified. First, although previous work has examined the impact of social comparison on selfappraisal generally, less well understood is whether the effects of social comparison are specific to socially relevant areas of selfappraisal, such as signs of anxiety or personality (see Moscovitch, 2009). It is important to examine whether certain areas act as more specific maintaining factors in SAD. Second, there is limited work on social comparison in social anxiety. No experimental manipulations of social comparison in social anxiety exist to our knowledge. Experimental
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paradigms for social comparison in depression may be adapted to investigate social comparison in social anxiety. For example, first-year undergraduates have read about or listened to a peer describe his/her adjustment to college (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999). The peer adjusted either well (UC condition) or poorly (downward comparison condition). Using similar experimental manipulations would allow for a more rigorous examination of the role of social comparisons within social anxiety. Third, prior work suggests that men and women may demonstrate social anxiety differently due to socialization in line with traditional gender roles. American women are likely to be socialized to view themselves as connected and integrated with other group members and to think of themselves as an extension of their group (Cross & Madson, 1997a, 1997b). This is especially true in response to stress as women “tend and befriend” in those situations (Taylor et al., 2000). They care for and facilitate social interactions with others following stress, figuring how they can fit in with the group. Thus, it is plausible that women may focus on their personality in social situations. In contrast, American men are likely to be socialized to view themselves as autonomous and stand up for their unique goals and to distinguish themselves from others (Cross & Madson, 1997a, 1997b). Men are usually more concerned than women about their social dominance (Mazur & Booth, 1998). Showing shyness, fear, and anxiety may be less socially acceptable for men than women (MacKinawKoons & Vasey, 2000) because it is inconsistent with the traditional male role. Thus, it is plausible that men may try to hide signs of anxiety in social situations. Consistent with the previous notion, Moscovitch, Hofmann, and Litz (2005) found that greater independence predicted social anxiety among women and greater interdependence (e.g., reliance on others) predicted social anxiety among men (Moscovitch et al., 2005). A social situation may initiate self-appraisals focusing primarily on personality among women with social anxiety and self-appraisals focusing primarily on signs of anxiety among men with social anxiety. Thus, there is some evidence to suggest that gender may moderate
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self-appraisal in different social areas among those with social anxiety. This study had two aims. First, to follow up on the results from Antony et al. (2005); this study used an experimental design to examine social comparison in social anxiety. This study was the first to experimentally manipulate social comparison to examine its influence on self-appraisal in the socially relevant areas of personality and signs of anxiety. Personality and signs of anxiety were assessed because they were the most common areas in which those with SAD made UCs (Antony et al., 2005). The current experimental manipulation is unique because it includes social status information aimed at social concerns in social anxiety. This allows examination of whether UCs contribute to negative self-appraisal in socially relevant areas. To target social specific concerns, this study adapted previous social comparison manipulations (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999) for use in social anxiety. The social comparison manipulation in the current study included information from past social comparison manipulations (academic adjustment to the first year of college) as a starting point. The current study added information on social- and performance-related events that typically occur in the first year of college to explicitly target social concerns. This information included descriptions of extracurricular activities, hobbies, and activities done in one’s spare time. Second, this study evaluated whether there was a three-way interaction of social anxiety, comparison condition, and gender on selfappraisal of personality and signs of anxiety, controlling for depression. Prior research suggests that these factors may moderate self-appraisal. This is a unique aspect of this study because prior research has not included a social comparison manipulation when examining social anxiety and gender in relation to self-appraisal. Within the predicted three-way interaction, we predicted a two-way interaction of social anxiety and comparison condition. The two-way interaction was predicted to be significant for self-appraisal of personality, but not signs of anxiety among women. Women with high social anxiety comparing themselves to a higher standard were predicted to report the most negative self-appraisal of their personality.
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Furthermore, the same two-way interaction was predicted to be significant for selfappraisal of signs of anxiety, but not personality among men. Men with high social anxiety comparing themselves to a higher standard were predicted to report the most negative self-appraisal of their signs of anxiety.
Methods Participants In the study, 105 first-year undergraduates participated. The sample was of 51.4% female with a mean age of 18.32 years (SD ¼ 0.49) and primarily Caucasian (60%). Participants provided written informed consent before they were allowed to proceed with the study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board.
Measures Beck depression inventory, 2nd edition (BDIII; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). The BDI-II is a 21-item self-report questionnaire that assesses current symptoms of depression. The BDI scale has demonstrated good psychometric properties in undergraduates (Dozois, Dobson, & Ahnberg, 1998). The BDI-II showed good internal consistency in this study (a ¼ .89). Social interaction anxiety scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1997). This 19-item questionnaire measures fear of social interactions. This scale has shown excellent reliability in a nonclinical sample (Osman, Gutierrez, Barrios, Kopper, & Chiros, 1998). The SIAS showed excellent internal consistency in this study (a ¼ .94). Also, a median split indicated that the mean SIAS was 33.80 (SD ¼ 9.68) among those with high social anxiety and 13.44 (SD ¼ 5.74) among those with low social anxiety in this study. Visual analog scales (adapted from Antony et al., 2005). The current study used the personality and signs of anxiety dimensions of the visual analog scales from Antony et al. (2005). Participants drew a tick mark on a line rating themselves compared to a fellow student after reading about him/her. They rated themselves on personality and signs of anxiety. The labels for the anchors of the scale were similar to those used in Antony et al. (2005). On the scale, the midpoint of the line was labeled with “Student you read about”.
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The anchor on the right half of the line was labeled “better than the student you read about”. The anchor on the left half of the line was labeled “worse than the student you read about”. A mark to the left of the midpoint indicated a more negative appraisal of oneself compared to the student on that dimension. The distance of the tick mark from the midpoint in centimeters indicated the degree of positive or negative self-appraisal on a dimension (ranged from 2 10 to 10).
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Procedure Participants were told that we were interested in how they perceived themselves in relation to other students’ adjustment to college. After providing written informed consent, participants completed a packet of self-report measures. Then, participants were randomly assigned either to a comparison to average performance (AP) or high performance (HP) condition. Participants read through a sex-matched bogus student profile for 5 minutes, which was the same duration as a similar social comparison manipulation used (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993). This profile was ostensibly written by a fellow freshman about his/her first-year experience. The authors of this study adapted the profiles from prior experimental manipulations of social comparison (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999). Within each social comparison condition, there were two identical profiles, except the name of the fellow student was varied to match the participant’s sex. The profiles listed identical information across conditions except for three sections. The three sections had information about social aspects of the student’s adjustment to college that were aimed at social concerns. The profile for the HP condition listed a higher grade point average (GPA), more social- and academicrelated activities, and included an academic awards/honors section. The GPA listed in the AP condition was the average undergraduate GPA (3.5) of students at the university where this study took place. The GPA listed in the HP condition was the highest possible GPA (4.0) at the same university. In terms of activities, the HP condition listed more clubs and activities in which the student would meet and interact with new people regularly (such as going to parties, university athletic events,
and concerts) as well as to give presentations or speeches often (such as the university’s undergraduate senate committee and a university honors delegate). The awards section in the HP condition listed several academic awards/honors. Participants were instructed to focus on the profile the entire time and to re-read the profile if they finished early. The experimenter was not in the room when the participant read the profile to minimize experimenter effects that may have interfered with the impact of the social comparison manipulation. By doing so, it reduced our ability to ensure participants focused on the profiles the entire time. After 5 minutes, the experimenter returned to the room to have participants complete the visual analog scales. Then, participants completed a form about their general impressions of the study, which included an assessment of how often participants compared themselves to the student they read about on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 9 (extremely) as they read about him/her. Finally, participants were debriefed.
Design A between-subjects design was used to examine differences between conditions on the direction of the social comparison. The AP condition had 31 men and 24 women. The HP condition had 20 men and 30 women. Because none of the participants guessed that the fellow student they read about was bogus, all participants were included in the analyses.
Statistical analyses Two hierarchical linear regressions were constructed with self-appraisal of personality or signs of anxiety serving as the dependent variable. In each regression, the centered main effects of social anxiety, condition, and gender were entered in the first step. Depression was also entered in the first step as a covariate. All possible combinations of two-way interactions of the centered main effects were entered in the second step. The three-way interaction of the centered main effects was entered in the third step.
Results Preliminary analyses There were no significant differences between conditions on gender or social anxiety
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Figure 1. Interaction of social anxiety and condition on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men.
( p’s . .09). Participants reported minimal depressive symptoms (M ¼ 9.28, SD ¼ 7.43). Consistent with previous research (Brown, Campbell, Lehman, Grisham, & Mancill, 2001), social anxiety was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (r ¼ .45, p , .01). In terms of the strength of the social comparison manipulation, participants reported comparing themselves to a moderate degree (M ¼ 5.77, SD ¼ 1.89) to the student.
Primary analyses Self-appraisal of personality. Higher social anxiety was associated with more negative appraisal of one’s own personality than the personality of the student they read about, b ¼ 2 0.07, t(83) ¼ 2.96, p , .01. There was no main effect of condition or gender ( p’s . .14). The main effect of social anxiety was qualified by a two-way interaction of social anxiety and gender, b ¼ 2 0.10, t(83) ¼ 2.00, p , .05. The other two-way interactions were not significant ( p’s . .43). Contrary to prediction, the three-way
interaction was not significant, b ¼ 0.18, t(83) ¼ 1.74, p . .05. Similar results were obtained when the previous analyses were rerun controlling for depression. We then analyzed the two-way interaction of social anxiety and gender on self-appraisal of personality. Contrary to prediction, the association between social anxiety and self-appraisal of personality was significant among men, b ¼ 2 0.13, t(46) ¼ 2 3.34, p , .01, but not among women, b ¼ 2 0.03, t(50) ¼ 2 1.06, p ¼ .29. Similar results were obtained when the prior analyses were rerun controlling for depression. Greater social anxiety was associated with a poorer self-appraisal of personality among men. Self-appraisal of signs of anxiety. There were no main effects or two-way interactions on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety ( p’s . .12). As predicted, there was a three-way interaction of social anxiety, condition, and gender on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety, b ¼ 2 0.35, t(83) ¼ 2.98, p , .01. We then analyzed the two-way interaction of social anxiety and condition. As predicted,
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the interaction was significant for men, b ¼ 2 0.27, t(37) ¼ 3.61, p , .01, but not for women ( p . .05). Among men with high social anxiety, the HP condition produced significantly more negative self-appraisals of signs of anxiety than the AP condition, b ¼ 2 4.27, t(46) ¼ 2 2.93, p , .01 (Figure 1). However, there was no significant difference between conditions among men with low social anxiety, b ¼ 2.84, t(46) ¼ 1.94, p . .05. Social comparison appeared to be associated with more negative self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men with high social anxiety. Similar results were obtained when the previous analyses were rerun controlling for depression.
Discussion This study demonstrated the influence of social comparison on self-appraisal in social anxiety. Results partially supported study hypotheses. Somewhat consistent with an evolutionary model of social anxiety (Trower & Gilbert, 1989), men with high social anxiety may use a competitive social schema, perceive themselves to show more signs of anxiety, and may be inclined to appraise their own personalities as worse than men with low social anxiety. In addition, results partially supported the role of UCs in self-appraisals in social anxiety. Comparison to a higher standard may influence self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men. A competitive social schema may lead to engaging in social comparison, particularly UCs, during interpersonal situations, and ultimately contribute to negative self-appraisal in social anxiety among men. This study partially clarifies whether social comparison may directly influence negative self-appraisal in social anxiety (Hofmann, 2007). Although theory and previous work suggest that social comparison is linked to negative self-appraisal, causality could not be determined due to the study designs used. The current study experimentally manipulated social comparison, which provides a stronger test of whether social comparison impacts negative self-appraisal in social anxiety. The present findings partially supported the notion that the comparison standard may influence self-appraisal among those with high social anxiety, at least for men. Specifically,
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comparing to a higher standard may lead to negative self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men with high social anxiety. Further research is needed to evaluate whether UCs may lead to negative self-appraisal in social areas, especially personality, among women with social anxiety. Consistent with previous research was the effect on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men. When men with social anxiety are in social situations, competitive social schemas may encourage social comparisons of their signs of anxiety. They may attend to their signs of anxiety in an effort to remain part of the social group. Due to UCs focused on signs of anxiety, theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) would suggest that they would appraise their signs of anxiety more negatively. Because individuals with SAD are prone to feeling ashamed for appearing anxious (Gilbert, 2007), the two-way interaction on selfappraisal of signs of anxiety among men suggests that they may feel particularly ashamed about showing signs of anxiety in interpersonal situations. Inconsistent with prediction, the interaction of social anxiety and comparison condition on self-appraisal of personality among women was not significant. However, greater social anxiety was associated with poorer selfappraisal of personality among men, but not women. Theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) suggests that individuals with SAD view relationships competitively. In addition, it may be easier to induce social comparisons in men than in women because men are typically more focused on social dominance (Mazur & Booth, 1998), which appears to be conceptually related to social comparison. Due to the competitive framework from which individuals with SAD view relationships, men with social anxiety may be particularly responsive to a social comparison manipulation. In contrast, women may be less responsive to a social comparison manipulation as they are socialized to consider themselves part of a group (Cross & Madson 1997a, 1997b). Indeed, a study (Roberts et al., 2011) found women endorsed greater perceptions of “striving for connectedness with others” (Stake, 1997, p. 542) than men. The focus on connectedness and cooperativeness with others may reduce reactivity to a social comparison manipulation among women
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with SAD, despite having a competitive perspective on relationships as theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) proposes. Another possibility for the unpredicted lack of significant results among females is that self-appraisal of personality may be rather stable and/or traitlike, and thus may not have been impacted by the experimental manipulation. A third possibility is that reading information about a fellow student’s adjustment to college may not be as strong as face-to-face interaction. A faceto-face interaction may have allowed participants to get a fuller sense of another individual’s personality. From there, participants could then determine whether their personality was more desirable than another individual’s personality. Replication of gender as a possible moderator of self-appraisal in different areas after a social comparison manipulation is necessary before firmer conclusions can be made about the potential influence of gender on self-appraisal among those with social anxiety. Results must be considered in light of study limitations. First, a baseline assessment of selfappraisal was not administered. The social comparison manipulation may not have impacted subsequent self-appraisals. Future work should assess self-appraisal before and after a social comparison manipulation to examine whether inducing UCs exacerbates negative self-appraisal among those with high social anxiety. Second, a one-item measure was used to assess self-appraisal within each dimension. A single item measure of selfappraisal of signs of anxiety or personality is limited in its ability to assess various facets of signs of anxiety, such as behavioral or physical signs of anxiety, or various facets of personality, such as personality traits from the Big Five model (Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt, & Watson, 2010). Future studies should assess self-appraisal within each dimension using multiple items or a composite variable consisting of multiple items for each dimension before and after a social comparison manipulation. Third, participants read about a fellow student to elicit social comparison processes. Although participants were instructed to focus on the profile the entire time and re-read it if they finished early, we cannot conclusively say participants did so because the experimenters were outside the room to reduce potential experimenter effects interfering with the
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impact of the manipulation. This may have contributed to and/or explain why the experimental manipulation did not produce strong social comparisons. Future work may consider videotaping participants to ensure they are focusing on the profile for the duration of the social comparison manipulation. In addition, previous research suggests that almost 50% of social comparisons occurred in the context of social interactions and about 20% occurred when thinking about another person (Antony et al., 2005; Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). While this imaginal type of social comparison seems reasonable, having participants interact with the other person may strengthen the effect of the manipulation. Because this is the first known experimental manipulation of social comparison in social anxiety, future research in this line of work should focus on refining an experimental manipulation of social comparison in social anxiety. As the current experimental manipulation failed to influence self-appraisal of personality, it is important that the refined manipulation influence various socially relevant areas, including personality. Also, this study used an analog sample, which may have limited the strength of the effect of the social comparison manipulation on rating signs of anxiety. Fourth, use of an AP condition may have contributed to a lack of main effects on personality. Had a low performance condition been included, participants would have had to make downward comparisons (i.e., comparing to people who are perceived as inferior). Such a condition may have produced a main effect on personality in which those comparing to higher performance may have rated their personality as poorer than the person they read about, whereas those comparing to lower performance may have rated their personality as better than the person they read about. The effects would be especially interesting to examine among those with social anxiety. Given that those with social anxiety underestimate their performance and perceive their performance more negatively than others do (Hofmann, 2007), comparing to lower performance would encourage them to do the opposite of what they typically do. Prior work (Antony et al., 2005) suggests that those with social anxiety make downward comparisons, but not as often as UCs. Comparing to lower performance may produce effects strong
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enough to begin disconfirming beliefs among those with high social anxiety. Future work in this area may want to include three conditions (i.e., comparison to higher performance, AP, and lower performance) to elucidate the effects. Fifth, the information in the student profiles was intended to target socially relevant concerns. Because a substantial portion of the information in the profiles was about academic performance, it may raise questions on whether the profile actually targeted socially relevant concerns. Fear of negative evaluation in situations includes academic performance situations (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Those with SAD may experience test anxiety or avoid participating in class and often underachieve academically (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This increases our confidence that the manipulation targeted socially relevant concerns. Future studies should use a social comparison manipulation that more targets other types of social anxiety concerns. Sixth, we could not conclusively confirm the extent to which participants in the HP condition were less ambitious or just as ambitious as the student they read about, as well as participants in the AP condition were just as ambitious as the student they read about. This issue could have decreased the effectiveness of the social comparison manipulation. The average undergraduate GPA at the university where this study took place was used as the GPA in the AP condition to increase the likelihood that the participants in that condition would be similar to the student they read about. Because a 4.0 is the highest GPA students could achieve at the university where this study took place, that number was used as the GPA in the HP condition to increase the likelihood that any comparison related to this topic would be comparing to HP. To overcome these confounds in the future, studies should gather basic information about participants’ academic performance and social lives to confirm that they are less ambitious or just as ambitious as the person they are comparing themselves to if they are in a UC condition or just as ambitious as the person they are comparing themselves to if they are in a same-level comparison or control condition. These findings may have treatment implications for SAD. If future work using clinical
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samples obtains similar effects, clinicians may want to encourage patients with SAD to minimize making comparisons to a higher standard because it may contribute to negative self-appraisal. This study provides important information about the influence of comparison to a higher standard on negative self-appraisal in social anxiety. Results suggest that comparison to a higher standard may differentially influence negative self-appraisal in social anxiety depending on gender. These findings suggest further clarification of the influence of comparison to a higher standard on negative self-appraisal in an effort to inform treatment for SAD.
Disclosure statement The authors have no conflicts of interest regarding authorship or publication of this article.
Role of funding source There was no extramural funding for the current study.
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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/sbeh20
An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety a
a
Melissa A. Mitchell & Norman B. Schmidt a
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Published online: 29 Apr 2014.
To cite this article: Melissa A. Mitchell & Norman B. Schmidt (2014) An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 43:3, 221-229, DOI: 10.1080/16506073.2014.914078 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2014.914078
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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3, 221–229, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2014.914078
An Experimental Manipulation of Social Comparison in Social Anxiety Melissa A. Mitchell and Norman B. Schmidt
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Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Abstract. Negative self-appraisal is thought to maintain social anxiety particularly when comparing oneself to others. Work on social comparison suggests that gender may moderate the effects of social comparison in social anxiety. Self-appraisals of the desirability of one’s personality may be more important to women, whereas self-appraisal of signs of anxiety may be more important to men. Within each gender, those with high social anxiety are expected to report more negative self-appraisal when comparing themselves to someone else described as high achieving. This study is the first we are aware of that examined gender-based interactive effects after a social comparison manipulation. Participants read a bogus profile of a fellow student’s adjustment to college. They were randomly assigned to read a profile suggesting that the fellow student was “high achieving” or more normative in his/her achievements. When comparing to a “high achieving” individual, men with high social anxiety reported the most negative self-appraisals of their signs of anxiety. In addition, greater social anxiety was associated with a poorer self-appraisal of personality only among men. The implications of the findings for conceptualizing the role of social comparison in social anxiety are discussed. Key words: social anxiety; social comparison; self-appraisal; personality; signs of anxiety. Received 1 July 2013; Accepted 8 April 2014 Correspondence address: Norman B. Schmidt, PhD, Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4301, USA. Tel: þ1 850-644-1707. Fax: þ1 850-644-7739. Email: [email protected]
Introduction Negative self-appraisal is thought to play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder (SAD; Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). Those with SAD underestimate their performance in social situations and perceive their performance more negatively than others do (see Hofmann, 2007 for a review). In addition, negative self-appraisal usually ameliorates as symptoms of SAD reduce during treatment (Hofmann, 2000; Hofmann, Moscovitch, Kim, & Taylor, 2004). This area of research suggests that negative self-appraisal may play a key role in maintaining SAD. Social comparison plays a key role in negative self-appraisal and refers to evaluating where one stands—higher, the same, or lower—relative to another person on a specific attribute (Suls, Martin, & Wheeler, 2002; Wood, 1996). Individuals compare themselves to others in social situations (Antony, Rowa, q 2014 Swedish Association for Behaviour Therapy
Liss, Swallow, & Swinson, 2005; Giordano, Wood, & Michela, 2000) where they may experience two types of social comparisons: upward and downward social comparisons. Upward social comparisons (UCs) are comparisons of oneself to an appraised higher standard, whereas downward social comparisons are comparisons of oneself to an appraised lower standard (Wood, 1996). Current understanding of the role that UCs play in negative self-appraisal comes mainly from research on depression. Depression and anxiety were positively associated with a greater frequency of UCs among undergraduates (Butzer & Kuiper, 2006). Also, individuals with a history of depression reported more social comparisons than those without a history of depression (Bazner, Bromer, Hammelstein, & Meyer, 2006). Furthermore, UCs appeared to maintain or worsen negative selfappraisals in dysphoric and depressed individuals (Swallow & Kuiper, 1990, 1992, 1993).
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Taken together, UCs appear to be linked with negative self-appraisal. Theory and work (Antony et al., 2005; Trower & Gilbert, 1989) suggest that individuals with SAD also make UCs. Individuals with SAD think they rank lower than others (Roberts, Hart, Coroiu, & Heimberg, 2011; Trower & Gilbert, 1989), which may result in their self-perceptions that they fell short on a specific attribute (Antony et al., 2005). Antony et al. (2005) conducted the first study of social comparison in SAD. Using an ecological momentary assessment method, participants with SAD (n ¼ 59) and nonclinical controls (n ¼ 58) wrote down each time they made a social comparison in their daily lives for 2 weeks. A greater percentage of UCs and a lower percentage of downward comparisons were reported by those with SAD than by nonclinical controls (64% vs. 39% and 25% vs. 43%, respectively). With each comparison, participants noted all of the dimensions on which they compared themselves to others (e.g., intelligence, appearance, quality of relationship, artistic abilities, sense of humor, personality, wealth, signs of anxiety, achievement, age, social skills, quality of life, current happiness, athletic abilities, and other). The top areas participants with SAD made comparisons were in regard to their personality, such as “I am boring” or “I am not cool” (Moscovitch, 2009), and social skills. Consistent with previous research (Wheeler & Miyake, 1992), social comparisons occurred most often in social situations. These results suggest that UCs may influence negative selfappraisal among those with SAD. Because understanding of the influence of social comparison on negative self-appraisal is at an early stage, much remains to be clarified. First, although previous work has examined the impact of social comparison on selfappraisal generally, less well understood is whether the effects of social comparison are specific to socially relevant areas of selfappraisal, such as signs of anxiety or personality (see Moscovitch, 2009). It is important to examine whether certain areas act as more specific maintaining factors in SAD. Second, there is limited work on social comparison in social anxiety. No experimental manipulations of social comparison in social anxiety exist to our knowledge. Experimental
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paradigms for social comparison in depression may be adapted to investigate social comparison in social anxiety. For example, first-year undergraduates have read about or listened to a peer describe his/her adjustment to college (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999). The peer adjusted either well (UC condition) or poorly (downward comparison condition). Using similar experimental manipulations would allow for a more rigorous examination of the role of social comparisons within social anxiety. Third, prior work suggests that men and women may demonstrate social anxiety differently due to socialization in line with traditional gender roles. American women are likely to be socialized to view themselves as connected and integrated with other group members and to think of themselves as an extension of their group (Cross & Madson, 1997a, 1997b). This is especially true in response to stress as women “tend and befriend” in those situations (Taylor et al., 2000). They care for and facilitate social interactions with others following stress, figuring how they can fit in with the group. Thus, it is plausible that women may focus on their personality in social situations. In contrast, American men are likely to be socialized to view themselves as autonomous and stand up for their unique goals and to distinguish themselves from others (Cross & Madson, 1997a, 1997b). Men are usually more concerned than women about their social dominance (Mazur & Booth, 1998). Showing shyness, fear, and anxiety may be less socially acceptable for men than women (MacKinawKoons & Vasey, 2000) because it is inconsistent with the traditional male role. Thus, it is plausible that men may try to hide signs of anxiety in social situations. Consistent with the previous notion, Moscovitch, Hofmann, and Litz (2005) found that greater independence predicted social anxiety among women and greater interdependence (e.g., reliance on others) predicted social anxiety among men (Moscovitch et al., 2005). A social situation may initiate self-appraisals focusing primarily on personality among women with social anxiety and self-appraisals focusing primarily on signs of anxiety among men with social anxiety. Thus, there is some evidence to suggest that gender may moderate
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self-appraisal in different social areas among those with social anxiety. This study had two aims. First, to follow up on the results from Antony et al. (2005); this study used an experimental design to examine social comparison in social anxiety. This study was the first to experimentally manipulate social comparison to examine its influence on self-appraisal in the socially relevant areas of personality and signs of anxiety. Personality and signs of anxiety were assessed because they were the most common areas in which those with SAD made UCs (Antony et al., 2005). The current experimental manipulation is unique because it includes social status information aimed at social concerns in social anxiety. This allows examination of whether UCs contribute to negative self-appraisal in socially relevant areas. To target social specific concerns, this study adapted previous social comparison manipulations (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999) for use in social anxiety. The social comparison manipulation in the current study included information from past social comparison manipulations (academic adjustment to the first year of college) as a starting point. The current study added information on social- and performance-related events that typically occur in the first year of college to explicitly target social concerns. This information included descriptions of extracurricular activities, hobbies, and activities done in one’s spare time. Second, this study evaluated whether there was a three-way interaction of social anxiety, comparison condition, and gender on selfappraisal of personality and signs of anxiety, controlling for depression. Prior research suggests that these factors may moderate self-appraisal. This is a unique aspect of this study because prior research has not included a social comparison manipulation when examining social anxiety and gender in relation to self-appraisal. Within the predicted three-way interaction, we predicted a two-way interaction of social anxiety and comparison condition. The two-way interaction was predicted to be significant for self-appraisal of personality, but not signs of anxiety among women. Women with high social anxiety comparing themselves to a higher standard were predicted to report the most negative self-appraisal of their personality.
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Furthermore, the same two-way interaction was predicted to be significant for selfappraisal of signs of anxiety, but not personality among men. Men with high social anxiety comparing themselves to a higher standard were predicted to report the most negative self-appraisal of their signs of anxiety.
Methods Participants In the study, 105 first-year undergraduates participated. The sample was of 51.4% female with a mean age of 18.32 years (SD ¼ 0.49) and primarily Caucasian (60%). Participants provided written informed consent before they were allowed to proceed with the study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board.
Measures Beck depression inventory, 2nd edition (BDIII; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). The BDI-II is a 21-item self-report questionnaire that assesses current symptoms of depression. The BDI scale has demonstrated good psychometric properties in undergraduates (Dozois, Dobson, & Ahnberg, 1998). The BDI-II showed good internal consistency in this study (a ¼ .89). Social interaction anxiety scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1997). This 19-item questionnaire measures fear of social interactions. This scale has shown excellent reliability in a nonclinical sample (Osman, Gutierrez, Barrios, Kopper, & Chiros, 1998). The SIAS showed excellent internal consistency in this study (a ¼ .94). Also, a median split indicated that the mean SIAS was 33.80 (SD ¼ 9.68) among those with high social anxiety and 13.44 (SD ¼ 5.74) among those with low social anxiety in this study. Visual analog scales (adapted from Antony et al., 2005). The current study used the personality and signs of anxiety dimensions of the visual analog scales from Antony et al. (2005). Participants drew a tick mark on a line rating themselves compared to a fellow student after reading about him/her. They rated themselves on personality and signs of anxiety. The labels for the anchors of the scale were similar to those used in Antony et al. (2005). On the scale, the midpoint of the line was labeled with “Student you read about”.
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The anchor on the right half of the line was labeled “better than the student you read about”. The anchor on the left half of the line was labeled “worse than the student you read about”. A mark to the left of the midpoint indicated a more negative appraisal of oneself compared to the student on that dimension. The distance of the tick mark from the midpoint in centimeters indicated the degree of positive or negative self-appraisal on a dimension (ranged from 2 10 to 10).
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Procedure Participants were told that we were interested in how they perceived themselves in relation to other students’ adjustment to college. After providing written informed consent, participants completed a packet of self-report measures. Then, participants were randomly assigned either to a comparison to average performance (AP) or high performance (HP) condition. Participants read through a sex-matched bogus student profile for 5 minutes, which was the same duration as a similar social comparison manipulation used (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993). This profile was ostensibly written by a fellow freshman about his/her first-year experience. The authors of this study adapted the profiles from prior experimental manipulations of social comparison (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1993; Bui & Pelham, 1999). Within each social comparison condition, there were two identical profiles, except the name of the fellow student was varied to match the participant’s sex. The profiles listed identical information across conditions except for three sections. The three sections had information about social aspects of the student’s adjustment to college that were aimed at social concerns. The profile for the HP condition listed a higher grade point average (GPA), more social- and academicrelated activities, and included an academic awards/honors section. The GPA listed in the AP condition was the average undergraduate GPA (3.5) of students at the university where this study took place. The GPA listed in the HP condition was the highest possible GPA (4.0) at the same university. In terms of activities, the HP condition listed more clubs and activities in which the student would meet and interact with new people regularly (such as going to parties, university athletic events,
and concerts) as well as to give presentations or speeches often (such as the university’s undergraduate senate committee and a university honors delegate). The awards section in the HP condition listed several academic awards/honors. Participants were instructed to focus on the profile the entire time and to re-read the profile if they finished early. The experimenter was not in the room when the participant read the profile to minimize experimenter effects that may have interfered with the impact of the social comparison manipulation. By doing so, it reduced our ability to ensure participants focused on the profiles the entire time. After 5 minutes, the experimenter returned to the room to have participants complete the visual analog scales. Then, participants completed a form about their general impressions of the study, which included an assessment of how often participants compared themselves to the student they read about on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 9 (extremely) as they read about him/her. Finally, participants were debriefed.
Design A between-subjects design was used to examine differences between conditions on the direction of the social comparison. The AP condition had 31 men and 24 women. The HP condition had 20 men and 30 women. Because none of the participants guessed that the fellow student they read about was bogus, all participants were included in the analyses.
Statistical analyses Two hierarchical linear regressions were constructed with self-appraisal of personality or signs of anxiety serving as the dependent variable. In each regression, the centered main effects of social anxiety, condition, and gender were entered in the first step. Depression was also entered in the first step as a covariate. All possible combinations of two-way interactions of the centered main effects were entered in the second step. The three-way interaction of the centered main effects was entered in the third step.
Results Preliminary analyses There were no significant differences between conditions on gender or social anxiety
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Figure 1. Interaction of social anxiety and condition on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men.
( p’s . .09). Participants reported minimal depressive symptoms (M ¼ 9.28, SD ¼ 7.43). Consistent with previous research (Brown, Campbell, Lehman, Grisham, & Mancill, 2001), social anxiety was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (r ¼ .45, p , .01). In terms of the strength of the social comparison manipulation, participants reported comparing themselves to a moderate degree (M ¼ 5.77, SD ¼ 1.89) to the student.
Primary analyses Self-appraisal of personality. Higher social anxiety was associated with more negative appraisal of one’s own personality than the personality of the student they read about, b ¼ 2 0.07, t(83) ¼ 2.96, p , .01. There was no main effect of condition or gender ( p’s . .14). The main effect of social anxiety was qualified by a two-way interaction of social anxiety and gender, b ¼ 2 0.10, t(83) ¼ 2.00, p , .05. The other two-way interactions were not significant ( p’s . .43). Contrary to prediction, the three-way
interaction was not significant, b ¼ 0.18, t(83) ¼ 1.74, p . .05. Similar results were obtained when the previous analyses were rerun controlling for depression. We then analyzed the two-way interaction of social anxiety and gender on self-appraisal of personality. Contrary to prediction, the association between social anxiety and self-appraisal of personality was significant among men, b ¼ 2 0.13, t(46) ¼ 2 3.34, p , .01, but not among women, b ¼ 2 0.03, t(50) ¼ 2 1.06, p ¼ .29. Similar results were obtained when the prior analyses were rerun controlling for depression. Greater social anxiety was associated with a poorer self-appraisal of personality among men. Self-appraisal of signs of anxiety. There were no main effects or two-way interactions on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety ( p’s . .12). As predicted, there was a three-way interaction of social anxiety, condition, and gender on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety, b ¼ 2 0.35, t(83) ¼ 2.98, p , .01. We then analyzed the two-way interaction of social anxiety and condition. As predicted,
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the interaction was significant for men, b ¼ 2 0.27, t(37) ¼ 3.61, p , .01, but not for women ( p . .05). Among men with high social anxiety, the HP condition produced significantly more negative self-appraisals of signs of anxiety than the AP condition, b ¼ 2 4.27, t(46) ¼ 2 2.93, p , .01 (Figure 1). However, there was no significant difference between conditions among men with low social anxiety, b ¼ 2.84, t(46) ¼ 1.94, p . .05. Social comparison appeared to be associated with more negative self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men with high social anxiety. Similar results were obtained when the previous analyses were rerun controlling for depression.
Discussion This study demonstrated the influence of social comparison on self-appraisal in social anxiety. Results partially supported study hypotheses. Somewhat consistent with an evolutionary model of social anxiety (Trower & Gilbert, 1989), men with high social anxiety may use a competitive social schema, perceive themselves to show more signs of anxiety, and may be inclined to appraise their own personalities as worse than men with low social anxiety. In addition, results partially supported the role of UCs in self-appraisals in social anxiety. Comparison to a higher standard may influence self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men. A competitive social schema may lead to engaging in social comparison, particularly UCs, during interpersonal situations, and ultimately contribute to negative self-appraisal in social anxiety among men. This study partially clarifies whether social comparison may directly influence negative self-appraisal in social anxiety (Hofmann, 2007). Although theory and previous work suggest that social comparison is linked to negative self-appraisal, causality could not be determined due to the study designs used. The current study experimentally manipulated social comparison, which provides a stronger test of whether social comparison impacts negative self-appraisal in social anxiety. The present findings partially supported the notion that the comparison standard may influence self-appraisal among those with high social anxiety, at least for men. Specifically,
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comparing to a higher standard may lead to negative self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men with high social anxiety. Further research is needed to evaluate whether UCs may lead to negative self-appraisal in social areas, especially personality, among women with social anxiety. Consistent with previous research was the effect on self-appraisal of signs of anxiety among men. When men with social anxiety are in social situations, competitive social schemas may encourage social comparisons of their signs of anxiety. They may attend to their signs of anxiety in an effort to remain part of the social group. Due to UCs focused on signs of anxiety, theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) would suggest that they would appraise their signs of anxiety more negatively. Because individuals with SAD are prone to feeling ashamed for appearing anxious (Gilbert, 2007), the two-way interaction on selfappraisal of signs of anxiety among men suggests that they may feel particularly ashamed about showing signs of anxiety in interpersonal situations. Inconsistent with prediction, the interaction of social anxiety and comparison condition on self-appraisal of personality among women was not significant. However, greater social anxiety was associated with poorer selfappraisal of personality among men, but not women. Theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) suggests that individuals with SAD view relationships competitively. In addition, it may be easier to induce social comparisons in men than in women because men are typically more focused on social dominance (Mazur & Booth, 1998), which appears to be conceptually related to social comparison. Due to the competitive framework from which individuals with SAD view relationships, men with social anxiety may be particularly responsive to a social comparison manipulation. In contrast, women may be less responsive to a social comparison manipulation as they are socialized to consider themselves part of a group (Cross & Madson 1997a, 1997b). Indeed, a study (Roberts et al., 2011) found women endorsed greater perceptions of “striving for connectedness with others” (Stake, 1997, p. 542) than men. The focus on connectedness and cooperativeness with others may reduce reactivity to a social comparison manipulation among women
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with SAD, despite having a competitive perspective on relationships as theory (Trower & Gilbert, 1989) proposes. Another possibility for the unpredicted lack of significant results among females is that self-appraisal of personality may be rather stable and/or traitlike, and thus may not have been impacted by the experimental manipulation. A third possibility is that reading information about a fellow student’s adjustment to college may not be as strong as face-to-face interaction. A faceto-face interaction may have allowed participants to get a fuller sense of another individual’s personality. From there, participants could then determine whether their personality was more desirable than another individual’s personality. Replication of gender as a possible moderator of self-appraisal in different areas after a social comparison manipulation is necessary before firmer conclusions can be made about the potential influence of gender on self-appraisal among those with social anxiety. Results must be considered in light of study limitations. First, a baseline assessment of selfappraisal was not administered. The social comparison manipulation may not have impacted subsequent self-appraisals. Future work should assess self-appraisal before and after a social comparison manipulation to examine whether inducing UCs exacerbates negative self-appraisal among those with high social anxiety. Second, a one-item measure was used to assess self-appraisal within each dimension. A single item measure of selfappraisal of signs of anxiety or personality is limited in its ability to assess various facets of signs of anxiety, such as behavioral or physical signs of anxiety, or various facets of personality, such as personality traits from the Big Five model (Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt, & Watson, 2010). Future studies should assess self-appraisal within each dimension using multiple items or a composite variable consisting of multiple items for each dimension before and after a social comparison manipulation. Third, participants read about a fellow student to elicit social comparison processes. Although participants were instructed to focus on the profile the entire time and re-read it if they finished early, we cannot conclusively say participants did so because the experimenters were outside the room to reduce potential experimenter effects interfering with the
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impact of the manipulation. This may have contributed to and/or explain why the experimental manipulation did not produce strong social comparisons. Future work may consider videotaping participants to ensure they are focusing on the profile for the duration of the social comparison manipulation. In addition, previous research suggests that almost 50% of social comparisons occurred in the context of social interactions and about 20% occurred when thinking about another person (Antony et al., 2005; Wheeler & Miyake, 1992). While this imaginal type of social comparison seems reasonable, having participants interact with the other person may strengthen the effect of the manipulation. Because this is the first known experimental manipulation of social comparison in social anxiety, future research in this line of work should focus on refining an experimental manipulation of social comparison in social anxiety. As the current experimental manipulation failed to influence self-appraisal of personality, it is important that the refined manipulation influence various socially relevant areas, including personality. Also, this study used an analog sample, which may have limited the strength of the effect of the social comparison manipulation on rating signs of anxiety. Fourth, use of an AP condition may have contributed to a lack of main effects on personality. Had a low performance condition been included, participants would have had to make downward comparisons (i.e., comparing to people who are perceived as inferior). Such a condition may have produced a main effect on personality in which those comparing to higher performance may have rated their personality as poorer than the person they read about, whereas those comparing to lower performance may have rated their personality as better than the person they read about. The effects would be especially interesting to examine among those with social anxiety. Given that those with social anxiety underestimate their performance and perceive their performance more negatively than others do (Hofmann, 2007), comparing to lower performance would encourage them to do the opposite of what they typically do. Prior work (Antony et al., 2005) suggests that those with social anxiety make downward comparisons, but not as often as UCs. Comparing to lower performance may produce effects strong
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enough to begin disconfirming beliefs among those with high social anxiety. Future work in this area may want to include three conditions (i.e., comparison to higher performance, AP, and lower performance) to elucidate the effects. Fifth, the information in the student profiles was intended to target socially relevant concerns. Because a substantial portion of the information in the profiles was about academic performance, it may raise questions on whether the profile actually targeted socially relevant concerns. Fear of negative evaluation in situations includes academic performance situations (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Those with SAD may experience test anxiety or avoid participating in class and often underachieve academically (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This increases our confidence that the manipulation targeted socially relevant concerns. Future studies should use a social comparison manipulation that more targets other types of social anxiety concerns. Sixth, we could not conclusively confirm the extent to which participants in the HP condition were less ambitious or just as ambitious as the student they read about, as well as participants in the AP condition were just as ambitious as the student they read about. This issue could have decreased the effectiveness of the social comparison manipulation. The average undergraduate GPA at the university where this study took place was used as the GPA in the AP condition to increase the likelihood that the participants in that condition would be similar to the student they read about. Because a 4.0 is the highest GPA students could achieve at the university where this study took place, that number was used as the GPA in the HP condition to increase the likelihood that any comparison related to this topic would be comparing to HP. To overcome these confounds in the future, studies should gather basic information about participants’ academic performance and social lives to confirm that they are less ambitious or just as ambitious as the person they are comparing themselves to if they are in a UC condition or just as ambitious as the person they are comparing themselves to if they are in a same-level comparison or control condition. These findings may have treatment implications for SAD. If future work using clinical
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samples obtains similar effects, clinicians may want to encourage patients with SAD to minimize making comparisons to a higher standard because it may contribute to negative self-appraisal. This study provides important information about the influence of comparison to a higher standard on negative self-appraisal in social anxiety. Results suggest that comparison to a higher standard may differentially influence negative self-appraisal in social anxiety depending on gender. These findings suggest further clarification of the influence of comparison to a higher standard on negative self-appraisal in an effort to inform treatment for SAD.
Disclosure statement The authors have no conflicts of interest regarding authorship or publication of this article.
Role of funding source There was no extramural funding for the current study.
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