School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Cogn Behav Ther. 2012;41(2):163-73. doi: 10.1080/16506073.2012.664557. Epub 2012 Mar 22.
Negative self-images play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder. We propose that these images represent the working self in a Self-Memory System that regulates retrieval of self-relevant information in particular situations. Self-esteem, one aspect of the working self, comprises explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) components. Implicit self-esteem reflects an automatic evaluative bias towards the self that is normally positive, but is reduced in socially anxious individuals. Forty-four high and 44 low socially anxious participants generated either a positive or a negative self-image and then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants who held a negative self-image in mind reported lower implicit and explicit positive self-esteem, and higher explicit negative self-esteem than participants holding a positive image in mind, irrespective of social anxiety group. We then tested whether positive self-images protected high and low socially anxious individuals equally well against the threat to explicit self-esteem posed by social exclusion in a virtual ball toss game (Cyberball). We failed to find a predicted interaction between social anxiety and image condition. Instead, all participants holding positive self-images reported higher levels of explicit self-esteem after Cyberball than those holding negative self-images. Deliberate retrieval of positive self-images appears to facilitate access to a healthy positive implicit bias, as well as improving explicit self-esteem, whereas deliberate retrieval of negative self-images does the opposite. This is consistent with the idea that negative self-images may have a causal, as well as a maintaining, role in social anxiety disorder.
消极的自我形象在维持社交焦虑障碍中起着重要作用。我们提出，这些形象代表了自我记忆系统中的工作自我，该系统调节特定情境下与自我相关信息的检索。自尊是工作自我的一个方面，包括外显（有意识）和内隐（自动）成分。内隐自尊反映了一种自动的自我评价偏向，通常是积极的，但在社交焦虑个体中会降低。44 名高社交焦虑和 44 名低社交焦虑参与者分别生成积极或消极的自我形象，然后完成内隐和外显自尊的测量。与积极形象相比，那些在脑海中持有消极自我形象的参与者报告说内隐和外显的积极自尊较低，而外显的消极自尊较高，无论其社交焦虑程度如何。然后，我们在虚拟抛球游戏（Cyberball）中测试了积极的自我形象是否能像保护高社交焦虑和低社交焦虑个体免受社交排斥对明确自尊的威胁一样，平等地保护他们。我们没有发现社交焦虑和形象条件之间存在预期的相互作用。相反，所有持有积极自我形象的参与者在 Cyberball 后报告的外显自尊水平都高于持有消极自我形象的参与者。有意识地回忆积极的自我形象似乎有助于获得健康的积极内隐偏见，以及提高外显自尊，而有意识地回忆消极的自我形象则恰恰相反。这与消极的自我形象可能在社交焦虑障碍中具有因果关系，而不仅仅是维持作用的观点是一致的。
