Abstract
Studies examining the association between social anxiety and lab-based assessments of social cognition have resulted in inconsistent findings. However, no studies to date have investigated the potentially multiplicative effect of social anxiety and social cognitive impairment on real-world social outcomes. In the present study (n = 403), we examined the association between social anxiety and social cognitive ability using a psychometrically sound measure of emotion recognition. We then examined the moderating role of social cognitive ability on the association between social anxiety and daily interpersonal stress. We found no main effect of social anxiety, nor an interaction between social anxiety and stimuli valence, on social cognitive ability. However, we found a significant interaction between social anxiety and social cognitive ability that predicted daily interpersonal stress, such that greater levels of social anxiety were associated with greater daily interpersonal stress among individuals with lower social cognitive ability. These finding suggest that social cognitive deficits may exacerbate the association between social anxiety and real-world social outcomes.
Degree Date
Spring 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Psychology
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Alvi, Talha, "Examining the Association Between Social Anxiety and Social Cognition on Daily Interpersonal Stress" (2023). Psychology Theses and Dissertations. 42.
https://scholar.smu.edu/hum_sci_psychology_etds/42
