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The SAB app : testing the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification training on implicit social anxiety bias and explicit social anxiety: what is the role of perceived social self-efficacy?

Hölscher, Nina (2022) The SAB app : testing the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification training on implicit social anxiety bias and explicit social anxiety: what is the role of perceived social self-efficacy?

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Abstract:Background and aim: Cases of Social Anxiety (SA) are increasing. Still there remains a lack of available treatment options. In recent years, cognitive bias modification (CBM) has emerged as a novel treatment for malleable cognitive biases. Contrary to existing Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) it focuses on underlying cognitions, that implicitly reinforce disorders. CBM aims to reduce explicit SA symptoms by addressing underlying implicit SA self-concept biases and retraining the automatic association between oneself and SA. The role of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy (PSSE) was further explored since prior studies found a negative correlation between self-efficacy and anxiety and social self-efficacy determines whether one feels capable of managing social interactions. Methods: 25 participants (44% male, 56% female, mean age = 23.80, sd = 7.37) completed a pretest including demographic questions, an IAT as a measure for implicit SA bias, the LSAS as a self-report measure for explicit SA and the PSSE scale to measure the level of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy. Afterwards, they participated in up to two training sessions a day for 4 days using the Social Anxiety Bias app (SAB app). Lastly, the pretest measures were repeated in a posttest. Results: A marginally significant reduction in implicit SA bias (p = .055) was found between pre- and posttest. It was non-significant for explicit SA. PSSE could not be proven to be a mediator or moderator for the effect on SAB training on implicit SA bias or explicit SA. However, PSSE was found to be a predictor for the pretest (p = .002) and posttest (p < .001) level of explicit SA. Discussion: This study provides initial support that CBM has the potential to reduce at least implicit SA biases. Possibly the effects were not able to extent from implicit to explicit effects due to the relatively short study duration of four days. The exploration of the role of PSSE leads to the conclusion that CBM seems to achieve its effect by implicit mechanisms, and PSSE, as an explicit construct, does not interact with it. Future recommendations: Future research including a control group and a larger sample is suggested to validate the current results. Further studies are needed to investigate whether the found effects are prolonged and can be extended to explicit SA symptoms. Other mediating or moderating variables besides PSSE should be explored. Key words: Cognitive Bias Modification, Implicit Social Anxiety, Explicit Social Anxiety, Social Anxiety Self-Concept Bias, Perceived Social Self-Efficacy
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92303
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