Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Subtypes Of Attentional Bias Within Social Anxiety Disorder: Evaluating Changes Following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Martha R. Calamaras, Erin Tone, Page L. Anderson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Prominent theories of social anxiety disorder (SAD) describe the role of attentional bias in the disorder's etiology and maintenance; some models implicate bias toward social threats (e.g., Rapee

& Heimberg, 1997) and others implicate bias to avoid them (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995). The present

investigation examined: 1) whether a clinical sample of individuals with SAD comprises two distinct groups based on attention bias for social threat (vigilant, avoidant), and 2) group-specific changes in attention bias following cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for SAD. Consistent with predictions, results yielded evidence of two pre-treatment groups (vigilant and avoidant). After eight weeks of …