Psychology Commons^™

What Am I Thinking Right Now?: Social Anxiety Symptomology And Its Impact On Theory Of Mind Ability, Shannon Reid

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to accurately read other peoples’ minds, which includes their intentions, thoughts, and emotions (Buhlmann, Wacker, & Dziobek, 2015). Individuals with low ToM often experience anxiety in family and social life (Coupland, 2001; Ribeiro & Fearon, 2010), which is a common feature of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Because of this connection, the present study looks at the relationship between social anxiety and ToM. I hypothesized that individuals with greater SAD symptoms would exhibit decreased ToM ability, which was measured using the Hinting Task, the Story Comprehension Task, and the Reading the Mind with the …