A Comparison of Attentional Bias Toward Threatening Stimuli Among Individuals with Social Anxiety Symptoms: The Role of Reassurance Seeking

Objective: Cognitive models link social anxiety with biased attention to social threat, but the role of reassurance seeking remains unclear. This cross-sectional, nonexperimental group-comparison study examined whether reassurance seeking was associated with positive attentional bias toward threatening facial expressions across social anxiety levels.Method: A convenience sample of ۳۹۵ adults aged ۱۸–۶۰ years was recruited. After withdrawals and prespecified exclusions, ۲۶۷ completed questionnaires and the Dot-Probe Task. For planned comparisons, participants with a positive bias score were classified by social anxiety (LSAS ۳۰–<۶۰ vs. ≥۶۰) and reassurance seeking (below vs. at or above the sample TRSS mean). Sixty participants were included in each emotion-specific analysis, with ۱۵ per group. Separate two-way ANOVAs examined angry and disgusted faces.Results: For angry faces, social anxiety was not significant, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۰.۴۵, p = .۵۰۴, whereas reassurance seeking, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۶.۸۸, p = .۰۱۱, and the social anxiety × reassurance seeking interaction, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۵.۲۵, p = .۰۲۶, were significant. For disgusted faces, social anxiety, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۶.۰۷, p = .۰۱۷, and reassurance seeking, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۴.۴۸, p = .۰۳۹, were significant, whereas the interaction was not, F(۱, ۵۶) = ۳.۸۲, p = .۰۵۶.Discussion: Within the selected positive-bias groups, higher reassurance seeking was associated with larger bias scores, but patterns differed by facial expression and social anxiety level. Because selection partly depended on the outcome and the study was cross-sectional, findings should be interpreted cautiously and replicated using the full bias-score distribution.

کلیدواژه ها:

Social Anxiety Symptoms ، Attentional bias ، Reassurance Seeking