Fig 1.
Flowchart of participant selection.
1 assessed by SCID-II items on borderline and antisocial personality disorder; 2assessed by SCID-I screening items. SPIN = social phobia inventory; SCID = Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV; LSA = low social anxiety; HAS = high social anxiety.
Fig 2.
(A) Example trial, starting with a visual cue describing an individual negative situation, next a negative self-belief was presented via loudspeakers. After listening to the self-belief, participants rated their affective response on a 9-point SAM scale. Each trial ended with a fixation cross. (B) The setup of a block. Each block started with a negative situation cue, followed by four negative self-beliefs. Next, the same negative situation cue was followed by four positive self-beliefs. Finally, a visual cue of a neutral situation and four neutral self-beliefs were presented. Participants rated their affective response after each belief. Each block ended with a fixation cross. In total, there were five blocks, using five negative and five neutral situations.
Fig 3.
Schematic for the proposed multilevel mediation model.
2-1-1 mediation model, with social anxiety status (HSA vs. LSA) as a level two predictor, agreement with self-beliefs as a level one mediator and affect (either positive or negative) as a level one outcome variable. Mij = mediator, Xj = predictor, Yij = outcome, βc = direct effect, βaβb = mediated or indirect effect of social anxiety status on affective response.
Table 1.
Demographic sample characteristics.
Fig 4.
Affect and agreement ratings for negative, neutral, and positive self-beliefs.
(A) Affect ratings. For each self-belief condition on the left-hand side: estimated mean affect ratings for high (HSA) and low (LSA) socially anxious participants; error bars represent estimated standard errors. Right hand side: distribution of estimated intercepts of affect ratings. (B) Agreement ratings. For each self-belief condition on the left-hand side: estimated mean agreement ratings for high (HSA) and low (LSA) socially anxious participants; error bars represent estimated standard errors. Right hand side: distribution of estimated intercepts of agreement ratings.
Fig 5.
Estimation results of the mediation model for negative self-beliefs.
Fig 6.
Estimation results of the mediation model for positive self-beliefs.