Selective Recall of Self-Descriptive Traits by Socially Anxious and Nonanxious Females

Self-schemas of 36 socially anxious and 38 nonanxious females were assessed. According to the schema-activation hypothesis, anxious subjects were predicted to recall more negative self-descriptive traits than would nonanxious subjects only when anticipating social interaction. Both socially anxious and nonanxious subjects rated more positive than negative traits as self-descriptive. Nonanxious subjects recalled more positive traits than did anxious subjects, and anxious subjects recalled more negative traits than did nonanxious subjects. The activation hypothesis received support in that socially anxious subjects recalled more negative traits than did nonanxious subjects when anticipating interaction but not when interaction was not anticipated. The effects of anticipating interaction and evaluation were discussed.