Focused attention on self, others, and partiality of judgment in patients with social phobia disorder and normal individuals

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

Mansoor Beirami ¹ , Yazdan Movahedi ^{2 *} , Morteza Pormohamadi ³ , Abdolkhakegh Minashiri ⁴

1 - دپارتمان روان شناسی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران
2 - دپارتمان علوم اعصاب شناختی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران
3 - دپارتمان طراحی صنعتی، دانشگاه هنر اسلامی تبریز، تبریز، ایران
4 - دپارتمان روان شناسی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران5

Received: 2016-09-12 Accepted : 2016-09-12 Published : 2016-12-21

Keywords: focused attention on self or/and others, partial judgments, Social Phobia,

Abstract :

Social phobia is one of the significant psychological disorders. Focused attention on self, selective biases in relation to attention, interpretation, memory, and social judgment are the main elements of this disorder. It seems that patients with social anxiety disorder are inclined to shift the focus of their attention on the internal aspects such as motivation, behavior, thoughts, emotions or their appearance in social situations. The aim of this study is to compare the focused attention on self or others, and partiality in judgment in patients with symptoms of social phobia and non-patient individuals. Therefore, in a comparative study, 50 patients with social phobia and 50 non-patient individuals were selected through screening method from Tabriz University’s students. The subjects were evaluated in terms of social phobia, focus of attention and partiality in judgment. Multivariate analysis of demonstrated significant differences between the two groups scores in investigated variances. Patients with social phobia attained higher scores in focused attention on self and partiality in judgment, and lower score in focused attention on others than non-patient subjects. It seems that, in social situations, patients with social anxiety focus their attention on self and tend to negatively interpret the circumstances and have biased judgment.