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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Jun;64(2):281-296.
doi: 10.1111/bjc.12504. Epub 2024 Sep 16.

Effects of social anxiety and self-schemas on the impact and meaningfulness of positive versus negative social autobiographical memories

Katie E Martin  1 , Sophie M Kudryk  1 , David A Moscovitch  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of social anxiety and self-schemas on the impact and meaningfulness of positive versus negative social autobiographical memories

Katie E Martin et al. Br J Clin Psychol. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Social anxiety is characterized by maladaptive self-schemas about being socially undesirable. Self-schemas are deeply held beliefs which are derived from negative autobiographical memories of painful social experiences. In contrast to the plethora of past research on negative memories in social anxiety, almost no research has investigated objectively positive social autobiographical memories. In this preregistered study, we examined the effects of social anxiety and self-schemas on the appraised impact and meaningfulness of retrieved positive versus negative social autobiographical memories.

Method: Participants recruited via Prolific (final n = 343) were randomized to one of two conditions in which they were instructed to retrieve, orally narrate, and appraise a positive or negative social autobiographical memory of a specific experience from their personal past where they felt either valued or unvalued, respectively.

Results: Results demonstrated that participants rated their positive memories as more impactful and meaningful than negative memories overall, but this effect was reversed for participants who endorsed having either stronger negative self-schemas or greater social anxiety symptoms, for whom negative memories were more impactful. Additionally, participants who endorsed having stronger positive self-schemas rated their negative memories as significantly less impactful and their positive memories as nearly more impactful.

Conclusion: Together, these results elucidate how self-schemas and social anxiety are related to autobiographical memory appraisals, paving the way for future research on memory-based therapeutic interventions for social anxiety disorder.

Keywords: appraisals; autobiographical memory; impact; self; self‐schemas; social anxiety.

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Conflict of interest statement

This authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Interaction effect between self‐reported social anxiety symptoms (SPIN) and memory valence (assigned condition) on appraised memory impact. SPIN, Social Phobia Inventory.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Interaction between negative self‐schema strength ratings (BCSS) and memory valence (assigned condition) on appraised memory impact. BCSS, Brief Core Schema Scale.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Interaction between positive self‐schema strength ratings (BCSS) and memory valence (assigned condition) on appraised memory impact. BCSS, Brief Core Schema Scale.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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