This study examined the moderating role of shyness mindset on the reduction of social anxiety during exposure-based treatment. Participants (N = 60) in an intensive outpatient program for anxiety disorders were assessed at pre- and post-treatment. Social performance anxiety decreased dramatically during treatment, but the amount of decrease differed as a function of pre-treatment shyness mindset. At one standard deviation above the mean on both the social performance anxiety and shyness mindset measures, an average reduction of 15 points on the social performance anxiety measure was observed. At one standard deviation above the mean on the social performance anxiety measure and one standard deviation below the mean on the shyness mindset measure, an average reduction of 27 points on the social performance anxiety measure was observed. These results suggest that targeting shyness mindset during exposure-based treatments for social anxiety disorder might increase the effectiveness of treatment for individuals with a high shyness mindset.
Shyness mindset, the belief that shyness is fixed versus malleable, is a metacognitive belief that is proposed to affect socially anxious individual's motivation to engage in social behaviors, including those behaviors that maintain versus modify shyness. Research on shyness mindset (Beer, 2002 and Valentiner et al., 2011) has examined the psychological and social consequences of shyness mindset using nonclinical samples, but to date there are no published studies using clinical samples. The current study examined whether shyness mindset reduces the effectiveness of an exposure-based treatment for reducing social anxiety symptoms.
The construct of shyness mindset represents the application of implicit mindset theory (Dweck, 2006) to the domain of inhibited social behavior. Implicit mindset theory has been studied most extensively in the domain of intelligence and academic achievement. High scores on an intelligence mindset scale indicates beliefs that intelligence is fixed (i.e., having a fixed intelligence mindset). Low scores on an intelligence mindset scale indicates beliefs that intelligence is malleable (i.e., having a growth intelligence mindset). A fixed versus growth mindset has been found to be associated with differences in learning motivation, learning behavior, and learning outcomes (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007, Study 1; Mangels, Butterfield, Lamb, Good, & Dweck, 2006). Interventions that changed intelligence mindset resulted in changes in learning outcomes (Blackwell et al., 2007, Study 2). Mindset theory has also been applied to other domains (e.g., morality: Kray & Haselhuhn, 2007; body weight: Burnette, 2010; see Dweck, 2006, for a review). One application of mindset theory, in the domain of inhibited social behavior, appears to be particularly promising.
Beer (2002) was the first to propose the construct of shyness mindset. She reports that the combination of high levels of shyness and low levels of shyness mindset predicted a greater preference for learning social skills (Study 1). In addition, the combination of high levels of both shyness and shyness mindset predicted especially high levels of social avoidance (Beer, 2002, Study 2), state anxiety in social situations (Beer, 2002, Study 3), and negative perceptions by others (Beer, 2002, Study 3). Beer's (2002) studies provide good evidence that shyness mindset is associated with the social behaviors and consequences likely to be involved with the maintenance of shyness.
Valentiner et al. (2011) conducted a study that examined the role of shyness mindset in the maintenance of social anxiety during the first year of college. Shyness mindset, measured at the beginning of college, moderated the stability of social performance anxiety during the subsequent seven months. At high levels of shyness mindset (one standard deviation above the mean on the shyness mindset measure), social performance anxiety appeared to be almost completely stable during the first seven months of college. At low levels of shyness mindset (one standard deviation below the mean on the shyness mindset measure), social performance anxiety was less stable and declined substantially during those first seven months of college.
Of note, the moderating role of shyness mindset was found for social performance anxiety, but not for social interaction anxiety ( Valentiner et al., 2011). Although these two dimensions of social anxiety are highly correlated, they are distinct ( Carter and Wu, 2010 and Hook et al., 2013). Because social performance anxiety appears to involve relatively more acute anxiety reactions, it may involve more circumscribed associative networks in memory and more discrete cognitive appraisal processes. Social interaction anxiety may in fact be less malleable; it is often thought of as a dispositional variable. In addition to being specific to social performance anxiety, the moderating role of shyness mindset appeared to be partially mediated by college belongingness, suggesting that shyness mindset's more distal effects are likely mediated by the more proximal motivational and behavioral variables believed to maintain inhibited social behavior. The findings from the Valentiner et al. (2011) study suggest that an intervention program that targets shyness mindset might take advantage of the naturally occurring social challenges associated with the beginning of college.
Another context that presents an even greater challenge to socially anxious individuals is that of exposure therapy for social anxiety. Exposure-based treatments (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995) typically require that patients being treated for social anxiety confront their social fears in vivo, and to engage in new social behaviors while doing so. Although exposure-based treatments are able to substantially reduce social anxiety, it is not known whether shyness mindset might inhibit the effectiveness of these treatments in the same way that it appears to inhibit the natural reduction in social anxiety that takes place during the transition to college. The current study examined this possibility. The current study also examined whether the moderating role of shyness mindset is specific to social performance (versus interaction) anxiety.
