Examining the Dynamics of the Implicit and the Explicit Self-Concept in Social Anxiety: Changes in the Implicit Association Test–Anxiety and the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory Following Treatment

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed changes in the strength of self-anxiety associations—as measured by the Implicit Association Test–Anxiety (IAT–Anxiety; Egloff & Schmukle, 2002 Egloff, B. and Schmukle, S. C. 2002. Predictive validity of an Implicit Association Test for assessing anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology., 83: 1441–1455. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory (SPAI; Turner, Beidel, Dancu, & Stanley, 1989 Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C., Dancu, C. V. and Stanley, M. A. 1989. An empirically derived inventory to measure social fears and anxiety: The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory. Psychological Assessment., 1: 35–40. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar])—following treatment of social anxiety. We assessed socially anxious participants (N = 24) prior to and following a group-based treatment; and we assessed healthy controls (N = 24) at matched time points. Results showed (a) higher implicit and explicit anxiety in socially anxious participants (as compared to controls) prior to treatment and (b) reductions in IAT–Anxiety and SPAI scores of socially anxious participants following treatment. We discuss implications of these results for clinical applications of the IAT.