Self-Esteem Moderates the Relationship Between Fear of Negative Evaluation and Negative Learning Bias: Support for the Self-Verification Theory

Cognitive theories suggest that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is perpetuated by negative biases in social information processing. Socially anxious individuals tend to focus on, believe, remember, and internalize negative feedback more than positive feedback, which adversely impacts their self-feelings and self-perceptions. Neurocognitive research further highlights electrocortical markers of negative expectancy biases in socially anxious individuals, particularly enhanced frontal midline theta reactivity to positive feedback, which reflects expectation violation. However, while SAD typically emerges in mid-adolescence, a critical period for self-concept development marked by heightened self-criticism, most research has focused on adults, leaving a substantial gap in our understanding of the trajectory of these processes. The present study examined the role of fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a core feature of social anxiety, in social-evaluative feedback processing and explored...Show moreCognitive theories suggest that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is perpetuated by negative biases in social information processing. Socially anxious individuals tend to focus on, believe, remember, and internalize negative feedback more than positive feedback, which adversely impacts their self-feelings and self-perceptions. Neurocognitive research further highlights electrocortical markers of negative expectancy biases in socially anxious individuals, particularly enhanced frontal midline theta reactivity to positive feedback, which reflects expectation violation. However, while SAD typically emerges in mid-adolescence, a critical period for self-concept development marked by heightened self-criticism, most research has focused on adults, leaving a substantial gap in our understanding of the trajectory of these processes. The present study examined the role of fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a core feature of social anxiety, in social-evaluative feedback processing and explored the moderating effects of age and self-esteem. A sample of 198 healthy participants (81% females), aged 12-27 (M = 18.37, SD = 3.26), delivered a self-introductory speech. As participants rated their own performance on 80 evaluative items, they also reported on each trial how they felt about themselves after receiving feedback. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of theta oscillatory reactivity at FCz and Fz were collected during feedback presentation. After receiving feedback on all items, participants re-evaluated their performance. Multiple regressions and multilevel mixed-effects linear models examined changes in self-feelings, self-evaluations, and theta oscillatory reactivity in response to positive and negative feedback. Key findings revealed that adolescents with high FNE exhibited a stronger negative bias, such that their self-feelings were more affected by negative than positive feedback. This bias was significantly weaker in adults. Additionally, self-esteem moderated the relationship between FNE and self-evaluation adjustments, suggesting that individuals with high FNE and low self-esteem were more likely to lower their self-ratings following negative feedback. Theta oscillatory reactivity did not show attenuation in response to negative feedback in high-FNE participants, suggesting sensitivity to prediction errors rather than mere feedback presentation. These results highlight developmental differences in social-evaluative feedback processing and emphasize the importance of targeting self-esteem in interventions for socially anxious individuals.Show less

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Self-Esteem Moderates the Relationship Between Fear of Negative Evaluation and Negative Learning Bias: Support for the Self-Verification Theory