114 COGNITIVE THEORY AND RESEARCH ON ANXIETY
a threatening situation, whereas dominance of the vulnerability mode is more likely to
lead to failure and reinforce individuals’ belief in their incompetence because it is associ-
ated with self- questioning, uncertainty, and a weak or tentative response in a challenging
situation. Bandura’s (1991) concept of low perceived self- efficacy, as well as uncontrolla-
bility and unpredictability, are distal vulnerability factors in anxiety proposed by other
researchers (e.g., Chorpita & Barlow, 1998; Schmidt & Woolaway- Bickel, 2006) that
are consistent with the cognitive vulnerability concept of diminished self- confidence for
selective types of perceived threats.
There are three assumptions about the nature of low self- esteem in anxiety. First,
the lack of self- confidence is highly specific to the anxious concerns of the individual.
Unlike depression, where we find a generalized negative view of the self, the lower self-
worth in anxiety is only evident in situations relevant to the person’s anxious concerns.
For example, a client with a specific phobia about swallowing was discouraged and
disheartened about his ability to eat in the presence of others and yet felt very compe-
tent when performing in front of hundreds as an amateur comedian. Second, lack of
self- confidence will be a significant determinant of self- protective responses in anxious
situations such as escape and avoidance, and deficit performance in dealing with the
situation. And third, lack of self- confidence in responding to certain types of perceived
threat arises from early childhood and other learning experiences and so acts as a vul-
nerability factor for the later development of an anxiety disorder.
Empirical Evidence
The first criterion of vulnerability is sensitivity to the disorder in question. Anxious
individuals should exhibit less self- confidence in dealing with threatening situations
relevant to their anxiety state than nonanxious individuals. Like depression, presence of
anxiety disorders is characterized by a significant lowering of self- esteem (e.g., Ingham,
Kreitman, Miller, Sashidharan, & Surtees, 1986). In fact a connection between low
self- esteem and anxiety has figured prominently in psychological theories and research
on social anxiety, in particular. Various studies have shown that low self- esteem or
dysfunctional beliefs about the self are related to heightened social anxiety or shyness
(de Jong, 2002; Jones, Briggs, & Smith, 1986; Kocovski & Endler, 2000; Tanner et al.,
2006; Wilson & Rapee, 2006). However, there are a number of qualifications that must
be made about the nature of low self- esteem in social anxiety.
First, most of the research evidence indicates that the lack of self- confidence in
social phobia is specific to social situations involving the perception of evaluation from
others rather than a global low self- esteem. In fact social threat is often needed to prime
low self-worth in socially anxious samples (e.g., O’Banion & Arkowitz, 1977; Rapee
& Lim, 1992; Stopa & Clark, 1993). Second, it is not clear whether the lack of self-
confidence in social anxiety reflects an elevation in negative self- evaluation or a reduc-
tion in positive self- evaluation. Mansell and Clark (1999) found that a high social anxi-
ety group recalled fewer positive trait adjectives but not more negative adjectives than a
low social anxiety group after giving a 2-minute videotaped speech (see de Jong, 2002;
Tanner et al., 2006, for similar findings). Thus the primary problem in social anxiety
may be a reduction in positive self- evaluation in social situations rather than an eleva-
tion in negative self-view. Third, it is still unclear which aspects of low self- esteem may