Fear of positive evaluation and social anxiety: A systematic review of trait-based findings

Background: Although fear of negative evaluation (FNE) has long been recognized as a core cognitive bias in social anxiety, fear of positive evaluation (FPE) has received considerable attention over the past several years. The literature would benefit from a synthesis of the current state of the research in order to contribute to our understanding of FPE.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to address several questions: (a) Is self-reported FPE distinct from self-reported FNE? (b) Is self-reported FPE related to social anxiety symptomatology? and (c) Is self-reported FPE uniquely related to social anxiety symptomatology when accounting for self-reported FNE? Inclusion criteria included studies published in English, testing FPE and FNE with trait-based measures, and testing social anxiety with either self-report or diagnostic interviews.

Results: There were 33 studies identified in this review that provided convincing empirical support for each of these questions across community and clinical samples of adolescents, undergraduates, and adults.

Limitations: The systematic review did not have access to null results, present meta-analytic results, or include studies that evaluated FPE or social anxiety with experimental designs.

Conclusions: The findings from the systematic review support updated theoritical models of social anxiety and highlight the importance of assessing and treating FPE in clinical interventions.