Blushing / erythrophobia & Facial / Hand Sweating

Research: Eisenburger, N & Lieberman, M (2004) Why rejection hurts: A common neural alarm system for physical and social pain. Trends in Cognitive Science Vol 8 (7): 294-300

Numerous languages characterize 'social pain', the feelings resulting from social estrangement, with words typically reserved for describing physical pain ('broken heart', 'broken bones') and perhaps for good reason. It has been suggested that, in mammalian species, the social-attachment system borrowed the computations of the pain system to prevent the potentially harmful consequences of social separation.

Mounting evidence from the animal lesion and human neuroimaging literatures suggests that physical and social pain overlap in their underlying neural circuitry and computational processes. We review evidence suggesting that the anterior cingulate cortex plays a key role in the physical-social pain overlap. We also suggest that the physical-social pain circuitry might share components of a broader neural alarm system.

Roth, D. et al (2001) Interpretations for anxiety symptoms in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy. Vol 39 (2): 129-138

Examined the interpretations that people make for 4 visible symptoms typically associated with social anxiety (sweating, blushing, shaking, and shaky voice). Ss were 55 Canadians (mean age 35.51 yrs) with social phobia (SP; based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria) and 54 Canadians without SP. Ss completed 1 of 2 versions of the Symptom Interpretation Scale (SIS; designed for this study), a scale asking Ss to rate the extent to which each of 8 interpretations is a likely explanation for the 4 anxiety symptoms (ASs). The Actor version asked Ss to judge how their own ASs are interpreted by others. The Observer version asked Ss to interpret ASs displayed by others. Two standard SP and anxiety scales were also completed by Ss as validation measures for the SIS. The results indicate that, when asked about ASs that they themselves exhibit, individuals with SPs are more likely to think that others interpret ASs as being indicative of intense anxiety or a psychiatric condition and are less likely to think that others interpret them as being indicative of a normal physical state. Data also suggests that those with SPs have a more flexible cognitive style when asked to interpret ASs exhibited by others than when asked about how others view their own.

Research: Do blushing phobics overestimate the undesirable communicative effects of their blushing?

De Jong, P & Peters, J. (2005) Do blushing phobics overestimate the undesirable communicative effects of their blushing? Behaviour Research and Therapy. Vol 43(6)

Previous research indicated that blushing has socially threatening revealing effects in ambiguous situations. To explain blushing phobics' fearful preoccupation with blushing, we tested the hypothesis that blushing fearful individuals overestimate its revealing effects. High (n = 20) and low (n = 20) blushing fearful individuals read vignettes describing prototypical mishaps and ambiguous social events. Participants were prompted in the perspective of the actor, and were asked to indicate their expectations of the observers' judgments (meta-perceptions). Blushing fearful individuals overestimated the probability and the costs of undesirable outcomes. However, this judgmental bias was not inflated by displaying a blush. Thus, the results provide no evidence to support the idea that fear of blushing is fuelled by a biased conception of its communicative effects.