SELF-TALK.REGULATION.AND SOCIAL ANXIETY 305 broadly as the capaciry to transeend one's Exploring Generalizability to Vulnerable Populations: Social Anxiety ample,that psych mode pcople's when fac e.Li Levin-Sa ,06 Kober et al atory with a high degree of ccoloica uin painful past from a sef mulated in the laboratory relatively easily.in ways that lend on their bo The conc experience social anxiety and the concomitant negative psycho Segal,Bu Kennedy.2007:Ingram Hollo 1.1986.Th Rapee Heimb 1997).When these situations are possible gor"elf as contet.is also central to mny newer forms of worry exces ognitive the their ot their fee ings (eg Hayes,Luoma Hcim sing o 2008 in the age people use to refer tivebehavioral therapie social anxiety i s ha ed that the la ents(D.M.Cark).However.to the extent tha nguage people use to ret to the I dur ectio ouns that peopl bo dista cope with social threat &P Research Overview le to retl on (Gr Kro with Ibwere proof-of-principlstudies. ing fewer irst-person pro hereon)rather than first-person p cinaIns eral.peopl of these different forms of self-talk for egulating the thinking about. s of self-talk self-distanc ghts and fee s they have privileged access to he uoh 5 to exa ine whether trait social anxiety moderates the In co people virtually exclusively use first person pron self-regulatory effects of non-first-person language use Thus Studies la and 1b ospection should think about the self as they normally do an n sum.our a nalysis suggests that the language people use to stancing -distan ncing.One way t ate their thou hts.f ngs,and behavior under stress.Our first ont that people adopt when visua goal was to explore this questio on-first-person which we construed broadly as the capacity to transcend one’s egocentric viewpoint of a stimulus, facilitates self-regulation. Re￾search in children and adults indicates, for example, that psycho￾logical distancing strategies enhance people’s capacity to exert self-control when faced with tempting options in the short term (e.g., Fujita, Trope, Liberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006; Kober et al., 2010; Mischel & Rodriguez, 1993; Sigel & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 2003). In a similar vein, research on self-reflection indicates that cueing people to reflect on painful past experiences from a self￾distanced or “fly-on-the-wall” visual perspective helps them re￾flect on their experiences without ruminating (Gruber, Harvey, & Johnson, 2009; Kross & Ayduk, 2011; also see Ray, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2008; Wisco & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). The concept of self-distancing also factors prominently into several cognitive and behavioral treatment paradigms. Beck (1970) described distancing as a process that allows clients to think objectively about irrational thoughts and emphasized the impor￾tance of this process for effective cognitive therapy (pp. 189 – 190)—a view that many scholars have since echoed (e.g., Fresco, Segal, Buis, & Kennedy, 2007; Ingram & Hollon, 1986). The concept of distancing, although sometimes referred to as “decen￾tering” or “self as context,” is also central to many newer forms of cognitive therapy, which emphasize the importance of enhancing psychological distance from the self for allowing people to observe and accept their feelings (e.g., Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006; Teasdale et al., 2002). These findings are noteworthy in the current context because researchers have speculated that the language people use to refer to the self may influence self-distancing. For example, research on expressive writing conceptualizes the degree of first-person pro￾nouns that people use when writing about emotional experiences as a marker of self-distancing—the fewer first-person pronouns people use, the more people attempt to distance themselves from their experiences (e.g., Cohn, Mehl, & Pennebaker, 2004; also see Pennebaker & King, 1999). Supporting this inference, cueing people to reflect on emotional (Grossmann & Kross, 2010; Kross & Ayduk, 2008) and nonemotional (Mcisaac & Eich, 2002) expe￾riences from the visual perspective of a psychologically distanced observer (compared with a first-person visual perspective) leads them to describe these experiences using fewer first-person pro￾nouns. Why might certain patterns of language use, in particular peo￾ple’s use of non-first-person pronouns and their own name to refer to the self, promote self-distancing? In general, people use these parts of speech when thinking about, referencing, or speaking to other people. Thus, if people use these parts of speech to refer to the self, this may enhance self-distancing by leading people to think about themselves as though they were someone else—albeit another self whose inner thoughts and feelings they have privileged access to. In contrast, people virtually exclusively use first person pronouns when thinking about or referring to the self from their egocentric point of view. Thus, people who use these parts of speech during introspection should think about the self as they normally do— from a self-immersed, first-person perspective. In sum, our analysis suggests that the language people use to refer to the self during introspection may influence self-distancing, and thus have consequential implications for their ability to regu￾late their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under stress. Our first goal was to explore this question. Exploring Generalizability to Vulnerable Populations: Social Anxiety Our second goal was to explore whether social anxiety moder￾ates the self-regulatory benefits of non-first-person language use during introspection. We focused on social anxiety because it can be studied in the laboratory with a high degree of ecological validity. That is, the situations that socially anxious people fear most— being evaluated by others in a social context— can be simulated in the laboratory relatively easily, in ways that lend themselves well to testing predictions about mechanisms underly￾ing self-regulation. Moreover, social anxiety is one of the most common forms of anxiety (e.g., Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, & Walters, 2005). From the apprehensive partygoer to the anxious public speaker to the socially phobic patient, countless people experience social anxiety and the concomitant negative psycho￾logical and physical consequences that it generates. Cognitive models of social anxiety suggest that socially anxious individuals experience high levels of anxiety in response to the threat of future social interactions (D. M. Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). When these situations are possible, they worry excessively about the likelihood of performing poorly, which interferes with their performance. The perception and actu￾ality of their poor performance reinforce their negative beliefs about the self, giving rise to maladaptive postevent processing or rumination (Brozovich & Heimberg, 2008). In current cognitive behavioral therapies, social anxiety is treated by challenging negative expectations about upcoming events (e.g., D. M. Clark et al., 2003). However, to the extent that the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influences self-regulation, it might provide an additional (poten￾tially easily implemented) tool for helping vulnerable populations cope with social threat. Research Overview Seven studies examined whether language use during introspec￾tion influences people’s ability to self-regulate under social stress. Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They examined whether using non-first-person pronouns and one’s own name (non-first-person group from hereon) rather than first-person pro￾nouns (first-person group from hereon) during introspection en￾hances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 then examined the impli￾cations of these different forms of self-talk for regulating the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sequalae of social stress. Studies 4 and 5 examined how these different forms of self-talk influence the way people appraise future stressors. Finally, Study 6 consisted of a meta-analysis that combined data from Studies 2 through 5 to examine whether trait social anxiety moderates the self-regulatory effects of non-first-person language use. Studies 1a and 1b Our starting point is that using non-first-person pronouns and one’s own name to refer to the self during introspection promotes self-distancing. One way to test this prediction is to examine whether language use during self-reflection influences the vantage point that people adopt when visualizing emotional experiences. If non-first-person language use (i.e., “linguistic” self-distancing) This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. SELF-TALK, REGULATION, AND SOCIAL ANXIETY 305