The Connections between Social Anxiety and Curiosity

Abstract

Among the anxiety disorders, social anxiety is second only to
generalized anxiety disorder for comorbidity with major depression
(Kessler et al., 2005). It can be defined as an extreme and
irrational fear of social circumstances or performance situations;
anxiety can arise from the fear of being closely watched, judged,
and criticized by others, he or she can be afraid of making errors,
looking bad, and being embarrassed or humiliated in front of others
(Holt, Heimberg, Hope, & Liebowitz, 1992). Some may
also worry that the symptoms like shaking or sweating palms will
be visible to others and lead other people to assume that they
are extremely anxious (Roth & Antony, 2001). Furthermore social
anxiety has been linked to body dysmorphic disorder (Kelly, Walters
& Phillips, 2009), social phobia, stress, fear in social situations
and behavior submissiveness (Weeks, Heimberg, & Heuer,
2011). This makes social anxiety a very stressful disorder to handle
and can cause major problem in one’s life. Visual perception
is influenced by the environment but can also be altered by
mood. In fact, jealousy is a key player in altering vision. This
study will explore the connection between visual perception, including
hallucinations, and jealousy. By showing if there is a
connection between visual perception and jealousy, we can improve
the diagnosis of hallucination.