Social anxiety, rejection sensitivity, and theory of mind decoding ability

Objectives: Recent initiatives have highlighted the importance of investigating clinically relevant variations in social processes that contribute to mental illness. Surprisingly little research has examined the associations between socially and clinically relevant transdiagnostic factors, such as social anxity (SA) and rejection sensitvity (RS), on theory of mind (ToM) decoding ability. Methods: The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and self-report measures of SA and RS were completed by 199 adult participants. Results: Linear regression analyses suggest a specific difficulty decoding positive emotion associated with SA and global decrements in ToM associated with RS that may reflect a negative interpretation bias. Conclusions: These findings may have important implications for understanding how those with SA and RS perceive and navigate social interactions, which may contribute to the maintenance of symptoms and decreased psychosocial functioning.