To trust or not to trust: Is social anxiety vulnerability characterised by impaired processing of trustworthiness?

Elevated social anxiety vulnerability (SAV) reflects heightened tendency to experience anxiety in anticipation of social situations. This research program tested variants of the hypotheses that elevated SAV is characterised by a deficit in the registration of information signalling the trustworthiness of others. By developing and deploying a novel Trustworthiness Information Registration Assessment Task (TIRAT), it was established that high SAV is indeed characterised by particular types of deficit in the registration of such trustworthiness information. The implications of these findings are discussed, and potential lines of future research are identified that may profitably build upon this research program.