Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 37 (2006) 113–126 Mental representation of observable attributes in people with social phobia Ronald M. Rapee à , Maree J. Abbott Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia Received 9 September 2004; received in revised form 9 September 2004; accepted 19 January 2005 Abstract Cognitive models of social phobia stress the importance of a negatively biased mental representation of ones social performance and appearance in maintenance of the disorder. People with social phobia (N ¼ 57) and non-clinical controls (N ¼ 41) engaged in a public speech and also completed several measures of perceived attributes including speech performance, physical attractiveness, and personal performance ability in several interpersonal areas. Independent observers also rated participants’ speech performance and physical attractiveness. Relative to observers’ ratings, individuals with social phobia reported significantly lower quality of speech performance and physical attractiveness than did non- clinical individuals. People with social phobia also reported significantly lower perceived ability in other areas of performance and appearance. These data held even after statistically controlling for levels of depression. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Social phobia; Social skills; Attractiveness; Perception 1. Introduction Cognitive models of social anxiety stress the importance of distorted perceptions and cognitive processes in the maintenance of the disorder (Clark & Wells, 1995; ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jbtep 0005-7916/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2005.01.001 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9850 8032. fax: +61 2 9850 8062. E-mail address: ron.rapee@mq.edu.au (R.M. Rapee).