What Causes Social Anxiety and Social Phobia?

n a sense, social anxiety and Social Phobia are probably caused by the same factors that are responsible for any strong human emotional experience: our genetic makeup, biological factors, and the culmination of learning experiences throughout our lives (Antony & Swinson, 2008). It is virtually impossible to single out one factor that "causes" social anxiety; rather, it is more likely to be a combination of contributing causes that come together in the right place, at the right time. Below we discuss three factors that are believed to play a role: Our genes, our brains, and our life experiences.
Our Genes: Ongoing research on the genetic foundations of physical and mental health suggests that a tendency toward anxiety, and social phobia in particular, has a moderate level of "heritability" - in other words, if your parents have Social Phobia or another anxiety disorder, you are somewhat more likely to have an anxiety disorder yourself, because of genes inherited from your parents.
Our Brains: Medications that are used to treat social phobia affect levels of neurotransmitters in the brain (neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that transmit signals from one brain cell to the next). However, the verdict is still out on whether differences in these chemicals can cause social phobia. Similarly, several studies (such as that of Blair et al., 2008) have found that certain areas of the brain, such as a small, almond-shaped area called theamygdala, can be more active in individuals with social phobia.
Our Life Experiences: Experiences in our life, and our reactions to them, can also contribute to the development of Social Phobia. If we repeatedly are put in situations where we are made to feel different, to fear the judgment of other people, or are somehow singled out in a negative way, we can understandably develop beliefs about ourselves and the world that are more consistent with social anxiety. As these experiences continue, we may also begin to selectively pay attention only to those parts of our environment that reinforce our negative beliefs - for example, a public speaker may focus on the two people in her audience who appear bored, while she may hardly notice the 38 others who are watching and nodding with great interest. As these beliefs and attention "filters" get strengthened, the tendency toward acting, feeling, and thinking in a socially anxious way becomes more automatic. After a while, these beliefs can also lead us to make unhelpful assumptions in otherwise neutral situations. If a person glances at us on the sidewalk, we may automatically assume that he thinks we look strange or have an odd walk. We might not even consider the possibility that he appreciated our making way for him to get past, or that he simply likes to make eye contact with everyone he encounters. Naturally, if we believe most social situations are going to go poorly or create a great deal of discomfort, we are going to avoid them. The catch here is that while we are successful in temporarily escaping our unpleasant feelings of anxiety, we also confirm our beliefs that we are unable to handle social situations. At the same time, we miss chances to find out that our negative assumptions may not always be correct. As another illustration, a person who enjoys singing but fears the judgment of others will never find out he has an excellent voice if he continually avoids singing in public. Avoiding more and more situations for fear of evaluation will strengthen our negative biases and beliefs and prevent us from going into an increasing number of situations where we might otherwise want or need to go. As this pattern starts to interfere with our overall functioning, the warning signs of Social Phobia can become more apparent.