Social anxiety, which designates intense fear or anxiety of social situations due to the expectation of negative evaluation, is a relatively common disorder affecting 7-13% of the population (Modini & Abbott, 2016). Given the negative consequences that the disorder has on affected individuals (Matos et al., 2013; Modini & Abbott, 2016), looking for novel methods to ameliorate the symptoms is a societal imperative. 

 

The current study by McCarthy et al. (2025) focuses on the comparison of the current self with previous selves, which, although well-studied in cognitive neuroscience, has not been widely applied as a treatment of clinical and sub-clinical disorders. Nevertheless, comparison with previous selves has been shown to alter cognitive and affective processes and improve current self-evaluation (Broemer et al., 2007; Hanko et al., 2009; Morina, 2021), making it a prime target for handling sub-clinical individuals with social anxiety. The current paper, therefore, investigates whether comparison with previous selves can help individuals with sub-clinical social anxiety in countering their negative affect, which offers valuable clinical and theoretical contributions.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over two rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the recommender and reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA). 

 

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/wumdj
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:
 

 

 

1. Broemer, P., Grabowski, A., Gebauer, J. E., Ermel, O., & Diehl, M. (2007). How temporal distance from past selves influences self‐perception. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 697-714. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.469

 

2. Hanko, K., Crusius, J., & Mussweiler, T. (2009). When I and me are different: assimilation and contrast in temporal self‐comparisons. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 160-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.625

 

3. Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Gilbert, P. (2013). The effect of shame and shame memories on paranoid ideation and social anxiety. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 20, 334-349. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.1766

 

4. McCarthy, P. A., Morina, N., & Meyer, T. (2025). Cognitive, affective and behavioural effects of temporal comparison with prior aversive experiences in individuals with social anxiety. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/wumdj

 

5. Modini, M., & Abbott, M. J. (2016). A Comprehensive Review of the Cognitive Determinants of Anxiety and Rumination in Social Anxiety Disorder. Behaviour Change, 33, 150-171. https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2016.10

 

6. Morina, N. (2021). Comparisons Inform Me Who I Am: A General Comparative-Processing Model of Self-Perception. Perspect Psychol Sci, 16, 1281-1299. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620966788

One of the key drivers of how organisms respond to stressful events or situations is the controllability of the stressor – the extent to which the individual has (or believes) they can control the stress-inducing event or situation. A considerable literature has explored controllability and the effects of aversive events, with the general finding that uncontrollable situations more strongly impair emotion and cognition while increasing stress responses (Maier & Seligman, 1976). In a key review, Foa et al. (1992) evaluated the effects of unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events that caused disturbance in animals. Although it remains unclear, longevity of stress exposure may play a role in responsiveness when exposed to uncontrollable threats in humans.

 

Here, Dudziak et al. (2025) examine whether acute stress exposure impacts reactivity to a subsequent loss of control over threat. Participants (N=128) will be assigned to a stress or a no-stress group, undergoing an acute stress induction or a non-stressful control procedure, followed by a behavioural loss-of-control task. By assessing salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase assays, blood pressure measurements, and self-report ratings they hypothesize that participants exposed to acute stress will show stronger biological and psychological responses to the loss of control over threat than those in the no-stress group. The authors will also test whether individual differences in childhood adversity are associated with heightened stress responses. Overall, the findings promise to shed light on the directional relationship between threat controllability and stress reactivity, and will therefore be relevant across a range of research areas in clinical psychology, biological psychology, and associated domains.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated by three expert reviewers who performed in-depth and constructive evaluation across multiple rounds of revisions. The authors were responsive in amending their manuscript based on the reviewers’ comments and dedicated much effort to increasing the clarity and interpretability of their design and sampling plan. The revised manuscript was judged to meet the Stage 1 criteria and was awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).

 

URL to the preregistered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/dca3g
 
Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. Data collection began during the final round of Stage 1 peer review. Since no substantive revisions to the design or analysis were made after this review round, the risk of bias due to prior data observation remained zero, and the manuscript therefore qualified for Level 6.
 
List of eligible PCI RR-friendly journals:

 

 

1. Dudziak, M., Smeets, T., Vervliet, B., & Beckers, T. (2025). Impact of acute stress exposure on reactivity to loss of control over threat. In principle acceptance of Version 3 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/dca3g

 

2. Foa, E. B., Zinbarg, R., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1992). Uncontrollability and unpredictability in post-traumatic stress disorder: An animal model. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 218-238. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.2.218

 

3. Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. (1976). Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 105, 3-46. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.105.1.3