Dual Enrollment Psychology (PSY 200) Final Practice Exam

The main idea here is that a condition involves a persistent, exaggerated fear of being judged in social situations and a pattern of avoiding those situations that leads to noticeable impairment. Social Anxiety Disorder is defined by fear or anxiety about social or performance situations where others might scrutiny, along with avoidance or significant distress when faced with them, and this pattern must cause trouble in daily functioning. The phrase “intense fear and avoidance of social situations” aligns directly with that definition, since the issue centers on social evaluation and the resulting avoidance.

Other options describe different patterns. A specific phobia is fear aimed at a particular object or situation, like spiders or flying, not a broad fear of social interactions. A panic attack is a sudden surge of fear with physical symptoms and is a symptom that can occur in several disorders but isn’t itself the disorder described. Generalized anxiety disorder involves excessive worry about many areas of life, not limited to social contexts, and lacks the focus on social evaluation and avoidance that defines social anxiety disorder.

So the description fits best with Social Anxiety Disorder because it centers on the fear of social scrutiny and the resulting avoidance that disrupts functioning in social settings.