Social anhedonia and affiliation: Examining behavior and subjective reactions within a social interaction

Social anhedonia is a promising indicator for the vulnerability towards developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and is an important determinant of the social impairment associated with these disorders. It is unknown if social anhedonia is associated with true deficits in experiential reactions or if lower social functioning in social anhedonia reflects behavioral deficits in social skill or initiation of social contact. Using a novel social interaction task, the current study compared controls (n=60) to individuals elevated on social anhedonia (n=49) on observer-rated social skill and facial affect and participant self-reports of their experiential reactions to an affiliative interaction. Compared to the control group, the social anhedonia group was rated as behaviorally less affiliative and less socially skilled during the affiliative interaction. In response to the social interaction, the social anhedonia group reported less change in positive affect, less willingness to engage in future social interactions with the interaction partner, and less positive reactions toward the interaction partner compared to controls. There were no group differences in facial displays of emotion. Using a standardized affiliative stimulus, it was demonstrated that individuals high in social anhedonia have alterations in both their social skill and in their self-reported experiential reactions during a social interaction. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.