Absence of a positive bias in social anxiety: The application of a directed forgetting paradigm

► The present study used a novel paradigm of directed forgetting task to investigate the memory bias in social anxiety. ► The results of the present study imply that socially anxious participants lack the positive memory bias displayed by non-anxious participants. ► The present study failed to find a greater directed forgetting effect for socially negative information in the socially anxious group. ► The findings of the present study are consistent with the notion that excessive social anxiety may arise from diminished positive experiences rather than from an increase in negative experiences.