magazine issue 3 2026

How do we interpret social situations marked by ambiguity?

• written by Lisa Vos, Tom Smeets & Jonas Everaert
• edited by Matilde Tassinari

Editorial Assistant: Parnian Kourang Beheshti

Picture 1

Imagine sending a message to a friend, and hours pass without a reply. Did you do something wrong? Are they upset? Or are they simply busy? Every day, we face moments like these: ambiguous social situations that leave us wondering what others think or feel. How we interpret these moments can shape our emotions, thoughts, social connections, and our own behavior, and can even impact our mental health. In this article, we review recent research from our team that sheds light on how people make sense of such ambiguous social cues, and why some of us tend to interpret them in ways that fuel depression and anxiety. By understanding these distorted interpretation patterns, we can better grasp how mental health disorders develop and persist.

What are biased interpretations?

In everyday life, we constantly encounter social situations that are ambiguous (can be read in more than one way). Think back about the situation where your friend is not responding to your text message. In situations like this, the meaning of others’ behaviors, expressions, or messages is unclear. Our minds naturally fill in the blanks about what others might be thinking or feeling. This process is called interpretation. When someone consistently interprets ambiguous social situations in a negative and/or less positive way, such as “My friend is ignoring me, so they must be annoyed with me”, we call this interpretation bias[1]. These biases can take different forms: Someone with depression might think: “They’re not replying because I’m unimportant or unlikable.”. Someone with social anxiety might think: “I must have said something wrong. They’re probably about to reject me.”. Although the exact content differs, the basic mechanism is the same: a distorted cognitive lens that makes social experiences look more negative than they really are. This pessimistic lens can then reinforce painful emotions and unhelpful behaviors[2]. 

What are inflexible interpretations?

Biased interpretations are not just about what we think, but also about how easily or flexibly we can change those thoughts when new information appears. Back to the text message example: Suppose your friend eventually replies,“Sorry, busy day at work!”. Many people would update their initial interpretation and think, “Ah, ok, they were just busy”. But individuals with depression or social anxiety often struggle to revise their initial interpretations, even when new information suggests everything is fine [3, 4]. They may think: “They’re just making an excuse. They really didn’t want to answer me”. This difficulty in changing one’s interpretation is called interpretation inflexibility.

Why do biased and inflexible interpretations matter?

In a recent literature review(a comprehensive overview and synthesis of existing scientific research)[5], we looked at how emotional biases in the way people process information shape their feelings and behavior. Biased and inflexible interpretations distort not only how people feel but also how they behave in social relationships. 

Take the example of a friend not replying to your text message. If someone interprets this ambiguous social cue negatively: “My friend does not like me”, it may trigger feelings of low self-worth or rejection. It can then lead to more general maladaptive thoughts, such as “No one likes me”. These biased interpretations may lead to behaviors such as repeatedly asking for reassurance (e.g., “Are you mad at me?” or “Did I do something wrong?” ) and pulling away when you don’t get there assurance you hoped for. Ironically, these behaviors can push others away, increase conflict, or lead to more social rejection.

How are biased and inflexible interpretations related to depression and anxiety? 

Biased and inflexible interpretations of ambiguity may increase the risk for common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. These pessimistic views can negatively affect social interactions. The stress generation hypothesis [6, 7] suggests that people with depression or anxiety may unintentionally act in ways that upset others. This can lead to negative reactions, which may exacerbate their symptoms and hinder recovery. Over time, such stressful social experiences can reinforce biased and inflexible interpretations. This negative thinking can intensify negative emotions and strain connections with others [8, 9]. Ultimately, it may play an important role in the development and persistence of depression and anxiety.

Can these biases predict future levels of depression and anxiety? 

Many studies have shown that interpretation biases are linked to depression and anxiety. But a key question remained: Do these biases simply co-occur with symptoms, or do they actually help predict future symptoms? To answer this question, we conducted a meta-analysis(a study that combines data from many previous studies) of longitudinal studies [10]. We found that interpretation biases do not just appear alongside depression and anxiety. They can predict later symptom levels. This suggests that these biases are not just “side effects” of mental health problems, but contributing factors. It also means that if we can reduce these biases through psychological interventions, we may also reduce people’s vulnerability to depression and anxiety. However, these studies focused on interpretation bias, and more studies are needed to understand whether interpretation inflexibility also plays a role in predicting future depression and anxiety.

Are biased and inflexible interpretations broad or specific risk factors?

To understand how broad these risk factors are, we used the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) [11]. This framework views mental disorders not as completely separate boxes, but as overlapping spectra, with common underlying dimensions. Using this approach, we asked: Are biased and inflexible interpretations a general risk marker for many mental health problems? [12]. Our findings suggest that negatively biased and inflexible interpretations are linked to a general vulnerability to mental health problems, often called the “p-factor” [7, 8]. A strong tendency to interpret things negatively and difficulty changing that view when new information appears, may constitute broad risk factors for a wide range of psychological difficulties.

In contrast, we found that reduced positive interpretations (e.g., struggling to think of positive or benign explanations such as “Maybe my friend is just busy”) are specifically associated with conditions characterized by emotional detachment and social withdrawal.  Emotional detachment refers to feeling disconnected from your own emotions or from other people. People who experience high emotional detachment find it hard to feel warmth, closeness, or joy in relationships. Social interactions can feel emotionally flat or distant. Social withdrawal involves pulling away from social interactions, avoiding contact with friends or family, reducing participation in activities, or spending large amounts of time alone. These are conditions that reduce a person’s sense of connection and belonging. When people feel emotionally distant or withdrawn from others, it becomes harder to generate positive or benign interpretations of social situations. This lack of positive thinking can reinforce a cycle of disconnection, misunderstandings, and further withdrawal.

In other words, the tendency to think negatively is a broad risk factor for various mental health disorders, whereas the absence of positive interpretations may be a unique risk factor for detachment-related problems.

How do these biased and inflexible interpretations affect social and emotional life?

We further investigated how these biased and inflexible interpretations influence social and emotional processes in depression and social anxiety [8]. Consistent with traditional cognitive theories [e.g., 6, 7, 13, 14],  we found that people with higher levels of depression and social anxiety tend to view their social worlds through a pessimistic lens, and experience difficulty in changing these beliefs when new information appears. These negatively biased and inflexible interpretations amplify negative emotions and dampen positive ones(e.g., thoughts such as “I don’t deserve to be happy”), thereby exacerbating symptom severity. These findings provide the basis for our future studies examining how distorted interpretations arise and unfold in everyday social interactions.

Do negative inflexible interpretations manifest in everyday life?

To move beyond the lab, we used ecological momentary assessment. This is a research method where people report their thoughts and feelings multiple times a day on their phones as they go about their daily lives [9, 15]. We developed the Daily Life Interpretation Inflexibility Task to measure how flexibly people revise negative interpretations as situations unfold. We found that those with higher depression or social anxiety levels experienced more difficulty in revising initial negative interpretations of emotionally ambiguous information in daily life. When negative interpretations persist, they lead to more negative and fewer positive emotions, as well as repetitive thoughts (e.g., dwelling on things you believe you did wrong and how negative you felt or dampening positive emotions). These daily fluctuations in emotions and maladaptive thoughts subsequently reinforce negative interpretations, creating a vicious cycle of distress. These findings highlight the importance of targeting negative emotions and ruminative thinking in daily life to improve cognitive flexibility.

Conclusion: Why our interpretations matter

The way we interpret ambiguous social situations, such as a delayed reply, a short text, or a neutral facial expression, can strongly affect how we feel and how we relate to others. Biased and inflexible interpretations can lead to relationship problems and even increase the risk of depression and anxiety. The good news is that these patterns can be changed. By becoming aware of them, we learn better ways to interpret social situations, think more flexibly, and respond to social situations in healthier ways.

For example, learning to consider alternative explanations, such as “Maybe my friend is exhausted from work, not upset with me”, can break the cycle of negative thinking. This may open the door to more positive and supportive social experiences and help to protect our mental health.

 

Pictures

PICTURE 1: Everyday social situation.

Bibliography

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