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Social anxiety and interpersonal perception: a social relations model analysis
P Niels Christensen1, Murray B Stein, Adrienne Means-Christensen
1Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA.
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|October 7, 2003
Summary
Social anxiety is linked to negative self-perceptions and beliefs about others' views. These negative beliefs, or metaperceptions, stem more from how socially anxious individuals see themselves than from others' actual perceptions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive models of social phobia emphasize negative self-perceptions and metaperceptions.
- Metaperceptions, or beliefs about how others perceive us, are considered central to social anxiety disorder.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between social anxiety and interpersonal perceptions (self-perceptions, metaperceptions, and perceptions from others).
- To examine the role of metaperceptions in socially anxious individuals.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the social relations model to analyze interpersonal perception data.
- Compared 62 socially anxious (SA) individuals with 62 not socially anxious (NSA) individuals after unstructured social interactions.
Main Results:
- Socially anxious individuals perceived themselves negatively and believed others perceived them negatively.
- While seen as more nervous, SA individuals were not perceived as less likeable.
- Negative metaperceptions in SA individuals were primarily driven by their own self-perceptions, not others' perceptions.
Conclusions:
- Negative self-perceptions significantly influence metaperceptions in social anxiety.
- Findings support cognitive models and have implications for social phobia treatment.
- Depressive symptoms did not account for the observed results.