The effects of video feedback on the self-evaluation of performance in socially anxious subjects

Previous research has demonstrated that socially anxious subjects appraise their own social performance as worse than it is seen by independent observers, but are able to appraise the performance of others accurately. Three studies are reported in which socially anxious subjects evaluated their own social performance after viewing it via video. In each study, ratings made following video were closer to those made by independent observers than were ratings made without the benefit of video. In addition, this effect was similar in both socially anxious and nonanxious people. A model is proposed in which self evaluation of one's social performance is based on a mental representation of one's external appearance which receives input from long term memory, internal cues, and external cues.