Social anxiety and its effects on performance and perception

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Social anxiety is often associated with perceived deficits in social performance and judgment.
• Existing models predict that higher social anxiety negatively impacts social task execution and self-evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate performance deficits in individuals with high social anxiety during a social task.
• To explore the relationship between social anxiety, perceived competence, and self/other judgments.
• To examine the influence of observer-rated competence on social judgments.

Main Methods:

• Compared performance of high and low socially anxious men in a simulated job interview using judge ratings.
• Assessed participants' self-ratings and ratings of others on videotaped social interactions.
• Evaluated responses based on content, fluency, nonverbal cues, and global competence.

Main Results:

• Contrary to predictions, high social anxiety did not impair interview performance or self-performance judgment.
• Observer-rated competence significantly influenced participants' judgments of themselves and others.
• No detrimental effect of social anxiety on performance or self-judgment was found.

Conclusions:

• The study challenges the performance deficit model for social anxiety.
• Observer-rated competence appears more critical than self-reported anxiety in shaping social judgments.
• Findings suggest a need to refine theories and treatments for social anxiety, focusing on objective performance and competence.