Social anxiety and anticipation of future interaction as determinants of the favorability of self-presentation

Abstract

Based on a self-presentational approach to social anxiety, it was hypothesized that (1) low social anxiety individuals respond to the expectation of further personal interaction with another person by increasing the favorability of their self-presentations; (2) high social anxiety individuals do not increase the favorability of their self-presentations when they expect further interaction, and (3) positive evaluations from an interaction partner tend to reduce differences between low and high social anxiety individuals. To test these hypotheses, individuals previously determined to be either low or high in dispositional social anxiety were asked to write 10 self-descriptive statements to be passed to an opposite sex partner, with whom the subjects either would or would not engage in further personal interaction. Prior to writing the self-descriptions, subjects were given either positive or neutral evaluations, supposedly written by the other person. The results supported the first two, but not the third, hypotheses. The implications of these findings for a self-presentational model of social anxiety were discussed.