Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2020 Dec;69:101574. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101574. Epub 2020 May 4.
This study aimed to unravel the relationship between socially anxious individuals' expectation of being (dis)liked and actual likeability by looking at the mediating role of both strategic and automatic social behavior: Self-disclosure as well as mimicry were examined.
Female participants (N = 91) with various levels of social anxiety participated in a social task with a confederate. Before the task, participants indicated their expectation of being liked by the confederate. Afterwards, objective video-observers rated the likeability of the participants before and after the social task as well as their level of self-disclosure and mimicry.
Social anxiety correlated negatively with the expectation to be liked but was not related to observer ratings of likeability, self-disclosure or mimicry. However, degree of social anxiety moderated the relation between expectations and self-disclosure. As expected, participants with low levels of social anxiety disclosed more if they expected to be liked. A reversed pattern was found for the high socially anxious participants: Here, higher expectations of being liked were related to less self-disclosure.
The study used an analogue female sample. Our social interaction task was highly structured and does not reflect informal day-to-day conversations.
Socially anxious individuals function rather well in highly structured social tasks. No support was found for declined likeability or disrupted mimicry. Nevertheless, high socially anxious individuals did have a cognitive bias and show a self-protective strategy: when expecting a neutral judgment they reduce their level of self-disclosure. This pattern probably adds to their feelings of social disconnectedness.
本研究旨在通过考察策略性和自动社会行为的中介作用，揭示社交焦虑个体对被（喜/厌）的期望与实际被喜爱程度之间的关系：研究检验了自我表露和模仿的作用。
本研究招募了具有不同社交焦虑水平的女性参与者（N=91），让她们与一个同盟者进行社交任务。在任务开始前，参与者表示他们对被同盟者喜欢的期望。之后，客观的视频观察者在社交任务前后对参与者的喜爱程度以及他们的自我表露和模仿程度进行评分。
社交焦虑与对被喜爱的期望呈负相关，但与观察者对喜爱程度、自我表露或模仿的评分无关。然而，社交焦虑的程度调节了期望与自我表露之间的关系。正如预期的那样，低社交焦虑水平的参与者如果期望被喜欢，他们会更多地自我表露。而高社交焦虑水平的参与者则呈现出相反的模式：这里，更高的被喜欢的期望与更少的自我表露有关。
该研究使用了模拟女性样本。我们的社交互动任务高度结构化，并不反映日常非正式对话。
社交焦虑个体在高度结构化的社交任务中表现相当出色。没有证据表明他们的受欢迎程度下降或模仿能力受损。然而，高社交焦虑个体确实存在认知偏差，并表现出自我保护策略：当他们期望得到中立的评价时，他们会减少自我表露的程度。这种模式可能会加剧他们的社交孤立感。
