Department of Psychology, McGill University.
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2021 Oct;121(4):948-968. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000363. Epub 2020 Aug 27.
A core component of social anxiety is the constant concern about what others think of the self. Could such metaperceptions-beliefs about how others view the self-play a role in relationship initiation attempts? In the present research, we examined whether metaperceptions may contribute to why people higher in social anxiety experience difficulties in initial interactions. In 2 first-impressions contexts, a platonic getting-acquainted context (Study 1: N = 544; 2,878 dyads) and a speed dating context (Study 2: N = 376; 4,797 dyads), we explored the roles of 2 components of metaperceptions: meta-positivity (i.e., believing interaction partners' perceptions of the self are in line with the socially desirable personality profile) and distinctive meta-accuracy (i.e., accurately recognizing interaction partners' unique perception of the self, controlling for meta-positivity). Results revealed that people higher in social anxiety were liked less by interaction partners across both contexts, a link that was partially accounted for by lower distinctive meta-accuracy displayed by those higher in social anxiety. Further, lower meta-positivity displayed by people higher in social anxiety also contributed to the links between greater social anxiety and being liked less in the platonic setting and liking others less in both contexts. In sum, metaperceptions may play an important role in shaping initial interactions, potentially helping to explain why people with greater social anxiety encounter difficulties forming new relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
社交焦虑的一个核心组成部分是对自我的关注。他人对自我的看法是否会影响人际关系的建立呢？在本研究中，我们检验了元认知（对他人如何看待自己的看法）是否会影响社交焦虑程度较高的人在初始互动中所遇到的困难。在两个第一印象的情境中，一个是柏拉图式的相识情境（研究 1：N=544；2878 对），另一个是速配约会情境（研究 2：N=376；4797 对），我们探讨了元认知的两个组成部分的作用：元正性（即，相信互动伙伴对自己的看法与社会期望的人格特征相符）和独特的元准确性（即，准确识别互动伙伴对自己的独特看法，控制元正性）。结果表明，在两个情境中，社交焦虑程度较高的人都较少被互动伙伴喜欢，这一联系部分归因于社交焦虑程度较高的人表现出较低的独特元准确性。此外，社交焦虑程度较高的人表现出的元正性较低也导致了在柏拉图式情境中社交焦虑程度与较少被喜欢之间的联系，以及在两个情境中对他人的喜欢程度较低。总之，元认知可能在塑造初始互动方面起着重要作用，这可能有助于解释为什么社交焦虑程度较高的人在建立新关系时会遇到困难。（来自心理学文献数据库）
