Scott Rachel, Poole Kristie L, Schmidt Louis A, Hassan Raha
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Scand J Psychol. 2025 Oct;66(5):717-728. doi: 10.1111/sjop.13116. Epub 2025 Apr 11.
Most previous work examining relations between social withdrawal and social cognition has focused primarily on empathy-related behaviors in shy children. However, there are different underlying reasons to withdraw from social interactions, which may be differentially related to aspects of social cognition throughout the lifespan. The present study investigated relations among the different motivations for social withdrawal (i.e., shyness, avoidance, and unsociability) and indices of social cognition, including cognitive (i.e., perspective taking) and affective (i.e., empathic concern and personal distress) empathy, and prosocial behavior during emerging adulthood. Participants included 588 Canadian undergraduate students (M = 18.91 years; 80% female), who completed self-report questionnaires assessing social withdrawal and empathy, and participated in the Dictator Game to assess sharing behavior. A series of multiple linear regressions revealed that the different motivations for social withdrawal were differentially associated with the three components of empathy and prosocial behavior. Shyness was positively associated with empathic concern and personal distress, whereas avoidance was negatively associated with empathic concern, perspective taking, and prosocial behavior. Unsociability was positively associated with perspective taking and negatively associated with personal distress. These findings have implications for our understanding of the different motivations for social withdrawal, and how each motivation influences how individuals connect with, relate to, and understand others.
以往大多数研究社会退缩与社会认知之间关系的工作主要集中在害羞儿童的共情相关行为上。然而，从社会互动中退缩有不同的潜在原因，这些原因在整个生命周期中可能与社会认知的不同方面存在差异关联。本研究调查了社会退缩的不同动机（即害羞、回避和不爱社交）与社会认知指标之间的关系，包括认知性（即观点采择）和情感性（即共情关注和个人痛苦）共情，以及成年早期的亲社会行为。参与者包括588名加拿大本科生（平均年龄M = 18.91岁；80%为女性），他们完成了评估社会退缩和共情的自我报告问卷，并参与独裁者博弈以评估分享行为。一系列多元线性回归显示，社会退缩的不同动机与共情和亲社会行为的三个组成部分存在差异关联。害羞与共情关注和个人痛苦呈正相关，而回避与共情关注、观点采择和亲社会行为呈负相关。不爱社交与观点采择呈正相关，与个人痛苦呈负相关。这些发现有助于我们理解社会退缩的不同动机，以及每种动机如何影响个体与他人建立联系、互动和理解他人。
