The Interaction Effect of Impression Motivation and Impression Efficacy on Social Anxiety: Analyzing Situational and Dispositional Differences

Authors' Affiliations

Alexandria Dismuke, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennessee State University Richard Pond, Jr., Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington Ginette Blackhart, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennesee State

Location

Culp Room 304

Start Date

4-6-2022 11:00 AM

End Date

4-6-2022 12:00 PM

Faculty Sponsor’s Department

Psychology

Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor

Ginette Blackhart

Classification of First Author

Graduate Student-Doctoral

Competition Type

Competitive

Type

Oral Presentation

Project's Category

Psychology

Abstract or Artist's Statement

: Social anxiety can have severe negative consequences for individuals, from lack of crucial social interaction to lower quality of life. A self-presentation theory of social anxiety posits that social anxiety results from outcome expectancies of social interactions (impression efficacy) and how motivated the individual is to create a good impression (impression motivation). There is also a proposed interaction effect, theorizing that as impression efficacy increases, the association between impression motivation and social anxiety weakens. In a lab study (N=125), measures of impression motivation and impression efficacy were measured situationally (e.g., “I believe I will make the impression that I want to achieve”). These measures were collected both prior to a social interaction with a confederate and after, with the belief that another interaction would take place. Conversely, an online survey (N=301) collected the two measures from a dispositional viewpoint (e.g., “In social interactions, other people probably see me as I like them to see me”). Both pre and post interaction moderation analyses in the lab study failed to find a significant interaction effect. However, a significant interaction was found in the online survey data. This inconsistency may point to differences between the variables, depending on whether they are observed from a situational or dispositional perspective. Analysis of this discrepancy could have implications for further understanding the mechanisms of social anxiousness, as well as potential alleviation techniques and/or treatments.

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Apr 6th, 11:00 AM Apr 6th, 12:00 PM

The Interaction Effect of Impression Motivation and Impression Efficacy on Social Anxiety: Analyzing Situational and Dispositional Differences

Culp Room 304

: Social anxiety can have severe negative consequences for individuals, from lack of crucial social interaction to lower quality of life. A self-presentation theory of social anxiety posits that social anxiety results from outcome expectancies of social interactions (impression efficacy) and how motivated the individual is to create a good impression (impression motivation). There is also a proposed interaction effect, theorizing that as impression efficacy increases, the association between impression motivation and social anxiety weakens. In a lab study (N=125), measures of impression motivation and impression efficacy were measured situationally (e.g., “I believe I will make the impression that I want to achieve”). These measures were collected both prior to a social interaction with a confederate and after, with the belief that another interaction would take place. Conversely, an online survey (N=301) collected the two measures from a dispositional viewpoint (e.g., “In social interactions, other people probably see me as I like them to see me”). Both pre and post interaction moderation analyses in the lab study failed to find a significant interaction effect. However, a significant interaction was found in the online survey data. This inconsistency may point to differences between the variables, depending on whether they are observed from a situational or dispositional perspective. Analysis of this discrepancy could have implications for further understanding the mechanisms of social anxiousness, as well as potential alleviation techniques and/or treatments.