Social Anxiety in Relation to Selfcontrol Depletion Following Social Interactions

Creator(s)

Ginette C. Blackhart, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow
Jessica Williamson, Kansas State University
Lyndsay Nelson, Vanderbilt University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2015

Description

Although prior research suggests that high social anxiety is associated with poor self-control during and after social interactions, only a few studies have formally tested this relationship. The current research therefore includes three studies examining how social anxiety is related to self-control. Study 1 showed that social anxiety is negatively related to general trait self-control. Studies 2 and 3 showed that higher social anxiety is related to poorer behavioral self-control after two types of social interactions, social evaluation and working with another person on a task. These results demonstrate that higher social anxiety is indeed related to decrements in self-control following social interaction. This suggests that socially anxious individuals are at risk of exhibiting poor self-control during and/or after social interactions, which has many negative implications, including poor interpersonal relationships and an exacerbation of social anxiety symptoms.

Citation Information

Blackhart, Ginette C.; Williamson, Jessica; and Nelson, Lyndsay. 2015. Social Anxiety in Relation to Selfcontrol Depletion Following Social Interactions. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Vol.34(9). 747-773. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2015.34.9.747 ISSN: 0736-7236