Emotion, social anxiety, and social interaction

Abstract

How do the socially anxious communicate distress? The present study examined social interactions in dyads consisting of either 2 non-socially anxious (NSA) individuals or dyads comprised of one socially anxious (SA) and one NSA individual. Participants were screened for social anxiety. NSA individuals were randomly paired either with a same-sex, NSA stranger or a same-sex, SA stranger. All participants completed two interactions with the same partner. Data consisted of verbal and non-verbal behavior and questionnaire measures of social interactions.