Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: According to psycho-evolutionary models, self-conscious emotions operate as warning signals pertaining to threats to one's social rank, and trigger submissive behavioral responses, which serve to appease group members.Although negative social interactions may provoke fear of rejection, positive social interactions may provoke fear that one will come into conflict with more powerful others who may become threatened by an individual's social gains (e.g., see Weeks, Jakatdar, & Heimberg, 2010).The proposed study examined emotional (e.g., state anxiety) and behavioral (e.g., submissive head orientation) responses to positive attention.To study these effects, participants were randomly assigned to either: (1) experience more positive attention than expected by social norms (i.e., overinclusion) or (2) a control condition (i.e., a reasonably expected amount of positive attention [inclusion]) during a simulated "getting acquainted" task.It was hypothesized that trait levels of social anxiety would interact with experimental condition to predict (1) self-reported state levels of anxiety and (2) submissive displays.Although state anxiety did not vary by experimental condition, the interaction of trait social anxiety and condition predicted submissive head movements.Specifically, highly socially anxious participants tilted their heads leftward during the task (reflecting increased self-conscious emotions), and this relationship was strongest in response to greater positive attention (overinclusion), whereas less socially anxious participants
Author: Bethany N. Neczypor
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2610919624