Date of Award
12-1-2010
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Rodriguez, Benjamin
Abstract
Previous literature on social anxiety has conceptualized fear of negative evaluation as the core construct that maintains social anxiety. Recent research has turned to examining the interpretation of positive events and the effect of positive feedback in socially anxious individuals. The present investigation sought to extend and replicate the findings on social anxiety and response to positive events. Participants completed a variety of self-report measures and then participated in a brief social interaction task. Based on experimental condition, participants either received faux positive feedback or no feedback at all. After the interaction task (and feedback depending on condition) participants completed the second half of the measure packet including several measures that assessed their immediate emotional state. Consistent with previous literature, results indicated that fear of positive evaluation and social interaction anxiety were significantly related. Unexpectedly, social anxiety did not moderate the relationship between performance feedback and subsequent emotional response as hypothesized. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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