Appearing Socially Competent: The Effects of a Friend's Presence on the Socially Anxious

Abstract

As hypothesized, while introducing themselves to another person via video, participants high in social anxiety appeared more socially competent with a friend present than when alone. We also examined three potential explanations for this effect and found that while sharing information about themselves on video, most participants high in social anxiety were verbally prompted by their friends. Furthermore, on an open ended question, participants high in social anxiety expressed less negative self-focused thoughts with a friend present than when alone, but friends' presence did not affect their self-reports of anxiety. As predicted, the presence of friends had no effect on social performance or anxiety for participants low in social anxiety. Although more research is needed to ascertain how being with a friend versus alone results in better social performance for people high in social anxiety, friends' support may be part of a repertoire of "safe" social interaction strategies.

Engaging in Less Protective Self-Presentation: The Effects of a Friend's Presence on the Socially Anxious

“…Because we wanted to examine people who were either high or low in social anxiety, those who scored in the top and bottom tertiles on the pretest were recruited to participate. This strategy of selecting participants has been used in previous research (e.g., Pontari, 2009). Scores on this version of the scale could range from 15 to 75 (LSAs:…”

“…Pontari (2009) found that, when introducing themselves to a stranger, socially anxious people appeared more socially competent and experienced fewer negative self-focused thoughts with a close friend present than when alone. Similarly, the clinical literature documents the benefits (less distress and physiological arousal) of having ''safe people'' present (like friends) for those with certain anxiety disorders like panic disorder (Carter, Hollon, Carson, & Shelton, 1995).…”

Social Surrogacy and Adjustment: Exploring the Correlates of Having a “Social Helper” for Shy and Non-Shy Young Adolescents

“…Taken together, findings (e.g., Arbeau et al, 2012;Pontari, 2009;Teachman & Allen, 2007) suggest that not using social surrogates at all or using them too much may prevent young adolescents from using these peers to enrich their social experiences and enhance positive feelings about themselves. Thus, relative to young adolescents who use social surrogates in moderation, young adolescents who report low and high use of social surrogates may reap fewer social and psychological benefits.…”

“…One possible explanation for these findings is that the implications of social surrogate use depend on the extent to which children and adolescents recruit and use their peers in social situations. For example, in one study, Pontari (2009) found that having a friend offer subtle verbal prompts led socially anxious young adults to feel less anxious and appear more socially competent while they interacted with a stranger relative to when they faced the social interaction alone. Although not tested in her study, Pontari speculated that having friends dominate conversations could be counterproductive by leading socially anxious persons to remain passive and wary in social settings.…”

Shyness, Social Anxiety, and Social Phobia

“…More-recent research has also shown that socially anxious individuals around close friends are likely to engage in more relationship-promoting behaviors and are seen as more socially competent (Pontari, 2009). However, Baker & McNulty (2010) found that shyness was related to lower levels of relationship self-efficacy and marital relationship satisfaction, with self-efficacy mediating the effect.…”