The Role of Self‐focused Attention and Negative Self‐thought in Interview Anxiety: A test of two interventions

Abstract

Job interview anxiety is an unpleasant experience for many candidates that can cause them significant distress in the days leading up to the interview. As a result, many candidates are motivated to overcome their feelings of anxiety, however, few empirical studies have examined strategies aimed at lowering nervous jitters. This study looked at the relation between interview anxiety and ‘self‐focused attention’ (the tendency to focus on oneself during the interview), and also negative self‐thoughts during the interview. We tested two training interventions that are grounded in the social anxiety literature, positive imagery (fostering positive self‐images), and field perspective taking (focusing attention externally), which were designed to reduce self‐focused attention and negative thought. Both interventions decreased interview anxiety and increased interview self‐efficacy, but did not affect interview performance scores.

Expanding conceptual understanding of interview anxiety and performance: Integrating cognitive, behavioral, and physiological features

“…These recommendations are informed by the literature from interviewee training (Feiler & Powell, 2016b;Tross & Maurer, 2008), as well as best practices for anxiety management (Katzman et al, 2014).…”

“…As highlighted in the table, possible cognitive strategies include tracking and identifying anxious thoughts related to the interview and generating coping statements to replace them (e.g., maladaptive thought: "If they ask me a question that I cannot answer, they will probably think I am incompetent"; coping statement: "I cannot control how I will be perceived by others, I can only control what I do during this interview"). Positive imagery is another technique that targets anxious cognitions by creating a positive self-image (e.g., recalling a time you felt empowered or successful) and holding that image in mind during the interview (Feiler & Powell, 2016b). Interviewees who are very critical about their own performance may also benefit by responding to anxious thoughts with self-compassion (i.e., responding with kindness and understanding to one's own failure or pain) as recent work demonstrates that self-compassion is beneficial in reducing job seekers' negative affect and fear of failure (Engel et al, 2021;Kreemers et al, 2018).…”

Shake and Fake: the Role of Interview Anxiety in Deceptive Impression Management

“…This is a notable advantage, especially in research focused on interview anxiety. While anxiety can also be felt in mock interviews (e.g., Feiler & Powell, 2016), a field setting allows for greater external validity. On the other hand, because the applicants were undergoing real interviews, they may have been hesitant to self-report their use of deceptive IM.…”

Self‐Focused Attention and Career Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

“…Given the unpleasant consequences of career anxiety, researchers have focused on its antecedents to provide effective interventions (Daniels, Stewart, Stupnisky, Perry, & LoVerso, 2011). One factor that could escalate anxiety and diminish capability for self‐regulation is self‐focused attention (Daniels et al, 2011; Feiler & Powell, 2016). Therefore, we examined self‐focused attention as it relates to career anxiety using a career construction model of adaptation (Savickas, 2013).…”