Self-perception and social anxiety

“So it is really important to understand how self-perception and feelings about the self (i.e., state self-esteem) are fluctuating over time and how those dynamics differ between people,” Koban told PsyPost. “We looked at this from a learning perspective, by testing the idea that self-perception and feelings are influenced by social learning.”

In the study of 21 adults with social anxiety disorder and 35 controls, the participants gave a 5-minute speech about their perfect job before a panel of judges.

The participants rated their own performance after giving the speech. Then they viewed ratings from the judges and rated how they felt about themselves and about the judges. About 20 minutes later, the participants were asked to rate their performance again.

They were asked to rate their performance yet again 7 to 17 months later.

The researchers found that the adults with social anxiety disorder updated their self-perception to a greater extent in response to negative than to positive performance feedback.