Self-construal and gender interact to cause social evaluative concerns

Prior correlational research suggests an interaction between self-construal and gender is important for understanding social evaluative concerns. We examined if experimentally manipulating independent versus interdependent self-construals differentially caused social evaluative concerns among men and women. United States community adults recruited through the internet were randomly assigned to complete an independence (n = 71) or interdependence (n = 74) priming task. Social evaluative concerns were assessed following the manipulation using a self-report measure. Among men, priming an interdependent self-construal caused greater egocentric (i.e., fear of self-embarrassment) and allocentric (i.e., fear of discomforting others) social evaluative concerns compared to an independent self-construal. Among women, priming an independent self-construal caused greater allocentric (i.e., fear of discomforting others) social evaluative concerns and a trend for greater egocentric (i.e., fear of self-embarrassment) social evaluative concerns compared to an interdependent self-construal. Results extend prior correlational research suggesting that self-construal is important for understanding social evaluative concerns, with the impact of self-construal seeming to depend upon gender.