How awkward! Social anxiety and the perceived consequences of social blunders

Seventy high socially anxious (HSA) and 74 low socially anxious (LSA) participants rated perceived interpersonal and emotional consequences of both (a) autobiographical social blunders recalled from their own lives and (b) imagined blunders presented in standardized hypothetical social scenarios. Ratings of participants’ autobiographical blunders were also provided by research assistants who were blind to hypotheses. Results indicated that HSA participants overestimated the negative consequences of their own autobiographical blunders. These negative perceptions among HSA participants extended to imagined blunders, even when participants were instructed to imagine a third party other than themselves as the person committing the blunder. This pattern of results suggests the conclusion that the perceived consequences of social blunders among HSA individuals are driven by the belief that social standards are high, inflexible, or both.

► We examined perceived consequences of social blunders in high vs. low social anxiety (SA).
► Assessed real autobiographical blunders and imagined hypothetical blunders of self and others.
► Ratings of participants’ autobiographical blunders also provided by naïve research assistants.
► High SA participants overestimated the negative consequences of all types of blunders.
► High SA individuals see non-conformity to high social standards as costly for anyone.