Social behaviour in adolescents with social anxiety: Predicting the underlying motivations of others

Adolescence is a period of many changes, a shift in focus appears from parents to peers. A greater focus on peer relationships can bring many insecurities. Therefore, adolescence is a period of heightened risk for the development of mental health problems. Using economic behavioural games, the social behaviour of others can be predicted by recognising the underlying motivations of others. The underlying motivations researched in this study are greediness and risk aversion. The aim of the study was to learn if social anxiety traits influenced the prediction of the social behaviour of others. It was investigated if a higher level of social anxiety influenced the accuracy of the predictions, based on greedy and risk averse motivations, of participants. In addition, the effects of age and motivation may influence the accuracy of the predictions of participants. No significant results were found during the study. Since the study is conducted with a small sample size, this may have...Show moreAdolescence is a period of many changes, a shift in focus appears from parents to peers. A greater focus on peer relationships can bring many insecurities. Therefore, adolescence is a period of heightened risk for the development of mental health problems. Using economic behavioural games, the social behaviour of others can be predicted by recognising the underlying motivations of others. The underlying motivations researched in this study are greediness and risk aversion. The aim of the study was to learn if social anxiety traits influenced the prediction of the social behaviour of others. It was investigated if a higher level of social anxiety influenced the accuracy of the predictions, based on greedy and risk averse motivations, of participants. In addition, the effects of age and motivation may influence the accuracy of the predictions of participants. No significant results were found during the study. Since the study is conducted with a small sample size, this may have affected the statistical power. Also, participants were not specifically recruited for the requirement of social anxiety. However, the results suggested a relation between age and the number of accurate predictions. Furthermore, the results suggested a relation between the level of social anxiety and motivation. These results should be further investigated in future research. To conclude, this study contributes to a better understanding of social anxiety. The ability of being able to predict when individuals are prosocial or not may prevent the onset of mental health disorders.Show less

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Social behaviour in adolescents with social anxiety: Predicting the underlying motivations of others