Gaze to faces plays a vital role in communicating and perceiving social cues from one’s partner during social interactions. Visual avoidance of faces has been proposed to be a behavioural indicator...Show moreGaze to faces plays a vital role in communicating and perceiving social cues from one’s partner during social interactions. Visual avoidance of faces has been proposed to be a behavioural indicator of social anxiety. Furthermore, initial evidence suggests that an interaction partner’s direct gaze is perceived as more threatening than an averted gaze. This study investigated the influence of social anxiety on face gaze behaviour and whether the gaze direction modulates the effect of social anxiety on face gaze behaviour during a face-to-face conversation. 34 participants (82.4% female, 17.6% male) and confederate took turns answering a given set of questions about general topics. The gaze direction of the confederate was systematically manipulated to either look directly towards or turn away from the participant’s face. Participants’ face gaze behaviour was recorded using the Tobii Glasses 2 wearable eye tracker device and measured by calculating the total duration of fixation on the face and the proportion of fixation counts on the face. The results indicate that participants with varying levels of social anxiety did not display different face gaze behaviour during a face-to-face conversation. Moreover, an interaction partner’s gaze direction did not enhance nor diminish the effect of social anxiety on face gaze behaviour. The current findings suggest that social anxiety has no significant influence on participants' face gaze behaviour during a face-to-face conversation. Future research may consider using controversial conversation topics in order to induce a more threatening social situation.Show less
Introduction. Socially anxious individuals express fear or anxiety in circumstances in which others might judge them. It has been suggested that social anxiety affects various voice characteristics...Show moreIntroduction. Socially anxious individuals express fear or anxiety in circumstances in which others might judge them. It has been suggested that social anxiety affects various voice characteristics, such as pitch and speech intensity, however the relationship between social anxiety and speech patterns has rarely been examined in actual social interactions (face-to-face setting). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and speech patterns, operationalized as pitch and speech intensity; and further assess the influence of social partners’ gaze direction (direct versus averted gaze) on the relationship. Methods. Twenty-six females (Mage = 21) were engaged in a face-to-face getting-acquainted conversation with a female confederate. While in conversation, participants and confederate took turns discussing general topics. The confederate’s gaze direction (direct versus averted) was manipulated. Participants’ social anxiety levels were measured by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and Tobii eye-tracking glasses recorded auditory data. Vocal pitch and speech intensity were extracted with PRAAT. Results. The results reveal a significant relationship between social anxiety and speech intensity, whereby high socially anxious individuals spoke more quietly. There was no association between social anxiety and pitch. Confederates’ gaze direction did not influence the relationship between social anxiety and speech patterns. Conclusion. The findings illustrate social anxiety’s effects on speech intensity, regardless of the influence of a social partner’s gaze direction. Moreover, the outcome implies that pitch might be sensitive and closely tied to various situational factors. This underlines the extent of social anxiety’s influence on various human facets and social settings.Show less
