Research evidence on social anxiety (SA) argues that repetitive negative social interactions over time contribute to an increased fear and expectancy of negative evaluations. However, current...Show moreResearch evidence on social anxiety (SA) argues that repetitive negative social interactions over time contribute to an increased fear and expectancy of negative evaluations. However, current research gaps remain regarding the specific factors that may impact the expectancy of negative evaluations in SA. More specifically, age and maladaptive emotional regulation strategies, such as self-blame have yet to be explored as moderators of the relationship between SA and negative expectations of performance. The present study aimed to examine factors contributing to the pessimism bias observed in SA individuals in a probabilistic learning task with a total of 255 male and female participants aged 12 to 29 years. The learning task examined whether participants would learn from the exposure to negative or positive feedback and showcase an increase in their negative or positive expectations respectively. Participants completed a personality questionnaire from which we created a social profile for them. They were shown a set of same-gender peers’ profiles and were asked to indicate the profiles they liked the most to derive their top four. Participants were told their top four choices had also rated their profiles. During the learning task, they were asked to indicate whether they expected to be liked or disliked based on each statement on their profile for each peer specifically. Immediately after each statement rating, they were shown the peers’ actual feedback. The task was set on specific probabilities of giving positive, negative, or neutral feedback to the participants. Participants’ age, self-reported SA levels, and self-blame tendencies were examined as potential contributing factors to increased negative feedback expectancy. Results showed that participants with higher reports of SA illustrated higher negative feedback expectancies across all trials. Overall, across all participants, negative feedback expectancies increased significantly in trials with the most negative peer compared to trials with the most positive peer. Similarly, across all participants, positive feedback expectancies decreased significantly in trials with the most negative peer compared to the most positive peer. Furthermore, adult participants reported higher levels of SA. Results showed that increased SA was a significant predictor of increased self-blame tendencies. Interestingly, self-blame was found to be a significant moderating variable in the relationship between SA and negative feedback expectancies across all trials. These results may be considered promising evidence for alternate future research directions and treatment interventions for the pessimism bias observed in SA individuals.Show less
