Shafaqna English- A new study suggests that believing people’s first impressions are relatively stable may reduce the social burden experienced by people with high social anxiety, according to PsyPost.
Research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that a fixed mindset about social judgments may help socially anxious people feel less pressure to constantly manage how others perceive them.
Across four studies involving more than 690 participants, researchers found that socially anxious individuals who adopted a fixed view of impression formation showed better self-presentation, more comfortable social behavior and more satisfying real-world interactions than those encouraged to believe that people continually change their opinions.
The researchers suggest that believing social impressions are stable may reduce self-monitoring and free mental resources for natural interaction.
However, the studies mainly involved students and online participants rather than people clinically diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. The long-term therapeutic value of this approach therefore remains uncertain.
Source: PsyPost