Fixed impressions may ease social anxiety, say researchers
Summary
Research from Bar-Ilan University shows that believing first impressions are fixed may reduce stress and improve social performance for people with social anxiety.
Key Points
- People with social anxiety perform better and feel less stressed when they believe first impressions are hard to change.
- Traditional psychology assumes believing impressions can change always promotes self-improvement, but this may increase pressure for socially anxious individuals.
- Experiments showed improved performance and less stress in social tasks when socially anxious participants adopted a fixed mindset about impressions.
- Findings have implications for job interviews, education, and workplace training to reduce anxiety by emphasizing predictability over changeability of impressions.
