Haven't we met somewhere before? The effects of a brief internet introduction on social anxiety in a subsequent face to face interaction
Omer Markovitzky, Gideon E. Anholt, Joshua D. Lipsitz,
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Abstract
Social anxiety occurs in a range of social situations, the salience of which is influenced by prevailing modes of social contact. The emergence of computer mediated communication (CMC), buoyed by the recent explosion of social networks, has changed the way many people make and maintain social contacts. We randomly assigned 30 socially anxious and 30 low social anxiety participants to a brief internet chat introduction or a control internet surfing condition followed by a standardized face to face (FTF) interaction. We hypothesized that for socially anxious participants the chat introduction would reduce anxiety of and preference to avoid the subsequent FTF interaction. Results supported hypotheses for most indices. Findings suggest that, at least for the common situation in which internet chat precedes FTF interaction with the same person, such contact may reduce social anxiety. It is not known whether this decrease would generalize to FTF contact in other contexts. It is suggested that CMC might be construed as a particularly useful form of safety behavior that may help in the allocation of attentional resources to process new information relevant for disconfirmation of negative beliefs maintaining social anxiety. Potential clinical implications are discussed.
사전에 인터넷 커뮤니케이션을 했던 것이 동일한 사람과 실제 면대면 대면할 때 사회불안을 감소시키더라는 논문. 서론 쓰려고 다시 한 번 사회불안장애 서치 중인데 안 보이던 재밌는 연구들이 많다. 이런 논문 보면 외국 아해들이 우리보다 아이디어가 좋다기보다 단지 학풍이랄까.. 그런 게 좀 더 개방되어 있지 않은가 생각하게 된다. 이런 아이디어를 들고 가면, 이론적 배경이 왠만큼 탄탄하지 않고서야..
부러 좀 과장해서 말하자면.. 우리는 외국 아해들이 상 벌려 놓으면 어떻게 숟가락 하나 얹어 볼 수 없을까 따라가기에 급급한 실정인 것 같다.
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