Psychology study shows how a “fixed mindset” helps socially anxious people

New research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that changing how people think about first impressions can help ease the burden of social anxiety. The findings indicate that believing other people form stable and unchanging opinions tends to make social interactions feel much less demanding. This shift in perspective provides evidence that socially anxious individuals can feel more at ease by simply assuming they are not being constantly reevaluated.

“Social anxiety is a prevalent problem that affects the lives of 5-15% of the population chronically, and affects most people occasionally (e.g., during a job interview or dating). It can make people feel very uncomfortable or lead them to avoid social situations, and may seriously limit their ability to live life to its full potential,” said study author Liad Uziel, an associate professor at Bar-Ilan University.

“There are different approaches to address social anxiety, which involve medications and potentially long-term therapy. Much of the recent work on the topic has focused on cognitive biases that characterize individuals high on social anxiety and which intensify the disorder (such as excessive self-criticism). The present study sought to address these cognitive mechanisms and test whether a relatively simple shift in mindset may ease the expression of social anxiety.”

A mindset is a basic belief about human nature. A growth mindset is the belief that traits can change and develop over time. A fixed mindset is the belief that traits are relatively stable and unchangeable. The researcher wanted to know if changing a person’s mindset about the outside world, specifically how other people form impressions, could be beneficial.

To test this, Uziel conducted a series of four related studies. The preliminary study included 182 British adults who completed online surveys. Participants answered questions about their baseline levels of social anxiety.

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They also reported their natural beliefs about whether first impressions are permanent or changeable. Finally, the participants rated how mentally exhausting they find the process of managing their public image.

The researcher found that social anxiety was strongly linked to feeling drained by social interactions. But for individuals who naturally held a fixed mindset about impressions, this exhausting feeling was reduced.

Following this initial survey, Uziel designed three experiments to actively change how people think about impression formation. In the first experiment, he recruited 200 Israeli college students. Uziel randomly assigned the students to either a fixed mindset group or a growth mindset group. To manipulate their mindsets, the researchers had participants read and agree with statements heavily biased toward one of the two beliefs.

“The present intervention asked participants to adopt a mindset about social interactions that states that the impressions people make are relatively stable and do not change easily (a fixed mindset about impression formation),” Uziel explained. “In doing so, the intervention sought to reduce the cognitive load that socially anxious individuals experience in social situations. If impressions do not change easily, there is less risk that something one does during the interaction affects the impression.”

“Because individuals high on social anxiety tend to ruminate and over-analyze others’ reactions to them, and often misinterpret these reactions as a negative sign (which intensifies their distress), they find themselves overwhelmed in social interactions and struggle to respond adaptively.”

Next, the students wrote a brief self-introduction paragraph, believing they would soon share it with a partner. Two independent judges evaluated these written introductions for friendliness, dominance, and signs of anxiety.

Uziel found that students with higher social anxiety made a worse impression when they were primed with a growth mindset. But when socially anxious students were primed with a fixed mindset, they performed just as well as people with low anxiety. Believing that impressions are stable seemed to protect them from the negative effects of their own worry.

The second experiment tested 155 Israeli college students in a more stressful environment. Participants underwent the same mindset manipulation as the previous group. Then, the researchers asked them to present themselves to a video camera for two straight minutes. Being recorded usually triggers a strong stress response in socially anxious individuals. Two objective raters watched the videos and scored the participants on eye contact, vocal clarity, apparent comfort, and conversational flow.

Once again, social anxiety predicted a poor performance only in the growth mindset group. Those who were led to believe that impressions are fixed managed to present themselves in a much more positive light. This provided evidence that the fixed mindset acts as a psychological buffer during high-stress social tasks.

Uziel then moved out of the laboratory to see if these effects apply to everyday life. In the third experiment, he tested 158 Israeli college students. Uziel used the same mindset manipulation but added an open-ended writing task to make the new mindset stick more deeply.

Participants wrote about a personal memory that proved impressions are either fixed or changeable, depending on their assigned group. Three days later, the researchers contacted the students to ask about their recent real-world social interactions. Participants rated how stressful, satisfying, and positive their conversations had been over that period.

The socially anxious individuals in the growth mindset group reported having worse social experiences than usual. On the other hand, socially anxious students in the fixed mindset group reported better and more satisfying social interactions. Adopting the belief that impressions are stable helped them navigate their daily lives with greater ease. They felt less pressure and found it easier to connect with the people around them.

“It was a surprise to find that both socially anxious individuals and objective observers noted an improvement in social behavior,” Uziel told PsyPost. “It is often the case that people feel better, but there is little change in actual observable behavior.”

“In addition, most research on mindsets suggests that a growth mindset is better in various contexts (e.g., thinking that intelligence is malleable). The present findings are surprising in showing that there are contexts where stability is better.”

While these findings offer a promising psychological tool, there are some limitations. The experiments focused on the natural variation of social anxiety within the general population. The scientists did not test individuals who have been formally diagnosed with a severe social anxiety disorder. Clinical patients might respond differently to the mindset exercises than the average college student.

Additionally, the laboratory tasks measured very brief snapshots of social behavior. It remains unclear how long the benefits of a simple mindset exercise might actually last in the real world.

“Additional work is needed to test these ideas in new samples and different cultures,” Uziel said. “In addition, it would be interesting to study it specifically with clinically diagnosed socially anxious individuals. In addition, a test of the long-term effects is also needed.”

The study, “The Soothing Effect of a Stable World: Social Behavior of Individuals Varying on Social Anxiety Under Fixed and Growth Mindsets About Impression Formation,” was authored by Liad Uziel.