Role of Attributional, Styles and Perceived Control in Control in Social Anxiety Among University Entrants

Abstract

Introduction. Social anxiety is a persistent, intense and chronic fear of being negatively judged by others as well as by themselves and being embarrassed by one’s own actions. Attributional styles is known as the way an individual explains positive and negative events in life and it has an important bearing on her well being, motivation and performance. Perceived control refers to the belief that one can determine one’s own internal state and behavior, influence one’s environment, and/or bring about desired outcomes. Socially anxious individuals feel that they lack control over the events affecting them. The present study is carried out to check the relationship of social anxiety with attributional style and perceived control.Method. Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Attributional Style Assessment Testing-I and Perceived Control Scale were administered on 200 female participants from Punjabi University, Patiala. Using correlational design, Pearson's bivariate correlations were performed.Results. The findings showed that there was positive correlation between ability attribution for failure and social anxiety, and negative correlation was found between effort attribution for failure and social anxiety. There was also a negative correlation between interpersonal control, the dimension of perceived control and social anxiety. Regression analysis showed that ability attribution for failure and interpersonal control are significantly predictor of social anxiety.Discussion. The present study was conducted on assessing the relation of social anxiety with attibutional style and perceived control among university entrants. The findings revealed that freshers with high level of social anxiety showed dysfunctional Attributional style and low perceived control than those low on social anxiety. Implications of the findings have been discussed.