Accurate Empathy, Social Rejection, and Social Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

We conducted two studies to examine the relationship between social anxiety ( n = 134) and social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 126), social exclusion, and empathic accuracy. Participants were randomly assigned to either a control or an exclusion condition and then observed four videos of targets discussing high school experiences in which they were socially excluded. Participants’ ratings of targets’ emotions while discussing those experiences were compared with targets’ self-ratings. Results of both studies indicated that individuals with social anxiety and SAD displayed greater empathic accuracy than control subjects and that exclusion did not affect that relationship. State measures of participants’ emotional and cognitive reactions to targets mediated the association between SAD and accuracy. When asked to provide advice to targets, SAD participants provided fewer responses overall and fewer suggestions that promoted relationship repair. Thus, they were less able to translate their empathic responses for social pain into prosocial action.