Social Anxiety and Evaluative Interviews
Authors: Samantha Horn, Peter Schwardmann, Egon Tripodi
We study how social anxiety, measured using a clinically validated scale, shapes participation, beliefs, and performance in evaluative settings. In a controlled online experiment (N = 945), applicants decide whether to participate in a live, five-minute video interview that determines a monetary hiring bonus. Socially anxious applicants are substantially less willing to interview and hold more pessimistic beliefs about being hired and enjoying the interview. Socially anxious applicants perform no worse in the interview, but do enjoy the experience significantly less. The interview experience does not attenuate the relative pessimism of socially anxious applicants, a pattern we show to be inconsistent with Bayesian updating under comparable signals. Using machine-learning analysis of transcripts, reflection texts, and audiovisual data, we show that interviewers behave similarly toward both groups, but socially anxious applicants interpret the same interaction more negatively. Interventions that increase interviewer warmth do not reduce belief gaps, whereas lowering the cost of interviewing increases participation among applicants with social anxiety.
Keywords:
Social anxiety Job interviews Beliefs Mental health Discrimination Learning
Social anxiety Job interviews Beliefs Mental health Discrimination Learning