Abstract: A model of social anxiety was used to assess the development of children’s understanding of social anxiety in others. The model proposes that actors who are highly motivated to impress another but doubt their chances for successfully doing so experience the aversive state of social anxiety. Theories and research on social cognitive development were used to hypothesize that older rather than younger children would more readily recognize the effects of these antecedent conditions. Also, it was predicted that older children more than younger children would demonstrate a more thorough understanding of the affective and behavioral components of social anxiety. A study was conducted in which second, fourth, and seventh grade children were presented stories depicting actors in two situations: making a friend or acting in a play. Within each situation the actor was portrayed as either highly motivated or less motivated to impress an audience and either with high or low expectations of success. Subjects rated actors in these conditions as to how anxious the actors felt, what kinds of behaviors the actors may perform, and on general evaluative dimensions.
Consistent support was found for the model in showing highly motivated and less able actors rated as being very socially anxious. Also, results supported the general hypothesis that older children judged actors in social anxiety settings in ways consistent with the model. Support was qualified, however, by a number of findings suggesting overall pessimism of older children, regardless of the actor’s particular condition. Evidence was obtained which indicated older children’s more sophisticated understanding of the possible divergence in self-presentation situations between what one feels and how one behaves.
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