Social anxiety and the ironic effects of positive interviewer feedback

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Positive interviewer feedback should encourage positive experiences and outcomes for interviewees. Yet, positive feedback is inconsistent with socially anxious interviewees' negative self-views. Socially anxious interviewees might experience increased self-focus while attempting to reconcile the inconsistency between their self-perceptions and that feedback. This could interfere with successful interview performance. DESIGN: This study used a 3 (feedback: positive, negative, no) × 2 (social anxiety: high, low) between-subjects design. METHOD: Undergraduate students (N = 88) completed a measure of dispositional social anxiety. They then engaged in a simulated interview with a White confederate trained to adhere to a standardized script. Interviewees received positive, negative, or no interviewer feedback. Each interview was video recorded to code anxiety displays, impression management tactics, and interview success. RESULTS: Following positive feedback, socially anxious interviewees displayed more anxiety, less assertiveness, and received lower success ratings. Among anxious interviewees, increased self-focus provided an indirect path between positive feedback and lower success. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with self-verification theory, anxious interviewees had poorer interview performance following positive feedback that contradicted their negative self-views. Thus, socially anxious interviewees might be at a disadvantage when interviewing, especially following positive feedback. Implications for interviewees and interviewers are discussed.