“Zooming” in on positive and accurate metaperceptions in first impressions: Examining the links with social anxiety and liking in online video interactions.

= 1,683). People believed others saw them positively and understood others' unique impressions of them, displaying similar degrees of meta-positivity and distinctive meta-accuracy in video interactions as in in-person interactions. In both contexts, meta-positivity was related to liking others more, whereas distinctive meta-accuracy was related to being liked more by others. Further, social anxiety seemed to impair meta-positivity, which in turn contributed to why they liked others less in both contexts. In contrast to in-person interactions, social anxiety did not impair distinctive meta-accuracy in video interactions. Therefore, distinctive meta-accuracy did not account for the links between social anxiety and being liked in the video interaction context. Overall, metaperception processes generally operated very similarly online as in-person, though there were some noteworthy exceptions, in turn potentially bearing important implications for those with higher social anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).