Eine psychologische Studie zeigt, wie ein „festes Mindset“ sozial ängstlichen Menschen hilft. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass soziale Interaktionen deutlich weniger anspruchsvoll wirken, wenn man davon ausgeht, dass andere Menschen eine stabile und unveränderliche Meinung haben.

>New research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that changing how people think about first impressions can help ease the burden of social anxiety. The findings indicate that believing other people form stable and unchanging opinions tends to make social interactions feel much less demanding. This shift in perspective provides evidence that socially anxious individuals can feel more at ease by simply assuming they are not being constantly reevaluated.

>“Social anxiety is a prevalent problem that affects the lives of 5-15% of the population chronically, and affects most people occasionally (e.g., during a job interview or dating). It can make people feel very uncomfortable or lead them to avoid social situations, and may seriously limit their ability to live life to its full potential,” said study author Liad Uziel, an associate professor at Bar-Ilan University.

>“There are different approaches to address social anxiety, which involve medications and potentially long-term therapy. Much of the recent work on the topic has focused on cognitive biases that characterize individuals high on social anxiety and which intensify the disorder (such as excessive self-criticism). The present study sought to address these cognitive mechanisms and test whether a relatively simple shift in mindset may ease the expression of social anxiety.”

Friendship ended with growth mindset. Now fixed mindset is my best friend.

As someone with social anxiety, I was initially confused because the alternative idea that opinions are relatively stable has equally uncomfortable implications. 

Then I read, “The experiments focused on the natural variation of social anxiety within the general population. The scientists did not test individuals who have been formally diagnosed with a severe social anxiety disorder.”

Oh. Now it makes sense.