ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (2): 288-294.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.00288

• Regular Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Is There Lower Social Anxiety Level in Online Interaction?

HE Jinbo;CHEN Changrun;HE Siqi;ZHOU Zongkui   

  1. (Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Central China Normal University; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430079, China)
  • Received:2013-06-21 Online:2014-02-15 Published:2014-02-15
  • Contact: ZHOU Zongkui

Abstract:

Internet has changed the way people interact with each other, especially the young people, by making them favor online interaction rather than face-to-face interaction. Previous studies have already provided evidences for a lower social anxiety in online interactions. They proved that people felt less social stress online than face-to-face interactions. Psychological explanations of above conclusion are offered from four aspects: self-disclosure, fears of evaluation, achievement motivation and behavioral inhibition system. However, those explanations still need supports from more integrated theories and objective experimental results.

Key words: online interaction, face-to-face interaction, social anxiety