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Effects of Prior Knowledge, Crowding, and Congruence of Subjects' and Others' Goals on Question Asking in an Unfamiliar Setting

An analysis of how newcomers learn to act in an unfamiliar setting was aimed at uncovering the use of the competence of one particular member of the setting by asking questions of him. The study was designed to test the effects of high vs low setting-specific prior knowledge, high vs low densities and high vs low congruence of subjects' and others' goals in a field setting (career planning and placement center) on both the number of questions asked and social anxiety by 64 first-time users (freshmen). The present study shows that a setting-specific cognitive means, such as prior knowledge, and congruence of subjects' and others' goals reduce the experience of stress from crowding and social anxiety which, in turn, leads to an increase in question-asking. Although there is strong evidence that both prior knowledge and congruence of subjects' and others' goals reduce the newcomer's perception of social anxiety, it is also possible that they enhance the newcomer's knowledge of others' competence which, in turn, affects social anxiety and influences question-asking.