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Social anxiety predicts avoidance behaviour in virtual encounters

Avoidant behaviour is critical in social anxiety and social phobia, being a major factor in the maintenance of anxiety. However, almost all previous studies of social avoidance were restricted to using self-reports for the study of intentional aspects of avoidance. In contrast, the current study used immersive virtual reality technology to measure interpersonal distance as an index of avoidance, an unintentional behavioural indicator. In a virtual supermarket, twenty-three female participants differing in social anxiety approached computer-generated persons (avatars) under the pretext of a cover story. During the task, different aspects of approach and avoidance were measured. The results confirmed the hypotheses: The more anxious participants were, the more slowly they approached the avatars, and the larger the distance they kept from the avatars. This indicates that even sub-phobic social anxiety is related to unintentional avoidance behaviour in social situations.