Observational Study; Sense of belonging vs Social Anxiety - PSYC300- Arielle Schmeidler

This observational study is going to look at the relationship between sense of belonging and social anxiety in a natural social interaction setting. The purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals who appear to demonstrate lower behavioral indicators of belonging also exhibit higher levels of observable behaviors associated with social anxiety. I expect that individuals who display fewer behavioral indicators of belonging will demonstrate higher levels of observable social anxiety behaviors. Sense of belonging will be operationalized using two observable behavioral indicators: talking within a group setting and physical contact with others in the same setting. Times talking will be measured by counting the number of times an individual verbally contributes to a conversation during the observation period. Physical contact will be measured by counting the number of times an individual is physically touched by another member of the group within a one-minute observation period. Higher frequencies of these behaviors will be interpreted as indicators of greater social integration or belonging within the group. Social anxiety will be operationalized through the frequency of three observable behaviors associated with social anxiety. These include: frequency of fidgeting behaviors, frequency of nail picking or skin picking, and frequency of looking away from others during social interaction or conversation. Each occurrence of these behaviors will be counted during the same one-minute observation period. For each participant observed, the frequencies of belonging indicators and social anxiety indicators will be recorded.