Reduced reciprocal giving in social anxiety – Evidence from the Trust Game

Abstract Background and objectives Social anxiety is known to impair interpersonal relationships. These impairments are thought to partly arise from difficulties to engage in affiliative interactions with others, such as sharing favors or reciprocating prosocial acts. Here, we examined whether individuals high compared to low in social anxiety differ in giving towards strangers in an economic game paradigm. Methods One hundred and twenty seven non-clinical participants who had been pre-screened to be either particularly high or low in social anxiety played an incentivized Trust Game to assess trustful and reciprocal giving towards strangers in addition to providing information on real life interpersonal functioning (perceived social support and attachment style). Results We found that reciprocal, but not trustful giving, was significantly decreased among highly socially anxious individuals. Both social anxiety and reciprocal giving furthermore showed significant associations with self-reported real life interpersonal functioning. Limitations Participants played the Trust Game with the strategy method; results need replication with a clinical sample. Conclusions Individuals high in social anxiety showed reduced reciprocal, but intact trustful giving, pointing to a constraint in responsiveness. The research may contribute to the development of new treatment and prevention programs to reduce the interpersonal impairments in socially anxious individuals.