Hi everyone, happy Wednesday.
I came across an interesting new study that I wanted to share (link to Psychology Today's digest of it)
The authors found that:
"tendencies to interpret social ambiguity positively were found to predict decreases in social anxiety over time, even in cases where a negative interpretation would have been more accurate"
What does this mean?
This study suggests that it matters how we interpret ambiguous social cues. For example someone yawning could mean that they are bored or tired. The authors suggest that people who interpret these ambiguous cues optimistically (even if they are not accurate), are more likely to decrease their social anxiety over time.
So it may be worth intentionally being optimistic, even if it means we then become less accurate. In other words, it can pay off - for ourselves - to give others the benefit of the doubt.
[Image from Companio]
Are there social cues that you tend to interpret negatively, when they may in fact be neutral or positive? If so, what are they?
For myself, I think I often tend to interpret small body language things as negative, even if they are not. For example, someone looking away (even though I do this too!), turning their feet away from me, or just the smallest eye or eyebrow movements.
Warm wishes,
Sofie