Social standards and social withdrawal

This study examined the effects of social standards on withdrawal from social interactions. Subjects with high or low perceptions of their social ability were provided with either a high, a low, or no social standard prior to an interaction. High-efficacy subjects persisted in the interaction when they could meet the standard and terminated the interaction when they could not. Low-efficacy subjects, on the other hand, withdrew from the interaction whether they matched the social standard or not. For high-efficacy individuals, these results were congruent with theories of social cognition, which emphasize discrepancies between standards and perceived ability. For low-efficacy individuals, a sense of goal attainment was not sufficient to overcome their habitual social withdrawal. Low-efficacy subjects recognized when they did or did not meet the social standard, but perceived themselves to lack control over the interaction. These subjects appeared to believe others held nonarticulated expectations for them that they were unable to meet.