The personality construct of social anxiety was examined employing sev
eral methods, including the self-report subscale of the Self-Conscious
ness Scale, descriptions provided both by subjects and two college pee
rs using the modified California Q-sort and direct observations of beh
avior recorded using the Behavioral Q-sort, of both the target subject
and a randomly assigned, opposite sex interaction partner. A remarkab
le convergence in the content of all three types of descriptions was o
btained for both male and female subjects. The socially anxious indivi
dual characterizes him/herself and is seen by his/her college peers as
fearful, self-pitying and unassertive, while displaying a lack of soc
ial skills and a generally awkward interpersonal style in a series of
interactions with a stranger of the opposite sex. In addition, it woul
d appear that social anxiety has a negative effect on the behavior of
the interaction partner of the socially anxious individual, thus provi
ding support for an interpersonal cycle of social anxiety. (C) 1998 El
sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.