Title
Eye Gaze and Cortisol Levels in Socially Anxious Young Adults During an Interactive Real World Task
Date of Award
5-2018
Thesis Date
5-2018
Degree Type
Honors Thesis-Unrestricted
Degree Name
B.S.
Department
Psychology
Degree Program
Psychology
Director
Elliott Beaton
Abstract
Social anxiety is a disorder where people fear social interactions and is associated with physiological changes. Eye tracking studies have shown that people with social anxiety spent more time gazing at emotional faces presented on a computer screen and spent more time gazing at the eye region. There has been limited studies on tracking eye gaze in a real-life setting interacting with another person. We used a wearable eye tracker during a brief one-on-one interview about participants’ challenges faced at work or school. Along with self-report psychological measures about social anxiety and shyness, we also measured participants’ salivary cortisol as a metric for physiological stress. We hypothesized that socially anxious individuals would have higher cortisol levels and spent more time gazing at the face. However, there was no change in cortisol levels before and after the interview. In addition, socially anxious individuals had lower cortisol levels than less anxious people. Furthermore, the time spent fixating on the region of interest (ROI), which was the face, was not correlated with social anxiety, anxiety or shyness. Paradoxically, the more socially anxious participants seem to have had a lower physiological stress response than less socially anxious participants.
Recommended Citation
Colson, Chelsea M., "Eye Gaze and Cortisol Levels in Socially Anxious Young Adults During an Interactive Real World Task" (2018). Senior Honors Theses. 101.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/honors_theses/101
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this honors thesis in whole or part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the honors thesis.