{
  "id": 1950400,
  "title": "New research shows the unexpected benefits of a fixed mindset for social anxiety",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/new-research-shows-the-unexpected-benefits-of-a-fixed-mindset-for",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-19T14:00:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/how-believing-that-first-impressions-are-permanent-can-reduce-social-anxiety/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin reveals that adopting a fixed mindset about social impressions may help alleviate social anxiety. People who experience high levels of social anxiety often fear negative evaluations and end up focusing excessively on their own behavior during conversations. This self-critical cycle consumes mental energy and distracts them from engaging naturally in social settings.\n\nPsychologists categorize mindsets into two types: growth mindset, which believes traits are malleable and can be improved, and fixed mindset, which assumes traits are stable and unchangeable. Previous therapeutic approaches have attempted to teach anxious individuals that their own personality or anxiety levels can change, but Bar-Ilan University researcher Liad Uziel took a different approach. He investigated whether believing that social impressions are relatively fixed could reduce the mental burden of socializing for anxious individuals.\n\nUziel's research indicated that for people with high social anxiety, holding a fixed mindset about impression formation significantly reduced the draining effect of managing their public image. This belief of stable social judgments seemed to buffer against the exhaustion caused by social interactions. To further test this hypothesis, Uziel conducted a series of experiments with participants from the United Kingdom and Israel.\n\nIn one experiment, researchers found that participants who adopted a fixed mindset about impressions felt less depleted by socializing compared to those with a growth mindset. When asked to write a self-introduction, students primed with a growth mindset appeared less confident and engaging, while those primed with a fixed mindset performed just as well as less anxious peers. Another experiment reinforced these findings, showing that students with high social anxiety who believed in fixed impressions rated themselves as more comfortable on camera compared to those with a growth mindset.\n\nThe researchers concluded that a fixed mindset regarding social judgments reduces anxiety by allowing individuals to relax after the initial introduction, ultimately leading to more satisfying social experiences. This finding offers a new coping mechanism for managing social anxiety.",
  "summary": "For those struggling with social anxiety, the belief that first impressions can't be changed might actually be a relief. New research shows that adopting a fixed mindset about social judgments can reduce stress and improve conversational performance.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}