Impact of Empathetic Behaviour on Peers Experiencing Social Anxiety

Abstract

Human beings are social entities that have the innate ability to function in a society. Social anxiety refers to the fear that one experiences when encountering different social situations. Empathetic behaviour, or empathy is one of the most naturally existing human behaviour in which an individual understands the pain of the other and can be a predecessor for helping behaviours. This research aims to study the correlation between empathetic behaviours and the levels of social anxiety experienced by 150 young adults (78 males and 72 females) between the age range of 18 – 30 years living in the urban areas of Delhi NCR and Punjab. The data was collected using the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical measures. Results depicted that young adults with greater levels of empathetic behaviors will be better equipped in navigating through social situations and will experience lower levels of social anxiety. Therefore, it was found that there is a significant negative correlation between levels of empathy and social anxiety in urban young adults