Culture of honour theory and social anxiety: Cross-regional and sex differences in relationships among honour-concerns, social anxiety and reactive aggression

Consistent with the "flight or fight" model of anxiety, social anxiety may incite withdrawal or attack; yet, it is unclear why some socially anxious individuals are vulnerable to aggress. It may be that culture impacts tendencies to "fight" or "flee" from social threat....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition and emotion 2015-04, Vol.29 (3), p.568-577
Main Authors: Howell, Ashley N., Buckner, Julia D., Weeks, Justin W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggression - psychology
Aggressive behavior
Aggressiveness
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Cultural factors
Culture of honour
Female
Gender
Honour
Humans
Male
Masculinity
Midwestern United States
Sex Characteristics
Sex differences
Shyness
Social anxiety
Social Behavior
Social Control, Informal
South
Southeastern United States
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:Consistent with the "flight or fight" model of anxiety, social anxiety may incite withdrawal or attack; yet, it is unclear why some socially anxious individuals are vulnerable to aggress. It may be that culture impacts tendencies to "fight" or "flee" from social threat. Honour cultures, including the American South, permit or even promote aggression in response to honour-threats. Thus, social anxiety in the South may be more associated with aggression than in non-honour cultures. In the current sample, region moderated the relation between social anxiety and aggression; social anxiety related positively to reactive (but not proactive) aggression among Southerners (n = 285), but not Midwesterners (n = 258). Participant sex further moderated the relationship, such that it was significant only for Southern women. Also, for Southerners, prototypically masculine honour-concerns mediated the relationship between social anxiety and reactive aggression. Cultural factors may play key roles in aggressive behaviour among some socially anxious individuals.
ISSN:0269-9931
1464-0600
DOI:10.1080/02699931.2014.922055