Chapter 9 Friendship and Love EXERCISE 9.1 Self-Assessment: Social Avoidance and Distress Scale

Instructions The statements below inquire about your personal reactions to a variety of situations. Consider each statement carefully. Then indicate whether the statement is true or false in regard to your typical behav- ior. Record your responses (T or F) in the space provided on the left.

The Scale

1. I feel relaxed even in unfamiliar social situations.

2. I try to avoid situations that force me to be very sociable.

3. It is easy for me to relax when I am with strangers.

4. I have no particular desire to avoid people.

5. I often find social occasions upsetting.

6. I usually feel calm and comfortable at social occasions.

7. I am usually at ease when talking to someone of the opposite sex.

8. I try to avoid talking to people unless I know them well.

9. If the chance comes to meet new people, I often take it.

..__10. I often feel nervous or tense in casual get-togethers in which both sexes are present.

11. I am usually nervous with people unless I know them well.

12. I usually feel relaxed when I am with a group of people.

13. I often want to get away from people.

14. I usually feel uncomfortable when I am in a group of people I don't know.

15. I usually feel relaxed when I meet someone for the first time.

16. Being introduced to people makes me tense and nervous.

17. Even though a room is full of strangers, I may enter it anyway.

18. I would avoid walking up and joining a large group of people.

19. When my superiors want to talk with me, I talk willingly.

20. I often feel on edge when I am with a group of people.

..__21. I tend to withdraw from people.

..__22. I don't mind talking to people at parties or social gatherings.

23. I am seldom at ease in a large group of people.

24. I often think up excuses in order to avoid social engagements.

25. I sometimes take the responsibility for introducing people to each other.

26. I try to avoid formal social occasions.

27. I usually go to whatever social engagements I have.

28. I find it easy to relax with other people. Source: Watson & Friend (1969)

Scoring the Scale The scoring key is reproduced below. Circle your true or false response each time it corresponds to the keyed response below. Add up the number of responses you circle, and this total is your score on the Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD) Scale. Record your score below.

1. False 8. True 15. False 22. False 2. True 9. False 16. True 23. True 3. False 10. True 17. False 24. True 4. False 11. True 18. True 25. False 5. True 12. False 19. False 26. True 6. False 13. True 20. True 27. False 7. False 14. True 21. True 28. False

My Score

What the Scale Measures As its name implies, this scale measures avoidance and distress in social interactions. David Watson and Ronald Friend (1969) developed the scale to assess the extent to which individuals experience discomfort, fear, and anxiety in social situations and the extent to which they therefore try to evade many kinds of social encounters. To check the validity of the scale, they used it to predict subjects' social behavior in experimentally contrived situations. As projected, they found that people who scored high on the SAD Scale were less willing than low scorers to participate in a group discussion. The high scorers also reported anticipating more anxiety about their participation in the discussion than the low scorers. Additionally, Watson and Friend found a strong negative correlation (- .76) between the SAD and a measure of affiliation drive (the need to seek the company of others).

Interpreting Your Score Our norms are based on data collected by Watson and Friend (1969) on over 200 university students.

Norms High score: 16-28 Intermediate score: 6-15 Low score: 0-5

PERSONAL EXPLORATIONS WORKBOOK W-31