Fear of negative evaluation (FNE), also atychiphobia, is a

psychological construct In philosophy, a construct is an object which is ''ideal'', that is, an object of the mind or of thought, meaning that its existence may be said to depend upon a subject's mind. This contrasts with any possibly ''mind-independent'' objects, the e ...

reflecting " apprehension about others' evaluations, distress over negative evaluations by others, and the expectation that others would evaluate one negatively". The construct and a

psychological test Psychological testing is the administration of psychological tests. Psychological tests are administered by trained evaluators. A person's responses are evaluated according to carefully prescribed guidelines. Scores are thought to reflect individ ...

to measure it were defined by David Watson and Ronald Friend in 1969. FNE is related to specific personality dimensions, such as anxiousness,

submissiveness Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

, and social avoidance. People who score high on the FNE scale are highly concerned with seeking

social approval Normative social influence is a type of social influence that leads to conformity. It is defined in social psychology as "...the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them." The power of normative ...

or avoiding disapproval by others, and may tend to avoid situations where they have to undergo evaluations. High FNE subjects are also more responsive to situational factors. This has been associated with

conformity Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often ch ...

pro-social behavior Prosocial behavior, or intent to benefit others, is a social behavior that "benefit other people or society as a whole", "such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering". Obeying the rules and conforming to socially accepted beh ...

, and

social anxiety Social anxiety is the anxiety and fear specifically linked to being in social settings (i.e., interacting with others). Some categories of disorders associated with social anxiety include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, autism spectrum disorde ...

FNE Test

The original Fear of Negative Evaluation test consists of thirty items with a sentence that was response format and takes approximately ten minutes to complete. Scale scores range from 0 (low FNE) to 30 (high FNE). In 1983,

Mark Leary Mark Richard Leary, Ph.D. (born November 29, 1954) is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina). His research has made significant contributions to the fields of social psychology and personality psycholo ...

presented a brief version of the FNE consisting of twelve original questions on a 5-point

Likert scale A Likert scale ( , commonly mispronounced as ) is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term (or more fully the ...

(BFNE). Scale scores range from 12 (low FNE) to 60 (high FNE).

Reliability

Both the original thirty-item and the brief twelve-item FNE test have been demonstrated to have high internal consistency. The original and brief versions correlate very closely.

Validity

FNE does not correlate strongly with other measures of social apprehension, such as the SAD PERSONS scale and the Interaction Anxiousness Scale.

Social anxiety

Social anxiety is, in part, a response to perceived negative evaluation by others. Whereas FNE is related to the dread of being evaluated unfavorably when participating in a social situation, social anxiety is defined as a purely emotional reaction to this type of social situation. When patients with social phobia evaluate their relationships, they are extremely fearful of negative evaluation and express high degrees of FNE. As discussed by Deborah Roth Ledley, subjects in a study were asked to give a speech after completing a dot-probe paradigm task. After being presented with negative faces, low FNE participants did not display any increased apprehension, whereas high FNE participants displayed more apprehension. FNE is a direct cause of eating disorders caused by social anxieties, I.e., the fear of being negatively evaluated upon appearance. It ranks higher than depression and social comparison in causes of eating disorders. This is because FNE is the foundation for bulimic attitudes and body dissatisfaction.

Heritability

FNE has been suggested to have some genetic component, as are other personality characteristics such as trait anxiousness, submissiveness, and social avoidance. BFNE scores have been found to have a genetic component in twin studies. In addition, BFNE scores and the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire have been found to be genetically correlated. It has been suggested that the genes that influence negative evaluation fears affect a range of anxiety personality behaviors.

Judgment and perception

Winton, Clark and Edelmann (1995) found that individuals who score higher on the FNE are more accurate at identifying negative expressions. Individuals who score higher on the FNE were also found to overestimate negative social characteristics (e.g., awkwardness, long gaps in speech) and underestimate positive social characteristics (e.g., confidence, self-assurance) they exhibit during public speaking. Low-FNE speakers overestimate their effectiveness of public speaking. In contrast, high-FNE speakers were more effective in their communication, consistent with listener's actual understanding. In the athletic arena, low-FNE basketball players were able to withstand higher levels of pressure and continue to maintain performance levels, whereas high-FNE basketball players showed significant decrease in performance under pressure.

References

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