Blushing and Social Anxiety: A Meta‐Analysis

Blushing was recently introduced in the DSM ‐5 as a “hallmark” physiological response of social anxiety disorder, and it is now acknowledged as an important aspect of social anxiety. Three meta‐analyses were performed to examine the association between blushing and social anxiety. The relationship between blushing and social anxiety was strong for self‐perceived blushing, small for physiological blushing, and medium for observed blushing. In addition, the relationship between self‐perceived blushing and social anxiety was stronger when social anxiety was measured as a state and when blushing was measured using questionnaires with five or more items. Results suggest that socially anxious people perceive themselves as blushing more than do less socially anxious people and overestimate the intensity of their physiological blushing.