The Role of Self‐focused Attention and Negative Self‐thought in Interview Anxiety: A test of two interventions

Abstract

Job interview anxiety is an unpleasant experience for many candidates that can cause them significant distress in the days leading up to the interview. As a result, many candidates are motivated to overcome their feelings of anxiety, however, few empirical studies have examined strategies aimed at lowering nervous jitters. This study looked at the relation between interview anxiety and ‘self‐focused attention’ (the tendency to focus on oneself during the interview), and also negative self‐thoughts during the interview. We tested two training interventions that are grounded in the social anxiety literature, positive imagery (fostering positive self‐images), and field perspective taking (focusing attention externally), which were designed to reduce self‐focused attention and negative thought. Both interventions decreased interview anxiety and increased interview self‐efficacy, but did not affect interview performance scores.