Introduction

A behavioural experiment is an activity used to test the reality of our negative and anxious predictions. You test and challenge what “might” happen by actually doing the activity and gathering real-world evidence.

Whist exposure therapy and hierarchies focus on overcoming avoidance by working through a structured series of steps – behavioural experiments are designed to test out specific predictions.

They often involve intentionally dropping safety behaviours, the subtle behaviours we use to protect ourselves e.g. avoiding eye contact, hiding physical anxiety symptoms, over-preparing what to say, checking our phone to look busy. Some people may also try ‘pushing the wall’ experiments, which is where we do the opposite of what our fears tell us.

Behavioural Experiments

Behavioural experiments involve treating your social anxiety a little bit like a scientist. Instead of accepting your anxious thoughts and fears as absolute facts, you design real-world “tests” to see if your worst-case scenarios actually happen, or if you can cope better than you think. They are a pivotal part of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and can be highly effective for managing particular aspects of social anxiety.

Planning a Behavioural Experiment

  • Identify the issue: Pinpoint the exact issue and prediction you want to test (e.g. “If I make eye contact, I will look weird”, “If I speak up everyone will stare at me”). Use the list of example experiments (further below) to help identify those that have particular meaning to you.
  • Plan the experiment: Decide exactly what you will do, where, when, and with whom. Be as specific as possible – try our behavioural experiment worksheet.
  • Do the experiment and resist safety behaviours: Your experiment may actually involve dropping of a safety behaviour – but even if not – make a plan to drop them during the experiment (e.g. hiding your anxiety, avoiding eye contact, leaving before the activity is complete etc.). See our article on safety behaviours.
  • Record the outcome and reflect: Afterward, write down what actually happened. Compare the reality to your original prediction and update the worksheet. Did your prediction come true? Was it as better or worse than you feared? What other experiments can you try next?

Example Social Anxiety Behavioural Experiments

Every individual’s anxiety is different, so your experiments should be tailored to test your specific fears. Here are some examples of the kind of behavioural challenges you might try:

  • Conversations and Relationships:
    • Initiate brief conversations with 3 different strangers over the course of a day.
    • Pay a brief, genuine compliment to a colleague or cashier (e.g., “I really like your glasses”).
    • Take part in a conversation for 10 minutes without looking at your phone
    • Share something new about yourself – this can help build bonds and sometimes lead to finding shared hobbies or other interests.
    • Gently disagree with someone using phrases like, “Oh, I don’t see it quite like that, I see it as…” or “Actually, I didn’t really enjoy that movie.”
    • Tell someone you trust about your experiences with social anxiety
  • Intentionally Showing Vulnerability:
    • Make eye contact with someone and gently hold their gaze for several seconds.
    • Let your hand lightly tremble or shake while holding a drink or paper without trying to hide it.
    • Purposely make a minor mistake when speaking, such as stumbling over a word or temporarily forgetting a phrase and just keep going
    • Tell someone you trust about your experiences with social anxiety.
  • In Public Spaces:
    • Ask a stranger for directions or the time, even if you don’t need them or could just use your phone.
    • Eat a snack or drink a coffee alone in a café without using a phone or book to keep you company.
    • Drop change or small items on the floor and purposely take your time picking them back up.
    • Wear a brighter, more noticeable shirt or top than you normally would.
  • Shopping & Customer Service:
    • Ask a shop assistant for something you know they likely don’t have in stock.
    • Ask to change or exchange an item in a store.
    • Call a local business (like a gym or café) to ask for information you may already know, such as their closing times.
    • Start an order at a fast-food counter, then halfway through, change your mind and ask to start the order over.
  • Behavioural experiments – to try as new strategies:
    • Focus mindfully and completely on a conversation (not on your fears or anxiety) for the whole of a given situation. See focus of attention.
    • Deliberately try and enjoy the situation – make sure you get some pleasure from the interaction, people, food or drink (not just ‘survive’).
    • Deliberately look for smiles and nods of approval, rather signs of rejection.

Pushing The Wall

A pushing the wall experiment is where rather than dropping a safety behaviour, we’re actually doing the opposite of what our anxiety tells us to do. You may see some of these on social media, often called ‘rejection therapy’.

For example, a ‘pushing the wall’ experiment might be deliberately dropping some coins in a shop or restaurant to see what happens, deliberately stumbling over our words or letting others see our hand tremble. We’re doing the exact opposite of what our anxiety says (don’t draw attention! Hide my anxiety!) and testing out what happens. In this way, we’re not always necessarily dropping a safety behaviour, but instead, purposefully doing something to test a belief or prediction.

Pushing the wall experiments – and some elements of rejection therapy – can help us learn that even in the worst case, what we believe often doesn’t happen and /or we can cope with it.

They can be challenging and care needs to be taken. Only try experiments that feel safe, and doable, for you. Just jumping in at the deep end isn’t recommended. They can often be helpful once you’ve gained a bit of confidence in more general behavioural experiments.

Expanding your comfort zone
Some behavioural experiments can also be thought of a “expanding your comfort zone” e.g. just wearing slightly brighter colours, speaking up a little more, just making a little more eye contact than usual. Such experiments don’t always have to be something brand new – just pushing your existing comfort zone can also be an experiment.

Things to Consider

  • Expect some discomfort: Testing your thoughts through behavioural experiments may be challenging and uncomfortable at times.
  • It may take time and repetition: Remember that anxiety and the associated thought process is a complex physiological response (see our page on fight or flight). It takes time and practice to change the way we respond to these situations and begin to see them as safe.
  • Expect some predictions to be partly true: Social situations are dynamic and people’s reactions to your behavioural experiment may vary. Sometimes someone may notice you are behaving differently, or comment on a trembling hand, dropping coins, stumbling on a word etc. Sometimes our key learning is that we can cope even if some of our fears come true.
  • Be kind to yourself: Celebrate taking the risk, regardless of the outcome. Treat yourself with patience and kindness!

Coping with Setbacks

Even a well-planned behavioural experiment can go ‘wrong’. You might encounter a person who is rude, or your anxiety might spike higher than expected.

If a setback occurs, try not to view it as a failure. If you have a bad experience, or need to rationalise what may have happened, see some alternative perspectives such as those at thought record (worksheet). A negative interaction doesn’t mean your original belief was right; it usually just means you encountered a difficult situation or caught someone on a bad day. Coping with unexpected outcomes is an essential part of overcoming social anxiety.

For example, perhaps you test out sending back a food order (because it really wasn’t adequate for the money) and the waiter is a bit annoyed at you. It made you nervous, but you handled it well and held firm. Your prediction still came true (that they will get annoyed) but equally, a different restaurant or different venue may have a different result – either way you learnt you can cope with this. That is still a successful experiment.

Conclusion

Overcoming social anxiety is not just about “facing your fears” It requires active experimentation to test our specific fears in particular environments, recording what you learn, reconsidering what worked and what didn’t, trying the experiment again where needed.

Related Resources at Australia CCI

www.cci.health.wa.gov.au – Module 4 – Behavioural-Experiment-Stepladders.pdf