People who are undereducated, of low socioeconomic class, single, and young are the most seen with social anxiety. Among individuals who are older than sixty years, which is around 6.6%, social anxiety is less than half as prevalent than it is for individuals who are around eighteen to nineteen years old (13.6%). People with social anxiety can experience many different anxiety-provoking physical reactions. Some include blushing, sweating, trembling and/or having diarrhea. In extreme cases the person could become so worked-up that they go blank and/or faint. Social anxiety can be a very debilitating disorder. In the extreme case, social anxiety can affect someone's work performance, which can prevent career advancement, the pursuit of education and social anxiety can severely restrict the person's social life. .
The behaviors of someone with social anxiety are quite different than those without the disorder. Social anxiety as found by J.J Russell was associated less with dominance and more with submission especially in situations that are high in anxiety. Evolutionary perspectives say that individuals are more submissive and less dominant because it could offer protection from others who are dominant. People with social anxiety disorder are likely to see themselves as more subordinate and therefore be more submissive and show more submissive behaviors when they feel at risk of being judged and/or rejected by others. In the case of expressive behaviors, people who have social anxiety exhibit significantly fewer expressive behaviors than people without social anxiety. Adults who have social anxiety have been shown to exhibit expressive behavior deficit like gaze avoidance. Also, children who have social anxiety exhibit fewer spontaneous facial expressions and for voluntary expressions, have shown a poorer performance of surprise, fear, and happiness. In a study by Jonathan Del-Monte, they found that in patients who had social anxiety there was a deficit in producing voluntary facial expressions, like smiling.
