This study investigated how trait social anxiety influences gaze behavior, place preference, and physiological reactions (heart rate and skin conductance) using a naturalistic two-phase design. The first phase was a half-hour walk with a freely chosen route (see Figure 1 for the setup); the second phase constituted of a staged social interaction starting with a short waiting period where a presumably delayed subject (confederate) was still in the lab filling in questionnaires followed by a short interaction initiated by the confederate (see Figure 2 for the laboratory setup). Additionally, we introduced a between-subject gaze-camouflage condition where participants wore shaded glasses or clear glasses to test the assumption that when eye-movements cannot be monitored by others, people do only not direct their overt attention in socially normative ways ![Figure 1: Setup Walk][1] **Figure 1** ![Figure 2: Setup Lab][2] **Figure 2** Participants were pre-screened with respect to the presence and severity of DSM-5 criteria for SA disorder. [1]: https://mfr.osf.io/export?url=https://osf.io/download/fcvg9/?direct=%26mode=render&format=400x400.jpeg [2]: https://mfr.osf.io/export?url=https://osf.io/download/6942c/?direct=%26mode=render&format=2400x400.jpeg