Attributions of shyness!resembling behaviors by shy and non!shy individuals

Shy and non!shy individuals| attributions of shyness!resembling behaviors in scenarios involving either themselves or other\ hypothetical\ people were studied through the use of a questionnaire[ The participants were Swedish high!school students who rated the extent to which a number of such behaviors could be explained by four di}erent causes\ two internal "shyness and lack of interest# and two external "other persons and situational circumstances# causes[ The results showed that shy participants attributed their own shyness! resembling behaviors to internal causes to a higher degree than did non!shy participants[ Furthermore\ non!shy participants attributed their own behaviors to external rather than internal causes\ whereas shy participants judged internal and external causes to be about equally good explanations of their own behaviors[ Both shy and non!shy participants attributed other people|s behaviors to internal rather than external causes[ The di}erences between shy and non!shy participants were discussed in terms of di}erences in focus of attention\ meaning that shy individuals seem to be much more self!focused than non!shy ones[ Þ 0888 Elsevier Science Ltd[ All rights reserved[ Keywords] Shyness^ Attribution^ Causal locus^ SelfÐother di}erence^ ActorÐobserver di}erence