Previous research has noted both high and low baseline cortisol levels in anxious personality styles. We examined the relations among shyness, baseline salivary cortisol, and resting heart rate in a non-clinical sample of 10-year-old children. As predicted, shyness was positively correlated with baseline salivary cortisol and resting heart rate, replicating and extending earlier work with presc...

a r t i c l e i n f o This study examined associations between parental cultural orientation, childhood shyness, and anxiety symptoms in a sample of Hispanic American children (N = 127). Parents completed measures of their level of acculturation, collectivism, and socialization goals, while children provided self-reports of anxiety symptoms and both parents and children provided reports of chil...

Data regarding children's shyness and emotionality were collected at three time points, two years apart (T1: N = 214, M = 6.12 years; T2: N = 185, M = 7.67 years; T3: N = 185, M = 9.70 years), and internalizing data were collected at T1 and T3. Relations among parent-rated shyness, emotionality (parent- and teacher-rated anger, sadness, and positive emotional intensity [EI]), and mother-rated i...

Shyness has become an 'unhealthy' state of mind for individuals living in contemporary Western societies. Insofar as its behavioural 'symptoms' imply a failure to achieve certain cultural values, such as assertiveness, self-expression and loquacious vocality, shyness is increasingly defined as a problem for which people can, and should, be treated. This paper first critically discusses the idea...

The current study explored the relationship between shyness and face scanning patterns for own- and other-race faces in adults. Participants completed a shyness inventory and a face recognition task in which their eye movements were recorded by a Tobii 1750 eye tracker. We found that: (1) Participants' shyness scores were negatively correlated with the fixation proportion on the eyes, regardles...

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between shyness and adjustment outcomes in competitive adolescent figure skaters. At Time 1, 40 female figure skaters completed self-reports of shyness, athletic self-esteem and psychological coping style. At Time 2, approximately nine months later, skaters completed a measure of competitive anxiety immediately prior to a competitive per...

This study examined the moderating role of shyness mindset on the reduction of social anxiety during exposure-based treatment. Participants (N=60) in an intensive outpatient program for anxiety disorders were assessed at pre- and post-treatment. Social performance anxiety decreased dramatically during treatment, but the amount of decrease differed as a function of pre-treatment shyness mindset....