(PS2-B43) Shyness Conceptualization: What Do We Think It Means to Be Shy?

Shyness and social anxiety are labels for the same or very similar phenomena (Heiser et al., 2003), and are indistinguishable at a measurement level (Brook & Willoughby, 2019). Some observers have noted that over the past fifty years, shyness has been increasingly pathologized in American culture, with many portraying shyness as negative or maladaptive and the cultural zeitgeist favoring self-promotion and gregariousness instead. However, shyness has been posited to have positive features and protective functions, as demonstrated by negative correlations with risky sexual behaviors and alcohol use in college students. The current study sought to better understand how individuals conceptualize shyness using a synonym and antonym sorting task, and to examine the adaptive significance of different ways of conceptualizing shyness.

Students (N = 156) from an introductory psychology course were asked to rate 18 synonyms and 15 antonyms of shyness in regard to their similarity to shyness and in terms of positivity/negativity using 6-point Likert-type scales. Participants also completed measures of social anxiety, functional impairment, and post-event processing. A principal components analysis was conducted on the similarity ratings of the 33 synonyms and antonyms. Parallel analysis at the 50th and 95th percentiles, a scree test, and the Kaiser’s rule all converged on three components. Oblimin rotation of three factors identified three dimensions of shyness conceptualizations: a reverse coded courageous conceptualization consisting of 12 antonyms (e.g., proud, forward, brave), an afraid conceptualization consisting of 10 synonyms (e.g., nervous, suspicious, fearful), and a modest conceptualization consisting of one antonym (calm) and five synonyms (e.g., humble, cautious, timid). Scales derived from these factors appeared reliable, with Cronbach alphas of .904, .854, and .776, respectively. Additionally, a positivity/negative index was calculated for each participant based on the within-person correlation between similarity and positivity ratings of shyness. Moderation analyses found that the relationship between social anxiety and rumination was moderated by the afraid conceptualization dimension, such that the highest levels of rumination were found for those with high levels of social anxiety who conceptualized shyness as most similar to afraid, nervous, suspicious, etc. Additionally, the relationship between social anxiety and functional impairment was moderated by the positivity/negativity index, such that the highest levels of impairment were found for those with high levels of social anxiety who rated words they viewed as similar to shyness more negatively. Overall, these findings provide evidence that individuals vary in how they conceptualize shyness, and that having a more positive view of shyness may contribute to more adaptive functioning for shy individuals.