Shyness: Antecedents and Outcomes

Paper Summary:

This paper summarizes, reviews, and analyzes three studies on the precursors and antecedents of shyness and two studies on the outcomes of shyness. The paper explains that the first three studies reviewed focused on biological and socialization factors and the second two focused on the stability and long-term correlates of social withdrawal and on the idea that shyness is only problematic in societies that look negatively upon it. The paper concludes by noting that there are flaws in the studies but also by noting the additional knowledge that all of the studies have brought to the understanding of shyness.

From the Paper:

"The first study I found focused on socialization factors during infancy. It was done by Martin Gerhold, et. al. and was called "Early Mother-Infant Interaction as a Precursor to Childhood Social Withdrawal." The infants were three months of age, and the authors examined biological and psychosocial risks, and later social withdrawal, using a hierarchical logistic regression approach. Variables were entered into the regression models as follows: biological and psychosocial risks and sex, mother and child variables (done separately), and lastly, all of the variables were entered together. The results supported their hypothesis in that child behaviors (smiling and gazing) as well as maternal behaviors (facial and motor responsiveness) significantly predicted social withdrawal in middle childhood. Therefore, the authors claim their results suggest that a dysfunctional interaction pattern between mothers and their infants may be a precursor to shyness in childhood (Gerhold, et. al., 2002)."

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