Revisiting the double-edged sword of self-regulation: Linking shyness, attentional shifting, and social behavior in preschoolers

Temperamental Shyness, Frontal EEG Theta/Beta Ratio, and Social Anxiety in Children

“…Our findings are also consistent with previous studies that have examined components of cognitive control as moderators of the relation between temperamental shyness and social behavior (e.g., Brooker et al., 2016; Hassan et al., 2020; Sette et al., 2018; Thorell et al., 2004; White, McDermott, et al., 2011). An extension of our study relative to previous studies is that we specifically examined neurocognitive control during a task designed to induce social‐evaluative threat, which may mirror typical social stressors faced by shy children in middle childhood, such as anticipating social exposure and evaluation by peers.…”

“…Based on previous theoretical (Henderson & Wilson, 2017; Henderson et al., 2015) and empirical (Hassan et al., 2020; Henderson, 2010; Sette et al., 2018; Thorell et al., 2004; Troller‐Renfree et al., 2019; White, McDermott, et al., 2011) work, we predicted that temperamental shyness would be related to an increased risk for social anxiety among children who showed heightened neurocognitive control (i.e., large decreases in frontal theta/beta ratio) during the social stress induction. In order to provide convergent evidence, children’s social anxiety was assessed at both a state level, reported in response to an impending speech task, as well as at a trait level which assessed their dispositional anxiety more broadly across contexts.…”

Shyness and prosocial tendencies during adolescence: Prospective influence of two types of self-regulation.

“…For example, only in preschoolers with relatively higher levels of self-regulation, shyness and related constructs have been negatively associated with prosocial behaviors, popularity, social initiative, and positively associated with social anxiety concurrently (Sette et al, 2018;Thorell et al, 2004) as well as longitudinally with respect to anxiety (White et al, 2011). These results have been replicated and extended when examining neural correlates of self-regulation (Henderson, 2010;McDermott et al, 2009), as well as behavioral indices of social engagement (Hassan et al, 2020).…”

Social Cognition, Self-Perceptions, and Social Withdrawal in Adolescents

“…Regarding intrapersonal consequences, mental state reasoning about others does not predict how to evaluate oneself in terms of competencies or feel about oneself in terms of kindness or coldness (Chaplin & Norton, 2015). Indeed, conflicted shy youth who may be hypersensitive to other's mental states, may also experience feelings of insecurity and self-doubt about one's abilities and self-worth, which in turn may lead to self-destructive and harmful behaviours (Calandri et al, 2020;Hassan et al, 2020;Poole et al, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, socially avoidant and unsocial youth are sometimes missed by teachers in class due to their low and avoidant social profile (e.g. silent and out of sight, out of mind) (Coplan & Arbeau, 2008;Eggum-Williams et al, 2019;Hassan et al, 2020).…”