Smiling through the shyness: The adaptive function of positive affect in shy children.

Abstract

Most research treats shyness as a homogenous phenomenon when examining its correlates and consequences, which limits the identification of specific groups of shy children who may be at differential risk for maladaptive social outcomes. Here, we examined whether different types of shyness were uniquely associated with social adjustment and physiological stress reactivity in school-age children (n = 92; Mage = 7.47 years; SD = 2.23 years). During the completion of a videotaped self-presentation task, behavioral measures of positivity and avoidance were coded in order to derive shyness groups (i.e., positive shy: high positivity and high avoidance; negative shy: low positivity and high avoidance; and non-shy: low avoidance). Further, during the self-presentation task, direct observation of activity level was coded, and salivary cortisol reactivity to the social stressor was measured. We also collected parent- and teacher report of children's social anxiety, and parent report of children's sociability. We found that negative shy children were more socially anxious according to both parent- and teacher report, less sociable, and they also displayed reduced activity levels during the speech than the positive shy and non-shy children. Positive shy and non-shy children were indistinguishable across all measures of social behavior. Shyness group had no influence on children's cortisol stress reactivity. Our findings provide support for heterogeneity in the expression of shyness, and highlight that not all shy children experience poor social adjustment. Expression of positivity during socially threatening situations may have an adaptive social function in shy school-age children, as it is associated with reduced social anxiety and increased sociability. (PsycINFO Database Record

Shyness, aggression, and empathy in children of shy mothers: Moderating influence of children's psychophysiological self‐regulation

“…The experimenter placed a video camera in front of the child and asked them to give a short speech about their most recent birthday. Self-presentation tasks such as this are widely used to elicit shy/anxious behaviors in children (Poole & Schmidt, 2018;Theall-Honey & Schmidt, 2006).…”

Positive Shyness in the Brain: Frontal Electroencephalogram Alpha Asymmetry and Delta–Beta Correlation in Children

“…First, the expression of positive affect may signal one's interest in social interaction (i.e., sociability) and serve an appeasement function to social partners which may help facilitate approach from others as well as fulfill the positive shy individual's social affiliative desires (Sroufe & Waters, 1976). Indeed, empirical support has found that positive shyness tends to be associated with approach-related motivations as indicated by higher levels of sociability from toddlerhood to middle childhood (Colonnesi et al, 2014(Colonnesi et al, , 2017Poole & Schmidt, 2019b). Second, according to the tensionreleasing hypothesis of positive affect, the expression of positivity plays a regulatory function in modulating arousal during stressful situations (Sroufe & Waters, 1976).…”

“…That is, while positive shy children may experience fear in a social situation, they are simultaneously regulating their arousal through positive emotional expressions which allow them to remain oriented and engaged with their social partner (Colonnesi et al, 2014(Colonnesi et al, , 2017Nikoli c et al, 2016;Reddy, 2000;Sroufe & Waters, 1976). This social engagement during feared social situations can result in social competence and protect the shy child from developing behaviors associated with emotion dysregulation such as anxiety (Colonnesi et al, 2014(Colonnesi et al, , 2017Poole & Schmidt, 2019b).…”

“…Although the withdrawal-related behaviors characteristic of nonpositive shyness may help to reduce arousal during a social situation through active avoidance, this tends to be maladaptive such that the shy child does not have opportunities to engage in social situations and develop the skills accompanying these exposures such as social competence. This may result in a cycle of social avoidance and a lack of regulatory resources to confront social challenges which can lead to greater social distress and anxiety (Colonnesi et al, 2014(Colonnesi et al, , 2017Poole & Schmidt, 2019b). Non-positive shyness is conceptually similar to temperamental inhibition, with similar correlates and outcomes described elsewhere (Kagan et al, 1988).…”

Trajectory of heart period to socioaffective threat in shy children

“…Person‐oriented approaches are regarded as useful in classifying individuals who share common characteristics and effectively categorize individuals who have conceptually and empirically different behavioral profiles (see Bergman & Trost, , for a review). Indeed, previous research studying shyness (LoBue & Pérez‐Edgar, ; Poole & Schmidt, ; Schmidt, ; Wolfe & Bell, ) and related constructs such as social withdrawal (Coplan et al, ; Nelson, ) and behavioral inhibition (Coplan, Wilson, Frohlick, & Zelenski, ; Kagan et al, ) have illustrated the utility of using a person‐oriented approach in studying social behavior. Likewise, children in the present study were classified as high shy and low shy using a median split (high shy: n = 19, M = 3.18; low shy: n = 18, M = 1.64; t (35) = −9.45, p < 0.001, d = 3.15).…”