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In social psychology, shyness (also called diffidence) is the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness experienced when a person is in proximity to, approaching, or being approached by other people, especially in new situations or with unfamiliar people. Shyness may come from genetic traits, the environment in which a person is raised and personal experiences. There are many degrees of shyness. Stronger forms are usually referred to as social anxiety or social phobia. Shyness may merely be a personality trait or can occur at certain stages of development in children. The primary defining characteristic of shyness is a largely ego-driven fear of what other people will think of a person's behavior, which results in the person becoming scared of doing or saying what he or she wants to, out of fear of negative reactions, criticism, or rejection, and simply opting to avoid social situations instead. Shyness also has strong cultural aspects.

Origins
The initial causes of shyness vary. Scientists have located some genetic data that supports the hypothesis that shyness is at least partially genetic. However, there is also evidence that the environment in which a person is raised can affect his or her shyness. This includes child abuse, particularly emotional abuse such as ridicule. Shyness can originate after a person has experienced a physical anxiety reaction; at other times, shyness seems to develop first and then later causes physical symptoms of anxiety. Shyness differs from social anxiety, which is a broader, often depression-related psychological condition including the experience of fear, apprehension or worrying about being evaluated by others in social situations to the extent of inducing panic.

Genetics and heredity
The genetics of shyness is a relatively small area of research that has been receiving an even smaller amount of attention, although papers on the biological bases of shyness date back to 1988. Some research has indicated that shyness and aggression are related—through long and short forms of the gene DRD4, though considerably more research on this is needed. Further, it has been suggested that shyness and social phobia (the distinction between the two is becoming ever more blurred) are related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. As with other studies of behavioral genetics, the study of shyness is complicated by the number of genes involved in, and the confusion in defining, the phenotype. Naming the phenotype – and translation of terms between genetics and psychology — also causes problems. In some research, "behavioral inhibition" is studied, in others anxiety or social inhibition is. One solution to this problem is to study the genetics of underlying traits, such as "anxious temperament."

Several genetic links to shyness are current areas of research. One is the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), the long form of which has been shown to be modestly correlated with shyness in grade school children. Previous studies had shown a connection between this form of the gene and both obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism. Mouse models have also been used, to derive genes suitable for further study in humans; one such gene, the glutamic acid decarboxylase gene (which encodes an enzyme that functions in GABA synthesis), has so far been shown to have some association with behavioral inhibition.

Another gene, the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) exon III polymorphism, had been the subject of studies in both shyness and aggression, and is currently the subject of studies on the "novelty seeking" trait. A 1996 study of anxiety-related traits (shyness being one of these) remarked that, "Although twin studies have indicated that individual variation in measures of anxiety-related personality traits is 40-60% heritable, none of the relevant genes has yet been identified," and that "10 to 15 genes might be predicted to be involved" in the anxiety trait. Progress has been made since then, especially in identifying other potential genes involved in personality traits, but there has been little progress made towards confirming these relationships.

The long version of the 5-HTT gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) is now postulated to be correlated with shyness, but in the 1996 study, the short version was shown to be related to anxiety-based traits. This confusion and contradiction does not oppose the genetic basis of personality traits, but does emphasize the amount of research there is still to be done before the bases of even one or two of these characteristics can be identified.

Technology has helped to pinpoint changes in socially anxious brains. Using MRI scans, Dr. Murray Stein, of the University of California, San Diego, found that when people with the disorder are shown pictures of angry faces, their amygdala-the brain's fear center-lights up with more activity than it does in people without the condition. Now Stein is looking deeper to see if the amygdala itself is overreacting or if the problem starts even earlier in the processing of fear.

As symptom of mercury poisoning
Excessive shyness, embarrassment, self-consciousness and timidity, social-phobia and lack of self-confidence are also components of erethism, which is a symptom complex that appears in cases of mercury poisoning. Mercury poisoning was common among hat makers in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, who used mercury to stabilize wool into felt fabric.

Prenatal Development
The prevalence of shyness in some children can be linked to day length during pregnancy, particularly during the midpoint of prenatal development. An analysis of longitudinal data from children living at specific latitudes in the United States and New Zealand revealed a significant relationship between hours of day length during the midpoint of pregnancy and the prevalence of shyness in children. "The odds of being classified as shy were 1.52 times greater for children exposed to shorter compared to longer daylengths during gestation." In their analysis, scientists assigned conception dates to the children relative to their known birth dates, which allowed them to obtain random samples from children who had a mid-gestation point during the longest hours of the year and the shortest hours of the year (June and December, depending on whether the cohorts were in the United States or New Zealand).

The longitudinal survey data included measurements of shyness on a five-point scale based on interviews with the families being surveyed, and children in the top 25th percentile of shyness scores were identified. Careful analysis of the data revealed a significant co-variance between the children who presented as being consistently shy over a two-year period, and shorter day length during their mid-prenatal development period. "Taken together, these estimates indicate that about one out of five cases of extreme shyness in children can be associated with gestation during months of limited daylength."

Further research will be required to determine a causal link between this relationship, and scientists may consider factors such as neuromodulators, diet, exercise and actual exposure to natural daylight during the winter months. The role of neuromodulators, such as melatonin, which are influenced by day length and can cross the placental barrier, may be worth careful scrutiny.

Shyness as a Personality Trait
Shyness is most likely to occur during unfamiliar situations, though in severe cases it may hinder an individual in his or her most familiar situations and relationships as well. Shy people avoid the objects of their apprehension in order to keep from feeling uncomfortable and inept; thus, the situations remain unfamiliar and the shyness perpetuates itself. Shyness may fade with time; e.g., a child who is shy towards strangers may eventually lose this trait when older and become more socially adept. This often occurs by adolescence or young adulthood (generally around the age of 13). In some cases, though, it may become an integrated, lifelong character trait. Longitudinal data suggests that the three different personality types evident in infancy easy, slow-to-warm-up, and difficult tend to change as children mature. Extreme traits become less pronounced, and personalities evolve in predictable patterns over time. What has been proven to remain constant is the tendency to internalize or externalize problems. This relates to individuals with shy personalities because they tend to internalize their problems, or dwell on their problems internally instead of expressing their concerns, which leads to disorders like depression and anxiety. Humans experience shyness to different degrees and in different areas. For example, an actor may be loud and bold on stage, but shy in an interview. In addition, shyness may manifest when one is in the company of certain people and completely disappear when with others— one may be outgoing with friends and family, but experience love-shyness toward potential partners, even if strangers are generally not an obstacle.

The condition of true shyness may simply involve the discomfort of difficulty in knowing what to say in social situations, or may include crippling physical manifestations of uneasiness. Shyness usually involves a combination of both symptoms, and may be quite devastating for the sufferer, in many cases leading them to feel that they are boring, or exhibit bizarre behavior in an attempt to create interest, alienating them further. Behavioral traits in social situations such as smiling, easily producing suitable conversational topics, assuming a relaxed posture and making good eye contact, may not be second nature for a shy person. Such people might only affect such traits by great difficulty, or they may even be impossible to display. Those who are shy are actually perceived more negatively, in cultures that value sociability, because of the way they act towards others. Shy individuals are often distant during conversations, which may cause others to create poor impressions of them, simply adding to their shyness in social situations. Other times people who are not shy may be too up-front, aggressive, or critical towards shy people in an attempt "to get them out of their shell." This may actually make a shy person feel worse, as it can draw attention to them (making them more self-conscious and uncomfortable) or cause them to think there is something very wrong with themselves. The result is that shy person could become even shyer in social situations.

Misconceptions and Negative Aspects
Many misconceptions/ stereotypes about shy individuals exist in western culture and negative peer reactions to "shy" behavior abound. This takes place because individualistic cultures don't value quietness and meekness, and more often reward outgoing behaviors. Some misconceptions include viewing introversion and social phobia synonymous with shyness, and believing that shy people are less intelligent.

Intelligence
No correlation (positive or negative) actually exists between intelligence and shyness but, counter intuitively, data collected leans toward a positive rather than negative correlation between intelligence and shyness, though it isn't statistically significant. The stereotype exists that shy people are less intelligent and peers initially perceive them this way. The data supporting this hypothesis falsely identifies a cause and effect relationship between low academic standing and high levels of shyness, when in fact a third factor, academic engagement (verbally expressing knowledge), accounts for this correlation. Research indicates that shy children have a harder time expressing their knowledge in social situations (which many academic curriculum utilize)and because they do not engage actively in discussions, teachers view them as less intelligent and their grades suffer. Test scores, however, prove that shyness is unrelated to actual academic knowledge, and therefore only academic engagement. Depending on the level of a teacher's own shyness, more indirect (vs. socially oriented) strategies are used with shy individuals to assess knowledge in the classroom, and accommodations are made. Outside the classroom too, peers tend to view shy people as less intelligent in social situations. Observed peer evaluations of shy people during initial meeting and social interactions thereafter found that peers do evaluate shy individuals as less intelligent during the first encounter because they don't talk as much as everyone else. During consequential interactions, however, peers perceived shy individuals' intelligence more positively. Peers only initially evaluate shy people stereotypically but then reevaluate their first impressions based on actual evidence.

Shyness vs. Introversion
The term shyness may be implemented as a lay blanket-term for a family of related and partially overlapping afflictions, including timidity (apprehension in meeting new people), bashfulness and diffidence (reluctance in asserting oneself), apprehension and anticipation (general fear of potential interaction), or intimidation (relating to the object of fear rather than one's low confidence). Apparent shyness, as perceived by others, may simply be the manifestation of reservation or introversion, character traits which cause an individual to voluntarily avoid excessive social contact or be terse in communication, but are not motivated or accompanied by discomfort, apprehension, or lack of confidence.

Rather, according to Bernardo J. Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute, introverts choose to avoid social situations because they derive no reward from them, or may find surplus sensory input overwhelming. Conversely, shy people may fear such situations and feel that they "should" avoid them. This generally poor reception of shyness may be misinterpreted by the suffering individual as aversion related to his or her personality, rather than simply to his or her shyness. Both conditions can lead to a compounding of a shy individual's low self-confidence.

Both shyness and introversion (unsociability) can be classified as personalities that lead to socially withdrawn behaviors (behavioral tendencies to avoid social situations, especially when they are unfamiliar). A variety of research has been done suggesting that these two personalities posses clearly distinct motivational forces and lead to uniquely different personal and peer reactions and therefore cannot be described as theoretically the same.

Research done suggests that no unique physiological response, such as an increased heart beat, accompanies socially withdrawn behavior in familiar compared with unfamiliar social situations. But, unsociability leads to decreased exposure to unfamiliar social situations and shyness causes a lack of response in such situations, suggesting that shyness and unsociability affect two different aspects of sociability and are distinct personality traits. In addition, different cultures perceive unsociability and shyness in different ways, leading to either positive or negative individual feelings of self-esteem. Collectivist cultures view shyness as a more positive trait related to compliance with group ideals and self-control, while perceiving chosen isolation (introverted behavior) negatively, as a threat to group harmony. Because society accepts shyness and rejects unsociability, shy individuals develop higher self-esteem than introverted individuals. On the other hand, individualistic cultures perceive shyness as a weakness and a character flaw, while unsociable personality traits (preference to spend time alone) are accepted because they uphold the value of autonomy. So, in contrast, shy individuals develop low self-esteem in Western cultures while unsociable individuals develop high self-esteem. Psychological methods and pharmaceutical drugs are commonly used to treat shyness in individuals who feel crippled because of low self-esteem and psychological symptoms, such as depression or loneliness. According to research, early intervention methods that expose shy children to social interactions involve working team work, especially team sports, decrease their anxiety in social interactions and increase their all around self-confidence later on. Implementing such tactics could prove to be an important step in combating the psychological effects of shyness that make living normal life difficult for anxious individuals.

Shyness vs. Social Phobia
An extreme case of shyness is identified as a psychiatric illness, which made its debut as "social phobia" in DSM-III in 1980, but was then described as rare. By 1994, however, when DSM-IV was published, it had become "social anxiety disorder" and was now said to be extremely common. This process has been adverted to as a case study of "disease-mongering" in psychiatry. One drug company product manager has been quoted as saying, "Every marketer's dream is to find an unidentified or unknown market and develop it. That's what we were able to do with social anxiety disorder". On the other hand, the prevalence of social anxiety disorder could easily be underestimated or ignored because many people who fear and avoid social situations would find going to a doctor's office and asking for help extremely difficult.

Shyness often affects people mildly in unfamiliar social situations where one feels anxiety about interacting with new people, however, social phobia is a strong irrational anxiety about meeting new people because one feels overly concerned about being criticized if one embarrasses oneself. This condition interferes with normal living because shy people who feel this way avoid social situations as much as possible. Two types of social phobia exist, general social phobia, the fear of all social situations, and specific social phobia, the fear of a specific kind of social situation (such as public speaking). Physical symptoms of social phobia include panic attacks, trembling, increased heart rate, sweating, feeling numb...etc. Psychological symptoms include worrying about doing something embarrassing, feeling overly anxious, over analyzing social interactions after the fact, and being physically incapable of being able to say and do what one wants to. Shyness, on the other hand, incorporates most of these symptoms, but at a lower intensity, infrequently, and does not interfere tremendously with normal living.

Introduction
In a publication of The Canadian Journal of Behaviour Science authors Mary Evans and Joanna Chung examined the correlation between shyness and symptoms of illness in elementary school aged children. This study consisted of 32 total children; 16 shy and 16 non-shy children. They were designated into these two groups by teachers of the children. The average age of the children was just under seven and a half years old. The study lasted a total of 28 days. Data on the children was collected via daily diary reports completed by parents which encompassed the child's complaints, their own observations on the child's health, and their end conclusions on the child's health that day.

Frequency of Illness
The children's health was examined through two different comparisons. The first was how often the children verbally complained to their parents about being sick, and the second route was how often the parents observed and reported symptoms of the child actually being sick. Throughout the study shy children reported more stomach issues, and parents of shy children observed and recorded more days when their child was fatigued, than parents of non-shy children. At the conclusion of the study it was shown that shy children took twice as many sick days as their non-shy pupils. Shy children averaged, out of the 28 day study, 4.69 sick days as opposed to their non-shy counterparts who averaged only 2.31.

Shyness and Emotion
After examining the study, it was shown that the shy children complained more of emotional distress in terms of sadness, lack of appetite, irritability and insomnia than their non-shy counterparts. Shy children were also observed to be have displayed signs of fatigue more often. The study also showed that even when parents of shy children would not concur that their child was sick after hearing a complaint, the child would not continue complaining. This is possibly explained by the child making a weak attempt to avoid going to school.

Explanation of Findings
The data presented may reflect differences in physiology between shy and non-shy individuals. Shy individuals are shown to have higher levels of cortisol, which when present in abundance can lead to the suppression of the immune system making the individual more vulnerable to sickness and disease. An alternate explanation may be that the correlation that was studied is backwards and that illness may contribute to shyness. Shy children may be more socially isolated at school due to their higher number of absences.

Introduction
In a study published by Springer Science+Business Media the researchers, Scott R. Miller, Gene H. Brody, and Velma M. Murry, conducted a study to see if there was a correlation between Gender, Shyness, and Social acceptance. This research was performed on 231 youths', while 176 teachers completed the assessments of the youths' Shyness and Social acceptance, and 231 married parents completed their responsive problem solving with the child. The children studied were between the ages of 10-15 and their parents 28-70. This study happened between April 1994 and December 1997, where program staff collected three waves of data from children and their parents. .

Frequency of Shyness
Youth shyness was assessed at both time points as reported by teachers using the Shyness subscale of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. The subscale had nine items that had a five-point scale ranging from 1(very false) to 5 (very true). From the first test there was a 0.92 for teachers' report of shyness, and additionally the test-retest reliability of 0.84.

Shyness, Gender, and Social Acceptance
During adolescent years of life we are experiencing a dramatic change in our shyness due to the fact that the majority of children attend school where they can interact with other children. In this study it showed that in the first study both males and females were more shy while in the second they showed a decline in shyness. For social acceptance during time one it was lower for males than at time two, thus proving that youth were becoming more social therefore lowering their shyness. However for females the social acceptance did the complete opposite, during time one it was higher than at time two. Finally the differences between males and females can be present because young males are more easily able to become less shy with social acts such as sports, while females have a harder time overall.

Explanation of Findings
In this research, shyness had a positive correlation between females but a negative correlation between males. Also for social acceptance there was the same correlation with both genders. To conclude during the ages of 10-15, from this study it is determined males become more social and less shy while females become more shy and less social.

Positive Points of Shyness and Sociological perspectives
Being shy can have its advantages as well, according to Thomas Benton in his article "Shyness and Academe", published in May 2004. The author says that because shy people "have a tendency toward self-criticism, they are often high achievers, and not just in solitary activities like research and writing. Perhaps even more than the drive toward independent achievement, shy people long to make connections to others, often through altruistic behavior. Susan Cain, in her article "Shyness: Evolutionary Tactic?" describes the benefits that shy people bring to society, that western views devalue. Without characteristics that shy people bring to social interactions, such as sensitivity to the emotions of others, contemplation of ideas, and valuable listening skills, there would be no balance to society. In earlier generations, such as the 1950's, society perceived shyness as a more socially attractive trait, especially in women. This indicates that views on shyness vary with the culture. Sociologist Susie Scott, in her book Shyness and Society (2007), is one expert who has sought to challenge the pathological interpretation and treatment of shyness. "By treating shyness as an individual pathology, ... we forget that this is also a socially oriented state of mind that is socially produced and managed." She explores the idea that "shyness is a form of deviance: a problem for society as much as for the individual", and concludes that, to some extent, "we are all impostors, faking our way through social life". One of her interview subjects (self-defined as shy) puts this point of view even more strongly:
 * "Sometimes I want to take my cue from the militant disabled lobbyists and say, 'hey, it's not MY problem, it's society's'. I want to be proud to be shy: on the whole, shys are probably more sensitive, and nicer people, than 'normals'. I shouldn't have to change: society should adapt to meet my needs."

Author and broadcaster Garrison Keillor has similarly, tongue-in-cheek but sympathetically, published a manifesto of "shy rights":
 * "[S]hyness is not a disability or disease to be 'overcome'. It is simply the way we are. And in our own quiet way, we are secretly proud of it."

In his book Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness (2008), Christopher Lane raises some important questions. The author mentions he had seen the child of prosperous parents, who was a problem at home and school. By the age of 13 years he had eight diagnoses and nine mental health professionals involved in his care and education. His family doctor, however, felt that the real problem was that the boy was lucky if he saw his parents for more than 1 hour each week, and was skeptical that throwing therapists, diagnoses, and stimulant medication at him was going to help the concern. "How will children like this grow up? And what does it mean to think that your behavior is not your own responsibility, but is because of your brain being wired differently than the rest of your class? Might these children come to believe that they are indeed different—set apart and endlessly in need of support and treatment even as they enter adulthood?" Lane goes further in expressing his concern in regards to pharmaceutical companies pushing for more and more abnormal behaviors to became classified as disorders for the purpose of making profit.

Different Cultural Views on Shyness
In cultures that value outspokenness and overt confidence, shyness can be perceived as weakness. To an unsympathetic observer, a shy individual may be mistaken as cold, distant, arrogant or aloof, which can be frustrating for the shy individual. However, in other cultures, shy people may be perceived as being thoughtful, intelligent, as being good listeners, and as being more likely to think before they speak. Furthermore, boldness, the opposite of shyness, may cause its own problems, such as impertinence or inappropriate behavior.

In cultures that value autonomy,shyness is often analyzed in the context of being a social dysfunction, and is frequently contemplated as a personality disorder or mental health issue. It should be noted that such analyses are conducted from a Western cultural perspective, and often do not consider shyness as having any potential utility in a social framework, either outside or within Western culture. Some researchers are beginning to study comparisons between individualistic and collectivistic cultures, to examine the role that shyness might play in matters of social etiquette and achieving group-oriented goals. "Shyness is one of the emotions that may serve as behavioral regulators of social relationships in collectivistic cultures. For example, social shyness is evaluated more positively in a collectivistic society, but negatively evaluated in an individualistic society."

In a cross-cultural study of Chinese and Canadian school children, researchers sought to measure several variables related to social reputation and peer relationships, including "shyness-sensitivity." Using peer nomination questionnaire, students evaluated their fellow students using positive and negative playmate nominations. "Shyness-sensitivity was significantly and negatively correlated with measures of peer acceptance in the Canadian sample. Inconsistent with Western results, it was found that items describing shyness-sensitivity were separated from items assessing isolation in the factor structure for the Chinese sample. Shyness-sensitivity was positively associated with sociability-leadership and with peer acceptance in the Chinese sample." The researchers go on to say, "In conclusion, the results presented herein suggest that social competence is a highly complex phenomenon that may have similar or different meanings in different cultures."

Given that many people who self-report as being shy describe it as being a debilitating social impairment, it is certainly a valid pursuit to analyze shyness in the context of mental health. Broader research could contemplate any potential social value of shyness, both in non-Western cultures and Western culture, or at least provide more insight into its origins. Further, a historical analysis may reveal shyness to have once been a positive trait in past Western culture and now a lingering after-effect of past times, or a symptom of rapid change in the 20th Century, or a negative stigma that has always existed in some form. Expanding the parameters of data collection in this respect may serve to assist society in its approach to identifying and dealing with shy personalities in its midst, and harvesting any untapped talent not currently being realized.