Stephen R. Briggs

Shyness: Conceptualization and measurement.

The concept of shyness and its measurement were investigated in a series of studies (total N = 1,687). Data collection and analysis proceeded in three phases: the revision and continued development of a measure of shyness, the Social Reticence Scale; a psychometric comparison among five measures of shyness; and an examination of the factor structure underlying the construct of shyness. Phase 1 assessed the reliability and validity of the Social Reticence Scale, including ratings of videotaped monologues and ratings by significant others. Phase 2 compared the five shyness measures with one another on indices of internal consistency and with other relevant measures of emotionality, personality, relationships, and behavior. Items from the five shyness measures were combined in a factor analysis in Phase 3, and the resulting factors were correlated with the self-report and rating data obtained in Phase 2. Overall, the results from these studies confirmed that the shyness measures were valid, reliable, and empirically distinct from measures of related constructs. Behavioral validity was observed for several of the shyness scales. Additional analyses suggested that three interpretable factors underlie responses to the shyness scales but provided little support for drawing conceptual distinctions among types of shyness. Discussion focuses on the implications of these data for the measurement and conceptualization of shyness.

Self-consciousness and aspects of identity

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between public and private self-consciousness and social and personal aspects of identity. As predicted by self-consciousness theory, public self-consciousness correlated significantly more strongly with social than with personal aspects of identity, and private self-consciousness correlated significantly more strongly with personal than with social aspects of identity. Implications for the psychology of identity are discussed.

The Self-Other Discrepancy in Social Shyness

Publisher Summary This chapter analyzes the self–other discrepancy in social shyness. Shyness is a form of social anxiety that has been characterized as anxious preoccupation with the self in the presence of others. Some researchers argue that a necessary precondition for experiencing the state emotion of shyness is public self-consciousness—that is, awareness of the self as a social object. Although the importance of self-processes in the experience of shyness has been generally recognized, the role of the self has not been fully explicated in this regard. This chapter reviews previous researches on shyness as well as some recent data with particular emphasis on the discrepancy between self and other perception of social behavior. An overview of the concept of shyness is presented and its emergence in the psychological literature as a descriptive and theoretical construct is discussed. The research is analyzed which focuses on shyness including the rate of its occurrence, internal, and behavioral correlates. The data linking dispositional shyness to limited and problematic social networks is also reviewed in the chapter.

The Measurement of Shyness

Shyness is not unlike many psychological constructs in that it connotes a rich cluster of behaviors, cognitions, feelings, and bodily reactions. It reduces to no single, concrete object or referent; rather, it represents a convenient abstraction of characteristics we observe in others and in ourselves. The breadth of the construct explains in part its popularity as a label in everyday discourse, but this breadth also creates some confusion among those who wish to understand the nature, origins, and consequences of shyness. Everyone is familiar with the common usage and general meaning of the term, and thus there is substantial overlap in the definitions and measures used in shyness research. At the same time, however, there are areas of fundamental disagreement. Those who study shyness differ in their emphasis and level of specificity, and these differences are reflected in the various ways in which shyness is conceptualized and operationalized as well as in the type of questions that are researched.

Sense, nonsense, and the use of personality measures

Abstract Criticize measurement-based personality research by recounting a well-known limitation: indices of relationship are often inflated because of the similarity of content across measures of presumably different constructs. In this paper we endorse the major contention of Nicholls et al. that measurement-based research may be conducted thoughtlessly, and we extend their thinking by pointing out an important underlying issue—the problem of defining what constitutes a “syndrome.” In contrast to them, however, we argue that the problems in measurement they cite do not entail the consequences they foresee and, in addition, have limited application.

Old Age and Unemployment: Predictors of Perceived Control, Depression, and Loneliness

A survey explored predictors of perceived control, depression, and loneliness among chronically unemployed adults age 50 and older. As expected, these cognitive and emotional states were significantly related to the situational aspects of unemployment (e.g., length, remaining bene fits). However, they were also consistently related to such personality characteristics as assertiveness and lack of shyness, and the ability to take anothers perspective. This article discusses implications for unemployment counseling for older adults.

A Socioanalytic Interpretation of the Public and the Private Selves

This chapter concerns the relationship between the public self and the private self as seen through the lens of a particular perspective on personality theory— socioanalytic theory (Hogan, 1983). The chapter is organized in three sections. The first offers a perspective on the relationship between the public and the private self. In the second, we describe a set of research problems that emerge from the analysis presented in the first section. Finally, we suggest some caveats regarding the entire enterprise.