The relations of emotionality and regulation to dispositional and situational empathy-related responding.

Examined the prediction of adults' situational and dispositional empathy-related responses from measures of emotionality (emotional intensity and positive and negative affect) and regulation. A multimethod approach including self-reported, facial, and heart rate (HR) responses was used to assess situational vicarious emotional responding; Ss' (and sometimes friends') reports were used to assess the dispositional characteristics. In general, dispositional sympathy, personal distress, and perspective taking exhibited different, conceptually logical patterns of association with indexes of emotionality and regulation. The relations of situational measures of vicarious emotional responding to dispositional emotionality and regulation varied somewhat by type of measure and gender. Findings for facial and HR (for men) measures were primarily for the more evocative empathy-inducing stimulus. In general, the findings provided support for the role of individual differences in emotionality and regulation in empathy-related responding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shyness and sociability.

Two studies investigated the relationship between shyness (tension and inhibition with others) and sociability (preference for being with others rather than being alone) using 952 undergraduates. A factor analysis of shyness and sociability items revealed 2 distinct factors, indicating that shyness and sociability are distinct personality dispositions. Self-reported shyness showed only a moderate negative correlation with self-reported sociability. Furthermore, the measures of shyness and sociability had different patterns of correlations with other personality scales (e.g., the Public and Private Self-Consciousness scales of the Self-Consciousness Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the EASI [Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, Impulsivity] Temperament Survey). On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that shyness is not just low sociability. Next, 4 groups of Ss were selected: shy–sociable, shy–unsociable, unshy–sociable, and unshy–unsociable. Pairs of these Ss, matched for both traits, interacted for 5 min. Shy–sociable Ss talked less, averted their gaze more, and engaged in more self-manipulation than did the other 3 groups. In studying social behavior, it should be known whether Ss are shy but also whether they are sociable. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children's sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality.

The relation of 8- to 10-year-olds' teacher-reported dispositional sympathy to regulation and emotionality was examined with a longitudinal sample. In general, sympathy was correlated with adults' reports of regulation and low negative emotionality contemporaneously and, to some degree, 2 and 4 years prior. General emotional intensity interacted with some aspects of regulation in predicting sympathy; for example, attention focusing predicted sympathy but only for children low in general emotional intensity. In general, the pattern of correlations changed little from age 6-8 to age 8-10 years, although parent-reported negative emotionality was more highly negatively related to sympathy at the older age. Dispositional sympathy was associated with verbal or physiological markers of sympathy in a laboratory setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Videotape reconstruction of emotions and cognitions related to shyness.

This study tested predictions of the self-presentational approach to situational and dispositional shyness within a broader perspective. Forty subjects who were high in self-rated dispositional shyness and 30 subjects who were low in self-rated dispositional shyness watched videotapes of their interaction with a confederate of the experimenter in various situations, including apprehension of evaluation and positive feedback provided by the confederate. The subjects' free verbal responses to particular events during these situations were content-analyzed. Compared with the group lower in shyness, the shy subjects (a) recalled more fear of social evaluation (including fear of positive evaluation) but did not more often report other kinds of fear, (b) had more negatively biased thoughts about the impression made on their partner but not more impression-related thoughts in general, and (c) showed more negatively biased reactions to the positive feedback of their partner. These results support the self-presentational view that fear of being socially evaluated is pivotal to dispositional shyness. However, some unexpected findings suggest that social evaluative situations also arouse fears of having to evaluate others; this would limit self-presentational explanations of situational shyness in these situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations of children's dispositional empathy-related responding to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning.

The relations of kindergartners' to 2nd graders' dispositional sympathy to individual differences in emotionality, regulation, and social functioning were examined. Sympathy was assessed with teacher- and self-reports; contemporaneously and 2 years earlier, parents and teachers reported on children's emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Social functioning also was assessed with peer evaluations and children's enacted puppet behavior, and negative arousability-personal distress was assessed with physiological responses. In general, sympathy was associated with relatively high levels of regulation, teacher-reported positive emotionality and general emotional intensity, and especially for boys, high social functioning and low levels of negative emotionality, including physiological reactivity to a distress stimulus. Vagal tone was positively related to boys' self-reported sympathy, whereas the pattern was reversed for girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit self-theories of shyness.

Three studies examined implicit self-theories in relation to shy people's goals, responses, and consequences within social situations. Shy incremental theorists were more likely than shy entity theorists to view social situations as a learning opportunity and to approach social settings (Study 1). Shy incremental theorists were less likely to use strategies aimed at avoiding social interaction (Studies 2 and 3) and suffered fewer negative consequences of their shyness (Study 3). These findings generalized across both hypothetical and actual social situations as well as both self-reports and observer reports and could not be attributed to individual differences in level of shyness. Together, these studies indicate that implicit self-theories of shyness are important for understanding individual differences among shy people and suggest new avenues for implicit self-theories research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning.

Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mmpi dimensions of sociability and impulse control.

Attempted to differentiate clusters of impulsivity and sociability in the mmpi item pool and to derive scales for their measurement. An impulsivity (im) and a sociability (sy) scale were derived from mmpis given to 175 male abnormal offenders. A validation study with 99 additional ss showed reliabilities for im and sy of .84 and .82 with no significant correlation between them. The 2 scales also reflected the interaction of neuroticism and extroversion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Area postrema damage and bait shyness.

Conducted 2 experiments with naive male Sprague-Dawley rats. Results indicate that thermal cauterization of the area postrema region prevented food aversion learning ("bait shyness") induced by injections of methylscopolamine, but failed to affect that induced by injections of amphetamine. The anorexic effect of amphetamine was similarly unaffected by area postrema damage. Bait shyness induced by different drugs appears to be mediated by different mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and prediction of children's sociability from 1 to 2? years.

Interactions of 60 children with their mothers and female strangers were observed in natural and semistructured situations at 12, 18, 24, and 30 mo. Their behavior was analyzed to reveal a "sociability" cluster of smiling, vocalizing, and playing. When mother and stranger behaved similarly, children's sociability to both adults was similar in components, stability, development, and relation to independently assessed aspects of the social environment, with the following exceptions: Sociability to mother was not consistently related to physical contact with her, whereas sociability and physical contact with the stranger were consistently correlated. Sociability to mother developed earlier than sociability to stranger. Sociability to the mother was more related to maternal behavior than was sociability to the stranger, whereas sociability to the stranger was more related to nonparental care. Sociability to both mother and stranger was related to the child's cognitive abilities but not to contact with objects or to the mother's intelligence or socioeconomic status. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Security of attachment and stranger sociability in infancy.

Examined the relationship between stranger sociability and the security of the infant–mother attachment relationship in 43 infants observed at 12? mo and again at 19? mo of age. The sociability measure was a sequential-initiatives procedure and was followed by the Ainsworth Strange Situation (ASS). Reaction in the ASS allowed Ss to be classified as securely attached (B), avoidant (A), or resistant (C). Subgroups within these classifications reflect variation in reunion behaviors. At both ages, Ss in subgroups B? and B? had the highest sociability scores, whereas A? and C? Ss had the lowest. Analysis of the relationship between stranger sociability and interactive behaviors in the ASS revealed the centrality of a distal interactive mode in both contexts. Because of a high incidence of family change, only 53% of Ss had the same overall attachment classification at both ages. Sociability scores at 12? and 19? mo were highly correlated when attachment status was temporally consistent. Absolute changes in sociability scores reflected a similar pattern of results. Cross-lagged correlational analyses suggested that predictive relationships with the security of attachment are meaningful only when attachment status itself is consistent over time. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of impulsivity and sociability on subjective well-being.

To investigate the influence of sociability and impulsivity on positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction, 140 undergraduates (68 in Study 1 and 72 in Study 2) completed daily mood reports and were administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory, as well as other well-being measures. Results show that sociability but not impulsivity was strongly related to positive affect, whereas impulsivity tended to correlate more with negative affect. Similarly, sociability but not impulsivity was significantly related to life satisfaction. Possible reasons for the relations observed in this study are offered, and factors underlying the independence of positive and negative affect are discussed. It is contended that the purpose of the present study was not to challenge P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae's (see record 1981-10468-001) argument that 2 sets of factors are responsible for producing the independent positive and negative effect. However, given the magnitude of the correlations obtained, both in Costa and McCrae's and in the present study, it is questioned whether these 2 sets of personality factors are sufficient to account for the independence of the 2 classes of effects. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early temperamental and family predictors of shyness and anxiety.

With a sample of 242 twins (135 girls, 107 boys) studied longitudinally, behavioral inhibition (BI) and inhibitory control (IC) measured at 3 years, as well as early and concurrent family process variables, were examined as predictors of shyness and of anxiety symptoms approximately 4 years later. Structured observational data from laboratory and home contexts were used in conjunction with parent and experimenter ratings. A key goal was to extend previous findings of the positive relationship between early BI and anxiety development by incorporating the consideration of IC and family process variables. Using hierarchical linear modeling with restricted maximum likelihood estimation to adjust for twin dependency, early BI (b = 0.37, p b = 0.14, p b = –0.22, p b = 0.14, p b = 0.20, p b = 0.26, p     

Three types of shyness in Chinese children and the relation to effortful control.

Two studies were conducted to further differentiate 3 forms of shyness previously identified in Chinese children—shyness toward strangers, anxious shyness, and regulated shyness—by examining the relation of the 3 forms of shyness to children’s inhibited behavior, physiological reactivity (measured by heart period [HP]), and effortful control. In Study 1 (N = 237; M age = 9.17 years), the authors examined the 3 forms of shyness in relation to children’s inhibited behavior and HP assessed in 3 conditions: at baseline, during a stranger encounter, and in a card-sorting task with social evaluative cues. Results of confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a 3-factor model of shyness. Shyness toward strangers was associated with children’s inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the stranger encounter and children’s HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session, whereas anxious shyness was related to children’s inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session. Regulated shyness was not associated with children’s inhibition in any session but was negatively related to HP in the stranger encounter session. In Study 2 (N = 208; M age = 6.57 years), the authors examined children’s shyness toward strangers and effortful control at age 6 years in relation to anxious and regulated shyness 2 years later. Results showed shyness toward strangers was related to regulated shyness among children with high or moderate effortful control, and shyness toward strangers was related to anxious shyness among children with low or moderate effortful control. Findings support a multidimensional view of shyness in Chinese children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shyness and sociability reexamined: A multicomponent analysis.

This research tested questions related to J. M. Cheek and A. H. Buss's (see record 1982-07755-001) prediction that sociability moderates the relation between shyness and dysfunction interaction. In Study 1, a confirmatory factor analysis of Shyness and Sociability scales revealed that these factors are more inversely related than previously recognized. In Study 2, the relations of shyness, sociability, and gender and their interactions with dysfunctional behavior were tested during a conversation with an opposite-sex partner. Using analyses that tested the unique influence of each variable, the results failed to confirm that shy-sociable Ss evidenced more dysfunctional behavior than shy low-sociable Ss. Instead, shyness was the most consistent predictor of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive indexes of anxiety, and shy men were more dysfunctional on some criteria. In particular, shyness differences in perceived visibility of one's nervous behaviors are discussed relative to the role of cognition in shyness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origins of individual differences in infant shyness.

Explored the origins of individual differences in infant shyness by studying its relationship to parental shyness, sociability (the tendency to prefer being with others rather than alone), and introversion–extraversion (a factor that combines shyness, low sociability, and lack of impulsivity). The parents of 152 adopted and 120 nonadoptive infants (aged 12–24 mo) rated their child's shyness on a 5-item scale and completed the 16PF and measures of emotionality, activity, sociability, and impulsivity. In addition, information on biological mothers was obtained. The Family Environment Scale and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment were used to assess each infant's environment. Results show that infant shyness was positively related to shyness and negatively related to sociability and extraversion in nonadoptive mothers who shared both heredity and family environment with their infants. Genetic influence on infant shyness at 24 mo of age was shown by significant correlations of shyness and low sociability of biological mothers with shyness of their adopted-away infants. Infant shyness was also related to low sociability of adoptive mothers. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of worry and emotionality to performance on the Miller Analogies Test.

52 male and 27 female college students completed the Worry-Emotionality Inventory just prior to taking the Miller Analogies Test. Worry and emotionality were significantly correlated. State test anxiety, worry, and emotionality were inversely related to performance, but partial correlations indicated that only worry was correlated with performance when the common variance between worry and emotionality was partialed out. High worriers performed less well than low worriers. The effects of emotionality were nested within worry level; at low levels of worry, emotionality was unrelated to performance, but at high levels of worry, high emotionality was associated most negatively with performance. No sex differences were found. Results support the conceptual distinction between worry and emotionality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mean MMPI profile of referrals to a shyness clinic

Shyness occurs in over 48% of the population, becoming disabling in 13% or more. Clinical observation suggests that individuals seeking treatment for shyness are in significantly greater distress than the general population, showing greater depression, generalized anxiety, social avoidance, interpersonal sensitivity, and shame, than is indicated by earlier studies. We gave the MMPI to 25 men and 20 women referred for problems with shyness to assess our observations. Analysis confirmed the hypotheses. Men scored higher than women in a slightly different profile configuration.     

Review of The shyness and social anxiety workbook.

Reviews the book, The shyness and social anxiety workbook by Martin M. Antony and Richard P. Swinson (see record 2001-16563-000). Books that provide information and guidance for people with social anxiety are a much-needed resource. Unfortunately, relatively few self-help books completely meet the needs of these individuals--some books are overly academic, others overwhelm readers with details. Therefore, it was a pleasure to read this workbook by Drs. Antony and Swinson. Designed to address the concerns of people whose lives are impaired by social anxiety, the volume provides a clear, comprehensive, and sophisticated self-help guide. The volume is divided into two sections. Part 1 consists of three chapters that present information to increase readers' understanding of social anxiety. Part II focuses on strategies to overcome social anxiety. In general, the book is written at a level that will be readily understood by members of the general public but without the patronizing simplification that can characterize self-help volumes. The book manages to capture the complexity of social anxiety as a clinical condition without overwhelming the anxious reader with excessive detail. Although this book is directed primarily at people for whom social anxiety is a significant life concern, it will also be of interest to clinicians working with individuals with social phobia, avoidant personality disorder, and other conditions marked by interpersonal discomfort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long- and short-term social deprivation and sociability in rats.

Conducted 4 experiments in which a total of 192 Sprague-Dawley albino rats were housed in pairs or apart for periods ranging from 15 min. to 15 mo. Long-term social isolation led to significant increases in social attraction, especially when the testing environment was familiar, and the immediately previous level of social contact was more important than prior social experience. Results suggest that the motivational consequences of social deprivation were more important than the opportunity for social learning afforded by social contact. Periods of social contact as short as 15-360 min. led to significant decreases in affiliation, while comparable periods of social deprivation had no significant effect, further supporting a motivational interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)