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Longitudinal investigation of shyness and physiological vulnerability: Moderating influences of attention biases to threat and safety
Abstract
Shyness has long been identified as a vulnerability factor to developing psychosocial problems, but there is heterogeneity in these observed outcomes. One potential factor underlying these relations is individual differences in threat sensitivity. Using a longitudinal design, we examined whether attentional biases toward social threat and safety measured during adulthood moderated the association between shyness measured in emerging adulthood (N = 83, nfemale = 48; Mage = 23.56 years, SDage = 1.09 years) and frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry at rest, a physiological index of vulnerability to psychopathology, measured nearly a decade later in adulthood (Mage = 31.68 years, SDage = 2.27 years). We found that only biases to threat moderated the association between shyness and resting frontal EEG asymmetry longitudinally. In individuals who displayed relative vigilance to social threat, shyness was associated with greater relative right frontal asymmetry at rest (i.e., increased physiological vulnerability). These findings suggest that attentional biases to threat may play a role in understanding the relation between shyness and some known physiological vulnerabilities to psychopathology in adults.
... The EM algorithm has been used by previous researchers in the social sciences (e.g. Buss et al., 2013;Hassan & Schmidt, 2021 ...
Measures of parasympathetic regulation, such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), predict executive function outcomes, including inhibitory control, across childhood. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia augmentation tends to be associated with more maladaptive outcomes, compared to RSA suppression, but the literature regarding RSA profiles and inhibitory control development across infancy and early childhood is contradictory. The goal of our current study was to examine the longitudinal and interactive effects of infant RSA during a frustrating task with negative maternal characteristics on inhibitory control during early childhood. Participants included 410 children (209 girls, 77.6% White, 92.9% non‐Hispanic) and their mothers. With small to moderate effect sizes ( r ² range from 0.124 to 0.143), we demonstrated that maternal negative affect when children were 36 months old moderated the association between 10‐month‐old RSA during a frustrating task and 48‐month‐old inhibitory control, such that RSA suppression predicted higher levels of inhibitory control, but only when mothers exhibited high levels of negative affect. Our results highlight the biosocial framework under which child inhibitory control develops.
... For example, individuals who experience the feeling of shyness intensely and chronically may show anger to reduce the harmful effects of this feeling, such as a feeling of worthlessness (Hipson et al., 2019). On the other hand, if the emotion is suppressed instead of expressed, it can lead to personality or pathological problems (Hassan and Schmidt, 2021). ...
Borderline individuals struggle with self-control and exhibit volatility in both their thinking and actions. The main aim of the research is to investigate the relationship between borderline personality traits, shyness and anger. In the study, a relational screening approach was employed. Four hundred ten adults, 207 males (50.5%) and 203 females (49.5%) aged 18-45 years, took part in the study using a simple random sampling method. The study's data collection tools are the Shyness Scale, Borderline Personality Scale-BPQ, Trait Anger (SL- Anger) Scale, and Personal Information Form. The SPSS 25 program was used to analyze the data that were gathered for this study. The Independent T-Test and ANOVA Test were used to compare continuous variables that provide normal distribution as a result of the test. The Pearson Correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between continuous variables. Results indicate that as the level of borderline personality traits increased, the levels of constant anger, internalized anger, externalized anger, and shyness increased; the level of anger control decreased. In addition, intense anger, which is a borderline personality trait, predicts constant anger, externalized anger, and anger control. Emptiness also predicts internalized anger and shyness.
Research has demonstrated links from early childhood shyness to socioemotional problems later in life. This longitudinal study explored the role of early social play behaviors and language skills in the associations between childhood shyness and later internalizing and language difficulties in school. Participants were N = 7,447 children (50.1% girls) from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Latent direct, indirect, and interaction path analyses were performed within a structural equation framework. Results showed that mother-rated childhood shyness from age 18 months to age five years was associated with mother-rated internalizing difficulties and language problems at age eight years. Lower levels of teacher-reported social play behaviors and poorer language skills in preschool increased the risk of later anxiety problems among shy children, whereas higher levels of language competencies and social play behaviors buffered against later anxiety problems. The study identifies some of the early risk and protective factors that may influence shy children’s socio-emotional functioning and adjustment.
The anterior regions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres have been posited to be specialized for expression and experience of approach and withdrawal processes, respectively. Much of the evidence supporting this hypothesis has been obtained by use of the anterior asymmetry in electroencephalographic alpha activity. In most of this research, however, motivational direction has been confounded with affective valence such that, for instance, approach motivation relates positively with positive affect. In the present research, we tested the hypothesis that dispositional anger, an approach-related motivational tendency with negative valence, would be associated with greater left- than right-anterior activity. Results supported the hypothesis, suggesting that the anterior asymmetry varies as a function of motivational direction rather than affective valence.
Dispositional tendencies toward appetitive motivation have been hypothesized to be related to the development of psychopathology. Moreover, decreased left-frontal cortical activity has been reported in depression and has been related to low-trait positive affect and high-trait negative affect. The present study tested the hypothesis that relatively greater left- than right-frontal cortical activity would be related to heightened approach-related dispositional tendencies. Resting frontal cortical asymmetrical activity, as measured by electroencephalographic activity in the alpha band, was examined in relation to the motivational response tendencies of a behavioral activation system (BAS) and a behavioral inhibition system (BIS), as measured by C. S. Carver and T. L. White's (1994) BIS–BAS self-report questionnaire. Results supported the hypothesis.
Attentional bias is a central feature of many cognitive theories of psychopathology. One of the most frequent methods of investigating such bias has been an emotional analog of the Stroop task. In this task, participants name the colors in which words are printed, and the words vary in their relevance to each theme of psychopathology. The authors review research showing that patients are often slower to name the color of a word associated with concerns relevant to their clinical condition. They address the causes and mechanisms underlying the phenomenon, focusing on J. D. Cohen, K. Dunbar, and J. L. McClelland's (1990) parallel distributed processing model.
One long-standing theoretical model of shyness proposes that the origins and maintenance of shyness are associated with an approach-avoidance motivational conflict (Asendorpf, 1990), such that shy individuals are motivated to socially engage (high approach motivation) but are too anxious to do so (high avoidance motivation). However, this model has not been empirically tested in predicting the develop-ment of shyness. In two separate longitudinal studies, we used the Carver and White (1994) Behavioral Inhibition and Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales as a proxy of approach-avoidance motivations and growth curve analyses to examine whether individual differences in these hypothesized motivational tendencies were associated with the development of shyness across 3 years from late childhood to adolescence (Study 1, N = 1284; 49.8% female, Mage = 10.72, SDage = 1.73, M level of parental education fell between associate’s degree/diploma and undergraduate degree) and across nearly a decade from emerging adulthood to young adulthood (Study 2, N = 83; 57.8% females, Mage = 23.56 years, SDage = 1.09 years, 92.8% had at least a high school education). Contrary to the approach-avoidance conflict model of shyness, we found that a combination of high BIS/low BAS, not high BIS/high BAS, was associated with relatively higher shyness contemporaneously and across development in both studies. We discuss the processes that might link individual differences in approach-avoidance motivations to the development of shyness in adolescence and young adulthood.
Cheek, J.M. (1983). The Revised Cheek and Buss Scale. Unpublished manuscript, Wellesley College Department of Psychology, Wellesley MA.
This document is the original source citation document for the 13-item revision of the 9-item first version of the Shyness Scale (Cheek & Buss, 1981). It was circulated at conferences and by US Mail starting in 1983. Online see http://academics.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Cheek/research.html
For a 21st Century update on the RCBS see: Hopko, D. R., Stowell, J., Jones, W. H., Armento, M. E. A., & Cheek, J. M. (2005). Psychometric properties of the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 84, 185-192. *
Background
Exposure to maternal postpartum depression (PPD) increases the risk for emotion regulatory and psychiatric problems in offspring. This study aimed to determine if maternal cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for PPD improves infant emotion regulatory capacity.
Methods
Participants were 40 infants of mothers with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder matched 1:1–40 healthy control infants of nondepressed mothers on infant age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Mothers with PPD received nine weeks of group CBT. Dyads were tested at two time points. Visit 1 occurred following the first CBT session (baseline visit for control infants). Visit 2 took place after CBT (nine weeks post‐baseline for controls). At both visits, infant emotion regulation was assessed using resting‐state frontal electroencephalography alpha asymmetry (FAA), heart rate variability (HRV), and maternal and partner ratings of orientation or regulation behaviors (infant behavior questionnaire‐revised [short form]). Changes in maternal characteristics (depression, bonding, and emotion regulation) from pretreatment to posttreatment were examined to determine if they explained infant changes.
Results
At Visit 1, infants of women with PPD exhibited poorer emotion regulation relative to the healthy control infants. At Visit 2, following maternal PPD treatment, infants exhibited improved emotion regulation (shifted from right to left FAA [p = .01, d = 0.60], increased HRV [p = .003, d = 0.56], mother [p = .015, d = 0.29] and partner [p = .049, d = 0.35] reported orientation or regulation behaviors) such that they no longer differed from the healthy control infants. Changes in maternal characteristics did not appear to account for these changes.
Conclusion
Treating PPD may promote adaptive changes in physiological and behavioral systems underlying infant emotion regulation.
High global incidence of obesity has led to efforts to identify factors that may contribute to elevated body mass index (BMI). Studies have shown individuals with obesity tend to display an attentional bias (AB) towards food. Left frontal EEG alpha asymmetry (FA) has been associated with motivation to approach rewards and may heighten reactivity to food cues. The current study thus explored whether the association between AB to food and BMI is moderated by FA. EEG was recorded while 93 female participants watched a video confederate incidentally consume potato chips. Participants subsequently completed a visual-probe task to assess AB towards food. Results revealed that AB was positively associated with BMI when FA was skewed left but not right. Individuals' predisposition to approach appetitive stimuli may interact with a bias to attend to food to facilitate overconsumption in obesogenic food environments. Future studies should examine this interaction in relation to consumption.
Objective
Children with behavioral inhibition (BI), a temperament characterized by biologically-based hyper-vigilance to novelty and social withdrawal, are at high risk for developing anxiety. We examined the effect of a novel attention training protocol, Attention Bias Modification (ABM), on symptomatic-behavioral-neural risk markers in children with BI.
Method
Nine- to twelve-year-old typically-developing children identified as BI (N=84) were assigned to a four-session active ABM training (n=43) or Placebo protocol (n=41) using a double-blind, randomized control trial approach. Anxiety symptoms (C-DISC-IV), Attention Bias (measured by a dot-probe task, AB=incongruent RT-congruent RT) and AB-related neural activation (measured by fMRI activation for the incongruent>congruent contrast in the dot-probe task) were assessed both before and after the training sessions.
Results
Our results showed that (1) active ABM (n=40) significantly alleviated participants’ symptoms of separation anxiety, but not social anxiety, compared with the Placebo task (n=40); (2) ABM did not modify behavioral AB scores in the dot-probe task; and (3) at the neural level, active ABM (n=15) significantly reduced amygdala and insula activation and enhanced activation in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex relative to Placebo (n=19).
Conclusions
Our findings provide important evidence for ABM as a potentially effective protective tool for temperamentally at-risk children, in a developmental window prior to the emergence of clinical disorder and open to prevention and intervention.
Essential to human behavior are three core personality systems: approach, avoidance, and a regulatory system governing the two motivational systems. Decades of research has linked approach motivation with greater relative left frontal-cortical asymmetry. Other research has linked avoidance motivation with greater relative right frontal-cortical asymmetry. However, past work linking withdrawal motivation with greater relative right frontal asymmetry has been mixed. The current article reviews evidence suggesting that activation of the regulatory system (revised Behavioral Inhibition System [r-BIS]) may be more strongly related to greater relative right frontal asymmetry than withdrawal motivation. Specifically, research suggests that greater activation of the r-BIS is associated with greater relative right frontal activity, and reduced r-BIS activation is associated with reduced right frontal activity (greater relative left frontal activity). We review evidence examining trait and state frontal activity using EEG, source localization, lesion studies, neuronal stimulation, and fMRI supporting the idea that r-BIS may be the core personality system related to greater relative right frontal activity. In addition, the current review seeks to disentangle avoidance motivation and r-BIS as substrates of relative right frontal asymmetry.
Although regional alpha power and asymmetry measures have been widely used as indices of individual differences in emotional processing and affective style in younger populations, there have been relatively few studies that have examined these measures in older adults. Here, we examined the short-term test-retest reliability of resting regional alpha power (7.5-12.5 Hz) and asymmetry in a sample of 38 active, community-dwelling older adults (M age = 71.2, SD = 6.5 years). Resting electroencephalogram recordings were made before and after a perceptual computer task. Pearson and intra-class correlations indicated acceptable test-retest reliability for alpha power and asymmetry measures in all regions. Interestingly, alpha asymmetry appeared to be less affected by the task than was alpha power. Findings suggest that alpha asymmetry may reflect more enduring, "trait-like" characteristics, while alpha power may reflect more "state-like" processes in older adults.
Abstract A number of studies have shown that the pattern of resting frontal EEG alpha power and asymmetry and heart rate are predictive of individual differences in affective style in children and adults. Although test-retest reliability of frontal electrocortical and autonomic measures has been established in adult and child and some clinical populations, few studies have examined test-retest reliability of these measures in adolescents. Here we conducted a pilot study to examine the test-retest reliability of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha power and asymmetry and heart period and heart rate in 10 typically developing adolescent participants (M age = 15.9 years) over a 1 month period. We found acceptable test-retest reliability using Pearson and intra-class correlations in left and right mid-frontal alpha power and asymmetry and heart period and heart rate over 1 month. These results provide initial evidence for acceptable levels of test-retest reliability in central and peripheral psychophysiological measures in adolescents used to index affective style in children and adults. Future studies are needed with a larger sample to ensure the reliability of these results.
In the current brief report, we examined threat perception in a group of young children who may be at-risk for anxiety due to extreme temperamental shyness. Results demonstrate specific differences in the processing of social threats: 4- to 7-year-olds in the high-shy group demonstrated a greater bias for social threats (angry faces) than did a comparison group of low-shy children. This pattern did not hold for non-social threats like snakes: Both groups showed an equal bias for the detection of snakes over frogs. The results suggest that children who are tempermentally shy have a heightened sensitivity to social signs of threat early in development. These findings have implications for understanding mechanisms of early threat sensitivity that may predict later socioemotional maladjustment.
Davidson (1993) has proposed that hemispheric asymmetry in prefrontal as measured by electroencephalographic (EEG) power in the alpha (8-13Hz), is related to reactivity to affectively valenced stimuli. Davidson has proposed further that asymmetry is a stable trait, and that left frontal is a stable marker of vulnerability to depression. In Study 1, we Davidson's formulations by examining differences in frontal EEG alpha among currently depressed, previously depressed, and never subjects. As expected, currently and previously depressed subjects left frontal hypoactivation relative to never depressed controls, but did differ significantly from each other. In Study 2, we explored the associations among frontal EEG asymmetry, response to a negative mood induction endorsement of dysfunctional cognitions, and attentional processing of valenced stimuli. Contrary to predictions, frontal EEG asymmetry was to mood reactivity and cognitive functioning. Theoretical and implications of these findings are discussed.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry in the alpha frequency band has been implicated in emotion processing and broad approach-withdrawal motivation systems. Questions remain regarding the cognitive mechanisms that may help elucidate the observed links between EEG asymmetry and patterns of socioemotional functioning. The current study observed frontal EEG asymmetry patterns at rest and under social threat among young adults (N=45, M=21.1years). Asymmetries were, in turn, associated with performance on an emotion-face dot-probe attention bias task. Attention biases to threat have been implicated as potential causal mechanisms in anxiety and social withdrawal. Frontal EEG asymmetry at baseline did not predict attention bias patterns to angry or happy faces. However, increases in right frontal alpha asymmetry from baseline to the stressful speech condition were associated with vigilance to angry faces and avoidance of happy faces. The findings may reflect individual differences in the pattern of response (approach or withdrawal) with the introduction of a mild stressor. Comparison analyses with frontal beta asymmetry and parietal alpha asymmetry did not find similar patterns. Thus, the data may reflect the unique role of frontal regions, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, in cognitive control and threat detection, coupled with ruminative processes associated with alpha activity.
Despite growing research results indicating that shyness is a risk factor for psychosocial maladjustment in childhood, less is known about the conceptual mechanisms that may underlie these associations. The purpose of the current study was to explore links between self-reported shyness, coping strategies and social functioning in middle childhood. As well, we sought to examine the reliance on internalizing coping strategies as a potential mediator of the link between shyness and social functioning. Participants were 355 children aged 9 to 11 years who completed measures of shyness, loneliness, positive and negative affect, social anxiety, self-concept, well-being, and coping strategies. Results indicated that shyness was associated with greater internalizing difficulties and lower well-being. Moreover, internalizing coping was found to partially mediate the relation between shyness and certain indices of internalizing problems. These results suggest a conceptual pathway, where an over-reliance on internalizing coping may partially explain why shy children experience internalizing difficulties in middle childhood.
Statistical procedures for missing data have vastly improved, yet misconception and unsound practice still abound. The authors frame the missing-data problem, review methods, offer advice, and raise issues that remain unresolved. They clear up common misunderstandings regarding the missing at random (MAR) concept. They summarize the evidence against older procedures and, with few exceptions, discourage their use. They present, in both technical and practical language, 2 general approaches that come highly recommended: maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian multiple imputation (MI). Newer developments are discussed, including some for dealing with missing data that are not MAR. Although not yet in the mainstream, these procedures may eventually extend the ML and MI methods that currently represent the state of the art. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
58 female 1st-yr college students completed a shyness (SH) scale developed by J. M. Cheek and A. H. Buss (1981), conversed with another S for 5 min, and rated themselves and their partner immediately after the conversation ended. Shy Ss reported more time spent self-focusing and more anxious thoughts and other SH symptoms than Ss who were not shy. Shy Ss who conversed with a socially self-confident partner experienced the greatest difficulties during the interaction and rated themselves more negatively than their partners rated them. Results are interpreted as supporting the distribution-of-attention model of shyness as a propensity for engaging in anxious self-preoccupation.
Baseline resting electroencephalogram activity was recorded with 3 different reference montages from 15 clinically depressed and 13 control subjects. Power in all frequency bands was extracted by fast Fourier transformation. There was a significant Group × Hemisphere interaction in the midfrontal region, for the alpha band power only. Depressed subjects had less left-sided activation (i.e., more alpha activity) than did normal control subjects. This pattern of diminished left-sided frontal activation is interpreted as indicating a deficit in approach mechanisms in depressed subjects.
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) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament characterized in young children by a heightened sensitivity to novelty, social withdrawal, and anxious behaviors. For many children, these social difficulties dissipate over time. For others, patterns of social withdrawal continue into adolescence. Over time, attention biases to threat may influence the stability of BI and its association with social withdrawal, ultimately modulating the risk for anxiety disorders in BI children. However, we know relatively little about the cognitive processes that accompany BI and shape later socioemotional functioning. We examined the relations among BI in childhood, attention biases to threat in adolescence, and adolescent social withdrawal in a longitudinal study (N = 126, Mean age = 15 years). As has been reported in anxious adults, adolescents who were behaviorally inhibited as toddlers and young children showed heightened attention bias to threat. In addition, attention bias to threat moderated the relation between childhood BI and adolescent social withdrawal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although excessive avoidance has been implicated in mental health problems and socioemotional difficulties, relatively little is known about dynamic changes of avoidance behaviors. We used a latent class growth analysis to examine the temporal course of avoidance behaviors in real time and determined whether the derived classes were distinguishable on temperament and physiological markers of regulation and reactivity (N = 153; Mage = 4.20 years). A three-class solution was found and identified a low, medium, and high increasing avoidance group. The high and increasing avoidance group had the highest physiological reactivity (cortisol reactivity) and shyness, and the lowest physiological regulation (i.e., respiratory sinus arrythmia suppression). High and increasing avoidance may therefore be associated with temperamental and physiological indices of risk implicated in maladjustment and highlight the value of data-driven, group-based approaches for examining dynamic patterns of behavior.
Temperamental shyness is characterized by fear, wariness, and the perception of threat in response to social novelty. Previous work has been inconsistent regarding attentional patterns to social threat among shy children, with evidence for both avoidance and vigilance. We examined relations between children's shyness and gaze aversion during the approach of a stranger (i.e., a context of social novelty), and tested whether these patterns of gaze moderated relations between shyness and autonomic reactivity and recovery. Participants included 152 typically‐developing children (Mage = 7.82 years, SD = 0.44 years) who had their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) recorded during baseline, social novelty, and recovery. Children's shyness correlated with increases in self‐reported nervousness from baseline to social novelty, providing support for perceived threat. Results revealed that children's proportion of gaze aversion from social novelty was related to shyness in a U‐shape pattern such that both low levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional vigilance) and high levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional avoidance) were related to higher levels of shyness. Further, we found that children's shyness was directly related to decreases in RSA from baseline to social novelty, whereas quadratic gaze to social novelty moderated the relation between shyness and RSA recovery. Specifically, shyness was related to greater RSA recovery among children who exhibited attentional vigilance during the novel social interaction. Our findings provide support for both avoidance of, and vigilance to, social threat among different shy children, and these gaze strategies may be differentially related to physiological regulation during novel social encounters.
Positive shyness is thought to be an approach‐dominant form of shyness, whereas non‐positive shyness is thought to be an avoidance‐dominant form of shyness. This study examined electrocortical and behavioral correlates of motivation and emotion in relation to these shy subtypes in 67 children (Mage = 10.41 years, SD = 3.23). Using resting state electroencephalography, findings revealed that positive shy and low shy children had greater relative left frontal alpha asymmetry compared to non‐positive shy children, and positive shy children had a higher frontal delta–beta correlation compared to other groups. Non‐positive shy children scored highest on parent‐reported school avoidance. These findings converge with previous work reporting distinct correlates in positive and non‐positive shyness, extending this to two brain measures of motivation and emotion.
One common perception is that shyness is an inherently problematic trait that lays the developmental foundation of psychosocial maladjustment. However, not all shy individuals are alike, nor are all shy individuals at risk for poor developmental outcomes. In the current chapter, we discuss heterogeneous subtypes of shyness. We place a particular emphasis on the adaptive subtype of positive shyness, which is characterized by the expression of shy behavior (e.g., gaze aversion, avoidance) in conjunction with positive affect (e.g., smiling). We review theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that positive shyness may be an adaptive phenotype that helps the shy individual modulate arousal in social situations and helps to facilitate social approach through signaling of social interest, interpersonal trust, and appeasement, which ultimately may protect the shy individual from psychosocial maladjustment. We then propose a hypothetical model to describe the development and maintenance of adaptive and nonadaptive subtypes of shyness. We conclude with suggestions for future research that may help to further our understanding of different shyness subtypes and how they may relate to adaptive and nonadaptive outcomes across development.
This study examined mean-levels of shyness from childhood to senescence. To improve validity
in our shyness measure across age, we used two different but comparable shyness
scales in adult and child/adolescent datasets that were created separately within a repeated
cross-sectional design. In the adult analysis (N¼1,294, ages ¼ 17–86), measurement invariance
(through multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and the alignment method) was
established among age groups but not between the sexes; only comparisons across age
were considered valid. Significant mean differences among adult groups indicated shyness
followed an inverted U-shape pattern. In the child/adolescent sample (N¼554, ages ¼
4–16), measurement invariance was found across sex but not age groups. Mean differences
in adult shyness might have been tied to age-related social processes and measurement validity
may have limited accurate assessment of shyness across child/adolescence. Issues associated
with the validity of measuring shyness across the lifespan are discussed.
Although resting right frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry has been linked to avoidance and withdrawal-related behaviors such as shyness in previous cross-sectional studies, relatively little research has examined the influence of frontal brain electrical activity on the development of shyness in children using a prospective, longitudinal study design. Here, we tested whether resting frontal EEG asymmetry predicted the trajectory of children’s shyness across five assessments. Children were enrolled in the study during the summer prior to grade 1 (N = 37; Mage = 6.39 years, S.D. = 0.15 years), at which time resting frontal EEG activity and maternal report of children’s shyness were collected. Mothers then reported on their child’s shyness over another four follow-up assessments, spanning 2 years (winter of grade 1, summer prior to grade 2 entry, winter of grade 2, and summer prior to grade 3). Growth curve analysis revealed that children displaying greater relative right frontal EEG activity had lower levels of shyness relative to children exhibiting greater relative left frontal EEG activity at study enrollment (i.e., age 6), but displayed statistically significant linear increases in shyness across time, with the highest levels of shyness by the summer prior to grade 3 (i.e., age 8). There was, however, no relation between left frontal EEG asymmetry and change in shyness across time. These preliminary findings suggest that right frontal EEG asymmetry may reflect a biological diathesis for the growth of shyness during the early school years.
Does child temperament predict adult personality and social behavior? We argue that the antecedent and foundation of temperamental shyness observed in childhood and adulthood is rooted in temperamental inhibition first observed in early infancy, particularly inhibition to social novelty, which has a strong biological basis. With development, we believe the temperamental shyness phenotype becomes more intricate with the emergence of self-concept and the person now positioned within multiple contexts, each of which exerts different influences on shaping personality development. In this chapter, we review the developmental course and socioemotional outcomes of temperamental shyness. We first propose a developmental model of temperamental shyness that we have been developing over the last two decades.
Resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry patterns reflecting different affective and motivational tendencies have been proposed as a putative mechanism underlying resilience among maltreated youth. This 2-year prospective study examined whether developmental stability of resting frontal alpha asymmetry moderated the relation between child maltreatment severity and psychopathology in female adolescents (n = 43; ages 12–16) recruited from child protection agencies. Results identified two trajectories of resting frontal asymmetry: 60.5% displayed stable right and 39.5% displayed stable left frontal alpha asymmetry. Although individuals with these alpha asymmetry profiles experienced comparable childhood trauma severity, adolescents with stable left alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma were less likely to present symptoms or an episode of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression over 2 years than those with stable right alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma. These findings suggest that developmental patterns of resting left frontal brain activity may buffer against psychopathology in maltreated female youth.
For over 35 years, research has examined frontal alpha EEG asymmetry, discussed in terms of relative left frontal activity (rLFA) in the present review, as a concurrent and prospective marker of affective processing and psychopathology. Because rLFA may index (a) neural correlates of frontal asymmetry, or (b) psychological constructs to which frontal asymmetry relates, rLFA can advance our understanding of both neural and psychological models of emotion and psychopathology. In order to improve such understanding, the specific role of rLFA in extending or challenging existing theory must be clear to researchers and readers alike. In particular, in 2004, Coan and Allen argued that examination of rLFA as a mediator or moderator may improve our theoretical understanding of rLFA. Despite being a commonly cited paper in the field, most rLFA research today still fails to acknowledge the statistical role of rLFA in the research. The aim of the present paper is to (a) convince the reader of the importance of distinguishing rLFA as a predictor, outcome, mediator, or moderator in order to conduct theory-driven research, and (b) highlight some of the major advances in rLFA literature since the review by Coan and Allen (2004) in the framework of mediators and moderators. We selected a broad range of search terms to capture relevant rLFA research and included only those studies utilizing established methods for rLFA measurement.
Emerging evidence suggests that conflicted shyness (combination of shyness and sociability) places individuals at risk for maladjustment in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. However, it is not known (1) if this risk for maladjustment persists into adulthood, (2) the extent to which it is generalizable to a broad range of adaptive domains, and (3) if there are mechanisms that might underlie the link between the conflicted shyness phenotype and domains of functioning. Here, we find that the combination of shyness and sociability (i.e., conflicted shyness) places individuals in their thirties at the greatest risk for poor functioning across demographic, health, interpersonal, and psychological domains above and beyond shyness alone. We also report that attention and loneliness may be factors that underlie the risk for poor mental health in individuals characterized by conflicted shyness. Our findings extend work on conflicted shyness by considering several domains of functioning beyond emerging adulthood and suggest possible mechanisms linking this phenotype with symptoms of psychopathology. Findings suggest that the conflicted shyness subtype may be associated with negative consequences across various domains of functioning and across developmental periods at least until the fourth decade of life.
We explored the relation between shyness and social anxiety disorder (SAD) by investigating the role of sociability in this association. Using a multicomponent approach, we found that sociability moderated the association between shyness and SAD in adults, such that individuals who experience conflicted shyness (i.e., scoring high on shyness and sociability) displayed the greatest disturbance across cognitive, behavioral, and somatic components of SAD. Our findings lend support to the notion that shyness is a broad, heterogeneous construct, and that not all highly shy individuals meet diagnostic criteria for SAD. Adults with a conflicted shyness phenotype represent a subgroup of shy individuals who may be at particular risk for SAD symptoms. This finding provides empirical support that an approach–avoidance conflict may be a motivational underpinning in the development of SAD.
Although childhood shyness is presumed to predict mental health problems in adulthood, no prospective studies have examined these outcomes beyond emerging adulthood. As well, existing studies have been limited by retrospective and cross-sectional designs and/or have examined shyness as a dichotomous construct. The present prospective longitudinal study (N = 160; 55 males, 105 females) examined shyness trajectories from childhood to the fourth decade of life and mental health outcomes. Shyness was assessed using parent- and self-rated measures from childhood to adulthood, once every decade at ages 8, 12–16, 22–26, and 30–35. At age 30–35, participants completed a structured psychiatric interview and an experimental task examining attentional biases to facial emotions. We found 3 trajectories of shyness, including a low-stable trajectory (59.4%), an increasing shy trajectory from adolescence to adulthood (23.1%), and a decreasing shy trajectory from childhood to adulthood (17.5%). Relative to the low-stable trajectory, the increasing, but not the decreasing, trajectory was at higher risk for clinical social anxiety, mood, and substance-use disorders and was hypervigilant to angry faces. We found that the development of emotional problems in adulthood among the increasing shy trajectory might be explained in part by adverse peer and social influences during adolescence. Our findings suggest different pathways for early and later developing shyness and that not all shy children grow up to have psychiatric and emotional problems, nor do they all continue to be shy.
Importance
Although it has been previously reported that the transition of extremely low-birth-weight survivors (≤1000 g) in their mid-20s was similar to that of normal-birth-weight controls (>2500g), there was uncertainty as to whether this positive pattern would persist.
Objective
To compare the social functioning of low-birth-weight prematurely born adults aged 29 to 36 years with that of normal-birth-weight term controls.
Design, Setting, and Participants
A population-based longitudinal cohort study was conducted in Ontario, Canada, between March 14, 2011, and August 13, 2013, among 100 of 165 low-birth-weight survivors (60.6%) prematurely born between January 1, 1977, and December 31, 1982, and 89 of 144 sociodemographically matched normal-birth-weight term controls (61.8%) recruited at age 8 years. Neurologic impairments were present in 20 premature participants (20.0%).
Exposures
Extremely low birth weight.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Information on health, educational level, employment, social integration, sexuality, and reproduction was obtained through standardized questionnaires completed by the participants.
Results
Participants included 100 (39 males) extremely low-birth-weight survivors and 89 (33 males) normal-birth-weight term controls. The groups did not differ in the highest educational level achieved or in family and partner relationships. However, a lower proportion of premature adults was employed (odds ratio [OR], 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.93) and fewer were employed full time (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.98). The premature group had a mean total personal income of $20 000 less than controls, and more required social assistance (OR, 4.16; 95% CI, 1.13 to 15.33). Compared with the control group, more members of the premature group remained single (OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.08 to 3.50), had never had sexual intercourse (OR, 11.30; 95% CI, 2.56 to 49.91), did not have children (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.99), reported more chronic health conditions (β, 1.54; 95% CI, 0.79 to 2.30), had lower self-esteem (β, 8.40; 95% CI, 1.68 to 15.12), and were less likely to have current drug abuse or dependence (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.90 to 0.92) or lifetime alcohol abuse or dependence (OR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.59). A higher proportion of premature adults without neurosensory impairments identified themselves as nonheterosexual (OR, 4.87; 95% CI, 1.01 to 23.69). After exclusion of individuals with neurosensory impairments, differences in employment, social assistance, marital status, and reproduction were no longer significant.
Conclusions and Relevance
In the fourth decade of life, extremely low-birth-weight survivors achieved similar educational levels and family and partner relationships, and reported fewer risky behaviors compared with controls. However, they had lower levels of employment, income, and self-esteem, and fewer were married and had children. It is therefore essential that these individuals receive necessary support and continued monitoring throughout life.
The stability of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, temperamental activity level and fear, as well as bidirectional relations between asymmetry and temperament across the first 4 years of life, were examined in a sample of 183 children. Children participated in annual laboratory visits through 48 months, providing EEG and maternal report of temperament. EEG asymmetry showed moderate stability between 10 and 24 months. Analyses revealed that more left asymmetry predicted later activity level across the first 3 years. Conversely, asymmetry did not predict fear. Rather, fear at 36 months predicted more right asymmetry at 48 months. Results highlight the need for additional longitudinal research of infants and children to increase understanding of bidirectional relations between EEG and temperament in typically developing populations.
The territory that psychologists explore is still largely uncharted; so to find Eysenck’s model for personality in the middle of this terra incognita is rather like stumbling across St. Pancras Station in the heart of the African jungle. Faced with this apparition, one’s first question is, not “does it work?”, but “what’s it for?” This, indeed, is the right question to ask. Eysenck’s model bestrides the field of personality like a colossus. There have been other attempts to describe personality, notably Cattell’s and Guilford’s, and other attempts to explain it, above all, Pavlov’s and Teplov’s: but no one has tried to achieve both these aims on the same scale as Eysenck. In consequence, it is extremely difficult to see the Eysenckian edifice in perspective: there are too few other buildings with which to compare it, only the surrounding trackless jungle. It is by asking “what’s it for?” that we can best provide this perspective. In answer to this question, Fig. 8.1 dis plays what I take to be the general structure of Eysenck’s theory of extra version-introversion (E-I) and neuroticism (N).
The brain circuitry underlying emotion includes several territories of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and related structures. In general, the PFC represents emotion in the absence of immediately present incentives and thus plays a crucial role in the anticipation of the future affective consequences of action, as well as in the persistence of emotion following the offset of an elicitor. The functions of the other structures in this circuit are also considered. Individual differences in this circuitry are reviewed with an emphasis on asymmetry within the PFC and activation of the amygdala as 2 key components of affective style. These individual differences are related to both behavioral and biological variables associated with affective style and emotion regulation. Plasticity in this circuitry and its implications for transforming emotion and cultivating positive affect and resilience are considered.
We present an experimental investigation of a novel intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias – Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT). A-FACT is grounded in the novel hypothesis that training awareness of (biased) attentional allocation will lead to greater self-regulatory control of attention and thereby ameliorate attentional bias and its maladaptive sequelae. To do so, A-FACT delivers computerized, personalized, real-time feedback regarding a person’s (biased) allocation of attention concurrent with its expression. In a randomized control experimental design, we tested A-FACT relative to an active placebo control condition among anxious adults (N = 40, 52.5% women, M(SD) = 24.3(4) years old). We found that relative to the placebo control condition, A-FACT led to: (a) reduced levels of attentional bias to threat; (b) (non-significantly) lower rate of behavioral avoidance of exposure to an anxiogenic stressor; and (c) faster rate of emotional recovery following the stressor. The findings are discussed with respect to the novelty and significance of the proposed conceptual perspective, methodology, and intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias.
Context:
Attentional bias modification (ABM) treatment is a promising intervention tool for a variety of clinical conditions.
Objectives:
This study provides an updated review of the clinical effect of ABM by employing standard meta-analytic procedures to (a) estimate the average effect size of ABM in reducing both attention bias (AB) and symptoms, (b) estimate the average effect size for different conditions (e.g., anxiety, depression, and substance abuse), (c) test possible variables that may moderate the effect sizes, and (d) investigate the relationship between preexistent AB and the reduction in AB and symptoms.
Method:
We included 43 controlled trials with a total of 2,268 participants providing 47 group comparisons (i.e., training vs. control condition). Inclusion criteria were as follows: AB was specifically targeted to reduce symptomatology and emotional vulnerability; participants were randomized to the experimental conditions; a control condition (defined as sham training) existed; symptoms were assessed at least postintervention; sufficient data were provided to allow effect size estimation.
Results:
We obtained a small overall effect size on symptoms postintervention, g = 0.160, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.055, 0.265], driven by anxiety studies, g = 0.260, 95% CI = [0.132, 0.388], and studies conducted in healthy participants, g = 0.211, 95% CI = [0.046, 0.375]; no significant effect sizes were found postintervention for other symptom categories.
Conclusion:
The therapeutic benefit of ABM is rather small for anxiety, while the amount of data for other symptom categories is limited. We argue that more efficient, psychometrically sound procedures are needed for assessing and modifying AB.
A variety of methodological paradigms, including dot probe and eye movement tasks, have been used to examine attentional biases to threat in anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, little attention has been devoted to the psychometric properties of measures from these paradigms. In the current study, participants selected for high and low social anxiety completed a dot probe and eye movement task using angry, disgust and happy facial expressions paired with neutral expressions. Results indicated that dot probe bias scores, eye movement first fixation indices, and eye movement proportions of viewing time in the first 1,500 ms had unacceptably low reliability. However, eye movement indices of attentional bias over the full 5,000 ms time course had excellent reliability. Individuals’ dot probe and eye movement biases were largely uncorrelated across the two tasks and demonstrated little relation with social anxiety scores. Implications for future research are discussed.
Resting anterior brain electrical activity, self-report measures of Behavioral Approach and Inhibition System (BAS and BIS) strength, and general levels of positive and negative affect (PA and NA) were collected from 46 unselected undergraduates on two separate occasions Electroencephalogram (EEG) measures of prefrontal asymmetry and the self-report measures showed excellent internal consistency reliability and adequate test-retest stability Aggregate measures across the two assessments were computed for all indices Subjects with greater relative left prefrontal activation reported higher levels of BAS strength, whereas those with greater relative right prefrontal activation reported higher levels of BIS strength Prefrontal EEG asymmetry accounted for more than 25% of the variance in the self-report measure of relative BAS-BIS strength Prefrontal EEG, however, was not significantly correlated with PA or NA, or the relative strength of PA versus NA Posterior asymmetry was unrelated to the self-report measures
Differences between shy and non-shy children were found on measures of speech in an assessment situation even when variation in vocabulary scores was statistically controlled. The findings have implications for understanding shyness and for practice in assessing shy children.
A number of studies have shown that shyness and sociability may be two independent personality traits that are distinguishable across a variety of measures and cultures. Utilizing recent frontal activation-emotion models as a theoretical framework, this study examined the pattern of resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in undergraduates who self-reported high and low shyness and sociability. Analyses revealed that shyness was associated with greater relative I right frontal EEG activity whereas sociability was associated with greater relative left frontal EEG activity. Also, different combinations of shyness and sociability were distinguishable on the basis of resting frontal EEG power: Although high-shy/high-social and high-shy/low-social subjects both exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG activity they; differed significantly on EEG power in the left, but not right, frontal lead High-shy/high-social subjects exhibited significantly less EEG power (i.e., more activity) in the left frontal lend compared with the high-shy/low-social subjects. These findings suggest that in distinguishing individual differences in personality and personality subtypes, it is important to consider not only frontal EEG asymmetry measures, belt also the pattern of absolute EEG power in each frontal hemisphere.
Brain oscillation modulation in comprehension of facial expression of emotions was explored in the present study. Second, behavioural activation system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) was considered to verify the effect of motivational/emotional variable on alpha activity. In addition, alpha band variation was monitored when subjects attentively (supraliminal) or preattentively (subliminal) processed faces. In fact, it remains an open question whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical oscillations for facial emotion comprehension in unconscious perception. Eighteen participants looked at an ample range of facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, neutral) in two different conditions: supraliminal and subliminal stimulation. The results showed that both attentive and preattentive processing can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, frontal right and left side responses varied as a function of emotional types, with increased right frontal activity for negative, aversive emotions versus an increased left response for positive emotion. Finally, higher scoring BIS participants generated more right hemisphere activation for some negative emotions, whereas higher scoring BAS participants were more responsive to a positive emotion measured over the left hemisphere. Motivational significance of facial expressions was considered to elucidate cortical differences in participants’ responses to emotional types.
The return of the idea of temperament is an important development in the fields of developmental psychology, personality, and psychopathology. The histories of all the sciences are replete with examples of the progress that occurs when 2 or more previously isolated domains begin to study common problems with a shared vocabulary and common methods. The field of molecular biology is an example. Because the union provides new information for the partners, popular terms are refined, and ideas that have outlived their usefulness are eliminated. The idea of temperament unites both biology and developmental psychology.
The idea of temperament also will turn our attention to interactions. We should not expect children with different temperamental types to react in the same way to a given experience, and, therefore, we must invent constructs that capture that fact. There are very few incentives that provide the same response in all children.
Finally, the return of temperamental ideas will recruit additional interest to emotional phenomena and alert psychologists to those events that have a primary effect on emotions, especially the families of emotions we call guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, sadness, and excitement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)