Shyness and Sociability Revisited

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, the personality traits of shyness and sociability are not merely opposite ends of the same dimension. Over three decades ago, Cheek and Buss (Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 330–339, 1981) noted that shyness and sociability were conceptually and empirically independent traits. Since then, a number of studies have replicated their initial findings and shown that shyness and sociability are indeed independent personality traits, each with distinct correlates across development. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the conceptual model proposed by Cheek and Buss (1981) and illustrate how shyness and sociability act as a heuristic for assessing avoidance and approach motivation, respectively. Given the relative independence of shyness and sociability, we can examine their interaction to yield four distinct social profiles: sociable (low shyness, high sociability), unsociable (low shyness, low sociability), avoidant shy (high shyness, low sociability), and conflicted shy (high shyness, high sociability). We then review empirical work since the original model proposed by Cheek and Buss that has illustrated distinct behavioral, physiological, and cognitive correlates of these resulting subtypes, as well as the developmental trajectories of shyness and sociability and comment on some of the benefits of shyness and costs of sociability. Considering shyness and sociability as independent traits may further our understanding of the different reasons for multiple types of social withdrawal observed across the lifespan and the adaptive and maladaptive outcomes associated with each trait.