SHYNESS

Shyness is defined as an as an emotional state, a “discrete emotion” (Izard & Hyson, 1986) and as a personality trait (Cheek & Buss, 1981; Zimbardo, 1977). The oldest documented use of the term shy is as “easy to frighten”. To be shy is to be afraid of people, especially those who are emotionally threatening for some reason: strangers, powerful people, or people of the opposite sex. Shyness is described as a relatively constant tendency to experience tension in the presence of others; it is characterized by inhibition and sense of discomfort in an unfamiliar context (Asendorpf, 1990; Cheek & Buss, 1981). Shyness should not be identified with neuroticism or introversion; it should be treated as an independent dimension of personality (Briggs, 1988).

Shyness is understood as a complex syndrome of symptoms connected with changes in the cognitive, emotional, motivational, and behavioral spheres (Mandal, 2008). Shyness can be identified on the basis of somato-affective symptoms (e.g. blushing, social anxiety), behavioral symptoms (e.g. eye-contact avoidance, avoidance of social interaction, styles of self-presentation), and cognitive symptoms (e.g. anticipation of rejection). Shy individuals experiencing social anxiety experience increased levels of loneliness, and more often display depression symptoms (Dill & Anderson, 1999). According to Carducci and Cheet (2023), shyness includes elevated levels of anxiety (affective/physiological component), excessive negative self-esteem and negative self-preoccupation (cognitive component) in response to real or imagined social interactions that inhibit social activity (behavioral components). There are subtypes of shyness: public and private, situational chronic, and transient (e.g. during periods of changing schools or jobs).

Shy persons have a tendency for negative affect and nonconstructive ways of coping with one’s own emotionality (Eisenberg et al., 1995). Shyness correlates with defensive styles of self-presentation (Bober et al., 2022; Mandal & Wierzchoń, 2019; Schlenker & Leary, 1982), low influence skills (Ericsson, 2018), and Internet addiction (Li et al., 2023), and implies lower relationship satisfaction (Baker & McNulty, 2010; Rowsell & Coplan, 2013).

A significant number of studies have been devoted to children’s and adolescents’ shyness, although shyness is a trait independent of age. There were observed different consequences of shyness in childhood and in adulthood (Zimbardo & Radl, 2023). Their picture differs with respect to gender: shy boys get married and become parents later than bold boys, and achieve professional stability later, while shy girls are more willing than bold girls to follow a traditional family life style, and more often occupied with house-keeping and child-rearing (Caspi et al., 1988).

SELF-ESTEEM

Self-esteem is a reflection of one’s attitude towards oneself (Rosenberg, 1965; Rosenberg et al., 1995), which is relatively stable across the life-span (Baumeister, 1999; Trzesniewski et al., 2003). As a central component of everyday subjective experience, self-esteem plays important psychological functions: it supports tasks and goals, regulates social relations, maintains social position, and deals with mortality salience (Baumeister et al., 2003; Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Leary et al., 1995). Self-esteem is a complex concept which has a global as well as a particular form. The particularity concerns different areas of human functioning. The most frequently mentioned dimensions of self-esteem include: physical attractiveness, vitality, competences, being loved, popularity, leading abilities, self-control, and moral self-acceptance (O’Brien & Epstein, 1988). Self-esteem depends on the subjects’ activity; it reflects their successes and failures in the domains in which their self-esteem is invested (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001).

Crocker et al. (2003) identified seven contingencies of self-esteem: appearance, approval of others, competition, academic achievement, family support, God’s love, and virtue. They noted that generally there are two types of self-esteem contingencies: (a) externally oriented, such as the approval of other people, comparisons with others and the results of competition, physical appearance, academic achievements, and family relationships; and (b) internally oriented, such as moral virtues or God’s love.

SHYNESS, SELF-ESTEEM AND GENDER

Numerous empirical studies show a fundamental role of self-esteem and shyness in the individual’s functioning (Asendorpf, 1990; Cheek & Buss, 1981; Ericsson, 2018; Kernis, 2003; Miller, 1995). At the same time, they indicate that shy individuals have many problems in social functioning, and in establishing and maintaining interpersonal relations (Baker & McNulty, 2010; Doey et al., 2014).

Gender, as one of the central attributes of identity, is significantly linked with self-esteem. Meta-analyses have documented differences in various domains of self-esteem, mostly in favor of men (Gentile et al., 2009; Zuckerman et al., 2016). Gender also differentiates women and men with respect to experiencing shyness, especially in the case of external manifestations of shyness. Women react, more frequently and more distinctly than men, with blushing, eye-contact avoidance and behavioral inhibition (Bruch et al., 1998; Mandal, 2002, 2008). Shyness is more acceptable in women than men, because, according to gender rules, it is perceived as characteristic of women and not of men; men are expected to be ready to perform professional tasks and be more assertive than women. Girls’ and boys’ shyness is evaluated differently by important others: their parents, teachers and peers (Doey et al., 2014; Kingsbury & Coplan, 2012).

CURRENT STUDY

The aim of the current study was to investigate mutual relations of shyness and self-esteem in women. It has been hypothesized that shy women are characterized by lower global self-esteem than bold women. Behavioral inhibition, contributing to the picture of the shy persons’ social functioning, may be a factor significantly disturbing their ability to create their positive self-image. Self-esteem is strongly related to gender, because gender constitutes one of the basic attributes of identity. High self-esteem is significantly more frequently characteristic of men and persons with typically masculine traits (Antill & Cunningham, 1979), while shyness is experienced more intensively by persons with female and undifferentiated gender identities (Bruch et al., 1998; Mandal, 2008).

The study also involves the dimensions of shy and bold women’s self-esteem. One of the fundamental functions of self-esteem is to inform the individuals about the degree of their social acceptance, resulting in building their sense of affiliation (Leary, 1999; Leary et al., 1995). Several studies have shown that individuals with positive self-esteem are more popular and feel greater satisfaction with their relations (Lee & Robbins, 1998; de Bruyn & Van den Boom, 2005). Interacting with others, shy persons often concentrate excessively on their own internal experiences, and on the way their interlocutors perceive them (Pilkonis, 1977). Taking into consideration the fact that shy persons experience social anxiety, one can conclude that other people’s acceptance is highly important for their self-esteem and it probably has an impact on their self-experience.

Establishing and maintaining good social relations constitutes a stereotypically female social role and is fundamental for women’s self-esteem (Eagly & Wood, 2012; Josephs et al., 1992). It was also hypothesized that the dimensions of self-esteem related to women’s relationships and being accepted (being loved, popularity) are more important for shy women than for bold women. Shyness makes the person especially sensitive to other people’s evaluation and their potential rejection. Thus, it may be assumed that shy women’s self-esteem is conditioned to a greater extent by external than by internal factors.

The current knowledge of shyness and self-esteem allows us to assume that shy persons have lower self-esteem than bold persons. This correlation corresponds with patterns of cognitive and emotional functioning displayed by shy persons. However, it has been suggested that as many as 15% of shy persons like their own shyness (Zimbardo, 1977). Perhaps shyness may be positively evaluated by women as a stereotypically female trait. On the other hand, taking into consideration the negative consequences of shyness and the fact that some people consider it to be a neutral trait, one may ponder if there are areas of everyday activity in which shy women evaluate themselves positively, and which of the areas condition their general self-esteem.

PARTICIPANTS

A group of 1020 Polish women, aged 18-73 (M_age = 34.05, SD_age = 10.93), took part in the study. 40.9% of the women had completed higher education, 51.7% had completed secondary or post-secondary education, while 7.4% were lower secondary school graduates. 51.3% of the sample reported living in towns with more than 100 000 inhabitants, 30.5% lived in towns with less than 100 000 inhabitants, and 18.2% were rural inhabitants. 49.4% of the examined women were married, 32.5% were involved in an informal relationship, and 18.1% were single.

PROCEDURE

Women were recruited using the snowball method. The group initiating the research comprised women, students of the University of Silesia and other universities of Upper Silesia in Poland. The women first completed the questionnaires themselves and then asked women from their families and friends to complete them. Participation was anonymous, voluntary and free of charge.

MEASURES

Shyness. Shyness was assessed using the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS; Hopko et al., 2005; Polish version: Kwiatkowska et al., 2016; Mandal & Wierzchoń, 2019). The RCBS consists of 13 statements (e.g. “I feel tense when I’m with people I don’t know well”) with the answers from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In the current study the reliability was α = .85.

Self-esteem. The Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (MSEI; O’Brien & Epstein, 1988; Polish adaptation: Fecenec, 2008). The MSEI measures global self-esteem, identity integration, defensive self-enhancement and eight components of self-esteem. The eight components of self-esteem are: effectance (competence, power), social self-esteem (likability, lovability), body image (body appearance, body functioning) and self-discipline (moral self-approval, self-control). The scale contains 116 items; e.g. “I sometimes have a poor opinion of myself”, “Most people that know me consider me to be a highly talented and competent person”, “People nearly always enjoy spending time with me”, “I feel that I have a lot of potential as a leader”, “I nearly always feel that I am physically attractive”, “I am sometimes concerned over my lack of self-control”; 1 – it’s not me, 5 – it is me). On all scales, results range from 10 to 50 points; only in defensive self-enhancement results range from 16 to 80 points. The reliability of the subscales was between α = .70 and α = .85 in the current study.

Contingencies of self-worth. The Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale (CSW; Crocker et al., 2003; Polish version: Mandal & Moroń, 2019) was used to measure seven contingencies of self-worth (35 items; 7 × 5 items; 0 – strongly disagree, 3 – strongly agree): appearance (e.g. “My sense of self-worth suffers whenever I think I don’t look good”, α = .52 in the current study), others’ approval (e.g. “I can’t respect myself if others don’t respect me”, α = .55), competition (e.g. “Doing better than others gives me a sense of self-respect”, α = .72), academic competencies (e.g. “Doing well in school gives me a sense of self-respect”, α = .64), family support (e.g. “When I don’t feel loved by my family, my self-esteem goes down”, α = .63), virtue (e.g. “My self-esteem would suffer if I did something unethical”, α = .76), and God’s love (e.g. “My self-worth is based on God’s love”, α = .92). Scores for all contingencies were averaged.