PSYC 30 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Jerome Kagan, Shy People, Shyness
23 Dec 2020
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Document Summary
People need people to celebrate, share news with, talk to, and learn from. But some people are painfully shy, socially awkward, inhibited, and reluctant to approach others. Roughly 49 percent of all americans describe themselves as shy, as do 31 percent in. People who are shy find it difficult to approach strangers, make small talk, telephone someone for a date, participate in small groups, or mingle at parties. they often reject others, perhaps because they fear being rejected themselves. The sad result is a pattern of risk avoidance that sets them up for unpleasant and unrewarding interactions. In some cases, it may be an inborn personality trait: jerome kagan found that some infants are highly sensitive to stimulation, inhibited, and cautious shortly after birth. In other cases, shyness develops as a learned reaction to failed interactions with others. Thus, interpersonal problems of the past can ignite social anxieties about the future.
