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.
Beer
Jennifer S
JS
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley 94720-1650, USA. jbeer@socrates.berkeley.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D019370:Observation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012106:Research; D012649:Self Concept; D012792:Shyness; D014481:United States