Why, so many people say I'm shy. What is the definition of shyness? What can I do to avoid feeling shy?

When most people are harmoniously integrated into social interaction, shy people seem to be different. In fact, shyness is a normal reaction.

Sam Putenheim, a psychologist at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, has no high-tech equipment in his laboratory. Soap bubbles full of fairy tales, Halloween masks and noisy toys are all experimental props. But his research is by no means so simple. Some children will be taken to the lab to play and he will watch them. Some children are excited to run forward when they see bubbles, and they are also interested in props that make sounds. When the staff put on masks, they will scream with joy. Others stood quietly watching; Some children began to cry.

The children's different reactions are exactly what Putenheim wants to see. In real life, some people are content with the status quo and nervous about new things; In the process of exploring the unknown world, some people go forward bravely, while others finally retreat. It is this peculiar psychological state that Putenham studied. Many scientists believe that this is the reason why people are shy.

Orthogonal reaction

Looking around, shrugging and fidgeting are typical manifestations of people's shyness. For shy people, this feeling is painful, inevitable and hard to explain. When most people are harmoniously integrated into social interaction, shy people seem to be different. In fact, shyness is a normal reaction. Professor William Gardner of Ohio State University said? "This is an aspect of human temperament."

Nevertheless, scientists are still keen on the study of this phenomenon. Some people are more shy. What determines this difference? Is this a problem? If so, how should people respond? Scientists have solved some problems by observing subjects' behaviors, scanning their brains and testing their genes. They found that shyness is a complex and beneficial psychological behavior to some extent.

Many factors can make people shy, but simple introversion is not one of the reasons. If you like to stay at home and read a good book on Friday night instead of going to a lively party, it doesn't mean that you are a shy person. Unless the reason you do this is to avoid the anxiety caused by the party. Jerome Kagan, a psychologist at Harvard University, said: "Compared with general nervousness and anxiety, people's shyness when they get along with strangers is a stronger emotion. Shy people tend to be introverted, but introverted people are not necessarily shy. "

Despite this definition, there are still many shy people around us. Kagan said that even if those who refuse to admit their situation are not taken into account, the proportion of shy people in society still reaches an astonishing figure of 30%. There are many reasons why people get nervous easily. A new study shows that confusion and trouble are also one of the reasons.

At the beginning of this year, Professor Kyle Betgery of San Buffalo University in Milan published a survey of 49 children in the third and fourth grades of primary schools. During the investigation, he first tested the shyness of these children to determine their shyness index, and then showed them a set of pictures of different facial expressions, including joy, anger and some emotionless expressions, and asked them to say the meaning of these expressions. The results show that when faced with angry or emotional pictures, children with high shyness index are more difficult to behave.

In addition, according to the brain activity recorded by EEG, Betgery found that in the brains of children with high shyness index, the cortex responsible for the world is weak, while the tonsil responsible for anxiety and vigilance is quite active. He concluded that in social activities, ordinary children can give corresponding feedback according to other people's expression changes, while shy children are likely to have difficulty reading expressions. Because they can't rely on these emotional cues, they will become very alert and anxious when faced with difficult-to-recognize expressions. "And this ability is an important prerequisite for good interpersonal communication," Betjerry said. Professor John Gabriel, a psychologist at Stanford University, conducted a similar survey, but he did further research. His research object is some adults. During the experiment, he not only showed pictures of expressions, but also showed some disturbing scenes, such as the scene of a car accident. He found that those shy people reacted to this scene the same as other subjects. The key to the problem still seems to be the ability to interpret expressions. Gabriel said, "Generally speaking, shy people are not more timid than the average person."