Shyness and sociability: A dangerous combination for antisocial and delinquent behavior?

The search for the origins of antisocial and delinquent behavior has a long and rich history in the fields of personality and abnormal psychology. Current thinking suggests that a combination of two orthogonal personality traits, shyness and sociability, may play an important role in understanding antisocial and delinquent behavior. The author argues that an interaction of these two traits results in a "socially conflicted" personality style. Socially conflicted individuals exhibit distinct patterns of brain and autonomic activity at rest and in response to social challenge and are at risk for antisocial and delinquent behaviors. These individuals may engage in risky and antisocial behaviors as a means of coping with their conflict. The search for personality predictors of risky and antisocial behavior has a long and rich history in personality theory and abnormal psychology. This work can be traced to noted personality theorists such as Gordon Allport (1937), Henry Murray (1938), and Hans Eysenck (1967). However, recent research on the topic suggests that a combination of two orthogonal personality traits, in particular, may play an important role in understanding antisocial and delinquent behaviors. These two traits are shyness and sociability. Three decades ago, Cheek and Buss (1981) suggested that some people appear quiet and reserved in social situations but probably for different reasons. Cheek and Buss asked: Are these people shy and reserved because they feel anxious and inhibited in social situations (i.e., they are shy). Or are these people quiet and reserved because they have little need to affiliate with others (i.e., they are introverted)? Cheek and Buss found that there were indeed people who varied in both shyness and sociability. These investigators then selected participants who were shy and social and observed them in a social interaction. The shy and social participants appeared conflicted in their interactions, displaying more overt anxiety than other combinations of shy and social participants. It was if the participants who were shy and social wished to interact, but felt inhibited and restrained in doing so. © 2009 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.