Observed Shyness-Related Behavioral Responses to a Self-Presentation Speech Task: A Study Comparing Chinese and Canadian Children

Past research suggests that expressions of shyness are associated with several distinct behaviors that may differ between Eastern and Western cultures. However, this evidence has largely been derived from subjective ratings, such self-, teacher-, and parent-report measures. In this study, we examined between-country differences on measures of directly observed shyness-related behaviors during a speech task in children. Participants were 74 Chinese (M_age = 4.76 years old, SD_age = 0.62 years old; 77.0% male) and 189 Canadian (M_age = 4.80 years old, SD_age = 0.82 years old; 48.1% male) children aged 4-6 years. As predicted, the results reveal that Chinese children exhibit a higher frequency of gaze aversion and lower total time speaking compared to Canadian children. Additionally, significant interactions between country and gender were found for fidgeting and smiling behaviors, indicating that cultural expectations and norms influence how boys and girls express some shyness-related behaviors in social situations. These preliminary findings extend prior cross-cultural research on shyness-related behaviors indexed using subjective report measures to directly observed measures, highlighting the importance of cultural context in shaping children's responses to social evaluation.