Cognitive Biases and the Link Between Shyness and Social Anxiety in Early Adolescence

Abstract

Shy children display wariness in unfamiliar social situations and often experience feelings of social anxiety. This study explored the potential mediating role of cognitive biases in the link between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescence. In particular, we focused on judgments of the probability and cost of negative social situations (i.e., judgment biases). Six hundred eighty-six early adolescents aged 10 to 14 years ( $\bar{X}$ = 11.58, SD = 1.13) completed measures of shyness, judgment biases, and social anxiety. Among the results, shyness, judgment biases, and social anxiety were positively interassociated. Shyness and judgment biases significantly predicted social anxiety. Moreover, elevated judgments of both the probability and cost of negative social situations partially mediated the relation between shyness and social anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the conceptual pathway from shyness to social anxiety, as well as implications for intervention programs.

Keywords

anxiety mental health emotional development cognitive development/critical thinking/reasoning personality

Shyness can be defined as wariness in the face of social novelty and/or self-conscious behavior in situations of perceived social evaluation (Asendorpf, 1991; Cheek & Buss, 1981). A growing number of studies have shown that shyness in childhood is associated with the development of social anxiety (e.g., Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2009; Essex, Klein, Slattery, Goldsmith, & Kalin, 2010). Researchers have identified several moderating factors that ameliorate or exacerbate shy children’s socioemotional adjustment, including teacher-child relationships (Arbeau, Coplan, & Weeks, 2010), language deficits (Coplan & Weeks, 2009), and peer exclusion (Gazelle & Ladd, 2003). However, almost no research has examined mediating factors that may help to account for the underlying conceptual nature of the link between shyness and social anxiety.

Growing evidence from both the clinical and developmental literatures suggests that a potentially important mediating factor may be cognitive biases (i.e., overly negative thought patterns), sometimes referred to as negative cognitions, maladaptive cognitions, or cognitive distortions (Bögels & Zigterman, 2000; Epkins, 1996; Kendall & Chansky, 1991; Spence, Donovan, & Brechman-Toussaint, 1999; Treadwell & Kendall, 1996; Weems, Berman, Silverman, & Saavedra, 2001). Both shyness and cognitive biases have been implicated as etiological factors in the social anxiety literature. Yet, to date, the underlying nature of these interassociations remains unclear. Accordingly, the primary goal of the present study was to explore a conceptual model, whereby the association between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescents is partially mediated through biased cognitions.

Overview of Shyness and Social Anxiety in Early Adolescence

Although many socially wary children go on to be well adjusted, findings from the developmental literature have consistently listed shyness as a contributing factor in the subsequent development of more serious mental health difficulties, particularly social anxiety (e.g., Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2009; Essex et al., 2010; Goodwin, Fergusson, & Horwood, 2004; Hirshfeld-Becker et al., 2007; Pérez-Edgar & Fox, 2005). In addition, results from a growing number of studies have identified early temperamental markers of shyness such as behavioral inhibition (BI) as developmental precursors of social anxiety (Hayward et al., 2008; Mian, Wainwright, Briggs-Gowan, & Carter, 2011; Prior, Smart, Sanson, & Oberklaid, 2000; Schofield, Coles, & Gibb, 2009; Schwartz, Snidman, & Kagan, 1999; Volbrecht & Goldsmith, 2010).

Much of the research linking shyness to anxiety has focused on clinical anxiety disorders, although more recent findings have also linked shyness with subclinical levels of anxiety (Coplan, Arbeau, & Armer, 2008; Coplan & Armer, 2005; Coplan, Debow, Schneider, & Graham, 2009; Goldsmith & Lemery, 2000; Shamir-Essakow, Ungerer, & Rapee, 2005; Weeks, Coplan, & Kingsbury, 2009). Moreover, growing evidence suggests that even at subclinical levels, internalizing problems in childhood and adolescence are strong predictors of concurrent and subsequent socioemotional and mental health difficulties (Ashford, Smit, van Lier, Cuijpers, & Koot, 2008; Filho et al., 2010).

Cognitive Models of Anxiety

In comparison with the developmental origins of anxiety, another stream of research from the clinical literature has focused on its cognitive determinants. In particular, cognitive models suggest that cognitive biases play a significant role in the etiology of anxiety disorders (e.g., Beck & Emery, 1985; Beidel, Turner, & Dancu, 1985; Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997; Sanz & Avia, 1994). These models suggest that information is processed through anxious schemas, wherein potentially neutral information is perceived as threatening or dangerous. When left unchallenged, these deficits in reasoning can elicit and maintain distress (Muris, 2010; Viana & Gratz, 2012). Cognitive biases, emotions, and behaviors make up a system of interacting processes that result in a self-perpetuating pattern (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995; Crick & Dodge, 1994; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997), and over time anxious thoughts become more automatic (Beck, Brown, Steer, Eidelson, & Riskind, 1987). Indeed, it has been well established that systematic biases in cognitions play a central role in the development and maintenance of anxiety, including social anxiety (Bar-Haim, Lamy, Pergamin, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van Ijzendoorn, 2007).

A specific type of cognitive bias commonly implicated in the social anxiety literature involves the tendency to assign inflated ratings of the probability and cost of negative events (i.e., judgment bias; for example, Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998). For example, there is evidence that children and adolescents with greater social anxiety tend to rate negative events as both more probable and more distressing (i.e., costly) than their less anxious peers (Schofield, Coles, & Gibb, 2007; Vassilopoulos, 2006; Vassilopoulos & Banerjee, 2012). In particular, previous findings suggest that socially anxious individuals display these cognitive biases with regard to negative social situations (e.g., Banerjee & Henderson, 2001; LoBue & Pérez-Edgar, 2014; Micco, Hirshfeld-Becker, Henin, & Ehrenreich-May, 2013; Stopa & Clark, 2000).

Developmental Models of Cognition

Although it has been established that cognitive biases play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms, how such maladaptive thought patterns arise is less clear. Researchers have recently begun to explore individual differences that may represent vulnerabilities toward cognitive biases (e.g., Viana & Gratz, 2012). Specifically, it has been proposed that individual differences in temperament may predispose some children to maladaptive thought patterns (LoBue & Pérez-Edgar, 2014; Viana & Gratz, 2012). For instance, BI has been found to be associated with worry symptoms (Viana, Gratz, & Rabian, 2011).

Few studies have directly examined the association between shyness and cognitive biases in childhood. Notwithstanding, there is some evidence that temperamentally shy and socially withdrawn children may exhibit cognitive biases (Harrist, Zaia, Bates, Dodge, & Pettit, 1997; Wichmann, Coplan, & Daniels, 2004), including more negative self-talk and loss of concentration when feeling shy (Ishiyama, 1984), different processing of emotional facial expressions (possibly due to hypersensitivity to social cues and deficits in perspective taking; LeMare & Rubin, 1987), and more self-defeating strategies for solving conflicts (Wichmann et al., 2004). More recently, LoBue and Pérez-Edgar (2014) examined the links between threat detection biases and temperamental shyness in young children. These results revealed that, in addition to being a marker for internalizing problems, shyness was linked to greater social threat detection sensitivity. Finally, another recent study found that shy children aged 9 to 12 years exhibited a more negative attributional style than nonshy comparison children (Coplan et al., 2013).

Conceptualizing Links Between Shyness, Cognitive Biases, and Social Anxiety

Parallel lines of research suggest that both shyness and cognitive biases play significant roles in the development and maintenance of social anxiety. Despite converging evidence suggesting significant overlap between shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety, the potentially complex nature of the associations among these constructs remains untested, particularly in late childhood and adolescence. Nonetheless, it has been argued that these components may interact as part of a broader developmental system (e.g., LoBue & Pérez-Edgar, 2014; Pérez-Edgar, Taber-Thomas, Auday, & Morales, 2014; Puliafico & Kendall, 2006). For example, Lonigan, Vasey, Phillips, and Hazen (2004) proposed a model wherein temperamental processes present a developmental risk for anxiety, and that biased attention (i.e., cognitive bias) mediates this association. Consistent with this model, it has been speculated that temperamental shyness presents a developmental vulnerability for cognitive biases, which, in turn, contribute to the emergence of more severe internalizing difficulties (Gazelle & Rubin, 2010). Drawing upon these models, the purpose of the current study was to examine the potential mediating role of cognitive biases in the link between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescence.

Cognitive Bias as a Mediator Between Shyness and Anxiety

Conceptually, it is important to establish the plausibility of maladaptive thinking as an intervening variable in a process whereby shyness leads to subsequent anxiety. Although much of the existing research examining the associations among shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety has been cross-sectional in nature, findings suggest that these three constructs have different developmental origins (White, Helfinstein, & Fox, 2010). As such, certain factors may have temporal precedence over others (Viana & Gratz, 2012).

To begin, it has been reported that shyness is a biologically based temperamental trait that is both stable and identifiable very early in life (Kagan, Reznick, & Snidman, 1988; Warren, Schmitz, & Emde, 1999). In contrast, it has been argued that cognitive biases arise only after the necessary cognitive, social, and emotional skills have developed (Field & Lester, 2010). For instance, as cognitive and neurological changes occur well into adolescence and beyond (Field & Lester, 2010; Hale, 1990; Zald & Iacono, 1998), higher order cognitive patterns may not be stabilized in early childhood (Harter, 2003). As such, cognitive biases are not expected to be present as early as temperamental predispositions. Indeed, findings suggest that stable cognitive biases may not be present before the age of 4 (Creswell, Shildrick, & Field, 2011; LoBue & Pérez-Edgar, 2014; Pillow & Henrichon, 1996).

There is some evidence to support the notion that shy temperament represents a vulnerability toward (i.e., precedes) cognitive biases. For example, Pérez-Edgar and colleagues (Pérez-Edgar et al., 2010; Pérez-Edgar et al., 2011) examined the association between BI in toddlerhood and cognitive biases later in childhood. The authors reported little evidence to support a direct link between BI in toddlerhood and cognitive biases at age 5 (Pérez-Edgar et al., 2011). However, in a separate study, BI in toddlerhood significantly predicted cognitive biases in adolescence (Pérez-Edgar et al., 2010). Taken together, it can be postulated that age (or development) accounts for the discrepancy in these findings. Thus, although cognitive biases may not be present in very young children, certain temperamental traits may represent early risk factors for the subsequent development of stable maladaptive thought patterns.

With regard to internalizing problems, it has been well established that the prevalence of clinical diagnoses of social anxiety disorder sharply increases during adolescence (Kessler et al., 2005). Although symptoms of social anxiety are certainly identifiable before adolescence (e.g., Weeks et al., 2009), this suggests that more severe difficulties do not begin to develop until later in childhood. More importantly, there is evidence to suggest that cognitive biases are a precursor to internalizing symptoms (Mathews & MacLeod, 2005; Yiend & Mathews, 2002). Results from attempts to experimentally modify cognitive processing have provided further support for the role of cognitive biases in the subsequent development of internalizing difficulties (e.g., Berry & Cooper, 2012; Lau, Belli, & Chopra, 2013; Mobini, Reynolds, & Mackintosh, 2013). For example, Vassilopoulos, Banerjee, and Prantzalou (2009) trained early adolescents selected for high (but subclinical) social anxiety to endorse benign interpretations of potentially threatening social situations. In addition to decreased cognitive biases, those who received training also reported significantly less anxiety about anticipated social scenarios. Another study (Heeren, Peschard, & Philippot, 2012) reported that induction of cognitive biases in nonsocially anxious individuals resulted in increased anxiety during subsequent social rejection. These findings suggest that cognitive biases are not only associated with but also contribute to the development of social anxiety symptoms (Hertel & Mathews, 2011).

Taken together, it has been postulated that shyness emerges before cognitive biases, which, in turn, precede symptoms of anxiety (Rapee & Heimberg, 1997; Viana & Gratz, 2012). As such, cognitive biases may be an explanatory mechanism through which shyness leads to social anxiety symptoms. Although no studies to date have directly examined the links between shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety in early adolescence, there is some evidence to support the proposed mediated model. Two studies of older children and early adolescents (Findlay, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009; Kingsbury, Coplan, & Rose-Krasnor, 2013) examined the mediating role of internalizing coping, which was construed as a maladaptive set of coping strategies (Causey & Dubow, 1992) that overlap conceptually with a biased perception of the probability of negative events. Results from both studies indicated that internalizing coping mediated the association between shyness and social anxiety.

Another study (Broeren, Muris, Bouwmeester, van der Heijden, & Abee, 2011) examined the role of repetitive worry and rumination (i.e., maladaptive thought patterns) in the vulnerability for internalizing difficulties in a nonclinical sample of 8- to 13-year-olds. Among the results, the authors reported that worry and rumination partially mediated the link between temperamental neuroticism (which overlaps conceptually with shyness) and symptoms of anxiety. Of note, the aforementioned studies (Broeren et al., 2011; Findlay et al., 2009; Kingsbury et al., 2013) were all cross-sectional in nature, and as such, conclusions regarding causality or directionality of the associations cannot be made. Nonetheless, the findings do lend some support that cognitive biases play a mediating role in the links between shyness and social anxiety.

As further support of the proposed mediation model, Viana and Gratz (2012) tested different pathways to explain the interrelations among temperament, cognitive biases, and anxiety in a sample of young adults. The authors found that the hypothesized model, with temperament as the predictor, cognitive biases as the mediator, and anxiety as the outcome, was superior in terms of fit to an alternative model, wherein temperament predicted cognitive biases via anxiety (mediator).

The Present Study

The goal of the current study was to explore the nature of the interassociations among shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety in early adolescence. Positive interassociations were expected among shyness, judgment biases, and social anxiety. Moreover, judgment biases were expected to play a mediating role in the links between shyness and social anxiety. Given the focus on social wariness in the present study, responses to social situations were of particular interest.

Finally, age and gender may play a role in some of these associations. For instance, as mentioned above, social anxiety increases noticeably during adolescence (Kessler et al., 2005) and cognitive changes can occur throughout adolescence (Field & Lester, 2010). In terms of gender, it has been well established that girls are generally at greater risk for internalizing difficulties (Zahn-Waxler, Shirtcliff, & Marceau, 2008). Girls may also display more biased cognitions (Gluck, Lynn, Dritschel, & Brown, 2014; Miers, Blöte, Bögels, & Westenberg, 2008), although these findings are not entirely consistent (Marston, Hare, & Allen, 2010). No research to date has explored age or gender differences in the links among shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety. As such, it remains unclear if or how these variables may impact the proposed associations, and no specific predictions regarding the age or gender differences are made.

Method

Participants

Participants for the current study included N = 686 early adolescents (327 boys, 359 girls) aged 10 to 14 years ( $\bar{X}$ = 11.58, SD = 1.13), in Grade 5 (n = 195), Grade 6 (n = 225), Grade 7 (n = 143), and Grade 8 (n = 123) classrooms in 18 schools in urban areas in Eastern Ontario. The sample was roughly 92% Caucasian, 3% Asian, 2.5% Aboriginal, and 2.5% Other ethnicities. Information on parents’ highest level of education was gathered as a proxy measure of socioeconomic status. In terms of education, 3.9% of mothers and 7.9% of fathers had completed elementary school, 26% of mothers and 31.9% of fathers had completed high school, 44.3% of mothers and 40.4% of fathers had completed community college, 19.3% of mothers and 15.3% of fathers had completed an undergraduate university degree, and 6.4% of mothers and 4.5% of fathers had completed a graduate degree.

Procedure

Consent forms were sent home to parents, and roughly 60% of these packages were returned. Of the packages that were returned, the consent rate was roughly 80%. Upon giving verbal assent, children completed a series of questionnaires in the presence of trained research assistants. Although children were not paid for their participation, they were given a small gift upon completion of questionnaires.

Measures

Shyness

Children completed the 26-item Children’s Shyness Questionnaire (CSQ; Crozier, 1995), a self-report measure of shyness (e.g., “I am usually shy in a group of people”), scored on a 3-point scale (0 = no, 1 = sometimes, 2 = yes). One item was removed, following previous research (Crozier, 1995; Findlay & Coplan, 2008; Spooner & Evans, 2005), and scores were summed to create a total shyness score. The CSQ has been used previously with children aged 9 to 12 years (Crozier, 1995; Findlay & Coplan, 2008; Spooner & Evans, 2005) and has shown good psychometric properties (Crozier, 1995; Spooner & Evans, 2005). Internal consistency in the present sample was alpha = .85.

Social anxiety

Children completed the revised version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Children (SASC-R; La Greca & Stone, 1993). This 22-item scale was rated on a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (all the time). Although this measure includes three subscales, for the current study a total score was calculated by summing all items. This measure has shown good psychometric properties (Coplan, Wilson, Frohlick, & Zelenski, 2006; Ginsburg, La Greca, & Silverman, 1998; La Greca & Stone, 1993; Weeks et al., 2009), and internal consistency in the present sample was alpha = .93 for the total score.

Probability and cost estimates

Children completed the Probability/Cost Questionnaire for Children (PCQ-C; Rheingold, Herbert, & Franklin, 2003) as a measure of children’s tendency to anxiously expect or exaggerate the probability and cost of negative events. The PCQ-C is a 40-item questionnaire that includes items reflecting 20 negative nonsocial events (e.g., “lose your backpack”) and 20 negative social events (e.g., “ignored by someone you know”). For the purposes of the current study, only the Social Probability and Social Cost subscales of the PCQ-C were assessed. In support of this decision, two studies (both using the PCQ-C) have shown that social and nonsocial items can represent separate subscales of the same measure (Foa, Franklin, Perry, & Herbert, 1996; Rheingold et al., 2003). For each question, children were asked both “how likely” and “how bad” they think each event would be on a 9-point Likert-type scale from 0 (not at all) to 8 (extremely), and scores for perceived probability and cost of negative social events were calculated by taking the average score for each subscale. Good psychometric properties have been reported (Foa et al., 1996; Rheingold et al., 2003), and internal consistency in the present sample was alpha = .88 for the Social Probability subscale and alpha = .91 for the Social Cost subscale.

Statistical Analysis

Using mediation regression models and the bootstrapping approach, we tested the indirect effect of shyness on social anxiety, through probability judgments (Model 1) and through cost judgments (Model 2). Bootstrapping is a nonparametric method that does not make assumptions regarding the shape of the sampling distributions from which statistics are derived. Estimates of indirect effects were derived from the collection of 1,000 samples (with replacement), creating a sampling distribution of the indirect effect and producing bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals (CIs). This method of testing indirect effects has several advantages over other commonly used methods for assessing mediation (Hayes, 2009), such as the traditional “causal steps” approach (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Indeed, simulation studies have supported the validity of this method for testing the effects of mediating variables (MacKinnon, Lockwood, & Williams, 2004; Williams & MacKinnon, 2008).

Mediation Models 1 and 2 were analyzed using Hayes’ INDIRECT macro (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) using SAS 9.1 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA). For each model, shyness was the independent variable, social anxiety was the dependent variable, and either probability judgments (Model 1) or cost judgments (Model 2) was the mediator. Unstandardized coefficients, standard errors, and p values were obtained for all paths other than indirect effects. For the indirect effect in each model, unstandardized coefficients, standard errors, and bootstrapped bias-corrected 95% CIs were obtained. Standardized regression coefficients were also computed for Models 1 and 2.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations (Table 1) were calculated for the main study variables, by gender. Consistent with expectations, shyness, probability judgments, cost judgments, and social anxiety were all significantly and positively intercorrelated. Results indicated that females were significantly higher than males in terms of shyness (t = 3.92, p < .001), probability judgments (t = 2.43, p < .05), cost judgments (t = 3.06, p < .05), and social anxiety (t = 5.02, p < .001). Also, middle school participants (Grades 7 and 8) had significantly higher scores than elementary students (Grades 5 and 6) in terms of probability judgments (Grades 7 and 8: $\bar{X}$ = 2.42, SD = 1.11; Grades 5 and 6: $\bar{X}$ = 2.17, SD = 1.11; t = 2.87, p = .004). Thus, gender and grade level were further examined in subsequent analyses.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations Among Study Variables, by Gender.

Variable	$\bar{X}$	SD	1	2	3	4
Males
1. Shyness	15.52	7.12	―	.47*	.29*	.62*
2. Probability judgments	2.16	1.05		―	.53*	.49*
3. Cost judgments	2.83	1.34			―	.32*
4. Social anxiety	40.06	11.61				―
Females
1. Shyness	17.8	8.21	―	.48*	.35*	.56*
2. Probability judgments	2.37	1.16		―	.48*	.44*
3. Cost judgments	3.15	1.42			―	.40*
4. Social anxiety	44.68	12.39				―

p < .001.

Testing Indirect Effects of Judgment Biases

Models 1 and 2 show that shyness significantly predicted both types of judgment bias, which, in turn, significantly predicted social anxiety. Moreover, results suggest that both probability judgments and cost judgments were significant mediators of the association between shyness and social anxiety (Figure 1 and Table 2). However, as the direct effect of shyness on social anxiety was significant for both Model 1 and Model 2 (Table 2), the evidence points to partial mediation through probability and cost judgments.

Figure 1.

Standardized effects for mediation models examining the indirect effects of shyness on social anxiety through judgments of the (a) probability and (b) cost of negative social events.

Table 2.

Mediation Model of Shyness on Social Anxiety Through Judgments of the Probability and Cost of Negative Social Events.

Effect	Estimate	SE	t	95% CI (bias corrected)
Model 1: Social probability judgments as mediator
Shy → Anx (total effect)	0.916	0.048	18.925
Shy → Prob	0.847	0.004	19.108
Prob → Anx	3.199	0.401	7.984
Shy → Anx (direct effect)	0.645	0.057	11.235
Shy → Anx (indirect effect)	0.271	0.043		[0.188, 0.364]
Model 2: Social cost judgments as mediator
Shy → Anx (total effect)	0.916	0.048	18.925
Shy → Cost	0.073	0.006	11.602
Cost → Anx	1.948	0.286	6.815
Shy → Anx (direct effect)	0.774	0.051	15.089
Shy → Anx (indirect effect)	0.142	0.028		[0.084, 0.196]

Note. The table displays unstandardized coefficients for the unconditional indirect effect of shyness on social anxiety through judgments of social cost. All t-values are significant at p < .0001; p values are not provided for indirect effects. Instead, a significant indirect effect is one where 0 does not fall within the 95% CI. Both reported indirect effects are thus significant at p < .05. CI = confidence interval; Shy = shyness; Anx = social anxiety; Prob = social probability judgments; Cost = social cost judgments.

Possible gender and grade-level differences were further explored first by examining Models 1 and 2 separately for males and females, as well as for elementary and middle school students. All paths remained significant in all stratified analyses. For Model 1, bootstrapped indirect effects were significant for males and females, as well as for elementary and middle school students. Similarly for Model 2, these effects were significant for males and females, as well as for elementary and middle school students. Next, we found the same pattern of effects in models controlling for, and not controlling for, gender or grade level and found no differences in these patterns of effects (data not shown). Due to the consistency of these results, no further examinations of moderation by gender or grade level were conducted.

Discussion

The goal of the current study was to explore the nature of the associations between shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety in early adolescence. Our primary goal was to examine the indirect effect of shyness on social anxiety through judgment biases. In particular, we were interested in judgment biases relevant to negative social situations.

Shyness was significantly correlated with social anxiety, supporting the growing number of studies showing these associations in childhood and adolescence (Coplan et al., 2008; Coplan et al., 2013; Goldsmith & Lemery, 2000; Shamir-Essakow et al., 2005; Weeks et al., 2009). The association between shyness and social anxiety is in itself important because, as previously discussed, subclinical symptoms of social anxiety can put young people at risk for serious and debilitating anxiety disorders later in life (Filho et al., 2010).

Shyness was also positively related to judgment biases, which supports previous research, suggesting that shy children and adolescents may be at risk for elevated cognitive biases (Coplan et al., 2013; Gazelle & Druhen, 2009; LeMare & Rubin, 1987; LoBue & Pérez-Edgar, 2014; Rubin, Daniels-Beirness, & Bream, 1984; Stewart & Rubin, 1995; Wichmann et al., 2004). These types of associations also may be inherently worrisome not only because cognitive biases have been implicated in the development of anxiety disorders (Epkins, 1996) but also because more negative thinking has been negatively associated with social support, problem solving, and emotional regulation in younger and older adults (Gooding, Hurst, Johnson, & Tarrier, 2012), suggesting that cognitive biases may have negative implications for overall quality of life.

More importantly, our findings suggest that judgment biases, including elevated probability and cost estimates of negative social situations, are important intermediary factors in the association between shyness and social anxiety. These results help to clarify the role played by negative thinking in shy children’s emotional adjustment by identifying a conceptual pathway whereby shyness leads to cognitive biases, which, in turn, lead to social anxiety. For instance, it has been previously suggested that shy children tend to think more negatively about themselves and the world around them (Rubin et al., 1984; Wichmann et al., 2004). This tendency to think negatively may lead to a pattern of exaggerated expectations of negative events. Over time, expectations of negative outcomes may become more automatic and perpetuate feelings of fear and anxiety (Viana & Gratz, 2012). Thus, the current research is an important step forward in the understanding of the possible impact of cognitive biases on shy children’s development of negative adjustment outcomes such as social anxiety.

There are practical implications that follow from the current findings, which provide evidence that targeting cognitive biases could partly “disrupt” the pathway from shyness to social anxiety. Although both temperamental factors and cognitive biases are implicated in the subsequent development of social anxiety (Essex et al., 2010; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997), evidence suggests that cognitive biases are more amenable to modification than temperamental characteristics, which tend to be more stable (Fox, 2004). For example, there is evidence that children as young as age 6 years may be capable of changing their cognitive patterns (Berry & Cooper, 2012). As such, modifying the cognitions of temperamentally vulnerable children may offer a promising approach to decreasing the likelihood of subsequent socioemotional maladjustment. For instance, shy children may benefit from learning to assign more positive expectations to potentially negative social events. This in turn may alter their developmental trajectories by disrupting the links between shyness and social anxiety.

Although there is evidence to support the use of cognitive bias modification for anxious children with both clinical and subthreshold symptoms (Compton et al., 2004; Hallion & Ruscio, 2011; Lau et al., 2013; Vassilopoulos & Moberly, 2013), the efficacy of such intervention or prevention programs for children who display vulnerabilities toward cognitive biases and social anxiety remains unexplored. The current findings can potentially inform those who may develop such programs, in terms of tailoring them to the specific needs of at-risk children. However, these results should be replicated in a longitudinal study before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

Limitations and Future Directions

Our results must be considered within the context of some limitations. First, this was a cross-sectional study. As such, it is not possible to make any conclusions regarding the direction of effects and alternative interpretations must be entertained. For instance, it is possible that cognitive biases are largely a result of feelings of social anxiety, and that shyness results from (or is further affected by) cognitive biases and/or social anxiety. Indeed, cross-sectional mediation models can lead to several equally acceptable interpretations, and should thus be interpreted with caution (Roe, 2011). Moreover, it is also plausible that the associations examined in the current study are transactional in nature (i.e., feedback loops between variables). For instance, shy children may have more negative thoughts, and as a result become shyer because these thoughts reinforce a desire to avoid social interactions. Spending even less time interacting with peers and feeling more apprehensive in social situations may, in turn, lead these children to have even more negative thoughts, especially regarding social encounters. Again, longitudinal research that allows for the assessment of temporality among these constructs is needed in order to clarify these postulations.

As well, our results indicated that judgment biases only partially mediated the association between shyness and social anxiety. Thus, a number of additional factors unexamined in the current study may add explanatory value in understanding these associations. For instance, negative thoughts can manifest in a number of ways, all of which could have independent mediating effects on the association between shyness and social anxiety. Future studies could examine a broader range of cognitive biases in order to examine the incremental contribution of different types of negative thoughts.

Our findings represent only a small “piece of the puzzle” with regard to the way shyness can lead to symptoms of social anxiety in children and youth. Indeed, there are several unexplored questions that should be examined in future studies. For instance, several additional moderating or mediating factors may underlie the links between shyness, cognitive biases, and social anxiety. One possibility is that shy children may develop a tendency to view negative social events as more likely and more distressing as a result of negative social experiences. In fact, a growing body of research suggests that shy children tend to experience a disproportionate level of peer difficulties, including social rejection and victimization (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009). Moreover, frequently making biased judgments may lead these same children to experience increased social anxiety symptoms, even when they do not encounter these types of events. Thus, shy children seem to be thinking in maladaptive ways about potential negative events, while actually experiencing such events in greater numbers than other children, both of which are likely affecting the onset and maintenance of social anxiety symptoms.

Notwithstanding the above-mentioned limitations, this was the first study to examine the mediating effects of cognitive biases in the relation between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescence. The findings suggest that judgment biases related to social events play an important role in understanding the tendency of shy children and adolescents to experience social anxiety. Particularly if replicated in a longitudinal design, these results may have implications for early interventions and treatment of anxiety in at-risk children and adolescents.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Amy Epstein, Kathleen Hughes, Jason Levesque, Adam Kingsbury, Mila Kingsbury, Sonia Sengsavang, Amanda Smith, and Dan Totten for their help in the collection and coding of data.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral scholarship to the first author.

Author Biographies

Murray Weeks is a research psychologist who is currently conducting research on the mental health of Canadian Armed Forces personnel. He has a PhD in developmental psychology, with a focus on child and adolescent social and emotional adjustment, including anxiety and depression. His recent research examines the development of anxious and depressive symptoms from early childhood through adolescence in the Canadian population. He has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in edited books.

Laura L. Ooi is a doctoral candidate in developmental psychology at Carleton University. Her research focuses on the early development of social withdrawal and social anxiety. Specifically, she is interested in how social cognitions and peer experiences contribute to children’s social and emotional well-being. She has authored peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in edited books.

Robert J. Coplan is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University. His research is in the area of children’s socioemotional development and peer relations, with a particular focus on the development of shyness, social withdrawal, and social anxiety in childhood. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and edited a number of books.

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