Infant and Child DevelopmentInf. Child. Dev. 18: 211–215 (2009)

Published online in Wiley InterScience

(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/icd.620

Editorial

At a Loss for Words? Introduction tothe Special Issue on Shyness andLanguage in Childhood

Robert J. Coplana,� and Mary Ann Evansb

aDepartment of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, CanadabDepartment of Clinical Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario,Canada

Shy children experience social fear and anxiety in novel social settings and feelembarrassed and self-conscious when they perceive themselves as being sociallyevaluated or the center of attention (Crozier, 1995). Shyness is thought to involvean approach–avoidance conflict. That is, although shy children desire socialinteraction, this approach-motivation is simultaneously inhibited by a competingavoidance-motivation triggered by social fear and anxiety (Asendorpf, 1990;Coplan, Prakash, O’Neil, & Armer, 2004). Over the last 25 years, shyness hasgarnered increased attention from researchers, clinicians, teachers, and parents(for historical and recent reviews, see Asendorpf, 1990; Buss, 1984; Coplan &Armer, 2007; Crozier, 2001; Kagan, 1997; Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993; Rubin,Coplan, & Bowker, 2009; Zimbardo, 1977).

From its earliest conceptualizations, shyness has been linked with language.Terms like ‘quietness’, ‘not speaking’, or ‘difficulty talking’ are a core componentof almost every definition of shyness (Buss & Plomin, 1984; Coplan, Rubin, Fox,& Calkins, 1994; Crozier, 1995; Kagan, Reznick, & Snidman, 1988; Rezendes,Snidman, Kagan, & Gibbons, 1993; Rubin, 1982). Indeed, ‘does not talk’ is themost commonly mentioned characteristic used by both children and adults todescribe their shy peers (Crozier, 1995; Younger, Schneider, & Guirguis-Younger,2008; Zimbardo, 1977).

Results from a number of empirical studies indicated that shy children doindeed speak less than their non-shy peers across a number of different settings,including, novel, social, and classroom situations (e.g. Asendorpf & Meir, 1993;Coplan, 2000; Evans, 1987; Van Kleeck & Street, 1982), structured tasks (e.g.Coplan et al., 1994; Crozier & Perkins, 2002), and even at home with parents (e.g.Reynolds & Evans, in press; Spere, Evans, Hendry, & Mansell, 2008). This has leda growing number of researchers to more formally assess the language skills ofshy versus non-shy children (for an extensive recent review, see Evans, in press).

*Correspondence to: Robert J. Coplan, Department of Psychology, Carleton University,1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada. E-mail: robert_coplan@carleton.ca

Copyright r 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The empirical studies have produced some mixed results. As a relatively‘young’ research area, it is perhaps not surprising that definitional and mea-surement issues are still being sorted out. Moreover, there is continued debate inthe literature as to the underlying conceptual mechanism that may underlie therelations between shyness and language. One possibility is that shy children areindeed less linguistically competent. According to this ‘lack of practice makes lack ofperfect’ explanation, shy children’s restricted verbal participation (because ofsocial anxiety and socio-evaluative concerns) hinders their opportunities topractice and develop language skills (e.g. Evans, 1993, 1996).

It has also been argued that shy children’s poorer performance on tests oflanguage ability reflects problems with ‘performance’ more so than competence.Support for the ‘I know it but I won’t say it’ model comes from some studiesindicating that shy children tend to score comparatively lower than non-shypeers on tests of expressive language versus tests of receptive language (e.g.Coplan, Wichmann, & Lagace-Seguin, 2001; Crozier & Perkins, 2002; Rubin, 1982;Rubin & Krasnor, 1986; Spere, Schmidt, Theall-Honey, & Martin-Chang, 2004). Ina similar vein, it has also been suggested that aspects of the testing environmentexacerbate the anxiety felt by shy children, which in turn hinders their perfor-mance (Coplan & Armer, 2005; Crozier, 1997; Crozier & Hostettler, 2003; Slom-kowski, Nelson, Dunn, & Plomin, 1992).

A third suggestion is that shy individuals are more hesitant to take risks(Addison & Schmidt, 1999; Levin & Hart, 2003; see also Nicholson, Soane,Fenton-O’Creevy, & Willman, 2005 for association with low neuroticism). Suchreluctance may constrain hazarding a hunch on tests of language developmentand taking a chance in social situations, focussing more on what might be lostthan what might be gained in speaking. Colloquially, this might be framed as the‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ hypothesis.

A final consideration is that many studies have compared shy children to ex-tremely non-shy peers, rather than to peers in the middle of the distribution ofshyness scores. Thus, it may not be that shy children lag behind in their languagedevelopment but rather that being very outgoing yields an advantage. Support forthis ‘bold is better’ model comes from recent Canadian research showing that shychildren on average obtain test scores on standardized tests commensurate withaverage scores in the norming samples, whereas their non-shy counterparts scorehigher than age-expected levels (e.g. Spere et al., 2004). However, it should be notedthat average scores elevated a half standard deviation above the mean of testsnormed in the United States are not unusual in Canadian samples. In fact this hasnecessitated separate Canadian norms for the widely used Wechsler IntelligenceScale for Children—IV and Weschler Individual Achievement Test—II.

We are very pleased to have brought together some of the leading researchersin the study of shyness and language for this Special Issue to further illuminatethese and other issues. For us, the four empirical papers presented hereinrepresent the ‘next wave’ of research in this rapidly maturing field. In this regard,these studies address a variety of new issues that broaden the scope of the studyof shyness and language in many important ways.

The first paper (Spere & Evans) describes one of the first longitudinal studiesof the relations between shyness and language. This study is also noteworthy forits inclusion of assessments of multiple aspects of language (including literacyskills), its treatment of shyness, and consideration of non-linear relations intreating shyness as a continuous variable. The second paper (Coplan & Weeks) isamong the first to consider the relations between shyness and social-commu-nicative language (i.e. pragmatics). This study breaks new ground by revealing

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on the potential protective role that language may play in the socio-emotionaldevelopment of shy children.

The third paper (Nowakowski and colleagues) further extends the studyof shyness and language into the realm of clinical populations. This studycompares the language and academic skills of children with selectedmutism, children with anxiety disorders, and community controls. Indeed, in-hibition and social withdrawal in early childhood have been observed tobe precursors of selective mutism in school age children (e.g. Ford, Sladeczek,Carlson, & Kratchwill, 1998; Garcia, Freeman, Francis, Miller, & Leonard, 2004;Steinhausen & Juzi, 1996; Wright, 1968). In the final paper (Crozier & Badawood),the relations between shyness, receptive vocabulary, and speech reticencein the different contexts of ‘show and tell’ and free play are explored. Moreover,along with these different social contexts, this is also one of the first papers toexplore cross-cultural contexts in the study of shyness and language. Finally, weare also very grateful to both Anne Cameron and Kevin Durkin for lending theirexpertise and providing extremely insightful commentaries on these fourempirical papers.

Although some of the effects observed in these studies were somewhatmodest, even small effects can define who we are and influence the choices wemake. Thus, these studies offer implications for both future research and for earlyintervention and prevention in the areas of shyness and social anxiety, as well aslanguage development. We are hopeful that this Special Issue will serve as ajumping off point for the continued and future exploration of the links betweensocio-emotional and language development.

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