20-Item Shyness Scale

Cheek, J.M., & Melichor, L.A. (1985). Measuring the Three Components of Shyness. In M.H. Davis & S.L. Franzoi (Co-chairs), Emotion, Personality, and Personal Well-Being II. Symposium conducted at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please read each item carefully and decide to what extent it is characteristic of your feelings and behavior. Fill in the blank next to each item by choosing a number from the scale printed below.

  1 = very uncharacteristic or untrue, strongly disagree
2 = uncharacteristic
3 = neutral
4 = characteristic
5 = very characteristic or true, strongly agree
____
1. I feel tense when I’m with people I don’t know well.
____
2. During conversations with new acquaintances, I worry about saying something dumb.
____
3. I am socially somewhat awkward.
____
4. I do not find it difficult to ask other people for information.
____
5. I am often uncomfortable at parties and other social gatherings.
____
6. When in a group of people, I have trouble thinking of the right things to talk about.
____
7. I feel relaxed even in unfamiliar social situations
____
8. It is hard for me to act natural when I am meeting new people.
____
9. I feel painfully self-conscious when I am around strangers.
____
10. I am confident about my social skills.
____
11. I feel nervous when speaking to someone in authority.
____
12. I have trouble looking someone right in the eye.
____
13. I am usually a person who initiates conversation.
____
14. I often have doubts about whether other people like to be with me.
____
15. Sometimes being introduced to new people makes me feel physically upset (for example, having an upset stomach, pounding heart, sweaty palms, or heat rash).
____
16. I do not find it hard to talk to strangers.
____
17. I worry about how well I will get along with new acquaintances.
____
18. I am shy when meeting someone of the opposite sex.
____
19. It does not take me long to overcome my shyness in a new situation.
____
20. I feel inhibited in social situations.

 

Items 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, & 19 are reversed, recode before scoring. (1=5) (2=4) (4=2) (5=1)

In the scale revision/construction sample of 326 college students the alpha coefficient of internal consistency reliability for the 20-item shyness scales was .94 (M = 51.8; SD = 13.6) and it correlated .96 with the original Cheek & Buss 9-item shyness scale. Melchior and Cheek (1990) reported that in a sample of 31 college women the 20-item scale had a 45-day test-retest reliability of .91, and correlated .69 with aggregated ratings of shyness received from family members and close friends.
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