|
Original
9-item version in Cheek, J.M., & Buss, A.H. (1981).
Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 41, 330-339.
| 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.
I am socially somewhat awkward. |
| ____ |
3.
I do not find it difficult to ask other people
for information. |
| ____ |
4.
I am often uncomfortable at parties and other social
functions. |
| ____ |
5.
When in a group of people, I have trouble thinking
of the right things to talk about. |
| ____ |
6.
It does not take me long to overcome my shyness
in new situations. |
| ____ |
7.
It is hard for me to act natural when I am meeting
new people. |
| ____ |
8.
I feel nervous when speaking to someone in authority. |
| ____ |
9.
I have no doubts about my social competence. |
| ____ |
10.
I have trouble looking someone right in the eye. |
| ____ |
11.
I feel inhibited in social situations. |
| ____ |
12.
I do not find it hard to talk to strangers. |
| ____ |
13.
I am more shy with members of the opposite sex. |
Items
3, 6, 9 & 12 are reversed, recode before scoring. (1=5)
(2=4) (4=2) (5=1)
For
college students, mean = 33.3 for men and 32.4 for women,
alpha coefficient = .90, 45-day retest reliability = .88,
correlation with aggregated ratings of shyness by friends
and family = .68, and correlation with original 9-item
version
= .96. This revised scale is copyright 1983, Jonathan M.
Cheek. The scale may be used in non-profit educational
research
without further permission.
Cheek,
J.M., & Briggs, S.R. (1990). Shyness as a personality
trait. In W.R. Crozier (Ed.), Shyness and Embarrassment:
Perspectives from Social Psychology (pp. 315 - 337). Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cheek,
J. M., & Melchior, L.A. (1990). Shyness, self-esteem,
and self-consciousness. In H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook
of Social and Evaluation Anxiety (pp. 47-82). New York:
Plenum Publishing.
Leary,
M.R. (1991). Social anxiety, shyness, and related
Constructs. In Robinson, J.P., Shaver, P.R., & Wrightsman,
L.S. (Eds.), Measures of Personality and Social Psychological
Attitudes (pp. 182-184). San Diego: Academic Press.
20 Item
Shyness Scale
Click
here for a printer friendly version of this scale
Cheek,
J.M., & Melchior, 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.
Cheek, J.M., & Krasnoperova, E.N. (1999).
Varieties of shyness in adolescence and adulthood. In L.A.
Schmidt & J. Schulkin (Eds.), Extreme Fear, Shyness, and
Social Phobia: Origins, Biological Mechanisms, and Clinical
Outcomes (pp. 224-250). New York: Oxford University Press.
Melchior,
L.A., & Cheek, J.M. (1990). Shyness and anxious self-preoccupation
during a social interaction. In M. Booth-Butterfield (Ed.),
Communication, cognition, and anxiety (Special issue). Journal
of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 117- 130. (Reprinted
by Sage in book form, 1991)
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