Study Sheds Light on What Makes People Shy

I imagine a lot of us are shy. I describe myself as an extrovert who thought he was an introvert because I love being socialble (I get energised by the energy of others), but because I'm so excitable I pulled away a lot growing up and so I kept thinking I was an introvert. In reality I was a sensitive person who responds potently to stimuli. I gotta tell you, this study has been eye-opening. I've never had anything describe me so perfectly. I think I'll do further reading. Anybody else identify with what this study is saying?

posted: 06 April 2010 08:07 am ET

The brains of shy or introverted individuals might actually process the world differently than their more extroverted counterparts, a new study suggests.

About 20 percent of people are born with a personality trait called sensory perception sensitivity (SPS) that can manifest itself as the tendency to be inhibited, or even neuroticism. The trait can be seen in some children who are "slow to warm up" in a situation but eventually join in, need little punishment, cry easily, ask unusual questions or have especially deep thoughts, the study researchers say.

The new results show that these highly sensitive individuals also pay more attention to detail, and have more activity in certain regions of their brains when trying to process visual information than those who are not classified as highly sensitive. (read more)

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Study Sheds Light on What Makes People Shy

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