Frontal Brain Electrical Activity in Shyness and Sociability
- 1 July 1999
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Psychological Science
- Vol. 10 (4), 316-320
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00161
Abstract
A number of studies have shown that shyness and sociability may be two independent personality traits that are distinguishable across a variety of measures and cultures. Utilizing recent frontal activation–emotion models as a theoretical framework, this study examined the pattern of resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in undergraduates who self-reported high and low shyness and sociability. Analyses revealed that shyness was associated with greater relative right frontal EEG activity, whereas sociability was associated with greater relative left frontal EEG activity. Also, different combinations of shyness and sociability were distinguishable on the basis of resting frontal EEG power. Although high-shy/high-social and high-shy/low-social subjects both exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG activity, they differed significantly on EEG power in the left, but not right, frontal lead. High-shy/high-social subjects exhibited significantly less EEG power (i.e., more activity) in the left frontal lead compared with the high-shy/low-social subjects. These findings suggest that in distinguishing individual differences in personality and personality subtypes, it is important to consider not only frontal EEG asymmetry measures, but also the pattern of absolute EEG power in each frontal hemisphere.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Behavioral Inhibition and the Emotional Circuitry of the Brain: Stability and Plasticity During the Early Childhood YearsPublished by Oxford University Press (OUP) ,1999
- Correlates of Portuguese College Students' Shyness and SociabilityPsychological Reports, 1996
- Shyness and Sociability: Factor Structure in a German Sample 1The results of this study were presented in part at the 6th Conference of the European Association of Personality Psychology, Groningen, The Netherlands, June 15-19, 1992.European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 1995
- Personality effects on children's speech in everyday life: Sociability-mediated exposure and shyness-mediated reactivity to social situations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993
- Left frontal hypoactivation in depression.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1991
- If it's not left, it's right: Electroencephalograph asymmetry and the development of emotion.American Psychologist, 1991
- Shyness and sociability reexamined: A multicomponent analysis.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989
- Shyness and sociability.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1981
- Perception and expression of emotion in right-handers and left-handersNeuropsychologia, 1981
- The Electroencephalogram: Autonomous Electrical Activity in Man and AnimalsPublished by Elsevier BV ,1974