96 Pall"t 11 IWritinganEssay
Shyness
ousufferfromshyn s,youarenotalone,forshynessis
on.!Accordingt t r h,"closeto 50
reportthatthey. ntly e somede.
dition,closeto 80 percent e reporthaving.'e
p theirlives"(Payne,par.3).2Asshynessis soprevalentin
.notsurprisingthatsocialscientistsarelearningmoreaboutitsca
h ndthatshynessinanindividualcanresultfrom
entalfactors..
entresearchreveals. someindividualsaregene
s.Inotherwords,somepeoplearebornshy.R
5 and20.percentofnewbornbabiesshowsign
qu d morevigilant.Researchershaveidentifiedp
betweensociableandshybabiesthatshowupasearly
study,two-month-oldswhowerelateridentifiedasshy
.signsofstresstostimulisuchasmoving.mobiles^4 andta
humanvoices:increasedheartrates,jerkymovementsofarm
excessivecrying.Furtherevidenceofthegeneticbasisofshy
thatparentsandgrandparentsofshychildrenmoreoftensa
as ildrenthanparentsandgrandparentsofnon-shychildr
Zi rdo6).5
3 owever,environmentcan,atleastin somecases,triumph 0
Ashychildmaylosemuchofhisorhershyness.Ontheotherha
peoplewhowerenotshyaschildrenbecomeshyasadults,a fact
toenvironmentalorexperientialcauses.
4 Thefirstenvironmentalcauseofshynessmaybea child'shome
life.Childrenwhogrewupwitha difficultrelationshipwithparentsor
oldersiblingaremorelikelytobeinhibited^6 insocialinteractions:AnotlJerH.:lCl(JrI:::;·
thefactthattoday'schildrenaregrowingupinsmallerandsmalle ilies,with
fewerandfewerrelativeslivingnearby.Growingupin single-pare mesorin
homesinwhichbothparentsworkfulltime,childrenmaynothave e socializing
experienceof frequentvisitsbyneighborsandfriends.Becauseof theirlackof
socialskills,theymaybegintofeelsociallyinhibited,orshy,whentheystart
school(7).
5 A secondenvironmentalcauseofshynessinanindividualmaybeone's
culture.Ina largestudyconductedinseveralnations, 40 percentofparticipants
intheUnitedStatesratedthemselvesasshy,comparedto 57 percentinJapan
and 55 percentinTaiwan.Ofthecountriesparticipatingin thestudy,thelowest
percentageofshynesswasfoundinIsrael,wheretheratewas 31 percent.MODEL
Cause/Effect
Essay(Block
Organization)Jphenomenon:occurrenceorfact(plural:phenomena)
2payne,KarenS."UnderstandingandOvercomingShyness."CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology
CounselingCenter.7 Nov. 2004 <http://www.counseling.caltech.edu/articles/shyness.html>.
3predisposedto:likelytoget(^4) mobiles:atoythathangsovera baby'sbedwithmovingshapes
5Henderson,Lynne,andPhilipZimbardo."Shyness."EncyclopediaofMentalHealth.8 Oct. 2004
http://www.shyness.com/encyclopedia.html.
6inhibited:self-conscious,shy