Underlying mechanism of infant shyness

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24600028
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 子ども学(子ども環境学)
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Matsuda Yoshitaka 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 客員研究員 (60342854)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KONISHI Yukuo 同志社大学, 心理学研究科, 教授 (40135588) ; WATANABE Motonobu 同志社大学, 赤ちゃん学研究センター, 研究員 (30649306)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 人見知り / 乳児 / 気質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is currently unknown whether young infants show shyness with approach-avoidance conflict and its corresponding characteristic pattern of face scanning. Here, using infant behavioral questionnaires and an eye-tracking system, we found that highly shy infants had high scores for both approach and fear temperaments (i.e., approach-avoidance conflict) and that they showed longer dwell times in the eye regions than less shy infants during their initial fixations to facial stimuli. Moreover, highly shy infants preferred strangers with an averted gaze and face to strangers with a directed gaze and face. This initial scanning of the eye region and the overall preference for averted gaze faces were not explained solely by the infants' age or temperament. We suggest that infant shyness involves a conflict in temperament between the desire to approach and the fear of strangers, and this conflict is the psychological mechanism underlying infants' characteristic behavior in face scanning.

Free Research Field

発達心理学