Research Links Narrow Faces to Shyness

Connections between skull shape and personality may be reminiscent of folklore or parlor science, but Harvard researchers have recently found evidence supporting a link between facial shape and genetic tendency toward shyness.

A team headed by Doreen M. Arcus, research associate in psychology and clinical fellow in psychiatry at the Medical School, documented that children born with narrow faces are more likely to become shy as they mature.

Arcus, who called the results "intriguing and provocative," said the research is "one step in a long series of studies that needs to be done."

The researchers measured the ratio of facial width across the cheek bones to the height of the face, according to an article in the Cambridge Chronicle. The results, now under review, are based on fourteen years of research and observation of more than 600 Massachusetts children between the ages of four months and 13 years.

The research mainly relies on laboratory observation rather than parental reports, Arcus said. Infants were presented with unfamiliar stimuli and their reactions were recorded to mark any signs of fear.

"The infants who react strongly are more likely to be shy or timid when they grow older," Arcus said.

The reason for the correlation between narrow face width and shyness is unclear. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol may affect both timidity and facial shape, Arcus said. Stress to the fetus in the maternal uterine and hereditary factors are other potential causes.

The influence of environment on shyness is an area of continuing research, Arcus said.

The head of the Harvard infant study laboratory, Starch Professor of Psychology Jerome Kagan, said in the Chronicle that 15 to 20 percent of children have a predisposition towards shyness, but that only 9 to 12 percent actually become timid.

"You can have a temperamental inclination to be shy, but you might not be shy if certain environmental factors aren't present," Arcus said.

Another finding, she said, is that shyness is more common in females than in males. Arcus said that this gender discrepancy may be caused by the fact that girls "appear to be socialized to be more timid, quiet, and introverted."

But shyness does not necessarily reduce chances of success as an adult, Arcus emphasized.

"Some of the world's most famous physicists are shy, introverted people," she said.

ON TAP

Junior Parents Weekend heads into its second day.

.Faculty lectures on Astronomy, Greek Literature and Racial Identity in the United States. At 10:30 a.m., in the Science Center.

."On Thin Ice'--a student performance of improvisational theatre, at Paine Hall at 2:15 p.m.

.Class of 1995 reception, at the Martina S. Horner Room, Agassiz House, Radcliffe Yard, 4:30 p.m.

The Women's Basketball team attempts to improve their record tonight against Yale, at 6 p.m. at Briggs Cage.