Not too shy to point! Exploring the relationship between shyness and pointing in the second year

Abstract

Infants' use of pointing gestures to direct and share attention develops during the first 2 years of life. Shyness, defined as an approach-avoidance motivational conflict during social interactions, may influence infants’ use of pointing. Recent research distinguished between positive (gaze and/or head aversions while smiling) and non-positive (gaze and/or head aversions without smiling) shyness, which are related to different social and cognitive skills. We investigated whether positive and non-positive shyness in 12-month-old (n = 38; 15 girls) and 15-month-old (n = 45; 15 girls) infants were associated with their production of pointing gestures. Infants' expressions of shyness were observed during a social-exposure task in which the infant entered the laboratory room in their parent's arms and was welcomed by an unfamiliar person who provided attention and compliments. Infants' pointing was measured with a pointing task involving three stimuli: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. Positive shyness was positively associated with overall pointing at 15 months, especially in combination with high levels of non-positive shyness. In addition, infants who displayed more non-positive shyness pointed more frequently to direct the attention of the social partner to an unpleasant (vs. neutral) stimulus at both ages. Results indicate that shyness influences the early use of pointing to emotionally charged stimuli.