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Social phobia is the persistent fear of scrutiny in social or performance situations (DSM-IV). The study of social phobia is especially relevant in college populations because of the scrutiny that takes place in the classroom and in oral presentations, the development of new relationships, and the social interactions necessary to launch a career after graduation.
The terms shyness and social phobia are often used synonymously in the literature. Advertisements for subjects in social anxiety studies often ask for “extremely shy people” (Rettew 2000). However, social phobia and shyness are not the same thing. Social phobia is a clinical disorder, whereas shyness is a normative temperamental construct marked by discomfort in social situations (Heiser, Turner, and Beidel 2002). Nevertheless, the two share many characteristics (Chavira, Stein, and Malcarne 2002): because shyness and social phobia are so closely related, understanding the relationship between the two may aid in the development of psychodynamic treatment plans for college students suffering from social inhibitions.
There are several hypotheses about the relationship between shyness and social phobia, ranging from the idea that shyness and social phobia are completely different constructs, to the idea that they are the same construct differing on a continuum of severity (Heiser, Turner, and Beidel 2002). In a study of possible developmental factors leading to social phobia, Stemberger et al. (1995) found that “traumatic social conditioning experiences and