Table of Contents
The Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS)
Cheek‚ J.M. (1983). Unpublished‚ Wellesley College‚ Wellesley MA 02181
Original 9-item version in Cheek‚
J.M.‚ & Buss‚ A.H. (1981). Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology‚ 41‚ 330-339.
INSTRUCTIONS: Please read each item carefully and decide to what extent it is characteristic of your feelings and behavior. Fill in the blank next to each item by choosing a number from the scale printed below.
1 = Very uncharacteristic or untrue‚ strongly disagree
2 = Uncharacteristic
3 = Neutral
4 = characteristic
5 = Very characteristic or true‚ strongly agree
____ 1. I feel tense when I’m with people I don’t know well.
____ 2. I am socially somewhat awkward.
____ 3. I do not find it difficult to ask other people for information.
____ 4. I am often uncomfortable at parties and other social functions.
____ 5. When in a group of people‚ I have trouble thinking of the right things to talk about.
____ 6. It does not take me long to overcome my shyness in new situations.
____ 7. It is hard for me to act natural when I am meeting new people.
____ 8. I feel nervous when speaking to someone in authority.
____ 9. I have no doubts about my social competence.
____ 10. I have trouble looking someone right in the eye.
____ 11. I feel inhibited in social situations.
____ 12. I do not find it hard to talk to strangers.
____ 13. I am more shy with members of the opposite sex.
Items 3‚ 6‚ 9 & 12 are reversed‚ recode before scoring. (1=5) (2=4) (4=2) (5=1)
For college students‚ mean = 33.3 for men and 32.4 for women‚ alpha coefficient = .90‚ 45-day retest reliability = .88‚ correlation with aggregated ratings of shyness by friends and family = .68‚ and correlation with original 9-item version = .96. This revised scale is copyright 1983‚ Jonathan M. Cheek. The scale may be used in non-profit educational research without further permission.
For More Information
Cheek‚ J.M.‚ & Briggs‚ S.R. (1990). Shyness as a personality trait. In W.R. Crozier (Ed.)‚ Shyness and Embarrassment: Perspectives from Social Psychology (pp. 315 – 337). Cambridge‚ UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cheek‚ J. M.‚ & Melchior‚ L.A. (1990). Shyness‚ self-esteem‚ and self-consciousness. In H. Leitenberg (Ed.)‚ Handbook of Social and Evaluation Anxiety (pp. 47-82). New York: Plenum Publishing.
Leary‚ M.R. (1991). Social anxiety‚ shyness‚ and related Constructs. In Robinson‚ J.P.‚ Shaver‚ P.R.‚ & Wrightsman‚ L.S. (Eds.)‚ Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes (pp. 182-184). San Diego: Academic Press.
20 Item Shyness Scale
Cheek‚ J.M.‚ & Melchior‚ L.A. (1985). Measuring the Three Components of Shyness. In M.H. Davis & S.L. Franzoi (Co-chairs)‚ Emotion‚ Personality‚ and Personal Well-Being II. Symposium conducted at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association‚ Los Angeles.
INSTRUCTIONS: Please read each item carefully and decide to what extent it is characteristic of your feelings and behavior. Fill in the blank next to each item by choosing a number from the scale printed below.
1 = very uncharacteristic or untrue‚ strongly disagree
2 = uncharacteristic
3 = neutral
4 = characteristic
5 = very characteristic or true‚ strongly agree
____ 1. I feel tense when I’m with people I don’t know well.
____ 2. During conversations with new acquaintances‚ I worry about saying something dumb.
____ 3. I am socially somewhat awkward.
____ 4. I do not find it difficult to ask other people for information.
____ 5. I am often uncomfortable at parties and other social gatherings.
____ 6. When in a group of people‚ I have trouble thinking of the right things to talk about.
____ 7. I feel relaxed even in unfamiliar social situations
____ 8. It is hard for me to act natural when I am meeting new people.
____ 9. I feel painfully self-conscious when I am around strangers.
____ 10. I am confident about my social skills.
____ 11. I feel nervous when speaking to someone in authority.
____ 12. I have trouble looking someone right in the eye.
____ 13. I am usually a person who initiates conversation.
____ 14. I often have doubts about whether other people like to be with me.
____ 15. Sometimes being introduced to new people makes me feel physically upset (for example‚ having an upset stomach‚ pounding heart‚ sweaty palms‚ or heat rash).
____ 16. I do not find it hard to talk to strangers.
____ 17. I worry about how well I will get along with new acquaintances.
____ 18. I am shy when meeting someone of the opposite sex.
____ 19. It does not take me long to overcome my shyness in a new situation.
____ 20. I feel inhibited in social situations.
Items 4‚ 7‚ 10‚ 13‚ 16‚ & 19 are reversed‚ recode before scoring. (1=5) (2=4) (4=2) (5=1)
In the scale revision/construction sample of 326 college students the alpha coefficient of internal consistency reliability for the 20-item shyness scales was .94 (M = 51.8; SD = 13.6) and it correlated .96 with the original Cheek & Buss 9-item shyness scale. Melchior and Cheek (1990) reported that in a sample of 31 college women the 20-item scale had a 45-day test-retest reliability of .91‚ and correlated .69 with aggregated ratings of shyness received from family members and close friends.
For More Information
Cheek‚ J.M.‚ & Krasnoperova‚ E.N. (1999). Varieties of shyness in adolescence and adulthood. In L.A. Schmidt & J. Schulkin (Eds.)‚ Extreme Fear‚ Shyness‚ and Social Phobia: Origins‚ Biological Mechanisms‚ and Clinical Outcomes (pp. 224-250). New York: Oxford University Press.
Melchior‚ L.A.‚ & Cheek‚ J.M. (1990). Shyness and anxious self-preoccupation during a social interaction. In M. Booth-Butterfield (Ed.)‚ Communication‚ cognition‚ and anxiety (Special issue). Journal of Social Behavior and Personality‚ 5‚ 117- 130. (Reprinted by Sage in book form‚ 1991)