A Brunswikean approach to trait continuity: application to shyness

A new method of assessing the continuity of traits independent of their stability is proposed that is based on Brunswik's lens model of person perception. The method is applied to the continuity of shyness between preschool age and adulthood. A sample of 108 children (observed at age 4 and again at age 6) and a sample of 70 university students were video-taped in conversations with adult strangers. Detailed coding of 17 different behaviors revealed a highly similar rank order of their validity coefficients for parental reports of children's shyness, self-reports of students' shyness, and observer judgments of both children's and students' shyness, even after controlling for differences in the behaviors' reliability. These findings suggest that the construct of shyness shows a strong continuity from preschool age through adulthood. The proposed methodology can also be applied to the continuity of emotional states or to the cross-situational generality of traits and states.