Shyness and Facial Emotion Perception: A Cross-Cultural Study

The perception of emotional expression is influenced by cultural background and individual personality traits. This study examined whether the personality trait, shyness, moderated the relation between the intensity of facial emotional expressions and their perceived intensities from a cross-cultural perspective. The study included 160 young adult participants from Canada (White and East Asian) and Mainland China. Participants completed the Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale and rated the emotional intensity of same-race facial expressions (happiness, anger, fear, and sadness) at different intensity levels. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, results indicated that shyness significantly moderated the relation between expressed and perceived intensity only among participants from Mainland China (β = 0.118, p = .001), where higher levels of shyness were associated with stronger perceived emotional intensity across all emotions. However, no significant moderating effect was found in both White Canadian and East Asian Canadian groups. Findings suggest that cultural norms regarding emotional expression, particularly the emphasis on emotional restraint in Chinese culture, may amplify the role of shyness in emotional perception. Implications for clinical practice, cross-cultural communication, and psychological research on emotion recognition are discussed.