Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the effects of self-instructional training (SIT) upon alleviating shyness in undergraduate students, and to investigate how an individual difference (thought distortion) influences the effectiveness of SIT. Thirty-four male and female undergraduate students presenting severe shyness, served as subjects. They were divided into high thought distortion (H) and low thought distortion (L) groups. They were randomly assigned either to a self-instructional training (SIT) , or a waiting-list control (WLC) group. The main results were as follows. (1) SIT was superior to the waiting-list control, in decreasing cognitive and emotional aspects of shyness in a conversation situation in which subjects were requested to meet their party of the opposite sex. At the follow-up five or six months after SIT was terminated, decreased irrational thoughts regarding shyness and trait shyness were maintained. Irrational thoughts as a cognitive aspect of shyness, decreased with the progress of SIT. (2) Subjects with larger distortion of thoughts, after receiving SIT, improved in cognitive and emotional aspects of shyness in the conversation situation. At the follow-up, regardless of whether they had extremely high or low thought distortion, subjects maintained their decreased trait shyness.
