SHYNESS

 A

Here’s a summary of the passage in bullet points with key quotes:

• Social Nature of Higher Primates

  • Higher primates are inherently social and driven to seek companionship and reproduction.

  • "Higher primates are social creatures, hard-wired to want to meet and mate."

• Caution and Risk-Aversion

  • Evolution may also favor cautious and risk-averse traits, which can sometimes develop into excessive timidity.

  • "There might also be some value in their being cautious and risk-avoiding, traits that might over-evolve into excessive timidity."

• Shyness as an Interaction of Nature and Nurture

  • Shyness is not entirely innate but shaped by both biological predispositions and environmental influences.

  • "Neither Kagan nor Suomi suggest that shyness is fixed at birth. They see it as a case study in the rich interplay between nature and nurture."

• Shyness as a ‘Secondary Emotion’

  • Unlike primary emotions (anger, fear, disgust), shyness is shaped by experience and cultural context.

  • "Shyness is a ‘secondary emotion’... ‘tuned by experience’, leaving it open to a huge amount of cultural conditioning, historical variation and definitional ambiguity."

Would you like me to expand on any of these points?