At the onset, shyness and social anxiety may seem similar. On the contrary, shyness is merely a symptom of social anxiety and not its equivalent. Shyness is an exhibited behaviour that is manifested through the action or inaction of a subject. Social anxiety or social phobia is the fear of being placed in a social situation.
Let us take concrete examples to illustrate better. A person who is experiencing shyness, may blush at the instant that he or she is presented with a social situation that has an effect on him or her. A person who is shy, would tend to keep silent but still manage to present himself to an audience or a group of people. A person who suffers from social anxiety suffers from emotions that range from fear, anxiety, physical discomfort, shallow breathing and a host of other physiological signs.
Shyness could also be loosely defined as a milder form of social anxiety. Shyness does not have damaging physical signs. While social anxiety almost always manifests itself entirely in the physical.
As a behavioural phenomenon rather than a physical one, shyness exhibits itself in the realm of meaning in body language. Hence, a person who is shy may be observed as shy if he or she performs actions pertaining to shyness. One might construe the argument as circular in logic, but it nevertheless proves the value that shyness is observable behaviour that is performed.
Social anxiety on the other hand is overt if deliberately observed and measured. As a physiological manifestation, it is not conscious behaviour that takes the center stage, but rather the subconscious. The subconscious portion of the mind does not render performance. It however, may instruct the body without conscious effort to cause itself to take action albeit in excess or in deficiency.
Uncontrollable shaking is one manifestation of social anxiety. It is observable but it is not behavioural in nature. Shallow breathing and the increase in heart rate are also overt manifestations but could scarcely be called behaviour.
Shyness may be remedied by simple forms of behaviour modification and repetitive social exposure. Social anxiety on the other hand, may require more intensive clinical and psychological treatment.
Another point to consider is that shyness may result from inexperience and underexposure to social events whereas social phobia could arise from exposure to usually traumatic and negative events that have transpired in their lives.
While shyness and social anxiety may be distinct from each other, they are not by any means mutually exclusive of the other. The presence of shyness may indicate the early stages of social anxiety. Caution must be taken in approaching shyness and social anxiety so as not to generalize the characteristics generated by both.
To further simplify the proposition above, let us create a fictional example. A young boy may experience the state of being shy when his parents present him to a large group of older people. As a young and shy boy, he may exhibit characteristics of being shy in a number of ways. He may at the mildest form of shyness, be unable to speak, show some reluctance in meeting people, show an interest in other things to divert attention from him, show that he wants to do other things or show mild to moderate withdrawal from the social event at hand. Despite the numerous indications of possible social anxiety, this does not conclusively prove that he has social anxiety disorder.
Now let’s take a young man who is slightly older than the boy, the young man is tasked with making a presentation to a group of peers. At the start he may show some shyness when he approaches the podium. Due to his inexperience he stammers while talking, he may see a negative reaction on one of the faces of the audience and begins on blush. When he blushes, someone points out his blush and this elicits a response from him that further inhibits him from speaking. His hands shakes, his eyes are averted from the audience and he finds himself unable to continue with his presentation. Thus it may be said that he has a mild form of social anxiety in that he was at the start shy, and this shyness has further been aggravated to a series of events that eventually lead to him being unable to functions at all.
