Megan Gunnar, PhD, Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, and director of the Institute of Child Development (ICD), was recently featured in a Minnesota Parent article that discussed extreme shyness and offered resources for parents.

According to the article, extreme shyness, also known as “behavioral inhibition,” is a temperament that causes a child to feel stress or fear in new environments or situations. Gunnar noted that extreme shyness can be identified “as early as the first few months of life,” and may start as oversensitivity to loud noises, bright lights, or other stimuli.

Gunnar encouraged parents of a child with extreme shyness to continue to expose them to new places and people. “The temptation is ‘They don’t like it, so let’s not go,'” Gunnar said. “But the reality is, the more they are exposed to new people, new places, the better. Pretty soon, what was novel isn’t novel anymore.”