Pukyong National University

“Adolescents with Higher Levels of Shyness Tend to Interpret Ambiguous Social Situations More Negatively”

- PKNU Research on Cognitive Biases in Shy Adolescents Published in International Journal

Research has found that adolescents with higher levels of shyness are more likely to interpret ambiguous social situations negatively not only when experiencing negative or neutral emotional states, but also under positive emotional conditions.

A research team consisting of Ph.D. candidate Feng Zhang from the Department of Educational Consulting at the Graduate School of Pukyong National University, Professor Gyun Huh of the same department, and Research Professor Soon-An Hyun of Sunchon National University reported these findings in their paper titled “Online Interpretation Bias in Shy Adolescents Across Emotional Valence Conditions.” The study explores social cognition and emotional processing patterns among adolescents.

The paper is scheduled for publication in 'Advances in Cognitive Psychology' Volume 22, Issue 2 (June 2026) of , an SSCI-indexed international journal. The journal publishes research on human cognitive processes, including cognitive psychology, emotional processing, attention, memory, and social cognition. The study is particularly noteworthy in that it experimentally investigated the relationship between adolescent shyness and online interpretation bias under different emotional conditions.

The research examined how adolescents with varying levels of shyness interpret ambiguous social cues and whether these interpretation patterns differ depending on emotional conditions such as happiness, neutrality, and anger. To conduct the study, the researchers administered a shyness scale assessment to middle school students and classified participants into high-shyness and low-shyness groups. They then analyzed response times and interpretation acceptance rates using an online interpretation bias task developed on the E-Prime 2.0 platform.

The analysis revealed that adolescents with higher shyness scores were more likely than their less shy peers to adopt negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations, accept negative meanings more quickly, and take longer to reject negative interpretations. In contrast, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups with regard to positive interpretation bias.

Based on these findings, the researchers explained that the social difficulties experienced by highly shy adolescents may not simply stem from passivity or reserved behavior but may instead be associated with a stable cognitive processing tendency to interpret ambiguous social information as threatening or negative. The fact that negative interpretation bias persisted even under positive emotional conditions further suggests that educational and counseling interventions for highly shy adolescents should focus not only on fostering positive emotions, but also on directly reducing and restructuring negative interpretive schemas.

Professor Gyun Huh stated, “This study employed experimental psychological methods to identify the social-cognitive characteristics of shy adolescents and may provide important evidence for adolescent counseling and support programs aimed at helping students adapt to school life. In particular, publication in an SSCI-indexed international journal demonstrates the potential for broader international expansion of educational research on adolescent emotions and cognition.”

Meanwhile, Ph.D. candidate Feng Zhang has been devoted to research since coming to Pukyong National University from China through the university’s ‘Global PKNU Graduate Degree Program for Faculty and Staff of Overseas Universities.’ Currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the Department of Educational Consulting at the Graduate School of Pukyong National University, Feng Zhang is also affiliated with L？liang University in China, where he continues to conduct research in the fields of adolescent development, emotional processing, and educational psychology. With support from the 2025 PhiNX Protected Academic Disciplines Graduate Student Research Scholarship Program, Zhang published a paper in the KCI-indexed journal Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education and has continued to build a strong research record, publishing a total of three KCI-indexed papers to date.

Research Professor Soon-An Hyun earned a Ph.D. in Education from the Department of Educational Consulting at the Graduate School of Pukyong National University and has since been conducting research as a research professor at Sunchon National University. Her work has focused on educational technology, AI in education, educational assessment, and adolescent cognition and emotional development. In the present study, she contributed to the theoretical and empirical interpretation of the structural relationship between adolescent shyness and interpretation bias. In addition, Soon-An Hyun was recently selected as a recipient of the 2026 Humanities and Social Sciences Research Professor Program funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea. Under this program, she will carry out research with five years of support as a research professor at the Institute of Fisheries and Marine Education at Pukyong National University, directed by Professor Hyo-Heon Won.

Professor Gyun Huh, who supervised the study, has conducted extensive research in the fields of educational technology, AI-based education, big data analytics, and advanced quantitative research methodologies, while continuously mentoring graduate students and early-career researchers in publishing their work in both international and domestic academic journals. The achievement is regarded as a notable example of the research capabilities and global competitiveness of Pukyong National University in adolescent educational psychology, reflecting the collaborative strengths of the university’s Department of Fisheries and Marine Industry Education (Chair: Professor Tae-Ho Lee), as well as the graduate programs in the Department of Educational Consulting and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Human Resource Development.