ABSTRACT
Why do some children react with inhibition when they encounter strangers but other children do not? Why do some of these initially inhibited children overcome their shyness quickly and become immersed in social interaction whereas others need a long time to warm up, and still others escape to splendid isolation, ignoring the stranger? Why do some children act so shy in groups of familiar peers whereas others fly around like butterflies? In this chapter I try to provide some tentative answers to these questions.
