Development and validation of an audio corpus for inducing state shyness

State shyness refers to a transient emotional experience characterised by simultaneous approach and avoidance tendencies when individuals encounter novel stimuli or perceive social evaluations, representing a common phenomenon in daily social interactions. Current methods for eliciting state shyness, such as public speaking tasks, often involve complex indirect experimental designs and depend on post-hoc behavioural coding, making it difficult to precisely induce and synchronously measure state shyness, thus limiting their application in controlled experimental settings. To address this methodological limitation, this research developed and validated an audio-based corpus specifically designed for the direct induction of state shyness. The corpus consists of two subsets, each containing 25 standardised social scenarios. In Study 1, semi-structured interviews with 126 university students informed the creation of these scenarios, which were subsequently refined through thematic analysis. The efficacy of the corpus was then validated through self-reported state shyness ratings from 58 participants. Study 2 further validated the corpus's reliability by employing Electrodermal Activity as an objective physiological measure with 37 participants. This research offers a standardised and easily deployable tool for inducing state shyness in controlled experimental contexts, enabling direct and precise inducing state shyness.