<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">To your question, I think it can be both. There are small children who are simply born with a more inhibited personality (I'm reading a book about it, actually), and also you can train yourself or others can train you to be shy. In some cases, you reward yourself for being shy because it can get you out of situations that cause mild anxiety if you're naturally born with an inhibited personality, and over time when you feel lessening of anxiety for hiding from people, you get more of a buildup of pressure and anxiety when you actually do talk to strangers or are in the center of attention. It ends up being a habit so thoroughly engrained that it alters your neural pathways and fear mechanisms.
At least that's my theory. Someone can call me crazy if they want. :P</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">