Announcements ■Thursday, November 12 th at 4:15 PM –Rough drafts due on turnitin.psu.edu ■Sites.psu.edu/emotion –Rubric for rough draft –TurnItIn instructions and paraphrasing examples –APA example paper (updated yesterday) ■Exam 3 Grades
Self-Conscious Emotions ■Negatively-valenced self- conscious emotions –Shame –Guilt –Embarrassment ■Positively-valenced self- conscious emotions –Pride –Hubris
Self-Conscious Emotions ■Evaluation of the self ■Cognitively complex ■Develop later ■Adaptive ■Facial and body change
The Top 10!! ■What causes shame or guilt? ■What causes embarrassment?
Top 10 Causes of Shame/Guilt 1.Not spending enough time with children, partners, etc. 2.Not losing that extra pound 3.Spending money on yourself 4.Not making your partner happy 5.Always being late 6.Not being the perfect host/hostess 7.Forgetting someone’s birthday 8.Taking some “me” down 9.Letting your parents down 10.Saying “no” (Mirror, UK)
Top 10 Most Embarrassing Moments 1.Wardrobe Malfunctions 2.Lost for Words 3.Mistaken Baby Bump 4.Romantic Mishaps 5.Looking Foolish 6.Nigel No-Friends 7.Embarrassment by Proxy 8.Dating Disasters 9.Getting caught (i.e., foot in mouth) 10.Clumsy Catastrophes (Reader’s Digest Australia, 2009)
Two Perspectives ■Historically, Shame → Public; Guilt → Private ■Distinct Emotions (Tangney; Keltner) –Shame, guilt, and embarrassment are different emotions ■Single-Emotion Theory (Sabini & Silver) –Shame, guilt, and embarrassment are same emotions
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Shame and Guilt Both Shame and Guilt ■Elicited by moral violation ■Negative, highly intense ■Long-lasting ■Similar Feelings ■Similar Cognitive Appraisals Shame (vs. Guilt) ■More intense, unexpected ■Greater physiological change (HR, blushing) ■Less likely to confess, make amends (Tangney and colleagues, 1996)
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Embarrassment (vs. Shame and Guilt) Embarrassment ■Elicited by social, not moral convention (or just attention!) ■Least negative, most fleeting ■Greater physiological changes (blushing, HR) ■Fewer moral implications ■Less self-anger, more amusement ■Different Cognitive Appraisals (Tangney and colleagues, 1996)
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Eliciting Stimuli Shame Moral Violations Large failure Cheating, lying Guilt Moral violations Large failure Cheating, lying Embarr Social Conventional violation Small failure tripping (Keltner & Buswell, 1996, 1997)
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Cognitive Appraisals ■Guilt = BAD ACT –specific transgression or behavior –“I cheated on this exam – my behavior was bad, but I’m not a bad person” ■Shame = BAD SELF –specific transgression + negative evaluation of global self –“I cheated on this exam - I’m a bad person” ■Embarrassment = FOCUS ON SELF –“Those three students saw me cheat and are looking at me.”
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Subjective Feelings ■All negatively valenced ■Shame and guilt highly arousing, embarrassment lower in arousal ■Guilt –Regret, remorse, rumination - nagging focus on preoccupation with specific transgression, hope –Feelings dissipate faster than shame, slower than guilt ■Shame –Regret, depression, immoral, disgust, self-directed anger –Feeling physically smaller and inferior to others; feel people are watching –Feelings are long-lasting ■Embarrassment –Feeling foolish, stupid, awkward –Feelings dissipate quickly
Distinct Emotions Perspective: Behavior Changes ■Guilt –Approach Behavior: Desire to act - undo the bad deed, apologize, confess –Bowed head and frown ■Shame –Avoidance Behavior: Desire to hide or escape –Do not confess or apologize –Head and gaze down, shrinking of the body ■EmbarrassmentEmbarrassment –Avoidance Behavior: Blushing, smiling, covering face –Approach Behavior: jokes, smiling, laughing –Approach-and-Avoidance Posture: Gaze aversion + non- Duchenne smile, nervous touching, looking at and away
Video
Distinct Emotions Perspective ■IV: 3 emotion events –Think of a time when you felt shame [guilt] [embarrassment] ■Then, rated 31 dimensions –Causes, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, presence of other people ■Self- and other-attributions –Self-attribution: focused on own thoughts about bad act –Other-attribution: focused on other people’s thoughts about bad act (Tangney and colleagues, 1996)
Distinct Emotions Perspective ■Experienced in private –10% of guilt events –18% shame events –2% embarrassment events ■Presence of People –Shame and guilt – close others –Embarrassment – acquaintances and strangers (Tangney and colleagues, 1996)
On ridiculousness, greater discrepancies between self- attributions and other- attributions causes embarrassment When we view the self as more ridiculous than we think other people view us, this causes embarrassment
On unforgiveableness, greater discrepancies between self- attributions and other- attributions causes shame and guilt
Distinct Emotions Perspective ■All include conscious evaluation of the self ■Eliciting Stimulus: –Moral vs. Social; Presence of People ■Avoidance > Shame, Embarrassment, Guilt > Approach ■Cognitive Appraisals –Self vs. other attributions –Unforgiveable vs. Ridiculous Discrepancies ■Subjective Feelings –Intensity: Shame > Guilt > Embarrassment –Co-occur with different emotions
Single-Emotion Theory ■Shame, guilt, and E are different words for same emotion ■Moral and social violations not required cog appraisals –Moral and nonmoral violations cause all 3 emotions ■Only require cognitive appraisal is evaluation of the self –Core Self vs. Presented Self ■Shame = flaw in one’s core self ■Embarrassment = flaw in one’s presented self –Real Flaw vs. Apparent (possibly visible) Flaw ■Shame = perception of a real flaw in our self or our character ■Embarr = perception that other people see a flaw in our self or character (may or may not be accurate)
Being drunk…. shame or embarrassment? ■Distinct Emotions – Embarrassment! ■Single-Emotion Theory – It depends on the situation! –Does this reveal a real flaw in the person? ■Being an alcoholic –Does this reveal an apparent (visible) flaw? ■Being drunk at a graduation party
Single-Emotion Theory ■20 scenarios: 10 – shame; 10 – embarr. ■If Distinct Emotions True: –Shame scenario → Shame! –Embarr scenario → Embarr! –Zero or negative correlations ■If Single-Emotion Theory True: –Shame scenario → Shame and Embarr! –Embarr scenario → Embarr, but not shame –High, positive correlations (Sabini, Garvey, & Hall, 2001)
For following 2 scenarios: 1.How much shame would you experience? 1 = none; 7 = extreme shame 2.How much embarrassment would you experience? 1 = none; 7 = extreme embarrassment
You are taking a class with a friend’s boyfriend/girlfriend. You are studying late together one night for your social psych midterm. Surprisingly your friend’s girlfriend/boyfriend tries to kiss you just as your friend walks in the room. Your friend looks at you and asks, “How could you do something like that to me?” You are speechless and the conversation ends with your friend storming out of the room saying, “I never want to see you again!” You are taking a class with a friend’s boyfriend/girlfriend. You are studying late together one night for your social psych midterm. One thing leads to another and you find yourself kissing. You agree that night never to discuss it again and not to tell your friend. However, a week later she/he finds out what happened between you two and asks, “How could you do something like that to me?” You are speechless and the conversation ends with your friend storming out of the room saying, “I never want to see you again.”
Single-Emotion Theory ■20 scenarios –10: real flaw revealed –10: possible flaw revealed
Single-Emotion Theory ■Reasonable Basis –audience has a good reason to believe you revealed a flaw, but you did not ■No Reasonable Basis –audience perceives you have a flaw, but they do not have good reason for this perception ■Guilty –you are guilty of the offense, but someone else exaggerates your offense
Single-Emotion Theory When a real, serious flaw of the self is revealed Shame When we communicate that although there seems to have been a real flaw of the self, there actually was not. Embarr When people’s perception of our potential flaw is unreasonable Anger Other people’s perceptions of us are correct! Other people’s perceptions of us are wrong!
Two Types of Embarrassment Embarrassment as Exposure No negative self- evaluation Compliments, focus on self Embarrassment as Less Intense Shame Negative Self- Evaluation Small specific failure of standards Clip
What about guilt? ■Distinct Emotions – –Guilt is a distinct emotion. –Evaluation of a bad act –Self-attribution –Maladaptive guilt can turn into shame ■Single-Emotion Theory –Any feelings that characterize a guilty person –You can only feel guilt if you are guilty! –Shame is one type of guilty feelings
SHAMEGUILTEMBARRASSMENT Eliciting Stimulus Moral, serious transgression Public or Private Moral, serious transgression Public or Private Less serious transgression Public Cognitive Appraisals Global Self-AttributionSpecific Self-AttributionPresented Self (w/ or w/o negative evaluation) Behavior Changes Avoidance Look down, slight frown, slumped posture Approach Look down, slight frown, move forward in space Avoidance or Approach non-Duchenne smile, lip press, gaze down, head movement down, face touch Physiological Changes Blushing, ↑ Heart rate Subjective Feelings Unpleasantness ↑ Arousal (higher) Negative emotions Hopelessness Unpleasantness ↑ Arousal (lower) Negative emotions Hope Unpleasantness (lowest), ↑ Arousal (lowest) Positive emotions
Shame? Guilt? Embarrassment?
Summary ■Distinct Emotions: –Many Differences –But, similarities too! ■Single-Emotion Theory –Different intensities of the same emotion –Real Flaw vs. Apparent (Possible) Flaw determines the label we give our feelings –More work needed for guilt