1. Shame-Coping and the Big Five Personality Traits
Jeff Elison, Ph.D.
Adams State University
Initial Interest: Harter, school shootings.
Role of humiliation and bullying.

2. Personality & Emotion-regulation
Emotionality is a stable aspect of personality structure
Emotionality influenced by characteristic emotion-regulation strategies (Bonanno & Burton, 2013)
Shame-coping reflected in personality and psychopathology (Nathanson, 1992)
Shame-regulation strategies are relatively stable traits of personality (Elison, Lennon, & Pulos, 2006)
Replication of Elison (2000) / further validation

3. Shame-focused Coping: “The Compass of Shame”
Withdrawal
Attack Other
Attack Self
Avoidance
SCE
Shame Family:
At the center… an instance of S, G, E, H
Applies to all of these emotions.
Briefly describe each
Nathanson, 1992

4. Attack Self Feeling: “bad,” anger at self, self-disgust
Thought: “I’m stupid / I hate myself”
Motive: acceptance by others
Behavior: deference, improve
Example: A perfectionist student who gets a B+ says “I’m worthless” but studies twice as hard next time.

5. Withdrawal Feeling: “bad” Thought: acceptance of low status
Motive: reduce emotional pain by minimizing exposure to others
Behavior: withdraw, hide
Example: A student who is picked last for a team decides to leave the game rather than play.

6. Attack Other Feeling: outward-directed anger
Thought: others’ faults or status
Motive: bolster own rank
Behavior: blame others, put others down
Example: A student who gets a C on the test mocks someone for their D.

7. Avoidance Feeling: “fine” Thought: no consciousness of feeling “bad”
Motive: avoid feeling emotional pain
Behavior: disavow goal, turn to distractions, focus attention on strengths
Example: A failing student makes a joke of her grade and then changes the subject to her new car.

8. Adaptive Feeling: variable levels of shame
Thought: why / what does this mean?
Motive: make things “right” / stay connected
Behavior: self-evaluate, improve, make amends, seek social support
Example: After criticism, a student goes to friends for support and to help evaluate its legitimacy.

9. Personality – Big Five Model
Neuroticism: tendency to experience negative affects & emotional instability
Extraversion: sociable, active, talkative
Agreeableness: altruistic, sympathetic, helps others
Conscientiousness: planned, organized, reliable
Openness: curious, independent, question authority

10. Hypotheses AS WD AO AV AD N E A C O +Large -Small -Mod +Mod -Large

11. CoSS: Compass of Shame Scale
58 items – 4 subscales w/ 12 items each, plus Adaptive (10 items); Elison et al., 2006
Rated on frequency of use
Example:
When I feel others think poorly of me:
I soothe myself with distractions. (AV)
I think of myself as flawed. (AS)
I want to be alone. (WD)
I get angry at other people. (AO)
I try to understand why. (AD)

12. NEO-FFI: Big Five Model (Costa & McCrae, 1992)
60 items – 5 subscales w/ 12 items each
Likert scale: 1 (SD) to 5 (SA)
Examples:
Neuroticism: I often feel tense and jittery.
Extraversion: I really enjoy talking to people.
Agreeableness: I try to be courteous to everyone I meet.
Conscientiousness: I keep my belongings clean and neat.
Openness: I often try new and foreign foods.

13. Subjects N = 154 undergraduate students Females: 42%, Males: 58%
Age: M = 21.7
White, non-Hispanic: 58%, Hispanic: 29%; Black: 8%

14. Reliability Attack Self: α = .91 Withdrawal: α = .85
Attack Other: α = .84
Avoidance: α = .73
Adaptive: α = .80
Neuroticism: α = .85
Extraversion: α = .77
Agreeableness: α = .69
Conscientiousness: α = .77
Openness: α = .77

15. Results AS WD AO AV AD N E A C O .57** +L -.26** -S -.04 -.06 -.03
.63** +L
-.45** -M
-.01
-.11
.03
.32** +M
-.17*
-.28** -L
-.18* -S
-.11
-.04
.30**
.02 -M
-.02
.17*
-.15 -S
.44** +S
.32**
.17*
.27**
* p < .05
** p < .001

16. Conclusions / Implications
Shame-coping styles reflected in personality traits
Neuroticism : strong correlations with AS, WD, AO demonstrate the maladaptive nature of these shame responses
their importance in understanding psychological adjustment
Evidence for CoSS validity (AD)