Embarrassment - Wikipedia Embarrassment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Emotional state that is associated with mild to severe levels of discomfort For other uses, see Embarrassment (disambiguation). This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Embarrassment" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Part of a series on Emotions Acceptance Affection Amusement Anger Angst Anguish Annoyance Anticipation Anxiety Apathy Arousal Awe Boredom Confidence Contempt Contentment Courage Curiosity Depression Desire Disappointment Disgust Distrust Doubt Ecstasy Embarrassment Empathy Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Faith Fear Frustration Gratification Gratitude Greed Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Interest Jealousy Joy Kindness Loneliness Love Lust Nostalgia Outrage Panic Passion Pity Pleasure Pride Rage Regret Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Self-pity Shame Shock Shyness Social connection Sorrow Suffering Surprise Trust Wonder Worry v t e Embarrassment or awkwardness is an emotional state that is associated with mild to severe levels of discomfort, and which is usually experienced when someone commits a socially unacceptable or frowned-upon act that was witnessed by or revealed to others. Usually, some perception of loss of honor or dignity (or other high-value ideals) is involved, but the embarrassment level and the type depends on the situation. Contents 1 Causes 1.1 Professional embarrassment 1.2 Vicarious embarrassment 1.3 Types in social psychology 2 Etymology 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Causes[edit] Embarrassment can be personal, caused by unwanted attention to private matters or personal flaws or mishaps or shyness. Some causes of embarrassment stem from personal actions, such as being caught in a lie or in making a mistake. In many cultures, being seen nude or inappropriately dressed is a particularly stressful form of embarrassment (see modesty). Personal embarrassment can also stem from the actions of others who place the embarrassed person in a socially awkward situation—such as a parent showing one's baby pictures to friends, having someone make a derogatory comment about one's appearance or behavior, discovering one is the victim of gossip, being rejected by another person (see also humiliation), being made the focus of attention (e.g., birthday celebrants, newlyweds), or even witnessing someone else's embarrassment. Personal embarrassment is usually accompanied by some combination of blushing, sweating, nervousness, stammering, and fidgeting. Sometimes the embarrassed person tries to mask embarrassment with smiles or nervous laughter, especially in etiquette situations. Such a response is more common in certain cultures, which may lead to misunderstanding. There may also be feelings of anger depending on the perceived seriousness of the situation, especially if the individual thinks another person is intentionally causing the embarrassment. There is a range of responses, with the most minor being a perception of the embarrassing act as inconsequential or even humorous, to intense apprehension or fear. The idea that embarrassment serves an apology or appeasement function originated with Goffman who argued the embarrassed individual "demonstrates that he/she is at least disturbed by the fact and may prove worthy at another time".[1] Semin and Manstead demonstrated social functions of embarrassment whereby the perpetrator of knocking over a sales display (the "bad act") was deemed more likable by others if he/she appeared embarrassed than if he/she appeared unconcerned – regardless of restitution behavior (rebuilding the display).[2] The capacity to experience embarrassment can also be seen as functional for the group or culture. It has been demonstrated that those who are not prone to embarrassment are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior – for example, adolescent boys who displayed more embarrassment were found less likely to engage in aggressive/delinquent behaviors. Similarly, embarrassment exhibited by boys more likely to engage in aggressive/delinquent behavior was less than one-third of that exhibited by non-aggressive boys.[3] Thus proneness to embarrassment (i.e., a concern for how one is evaluated by others) can act as a brake on behavior that would be dysfunctional for a group or culture. Professional embarrassment[edit] Embarrassment can also be professional or official, especially after statements expressing confidence in a stated course of action, or willful disregard for evidence. Embarrassment increases greatly in instances involving official duties or workplace facilities, large amounts of money or materials, or loss of human life. Examples of causes include a government's failed public policy, exposure of corrupt practices or unethical behavior, a celebrity whose personal habits receive public scrutiny or face legal action, or officials caught in serious personally embarrassing situations. Even small errors or miscalculations can lead to significantly greater official embarrassment if it is discovered that there was willful disregard for evidence or directives involved (e.g., see Space Shuttle Challenger). Not all official failures result in official embarrassment, even if the circumstances lead to some slight personal embarrassment for the people involved. For example, losing a close political election might cause some personal embarrassment for the candidate but generally would be considered an honorable loss in the profession and thus not necessarily lead to professional embarrassment. Similarly, a scientist might be personally disappointed and embarrassed if one of his hypotheses was proven wrong, but would not normally suffer professional embarrassment as a result. By contrast, exposure of falsified data supporting a scientific claim (e.g., see Hwang Woo-Suk) would likely lead to professional embarrassment in the scientific community. Professional or official embarrassment is often accompanied by public expressions of anger, denial of involvement, or attempts to minimize the consequences. Sometimes the embarrassed entity issues press statements, removes or distance themselves from sub-level employees, attempts to carry on as if nothing happened, suffers income loss, emigrates, or vanishes from public view. Vicarious embarrassment[edit] Main article: Vicarious embarrassment Vicarious embarrassment is an embarrassed feeling from observing the embarrassing actions of another person.[4] People who rate themselves as more empathic are more likely to experience vicarious embarrassment.[5] The effect is present whether or not the observed party is aware of the embarrassing nature of their actions, although awareness generally increases the strength of the felt vicarious embarrassment, as does an accidental (as opposed to intentional) action.[6] Types in social psychology[edit] An embarrassing proposal by Antoine Watteau One typology of embarrassment is described by Sharkey and Stafford. There are six types of embarrassment:[7] Privacy violations – for example where a part of the body is accidentally exposed, or there is an invasion of space, property, or information that may be warranted to privacy, Lack of knowledge and skill – for example forgetfulness, or experiencing failure while performing a relatively easy task Criticism and rejection – is another cause of embarrassment, as well as being made the center of attention positively or negatively Awkward acts – refer to social situations, for example, inappropriate conversations, clumsiness or ungraceful actions (such as an emotional outbreak like speaking out unintentionally) that can trigger embarrassment Appropriate image – refers to more of a personal reflection of embarrassment, like body image, clothing apparel, and personal possessions (for example owning an older mobile phone compared to the latest model) Environment – can also have the effect of provoking embarrassment, as when an individual in a movie theatre with his or her parents, other family, co-workers, or mixed-company peers is made uncomfortable by an unexpected occurrence of nudity in the film that the group is watching. Another typology, by Cupach and Metts, discusses the dimensions of intended-unintended and appropriate-inappropriate behavior, and four basic types of embarrassing circumstances: Faux pas (socially awkward acts) Accidents Mistakes Failure to perform a duty or moral obligation. Based on these types, Cupach and Metts classify two basic embarrassment situations: the actor responsible and the observer responsible. Actor responsible situations are embarrassing when a person executes an act that is either inappropriate to a point of proficiency matching social norms and expectations, inconsistent with role expectations, or is out-of-sync with a social identity. The observer responsible categories are embarrassing when an individual becomes the focus of attention through: Recognition, praise, criticism, correction, or teasing Becomes initialized through being tripped or bumped, which is then associated with someone acting inappropriately Has information revealed publicly to another individual or peer group Etymology[edit] The first known written occurrence of embarrass in English was in 1664 by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The word derives from the French word embarrasser, "to block" or "obstruct",[8] whose first recorded usage was by Michel de Montaigne in 1580. The French word was derived from the Spanish embarazar, whose first recorded usage was in 1460 in Cancionero de Stúñiga (Songbook of Stúñiga) by Álvaro de Luna.[9] The Spanish word comes from the Portuguese embaraçar, which is a combination of the prefix em- (from Latin im- for "in-") with baraço or baraça, "a noose" or "rope".[10] Baraça originated before the Romans began their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC.[9] Thus, baraça could be related to the Celtic word barr, "tuft". (Celtic people actually settled much of Spain and Portugal beginning in the 8th century BC)[11] However, it certainly is not directly derived from it, as the substitution of r for rr in Ibero-Romantic languages was not a known occurrence. The Spanish word may come from the Italian imbarazzare, from imbarazzo, "obstacle" or "obstruction". That word came from imbarrare, "to block" or "bar", which is a combination of in-, "in" with barra, "bar" (from the Vulgar Latin barra, which is of unknown origin).[9] The problem with this theory is that the first known usage of the word in Italian was by Bernardo Davanzati (1529–1606), long after the word had entered Spanish.[12] See also[edit] Blushing Criterion of embarrassment Face (social concept) Guilt Humiliation Modesty Moral emotions Shame References[edit] Notes ^ Goffman 1067. sfn error: no target: CITEREFGoffman1067 (help) ^ Semin & Manstead 1982. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSeminManstead1982 (help) ^ Ketlner et al 1995. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKetlner_et_al1995 (help) ^ Ahmet Uysal, Gülçin Akbas, Elif Helvacı, and Irem Metin, Validation and correlates of the vicarious embarrassment scale, Personality and Individual Differences 60 (2014), pp. 48–53 ^ EurekAlert!, Your flaws are my pain, 13 April 2011 ^ Sören Krach, Jan Christopher Cohrs, Nicole Cruz de Echeverría Loebell, Tilo Kircher, Jens Sommer, Andreas Jansen, and Frieder Michel Paulus, Your Flaws Are My Pain: Linking Empathy To Vicarious Embarrassment, PLoS ONE, 13 April 2011 ^ Withers, Lesley; Sherblom, John. "Embarrassment: The Communication of an Awkward Actor Anticipating a Negative Evaluation". Human Communication. 11 (2): 237–254. ^ embarrass. The Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Retrieved February 15, 2006. ^ a b c Joan Corominas and José Pacual, "embarazar," Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, (Gredos, 1980) Vol. II, p. 555-556. ^ embarrass. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. 2002. Retrieved February 15, 2006. ^ Iberian. Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on August 30, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2006. ^ embarrass. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 2000. Archived from the original on April 11, 2001. Retrieved February 15, 2006. General citations Tangney, JP; Miller Flicker Barlow (1996). "Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 70 (6): 1256–69. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1256. PMID 8667166. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Embarrassment. Wikiquote has quotations related to: Embarrassment Look up embarrassment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Bibliography of Embarrassment Research Embarrassment Research Information v t e Emotions (list) Emotions Acceptance Adoration Aesthetic emotions Affection Agitation Agony Amusement Anger Angst Anguish Annoyance Anticipation Anxiety Apathy Arousal Attraction Awe Boredom Calmness Compassion Confidence Contempt Contentment Courage Cruelty Curiosity Defeat Depression Desire Despair Disappointment Disgust Distrust Ecstasy Embarrassment Vicarious Empathy Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Fear Flow (psychology) Frustration Gratification Gratitude Greed Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Hiraeth Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hygge Hysteria Indulgence Infatuation Insecurity Inspiration Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Joy Kindness Loneliness Longing Love Limerence Lust Mono no aware Neglect Nostalgia Outrage Panic Passion Pity Self-pity Pleasure Pride Grandiosity Hubris Insult Vanity Rage Regret Social connection Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Melancholy Saudade Schadenfreude Sehnsucht Self-confidence Sentimentality Shame Shock Shyness Sorrow Spite Stress Suffering Surprise Sympathy Tenseness Trust Wonder Worry World views Cynicism Defeatism Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Weltschmerz Related Affect consciousness in education measures in psychology Affective computing forecasting neuroscience science spectrum Affectivity positive negative Appeal to emotion Emotion and art and memory and music and sex classification evolution expressed functional accounts group homeostatic perception recognition in conversation in animals regulation interpersonal work Emotional aperture bias blackmail competence conflict contagion detachment dysregulation eating exhaustion expression intelligence and bullying intimacy isolation lability labor lateralization literacy prosody reasoning responsivity security selection symbiosis well-being Emotionality bounded Emotions and culture in decision-making in the workplace in virtual communication history moral self-conscious social social sharing sociology Feeling Gender and emotional expression Group affective tone Interactions between the emotional and executive brain systems Meta-emotion Pathognomy Pathos Social emotional development Stoic passions Theory affect appraisal discrete emotion somatic marker constructed emotion v t e Bullying Types Abusive supervision Cyberbullying Disability bullying Doxing Gay bashing Hazing Military bullying Mobbing Parental bullying of children Passive aggression Peer victimization Prison bullying Rankism Relational aggression School bullying Higher education Sexual bullying Workplace bullying (Academia Information technology Legal aspects Legal profession Medicine Nursing Teaching Toxic leader) Elements Betrayal Blacklisting Bullying and emotional intelligence Character assassination Control Coercion Climate of fear Defamation Destabilisation Discrediting Embarrassment False accusation Gaslighting Gossip Harassment Humiliation Incivility Innuendo Insult Intimidation Isolation Kiss up kick down Mind games Moving the goalposts Nagging Name calling Personal attacks Psychological abuse Physical abuse Rudeness Sarcasm Setting up to fail Silent treatment Smear campaign Social exclusion Social undermining Taunting Teasing Whispering campaign Workplace incivility Verbal abuse Yelling Organizations Act Against Bullying Ditch the Label Bullying UK It Gets Better Project Kidscape GRIN Campaign Jer's Vision Experts Academics Anna Costanza Baldry Wendy Craig Dorothy Espelage David P. Farrington Shelley Hymel Heinz Leymann Gary Namie James O'Higgins Norman Dan Olweus Debra Pepler Christina Salmivalli Kenneth Westhues Activists Andrea Adams Louise Burfitt-Dons Tim Field SuEllen Fried Liam Hackett Lizzie Velásquez Actions Anti-Bullying Day Anti-Bullying Week International STAND UP to Bullying Day Anti-bullying legislation International Day of Pink Notable suicides (List) William Arthur Gibbs (1877) Kelly Yeomans (1997) Hamed Nastoh (2000) Dawn-Marie Wesley (2000) Nicola Ann Raphael (2001) Ryan Halligan (2003) Megan Meier (2006) Sladjana Vidovic (2008) Phoebe Prince (2010) Tyler Clementi (2010) Jamey Rodemeyer (2011) Jamie Hubley (2011) Kenneth Weishuhn (2012) Audrie Pott (2012) Amanda Todd (2012) Jadin Bell (2013) Rehtaeh Parsons (2013) Rebecca Ann Sedwick (2013) Leelah Alcorn (2014) Conrad Roy (2014) Ash Haffner (2015) Tyrone Unsworth (2016) Murder–suicides (incidents) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine, 1999) Jeff Weise (Red Lake, 2005) Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech, 2007) Pekka-Eric Auvinen (Jokela High School, 2007) Elliot Rodger (Isla Vista, 2014) Related topics Control freak Dehumanization Depression Emotional blackmail Just-world hypothesis Machiavellianism in the workplace Narcissism in the workplace Personal boundaries Personality disorders PTSD (C-PTSD) Psychological manipulation Psychological projection Psychological trauma Psychopathy in the workplace Scapegoating Self-esteem Social dominance orientation Suicide among LGBT youth Sycophancy Victim blaming Victim playing Victimisation Whistleblowing Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Embarrassment&oldid=994273237" Categories: Bullying Emotions Psychological abuse Hidden categories: Harv and Sfn no-target errors Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Articles needing additional references from November 2012 All articles needing additional references Articles that may contain original research from June 2016 All articles that may contain original research Articles with multiple maintenance issues Commons category link is on Wikidata Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Languages العربية Brezhoneg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Emiliàn e rumagnòl Esperanto فارسی Français हिन्दी Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ Norsk bokmål Sicilianu Suomi اردو 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 14 December 2020, at 21:59 (UTC). 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