Embarrassment: its distinct form and appeasement functions
Abstract
The authors address 2 questions about embarrassment. First, Is embarrassment a distinct emotion? The evidence indicates that the antecedents, experience, and display of embarrassment, and to a limited extent its autonomic physiology, are distinct from shame, guilt, and amusement and share the dynamic, temporal characteristics of emotion. Second, What are the theoretical accounts of embarrassment? Three accounts focus on the causes of embarrassment, positioning that it follows the loss of self-esteem, concern for others' evaluations, or absence of scripts to guide interactions. A fourth account focuses on the effects of the remedial actions of embarrassment, which correct preceding transgressions. A fifth account focuses on the functional parallels between embarrassment and nonhuman appeasement. The discussion focuses on unanswered questions about embarrassment.
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Humans share expressions of embarrassment with other mammals: face touching paired with downward head movements and eye gaze.
“Likewise, humans share expressions of embarrassment with other mammals: face touching paired with downward head movements and eye gaze (Keltner, 1995;Keltner and Anderson, 2000;Keltner and Buswell, 1997).”
From Physiological feelings (2019) · cites this paper as Keltner and Buswell, 1997
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“Recently, however, theorists have proposed that embarrassment (Keltner, 1995; Keltner et al., in press; Leary et al., 1992; Miller & Leary, 1992) as well as the blush (Castelfranchi & Poggi, 1990; Leary et al., 1992) may serve appeasement-related functions, pacifying observers of social…”
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- Authors
- Keltner, D., & Buswell, B. N.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- ORCID
- Keltner, Dacher
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 1997-11
- Volume
- 122
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 250-270
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2165773686
- Cited by
- 751
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 52 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 9.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
- Keywords
- embarrassment, shame, guilt, amusements, appeasement, self-esteem, social evaluation, scripts, transgression, autonomic physiology, emotion theory
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Emotions, Facial Expression, Humans, Internal-External Control, Interpersonal Relations, Psychophysiology, Self Concept, Shame, Social Behavior
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