The evolution of social attractiveness and its role in shame, humiliation, guilt and therapy

“The social self reflects one’s social value, esteem, and status and is largely based on others’ perceptions of one’s worth (de Waal, 1989; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Compassionate mind training (CMT) evolved from working with high shame and selfcritical people (Gilbert, 1992, 1997, 2000; Gilbert & Irons, 2005).”

“Others have emphasized that humiliation cannot occur in absence of a humiliating other; that, unlike shame, it is dependent on a dyadic relationship (e.g., Gilbert, 1997; Miller, 1988).”

“However, following Gilbert (1997), we view shame as a prototypical emotion elicited under these specific forms of social threat.”

“There is a good deal of empirical evidence to support this ‘appeasement’ or remedial function of embarrassment from studies of both humans and non-human primates (Leary & Meadows 1991; Gilbert 1997; Keltner & Buswell 1997; Keltner & Anderson 2000).”

“Many theories of the etiology of shame emotions and social self-esteem hypothesize that these states are particularly likely to occur in social situations in which the self is devalued (6,8,14); however, little empirical work in which aspects of the social environment are manipulated to test this hypothesis exists.”

“Humans presumably evolved the ability to appraise how they are being viewed by others (e.g., whether they are attracting negative attention from their group; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Gilbert (1997) postulated that scarce resources are acquired through two types of strategy, resource-holding power and social attention–holding power.”

“Humans compete for 1208 SOCIAL RESEARCH approval and acceptance and to elicit the investments of others (Barkow, 1989; Gilbert, 1997, 2002a).”

“Emphasizing the subjective sensations (feeling small, inferior, inadequate, etc.) and action tendencies (desire to flee, hide, avoid social contact, etc.) of shame, together with his associates, Gilbert (Gilbert, 1992, 1997; Gilbert & McGuire, 1998; Gilbert, Price & Allan, 1995) has been one of the principal proponent…”

“Gilbert (1997, 1998) distinguished between external and internal shame.”

“In humans, Gilbert (1997) referred to this ability to garner others’ respect and attention as “social attention holding potential” (p. 117).”

“We argue that shame is in this category (38), based on evidence that it is elicited in situations experienced as uncontrollable and reflecting shortcomings within the self (4, 5), and its experiential and behavioral components are consistent with disengagement and/or withdrawal (eg, wanting to hide, disappear, avoid i…”

“Gilbert (1997) noted that when working clinically with shame issues, it is preferable to concentrate on those particular aspects of the self that are actually the focus of shame.”

“This strategy is also based on attractiveness enhancement and being able to manipulate the positive emotions of others [28].”

“anthropology, psychology, sociology, cultural studies) as a powerful emotion, it is one that is ‘invisible’ or ‘hidden’ in modern Western societies (Lewis 1992, Gilbert 1997, Scheff 2003, Probyn 2005). Scheff (2003) suggests that ‘a large part of the cultural defence against shame is linguistic; the English language,…”

“The importance of shame in the development of self-esteem and relationship with others has been reviewed extensively (Gilbert, 1997).”

“Gilbert (1997) proposes that self-blaming and self-criticism arise from efforts to improve self or prevent mistakes.”

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“These differences also breed through in the functionality of both emotions as guilt motivates reparative behavior by making apologies and engaging in attempts to fix the situation, while shame motivates defensive and avoidance behavior, possibly serving as an innate mechanism of communicating submission—affirming one’…”

“Gilbert et al. (2007) note that some fears of exclusion or marginalization can be linked to being passively ignored or ‘not chosen’ because one lacks certain qualities of attractiveness, but other forms of social exclusion are linked to active rejection involving criticism, harassment and bullying.”

“Shame has been described as experiencing one's external and internal worlds as hostile and persecuting (Gilbert 1997; Gilbert et al. 1994; Lewis 2003).”

“…arenas may be particularly pertinent, as perceptions of lower rank may impact upon fi nding a partner, having a successful career and forming friendships (Gilbert, 1997), and therefore the need to be accepted, feel attractive and be valued by others are the modern day ‘ competition for resources ’ .”

“When ashamed, the individual appeases [67] and produces a phylogenetically ancient [3,5,17] stereotyped nonverbal display [3,17,47] that deters attacks by signaling subordination; that is, that less weight on one’s welfare is acceptable [68].”

“In others words, depressed individuals seem to take up a basic subordinate position, be this from attacks on them from others in the external world (Allan & Gilbert, 1997) or even their own thoughts, and mirrors the findings for malevolent voice hearers (Birchwood et al. 2000).”

“Status can be conferred in humans, as in lower animals, through power, dominance and ability to influence by means of a threat-based, agonistic system that relates to accessing resources (Gilbert, 1997).”

“Several note that external body shame in BDD appears to drive social isolation (Buhlmann et al., 2011a; Frare et al., 2004; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Thus, Gilbert (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2007) suggested that shame can focus on two types of evaluation.”

“Thus, shame-proneness cannot be characterized in a unitary way at the level of culture, but depends on both the culture and the audience.”

“We note that human pride and its obverse, shame, are evolutionarily derived from regulatory systems for dominance and submission (5, 7, 8), and various aspects of those emotions (e.”

“Gilbert (1992, 1997) emphasises this oop, The School e, College Lane, nd Eating Disorders terScience (www.inter aspect in his evolutionary model of shame where the shamed person anticipates a negative evaluation by more powerful others.”

“, shrinking, head down, gaze avoidance, slumped posture), elicitors (social self-threat) and motivation (the motivation to disengage or withdraw; Gilbert, 1997; Gruenewald et al., 2006a,b; Keltner and Buswell, 1996).”

“, food), help in raising offspring, and protection/defense against threat (Barkow, 1989; Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Similarly, Gilbert (1997) wrote that humiliation is likely to occur when one feels “criticized, degraded, and abused by a bad CHILD MALTREATMENT / NOVEMBER 2005 other” (p. 134).”

“Gilbert and co-workers (e.g., Gilbert, 1997; Gilbert et al., 1995) embrace this argument in their notion of Social Attention Holding Power (SAHP).”

“…is seen as rst and foremost an injury to the dignity of its victims, an injury usually described in gurative language: in humiliation, one “is stripped of one’s dignity” (Gilbert, 1997, p. 133), one is “robbed of” dignity (Dillon, 1997, p. 1), or simply “loses” it (Margalit, 1996, p. 115).”

“Other important outcomes of perceived low rank in humans include low selfesteem, shame and humiliation (Gilbert, 1997).”

“, 2009), which elicits negative self-evaluative emotions, such as shame (Dickerson et al., 2004; Gilbert, 1997; Gruenewald et al., 2004; Tangney, 1995).”

“In accordance with Gilbert’s theory (Gilbert 1997; Gilbert and Andrews 1998), external shame, is also assumed to be part of the shame-ridden individual and related to the affective and behavioral components of shame.”

“Negative selfperception is often maintained through social comparisons of social status and rank (Luke and Stopa, 2009) and judgements of inferiority and inadequacy are associated with shame and low self-esteem (Gilbert, 1997).”

“Consistent with this logic, researchers have argued that displaying shame indirectly promotes fitness by allowing for the formation of cooperative social ties that provide protection and allow for the sharing of resources (Barkow, 1989; Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Shame is ‘‘one of the most powerful, painful, and potentially destructive experiences known to humans’’ (Gilbert, 1997, p. 113).”

“Studies show that socially attractive people are more likely to be valued as partners, friends, or allies (Gilbert 1997) and are less likely to be victimized (Furr and Funder 1999, Parker and Asher 1987).”

“Similarly, Gilbert (1997) suggests that feelings of shame characterize a sense of being dominated or defeated.”

“Although humans fully retain and exploit phylogenetically ancient adaptations for aggression and dominance [including systems for threat, fighting, display, and assessment (8, 10–12)]— as seen in groups of children, adolescents, and adults (13–16)— human evolution was distinctive in the greatly expanded role that mutu…”

“For example, it is theorised that victims of humiliation suffer damage to their identity and sense of self (e.g. Klein, 1991; Statman, 2000), yet other theoretical literature on humiliation concludes that humiliation does not involve an internal sense of inferiority (Gilbert, 1997).”

“It may well be that both primary and secondary psychopaths have an inner sense of shame such that ‘there is a feeling that, in truth, there is something awed, bad or worthless about oneself’ (Gilbert, 1997).”

“…perspective, anger and aggression can be viewed as a defence against feelings of shame and humiliation, since they signal power and dominance and move the individual up the social hierarchy (Gilbert, 1997; Gilbert & McGuire, 1998), restoring any damage created by the humiliation experience.”

“In the model being proposed, shame is conceptualized as an affect (i.e., basic emotion; Gilbert, 1997; Izard, 1971; Tomkins, 1963) evolved by social selection (Gilbert & McGuire, 1998; Parker, 1998) and elicited by perceived devaluation (Frijda, 1993; Gilbert, 1997).”

“Ginges and Atran (2008) have polled Palestinians about experiences of humiliation and found that “people stand in line at checkpoints” led the list as most humiliating (p.”

“As various authors have noted (Gilbert, 1997; Wispé, 1986), skills in empathic attunement and empathic communication do not necessarily lead to caring or a therapeutic act.”

“A similar distinction between shame and guilt is evident in evolutionary approaches (Gilbert, 1997), which argue that shame is based upon a need to be attractive to others (a determinant of social status), whereas guilt is based upon an empathic desire to look after others.”

“Indeed, shame is conceptualized as a selfconscious and socially-focused emotion derived from perceptions of being perceived as flawed, inadequate or defective [18,26–28].”

“…et al., 2012, 2016, under review; Sznycer, Schniter, Tooby, & Cosmides, 2015; Sznycer, Cosmides, & Tooby, 2017; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008; see also Gilbert, 1997, 1998; Fessler, 1999, 2007; Schlenker & Leary, 1982), shame will be activated in a person's mind when others learn (or might learn)…”

“Various researchers have suggested that appeasement may be a central function of shame (e.g. Fessler, 1999; Gausel & Leach, 2011; Gilbert, 1997), motivating Note: Withdrawal/approach choice reflects the percentage of respondents who chose the together task.”

“In the sense that humiliation involves feelings of rage in response to the unjust actions of others [20,44], it appears similar to anger.”