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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–3Cite as

Embarrassment

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Synonyms

Abashment; Chagrin; Discomposure; Humiliation; Mortification

Definition

Embarrassment is a social and moral emotion characterized by an acute feeling of awkward, abashed chagrin following a predicament that threatens one’s desired image before real or imagined others (Buck 1999; Miller 1996). It often involves a display of involuntary blushing, averted gaze, and nervous body movement and vocalization (Keltner 1995).

Introduction: A Social and Moral Emotion

Embarrassment is a social emotion; the experience of embarrassment requires the real or imagined presence of others, the need to meet or exceed others’ expectations, and the need to be accepted and create and maintain social bonds (Buck 1999; Withers 2002). Embarrassment does not occur in the absence of any one of these elements.

Embarrassment is also a moral emotion; one must have learned social rules involving fairness judgments and be aware when a rule has been violated (Buck 1999). To create social bonds and understand...

Keywords

  • Social Bond
  • Emotional Expressiveness
  • Moral Emotion
  • Social Emotion
  • Responsible Party

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication and Dramatic Arts, Central Michigan University, 350 Moore Hall, Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA

    Lesley A. Withers

Authors
  1. Lesley A. Withers
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Correspondence to Lesley A. Withers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Smugowa 10/12, 91-433, Lodz, Poland

    Monika Wróbel

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Withers, L.A. (2016). Embarrassment. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_506-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_506-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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