PSY331 - 4. Self-Conscious Emotions Flashcards
What are Self-Conscious Emotions?
Involve complex cognitive processes:
1. internalize standards, rules, + goals (1-2 years old)
What are Self-Conscious Emotions?
- Evaluation (success vs. failure)
won’t understand until 3 that they should feel shame
when they fail at something easy and proud when they succeed at something hard
What are Self-Conscious Emotions?
- Attribution to self (global vs. specific): is this something i did in this 1 moment or is this part of who I am
combo of evaluation and attribution leads to self-conscious emotions
What are Self-Conscious Emotions?
kids need audience for pride and shame, but as they get older, they internalize these feelings
basic emotions happen to us
self conscious: we are agent, actor is also target of emotion
What are Self-Conscious Emotions?
emotions can take over - linger
more variability - found in subordinate level
can make us work harder, feedback on accountability + worth
moral emotions
Self-Evaluation Emotions
Self-evaluation emotions involve self-evaluation based
on personal standards, rules, and goals (Lewis, 1992).
guilt is about specific action
Self-Evaluation Emotions
shame is about you as a person - you in every moment
huburus: narcissism - tends to end up in anti-social behaviour
guilt: want to change behaviour
Reinforce Moral Action?
specific attributions: change to be more moral or maintain moral behaviour
randomly picked who did well: elicit pride
Reinforce Moral Action?
same task in group: proud - more helpful, worked hard, acted nicely
feels good to feel pride, so we work hard consistently
interdependent cultures more likely to endorse shame (global attributions)
Reinforce Moral Action?
narcicistic: not grounded self esteem
volatile - aggress when superiority is questioned
Pride or Hubris?
hard to tell diff based on expressions
lifting chin, take up a lot of room
powerful position - linked with power
Pride or Hubris?
often ppl hide pride so ppl don’t think they are huburistic
Zammuner: felt proud but don’t communicate because they don’t wanna seem arrogant
B. Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment
No unique causal situations…
embarassement: loss of physical control
failure to meet norms
B. Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment
agent and victim
internal standard
same brain activation
more gender, whites diff in shame/guilt
B. Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment
Embarrassment: Poor performance
Physical clumsiness
A cognitive error
Keltner and Buswell (1996)
Inappropriate physical appearance
Failure of privacy
Being teased or center of attention
Keltner and Buswell (1996)
Shame: Poor performance
Hurting someone’s feelings
Lying
Failure to meet own/other’s expectations
Keltner and Buswell (1996)
Guilt: Failure to perform duties Hurting someone’s feelings Lying, cheating, stealing Neglecting friend/loved one Infidelity to a romantic partner Breaking a diet
Keltner and Buswell (1996)
same antecedents, but no consistent differentiation
lots of overlap
nothing moral in embarrassment
shame is proscriptions: things you aren’t supposed to do
prescription: things you are supposed to do/be
guilt: not living up to prescriptions
Guilt, Shame, or Embarrassment?
Ps rated emotional experience on how intense, long
lasting, and expected? (Tagney et al., 1996)
Guilt/Shame
Violated moral standard More responsible for event Others were angry at them Situation was serious, not funny As funny as serious more intense, long lasting and expected feelings build up slowly
Embarrassment
Did not do anything morally wrong
Less responsible for event
Others were looking at them, feeling amused
enough differences to seperate embarrassment
Guilt vs. Shame
Guilt + shame are self-punishing emotions
rumination + mental undoing
opposite of pride: do not look at me - frowning, hunched
audience intensifies
Guilt vs. Shame: Niedenthal et al. (1994)
IV: thought of/read guilt or shame provoking scenarios
DV: listed three counterfactuals - thinking about how other action would’ve resulted (regret)
Guilt vs. Shame
Guilt situations - wish to reverse behaviour - i wish i hadn’t done x
Shame situations - wish to be something else - i wish i wasn’t so stupid
Guilt vs. Shame:
Experiencing Feelings
expressions are fairly identical feel smaller shame - global, hard to fix guilt - bad, but not worse than shame leads to feelings of remorse - wanting to right the situation
Guilt vs. Shame:
Guilt: Confess, apologize, undo
Approach; attraction
Leads to empathy: Perspective-taking - prosocial aspect
better social relationship
Guilt vs. Shame:
Self-blame, taking responsibility for transgressions: Unrelated to anger & aggression
make them love you again
Guilt vs. Shame:
No real consensus on relationship to psychopathology
except survivors guilt - can’t fix it
chronically self blaming - not really at fault
but it doesn’t lead to depression or ptsd
more moral and adaptive response generally than shame
Guilt vs. Shame:
Shame:
Deny, hide, or escape - defence mechanisms or else we can’t get out of bed
Social distancing: we need to be social
Interferes with empathy: Self-oriented, personal
distress responses
Guilt vs. Shame:
Anger, hostility, other-blame: at first self-blame, but is pushed to someone else to protect yourself
Positively related to depression, anxiety, low-self esteem,
PTSD, eating disorders, some personality disorders, suicide, self-injury, substance abuse…
Guilt vs. Shame:
doesn’t help relationship because person not taking responsibility
psychopathology is coping mechanism for low self-worth
2) Embarrassment
positives: time to think about it
highlights irrational thinking
self-oriented: realize it may be someone else’s standards
help you to wanna appease someone
maintain hierarchies
maybe you should feel ashamed - signal to change yourself
2) Embarrassment
Embarrassment - sudden-onset
sense of fluster/mortification
Negative self evaluation when committing awkward performance in front of an audience
2) Embarrassment
Motivates submissive behaviour to appease (i.e.,
affiliation)
make you seem better in front of other ppl
showing embarassement to get back into good graces
i. Expression of Embarrassment:
Gesture
Keltner (1995) - universal
gesture of embarrassment
Gaze aversion
Lowering of face
i. Expression of Embarrassment:
Gesture
Sheepish grin
Attempt to inhibit smiling
Downturn of head
Face touching
i. Expression of Embarrassment:
Gesture
funny situation - giggling recognize it - i know i messed up i’m sorry, now take me back ppl usually respond well differentiates it from amusement and shame
i. Expression of Embarrassment:
Gesture
signals less superior place so you need to get level back up - show them it’s a mistake
Blush - temporary increase in blood flow to face, neck, and
upper chest
i. Expression of Embarrassment:
Gesture
keltner elicit embarassement
even if same word for guilt, shame, embarassement, still distinguish it
redness in face is diff than exertion - dead give away
ii. Embarrassment Situations
Embarrassment involves sense of foolishness >
worthlessness
Self negatively evaluated in the circumstance, but focus is on the presented self
surprising
Embarrassment Situations
Sabini et al. (2000) - Ps read interpersonal scenarios
and reported how embarrassed they would feel
Embarrassment Situations
Scenarios fell into 3 categories:
i. Making a social mistake: thinks she’s interested
ii. Being the center of attention: spotlight mistakenly fallen on me
Embarrassment Situations
iii. Being in a sticky situation: ask someone for their money back
more aware + sensitive to social norms
feel like we’re gonna get rejected
Embarrassment Situations
doesn’t happen to infants
instense as child gets older, peaks at adolescence
empathetic embarrassement feel embarrassment for someone else
Embarrassment Situations
Empathetic Embarrassment - Shearn et al (1999) Ps sang Star-Spangled Banner Ps came back to lab, but with a friend Stranger joined them DV: blushing
Embarrassment Situations
Mean amount of blushing by singers, friends, strangers
performer blushed most then friend
Shearn et al (1999) Results
Loss of esteem (social evaluation) account:
Temporary loss of self-esteem when behaviour not in line with esteem people hold for us
Loss of esteem - feelings of embarrassment
iii. Embarrassment Theories
Dramaturgic (social interaction) account:
People want to perform social scripts/roles competently
Disruptions in social scripts/role performances
feelings of embarrassment
iii. Embarrassment Theories
you think ppl usually respect you, but that level goes down after
ability: want to enact social script properly
look like you don’t know what you’re doing
iii. Embarrassment Theories
Ps failed task in group
confederate teammate criticized publicly or privately
lower self esteem + embarassed in public condition
Embarrassment Theories
Parrott et al. (1988) - Ps read social rejection scenarios
IV: Flat “no”
IV: Saving face “I don’t date co-workers”; you know it’s a lie - coworker doesn’t know (s)he’s been caught in a lie.
IV: Letting down easy “I don’t date co-workers”; don’t know if true
Embarrassment Theories
- IV: negative social weirdness + self esteem plumets - supports both theories
- IV: know saving face is a lie - supports self-esteem, social aspect is smoothed over
- IV: letting down easy - save self-esteem, not about me
Embarrassment Theories
if self esteem is right: then high embarassment in flat no/saving face
dramaturgic: flat no
even if self-esteem dropped, low embarassment
still looked cool
Embarrassment Theories
Lower self-esteem: flat no/saving face
Embarrassment low: saving face/letting down easy
Social Purpose of Embarrassment
Semin and Manstead (1982) - More liking for a person who showed embarrassment
People like those who blush after doing something
embarrassing (Dijk, de Jon, & Peters, 2009).
Social Purpose of Embarrassment
If people think your behaviour wasn’t an accident,
embarrassment gestures won’t divert their anger (De
Jong et al., 2002)
Social Purpose of Embarrassment
liked least: not embarassed and walked away
liked most: embarassed and fixed cans
also liked embarassed and did nothing
Social Purpose of Embarrassment
show embarassed after breaking rule, less severely punished
help ppl more if look embarassed
if we see them blush - we like them more
Social Comparison Emotions
A. Envy or Jealousy?
say envy less
diff clusters in psychology
jealousy: relating to relationship
upset about losing important other
Social Comparison Emotions
A. Envy or Jealousy?
tend to be used for both situation
envy: i want what you have
situations when you’re jealous also involved envy
Envy or Jealousy?
Parrott and Smith (1993)
Ps wrote about times they experienced envy/jealousy
never used word envy for jealous
Envy or Jealousy?
interference with relationships
envy always involved 2 ppl
jealousy involves: jealous person, object/person you covet, threatening to take it away
B. Components of Envy
Admiring envy - longing to have what the other has
Highlights one’s shortcomings
disappointment with self
B. Components of Envy
pro social of the two
ads make you jealous - wish you had that
motivation
Components of Envy
Malicious envy - desire for other to not have what (s)he has
Ill will - sinful envy
Desire to engage in destructive behaviour; wallow in bitterness
Components of Envy
Smith et al. (1994) - Ps wrote autobiographical accounts of envy and rated their experiences:
oSubjective + objective perception of injustice in situation
oBeliefs about own inferiority
oFeelings of hostility and depression
Components of Envy
injustice - malicious envy not fair - don’t deserve leads to hostility admiring envy: i wanna work hard to be rich so i can have that to feel inferior and more depressed
Components of Envy
Three approaches to studying jealousy:
1. Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model: sometimes jealousy stems from feelings of inferiority
what it means about your self worth
C. Jealousy
- Evolutionary Theory: what aspects of rival lead to jealousy
- Social Exchange Theory: what it means to relationship as a whole
C. Jealousy
all have credence, but paying attention to something diff
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model of Jealousy
Threat of rival to one’s sense of self
how do i feel good when i make comparisons?
are we close? can i get better?
extent to which there’s a threat to self esteem
sense that you’re not living up
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model of Jealousy
ranks in how important are int, ath, pop
partner flirt with someone extremely int, ath, or pop
think someone is better than you at something important to you
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
of Jealousy
Feel most threatened by superior others in most important domains to the self
is this doman important to me?
- Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
Evolutionary theory of jealousy
Jealousy evolved to maintain relationships
perpetuation of genes
need jealousy so relationships survive long enough to reproduce
- Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
Men vs. women: men + women should be jealous of diff things
Women: attractiveness - attract mates, getting guy to stay to raise the child
if men spend lots of time + resources in other offspring
- Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
Men: power, successful, stronger, status
diff problems
sexual jealousy evolved to keep mate from having anyone else’s child
Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
Buss et al. (1992) – imagined situation where partner formed “deep emotional relationship” or “had
passionate sexual intercourse” with rival
Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
women more jealous of deep emotional
double whammy
assume women is emotionally tied
men: more jealous of sex because not necessarily emotional relationship
Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
Dijkstra and Buunk (2002) – rated jealousy of a rival
on 56 characteristics (social dominance, physical
attractiveness, seductive behaviours, physical
dominance, and social status)
Evolutionary Theory of Jealousy
women: attractive, seductive
men: dominance, status
80 gay men: more jealousy than lesbians in dominance
lesbians more jealous when rival was more attractive
same as heterosexual counterparts
- Social Exchange Theory View
of Jealousy
focuses on relationship betw individuals + important other
Exchange theory of interpersonal relationships
Rewards > costs
- Social Exchange Theory View
of Jealousy
always that we make decisions like economists
jealousy indicator that balance is off
costs more than rewards
Attribution for infidelity is important: how jealous person should be depends on attribution
- Social Exchange Theory View of Jealousy
more costly for you is cheating - no longer functional sex life
diff from drunken accident
- Social Exchange Theory View of Jealousy
less if signals your failures and more about one time indescretion
both cheating - balance between cost and reward - both getting satisfied
- Social Exchange Theory View of Jealousy
couples develop own norms: outside norms then it’s more costly
open relationship diff jealousy than closed relationship
upsetting but positive implications here because forces you to repair relationship to increase rewards
