embarrassment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Embarrassment describes an emotional movement that is associated with bias and uncertainty and usually results from a lack of competence to act or an intervention in the intimate sphere . The term often appears in the literature in connection with feelings of shame and embarrassment . Furthermore, embarrassment also means the situational circumstances that trigger the emotional state and that are perceived as unpleasant such as public abuse, exposure, faux pas in society . The person concerned then believes that they are " losing face ". The slang terms “help someone out of a mess” and “make someone embarrassed” can also refer to financial hardship or have sexual components.

etymology

The adjective embarrassed for ' embarrassed , ashamed, confused, uncertain' emerged in today's importance in the 18th century from the Old High German firlegan 'cumbersome, sluggish, adulterous' mhd. Also embarrassed ' by prolonged lying, by doing nothing, by dallying in Indolence sunk, spoiled ', in the 8th century to ' commit adultery 'in the 8th century, mhd. Lose ' suffer damage by lying down, sinking into inactivity by lying down for too long, sinking into indolence , slackening, becoming unfit '. The development of meaning led from 'inactive' to 'perplexed, indecisive' to 'self-conscious, ashamed', which in the 18th century resulted in embarrassment (mhd. Embarrassment 'shameful inaction, indolence') for 'bias, confusion, insecurity, uncomfortable, difficult situation 'derived.

In 1801 Adelung described embarrassment as a condition "because one is embarrassed, unable to overcome a difficulty, does not know what to do". Pierer's Universal Lexikon defined embarrassment as follows in 1864 :

"1. from the uncertainty of how to act in a given case, etc. should behave, emerging, with an annoying feeling of insecurity, sometimes increasing to pain in the soul, etc. Bias connected state; 2. a circumstance, an event that embarrasses someone [...]. "

- Pierer's Universal-Lexikon, Volume 18. Altenburg 1864, p. 490.

The Duden defines embarrassed today as “not really knowing how to behave in an embarrassing, unpleasant situation; Uncertainty and a kind of helplessness expressing "refers to the change of meaning " of "idle" about "undecided perplexed" "and cites the synonym among others shy .

psychology

Definition of terms

Embarrassment, embarrassment and shame are sometimes used synonymously, whereby a distinguishing feature could be the intensity of the feelings. Shame cannot occur without embarrassment and embarrassment, but the latter without shame.

Differentiation from "shame"

From the point of view of emotion researchers like Paul Ekman, embarrassment can be counted as part of the “shame” family of emotions . This means that embarrassment is a variation on shame. While shame must be endured, embarrassment shows one way to deal with this situation. For example, if a child is caught secretly eating chocolate with smeared hands by their parents, they can wash their hands. The American psychologist David Buss counts embarrassment and shame among the so-called social fears . Embarrassment occurs when a person believes they have committed a social mistake that has been noticed in public, such as being improperly dressed for a school party. Shame arises from one's own misconduct in the form of a violation of the norm or non-fulfillment of an expectation, for example to be caught stealing. Embarrassment and shame can still be differentiated in terms of their genesis : while embarrassment is more likely to be characterized as 'looking ahead', shame tends to be characterized as 'looking back'.

The psychologist Jonathan Haidt counts embarrassment and shame as part of the group of moral emotions with dominance-hierarchical functionality, whereby shame goes deeper. He proposed that embarrassment serves to encourage submission and appeasement. He observed that embarrassment usually occurs in the presence of higher-ranking people, rarely in the presence of people of lower status.

Differentiation from "embarrassment"

While embarrassment is associated with the medieval inquisition rituals, which are described as excruciating, painful and public exposure, and shame presupposes a negative, moral value judgment of others, embarrassment is lacking due to the subjective evaluation.

Developmental origin

Body language indicators of embarrassment can be observed in developmental psychology in children towards the end of the second year of life. After Erikson's stages of psychosocial development of Erik Erikson , the child is in infancy. At the time, it sees itself as a separate individual and it has already developed a sense of self .

Body language

In terms of body language , shame can be classified into the emotion family grief due to the almost identical facial expression and physical reaction scheme, but not embarrassment.

There are a number of non-verbal signals that can be observed individually or in combination when embarrassed.

  • There is a change from looking back and forth or looking down (mostly to the left) below. According to studies, the cause of the line of sight could be that the right brain hemisphere is activated, which is associated with the desire to flee in the case of negative feelings.
  • The view of the other person is avoided; often this is associated with a smile.
  • The head is tilted or rotated at an angle.
  • The lips are pressed together to suppress a smile.
  • The face is touched, covered or hidden with the hands.

The expression of embarrassment should last at least five seconds. The verbal expression is often characterized by a stagnation of the flow of speech, swallowing, stuttering, uttering um-sounds, coupled with blushing .

Situational triggers

Embarrassment triggers are essentially characterized by violations of social conventions . This is intensified by acts of shame by other people: gestures of downgrading, disregard for relevance, lack of distance and transgression of boundaries, of which someone becomes a victim. This results in the desire to hide. The social presence decreases. This can also be read from reports from home children .

Psychology professor John Sabini distinguishes three main situational triggers for embarrassment:

  1. Behavior slip-ups like belching during a business lunch ,
  2. Suddenly the focus is on such a spontaneous performance of a birthday serenade or (supposedly undeserved) praise and
  3. Sensitive situation like a self-inflicted failure.

The presence of at least one other person is required here. A feeling of shame, on the other hand, can also arise independently of other people.

Whether or not an everyday situation causes embarrassment depends on the subjective assessment of the person who finds himself in this situation. Embarrassment can also be triggered by (supposedly undeserved) praise or compliments, provided that the interlocutor (consciously or unconsciously) addresses a latent awareness of one's own shortcomings. The fear of an embarrassing situation can lead to avoidance strategies and even health hazards.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: embarrassment  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

Hans Lipps : Human nature. 2nd Edition. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt 1977.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pierer's Universal Lexicon: Embarrassment. Retrieved November 18, 2013 .
  2. ↑ embarrassment. In: Duden online. Retrieved November 18, 2013 .
  3. ↑ embarrassment. In: The free dictionary. Retrieved November 18, 2013 .
  4. ^ Rudolf Hoberg: Language - Eroticism - Sexuality . Erich Schmidt Verlag , Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-503-04990-5 , p. 80 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Etymological dictionary according to Pfeifer, online at DWDS , accessed on November 20, 2013
  6. ^ Adelung, Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect, Volume 4. Leipzig 1801, p. 1081.
  7. ^ Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 18. Altenburg 1864, p. 490. online at zeno.org
  8. ↑ publish in duden.de, accessed on December 2, 2013
  9. ↑ a b Christine Pernlochner-Kügler: body shame and disgust: essentially human feelings . Lit Verlag , Münster 2004, ISBN 978-3-8258-7492-6 , pp. 36 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  10. ↑ Christine Pernlochner-Kügler: body shame and disgust: essential human feelings . Lit Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 978-3-8258-7492-6 , pp. 37 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  11. ↑ a b Reto Stern: Shame in counseling: How to deal with shame of the coachee in the coaching process . Lit Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-86435-004-7 , pp. 173 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  12. ↑ Hans Georg Zapotoczky, Peter Kurt Fischhof: Psychiatry of the stages of life: A compendium . Springer Verlag , Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-7091-6168-5 , pp. 44 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  13. ↑ a b c Dirk Eilert : Mimikresonanz: See feelings. Understand people . Junfermann , Paderborn 2013, ISBN 978-3-87387-961-4 , pp. 83 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  14. ^ A b Jürgen Eilert: Psychology of Human Rights: Human Rights Violations in the German Home System (1945-1973) . V&R unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-902-4 , p. 389–390 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  15. ↑ Laura E. Berk: Developmental Psychology . Pearson Deutschland GmbH, Hallbergmoos 2011, ISBN 978-3-86894-049-7 , p. 249 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  16. ↑ Dirk Eilert: Mimikresonanz: Seeing feelings. Understand people . Junfermann, Paderborn 2013, ISBN 978-3-87387-961-4 , pp. 84 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ↑ Christine R. Harris: The Pain of Embarrassment. Retrieved November 17, 2013 .