RebeccaHugo

RebeccaHugo

— Wikipedian ♀ —
Name	Rebecca M. Hugo
Born	February 1989
Current location	Southampton, UK
Education and employment
Occupation	Psychologist by day, Waitress by night.
College	University of Southampton, School of Psychology

Encouraged to create an account by a Psychology Professor, Aiden P. Gregg, my current purpose on Wikipedia is to edit, modify and generally improve current articles focusing on concepts surrounding the ideas of the Self and of Identity, namely the concept of shame.

It should be noted that the changes that I have made appear in bold. Furthermore, alterations and additions to the reference section have also occurred.

This page is about psychological, philosophical, and societal aspects of shame. For other uses, see Shame (disambiguation).

Eve covers herself and lowers her head in shame in Rodin's sculpture "Eve after the Fall".

Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame.

Description

Nineteenth century scientist Charles Darwin (1872), in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, described shame as consisting of the acts of blushing, confusion of mind, downward cast eyes, slack posture, and lowered head. These observations of shame were noted to affect in human populations worldwide. He also noted the sense of warmth or heat in the body, specifically the face (associated with the vasodilation of the face and skin) that may occur during intense shame.

A "sense of shame" refers to the consciousness or awareness of shame as a state or condition. Such shame cognition may occur as a result of the experience of shame affect or, more generally, in any situation of dishonor, disgrace, inadequacy, humiliation, or chagrin.

A condition or state of shame may also be assigned externally, regardless of one's own experience or awareness. "To shame" generally means to actively assign or communicate a state of shame to another. The act of shaming may not always be intentional, as in the instance of surpassing or outdoing another (“Your achievement has put the rest of us to shame.”). Certain behaviours are designed to "uncover" or "expose" the shame of others are sometimes used for this purpose, as are utterances like "Shame!" or "Shame on you!"

Finally, some people are more susceptible to this feeling than others. Some are described as “having no shame”, commenting on their incapacity for this emotion, whilst others may find themselves “filled with shame”.

Shame vs. guilt and embarrassment

Person hiding face and showing posture of shame (while wearing a Sanbenito and coroza) in Goya's sketch "For being born somewhere else". The person has been shamed by the Spanish Inquistion.

The line between the concepts of shame, guilt, and embarrassment is still not finite. There appears to a debate between whether shame, guilt, and embarrassment can occur independently of one another or whether they are all cognitively or emotionally connected (Keltner & Buswell, 1996; Tagney et al., 1996).

Psychoanalyst Helen B. Lewis (1971) argued that "The experience of shame is directly about the self, which is the focus of evaluation. In guilt, the self is not the central object of negative evaluation, but rather the thing done is the focus." Similarly, Fossum and Mason (1989) say in their book Facing Shame that "While guilt is a painful feeling of regret and responsibility for one's actions, shame is a painful feeling about oneself as a person." Following this line of thinking, Psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman (2007) concludes that "Shame is an acutely self-conscious state in which the self is 'split,' imagining the self in the eyes of the other; by contrast, in guilt the self is unified."

Clinical psychologist Gershen Kaufman's (1992) view of shame is derived from that of Affect Theory, namely that shame is one of a set of instinctual, short-duration physiological reactions to stimulation. In this view, guilt is considered to be a learned behaviour, consisting essentially of self-directed blame or contempt, with shame occurring consequent to such behaviors making up a part of the overall experience of guilt. Here, self-blame and self-contempt mean the application, towards (a part of) one's self, of exactly the same dynamic that blaming of, and contempt for, others represents when it is applied interpersonally. Kaufman (1992) saw that mechanisms such as blame or contempt may be used as a defending strategy against the experience of shame and that someone who has a pattern of applying them to himself may well attempt to defend against a shame experience by applying self-blame or self-contempt. This, however, can lead to an internalized, self-reinforcing sequence of shame events for which Kaufman (1992) coined the term "shame spiral”.

According to cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1967) in her book, “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture”, shame is a violation of cultural or social values, while feelings of guilt arise from violations of one's internal values. Thus, it is possible to feel ashamed of thought or behaviour that no one knows about and to feel guilty about actions that gain the approval of others.

Both Keltner and Buswell (1996) and Tagney et al. (1996) have indicated the differences between feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment, where earlier theorists such as Charles Darwin (1872) did not. As Keltner and Buswell’s (1996) study revealed that “… embarrassment was associated with transgressions of conventions that govern public interactions, shame with the failure to meet important personal standards, and guilt with actions that harm others or violate duties.”

One view of the difference between shame and embarrassment is that shame does not necessarily involve public humiliation while embarrassment does; that is, one can feel shame for an act known only to oneself, but, in order to be embarrassed, one's actions must be revealed to others. In the field of ethics (moral psychology, in particular), there is a debate as to whether or not shame is a heteronomous emotion; that is to say whether the ashamed recognises the fact that they have been judged negatively by others. Immanuel Kant and his followers held that shame is heteronomous; whilst others have argued that shame can be autonomous (Williams, 1994; Hutchinson, 2008). Shame may carry the connotation of a response to something that is morally wrong, whereas embarrassment is the response to something that is morally neutral but socially unacceptable. Another view of shame and embarrassment is that the two emotions lie on a continuum and only differ in intensity.

Subtypes

• Genuine shame: is associated with genuine dishonor, disgrace, or condemnation.

• False shame: is associated with false condemnation as in the double-bind form of false shaming; "he brought what we did to him upon himself". Author and TV personality John Bradshaw calls shame the "emotion that lets us know we are finite".

• Toxic shame: describes false, pathological shame, and Bradshaw states that toxic shame is induced, inside children, by all forms of child abuse. Incest and other forms of child sexual abuse can cause particularly severe toxic shame. Toxic shame often induces what is known as complex trauma in children who cannot cope with toxic shaming as it occurs and who dissociate the shame until it is possible to cope with.

• Vicarious shame: In the 1990s, psychologists introduced the notion of vicarious shame, which refers to the experience of shame on behalf of another person. Individuals vary in their tendency to experience vicarious shame, which is related to neuroticism and to the tendency to experience personal shame. Extremely shame-prone people might even experience vicarious shame even to an increased degree, in other words: shame on behalf of another person who is already feeling shame on behalf of a third party (or possibly on behalf of the individual proper).

Social aspects

Shame is considered one aspect of socialization in all societies. Shame is enshrouded in legal precedent as a pillar of punishment and ostensible correction. Shame has been linked to narcissism in the psychoanalytic literature. It is one of the most intense emotions. The individual experiencing shame may suffer from feelings of disgrace, worthless and feel that there is no redemption. According to the anthropologist Ruth Benedict(1967), cultures may be classified by their emphasis of using either shame or guilt to regulate the social activities of their members. Shared opinions and expected behaviours that cause the feeling of shame, as well as an associated reproval, by an individual are in any case proven to be very efficient in guiding behaviour in a group or society if violated.

Shame is a common form of control used by those people who commit relational aggression. It is also used in the workplace as a form of overt social control or aggression. Shamery is also a central feature of punishment, shunning, or ostracism. In addition, shame is often seen in victims of child neglect, child abuse and a host of other crimes against children.

Shame campaign

A shame campaign is a tactic in which particular individuals are singled out because of their behavior or suspected crimes, often by marking them publicly, such as Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In the Philippines, Alfredo Lim popularized such tactics during his term as mayor of Manila. On July 1, 1997, he began a controversial "spray paint shame campaign” in an effort to stop drug use. He and his team sprayed bright red paint on two hundred squatter houses whose residents had been charged, but not yet convicted, of selling prohibited substances. Officials of other municipalities followed suit. Former Senator Rene A. Saguisag condemned Lim’s policy.

Despite this criticism, the shame campaigns continued. In January 2005, Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando announced shame campaign to target jaywalkers by splashing them with wet rags. Sen. Richard Gordon disagreed with the shame tactic, and Rep. Vincent Crisologo called this approach "martial law tactics". Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon argued jaywalkers were being treated like cattle.

See also

• Badge of shame
• Blushing
• Modesty
• Shame society

Additional references

• Benedict, R. (1967) The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. Cleveland: Meridian Books. ISBN-10 0-618-61959-3
• Bradshaw, J. (1988). Healing the Shame That Binds You. HCI. ISBN 0-932194-86-9
• Broucek, F. (1991). Shame and the Self. New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-444-4
• Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London: John Murray
• Fossum, M. A., & Mason, M. J. (1989). Facing Shame: Families in Recovery. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-30581-3
• Gilbert, P. (2002) Body Shame: Conceptualisation, Research and Treatment. Brunner-Routledge. ISBN 1-58391-166-9
• Gilbert, P (1998) Shame: Interpersonal Behavior, Psychopathology and Culture. ISBN 0-19-511480-9
• Goldberg, C. (1991). Understanding Shame. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aaronson, Inc. ISBN 0-87668-541-6
• Herman, J. L. (2007). Shattered Shame States and their Repair, The John Bowlby Memorial Lecture. Retrieved from http://www.cha.harvard.edu/vov/publications/Shattered%20Shame-JHerman.pdf
• Hutchinson, P. (2008). Shame and Philosophy: An Investigation in the Philosophy of Emotions and Ethics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Kaufman, G. (1992). Shame: The Power of Caring (3rd ed.). Rochester, VT: Schenkman Books. ISBN 0-87047-052-3
• Keltner, D., & Buswell, B. N. (1996). Evidence of the Distinctness of Embarrassment, Shame, and Guilt: A Study of Recalled Antecedents and Facial Expressions of Emotion, Cognition and Emotion, 10(2), 155-171
• Lewis, H. B. (1971). Shame and guilt in neurosis. New York: International University Press. ISBN 0-8236-8307-9
• Lewis, M. (1992). Shame: The Exposed Self. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-918881-4
• Middelton-Moz, J, (1990). Shame and Guilt: Masters of Disguise. HCI. ISBN 1-55874-072-4
• Miller, S. B. (1996). Shame in Context. Routledge. ISBN 0-88163-209-0
• Morrison, A. P. (1996). The Culture of Shame. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37484-3
• Morrison, A. P. (1989). Shame: The Underside of Narcissism. The Analytic Press. ISBN 0-88163-082-9
• Nathanson, D., (ed). (1987). The Many Faces of Shame. New York: The Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-705-2
• Schneider, C. D. (1977). Shame, Exposure, and Privacy. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-1121-5
• Tangney, J. P., Miller, R. S., Flicker, L., & Barlow, D. H. (1996). Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions? Journal of Personal Social Psychology, 70(6), 1256-1269. doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1256
• Vallelonga, D. S. (1997). An empirical phenomenological investigation of being ashamed. In Valle, R. Phenomenological Inquiry in Psychology: Existential and Transpersonal Dimensions. New York: Plenum Press
• Williams, B. (1994). Shame and Necessity. London, England: University of California Press

External links

• Sample chapter from Phil Hutchinson's book Shame and Philosophy
• Understanding Shame and Humiliation in Torture
• US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public
• Shame
• Humiliation is Simply Wrong (USA Today Editorial/Opinion)
• Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law
• Shame and Psychotherapy
• Shame and Group Psychotherapy
• Sexual Guilt and Shame

Category:Emotions