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Cortisol response to embarrassment and shame.
Michael Lewis1, Douglas Ramsay
1Institute for the Study of Child Development, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick 08903-0019, USA. lewis@umdnj.edu
Child Development
|July 31, 2002
Summary
This study found two types of embarrassment in young children. Higher cortisol stress responses were linked to expressing shame and negative self-evaluation embarrassment.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Emotion Research
Background:
- Self-conscious emotions like shame and embarrassment are crucial for social development.
- Understanding individual differences in these emotions and their physiological correlates is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine individual differences in 4-year-old children's expression of embarrassment and shame.
- To investigate the relationship between these emotions and cortisol stress responses.
Main Methods:
- Studied 60 four-year-old children.
- Assessed individual differences in the expression of embarrassment and shame.
- Measured cortisol response to stress.
Main Results:
- Identified two distinct types of embarrassment: evaluative (negative self-evaluation) and nonevaluative (exposure).
- Found a positive correlation between higher cortisol responses to stress and the expression of evaluative embarrassment and shame.
Conclusions:
- Children exhibit different forms of embarrassment, with implications for self-evaluation.
- Cortisol stress reactivity is associated with negative self-evaluative emotions in early childhood.