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Related Experiment Video

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Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder

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Increased autonomic activation in vicarious embarrassment.

Laura Müller-Pinzler¹, Frieder M Paulus, Gerhard Stemmler

¹Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. lamuelle@med.uni-marburg.de

International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology

|August 7, 2012

Summary

Vicarious embarrassment, feeling embarrassed for others, triggers physiological responses similar to personal embarrassment. This study shows autonomic activation increases when observing social norm violations, especially when the person is aware.

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Affective Science

Background:

Embarrassment is a social emotion often experienced in response to norm violations.
Vicarious embarrassment occurs when observing another person's embarrassing situation.
Understanding the physiological underpinnings of vicarious embarrassment is crucial for social cognition research.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the somatovisceral response patterns associated with vicarious embarrassment.
To examine how attributions of intentionality and awareness influence vicarious embarrassment.
To compare the physiological responses of vicarious embarrassment to first-person embarrassment.

Main Methods:

Fifty-four participants rated their vicarious embarrassment in response to depicted social situations.
Situations varied based on the protagonist's intentionality (present/absent) and awareness (present/absent) of the norm violation.
Eleven somatovisceral variables were measured to assess autonomic activation.

Main Results:

Participants reported higher vicarious embarrassment in inappropriate situations compared to neutral ones, regardless of attributions.
Vicarious embarrassment elicited increased autonomic activation across measured variables.
The intensity of autonomic activation was modulated by the protagonist's awareness of the norm violation.

Conclusions:

The somatovisceral response pattern for vicarious embarrassment mirrors that of first-person embarrassment.
Perspective-taking processes appear to mediate the vicarious experience of embarrassment.
Awareness plays a significant role in modulating the physiological responses during vicarious embarrassment.