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The social side of shame: Approach versus withdrawal
de Hooge,I.E. Breugelmans,S.M. Wagemans,F.M.A. Zeelenberg,M.
de Hooge,I.E.
Breugelmans,S.M.
Wagemans,F.M.A.
Zeelenberg,M.
Abstract
At present, the consequences and functions of experiences of shame are not yet well understood. Whereas psychology literature typically portrays shame as being bad for social relations, motivating social avoidance and withdrawal, there are recent indications that shame can be reinterpreted as having clear social tendencies in the form of motivating approach and social affiliation. Yet, until now, no research has ever put these alternative interpretations of shame-motivated behaviours directly to the test. The present paper presents such a test by studying the extent to which shame motivates a preference for social withdrawal versus a preference for social approach. Two studies (N = 148 and N = 133) using different shame inductions both showed people experiencing shame to prefer to be together with others (social approach) over being alone (social withdrawal). In addition, the preference for a social situation was found to be unique for shame; it was not found for the closely related emotion of guilt. Taken together, these findings provide direct empirical support for the idea that shame can have positive interpersonal consequences.
Description
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Shame, interpersonal behaviour, approach behaviour, social withdrawal, guilt, EMOTION, BEHAVIOR, GUILT
Citation
de Hooge, I E, Breugelmans, S M, Wagemans, F M A & Zeelenberg, M 2018, 'The social side of shame : Approach versus withdrawal', Cognition & Emotion, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 1671-1677. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2017.1422696
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess