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Shame across cultures: the evolution, ontogeny and function of a 'moral emotion'

November 2002

In book: Between Biology and Culture (pp.270-300)
Chapter: Shame across cultures: the evolution, ontogeny and function of a 'moral emotion'
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Editors: Keller H, Poortinga YH

Authors:

University of Hamburg

Our aim in this chapter is to apply a 'dual inheritance theory' and show how 'emotion universals'-in this case shame-are related to physiological processes and linked to social and behavioural similarities across cultures on the Olle hand and how culture-specific emotions are connected to the learning and coding of specific social and behavioural patterns and conventions on the other. At least since Paul Ekrnan 's major studies (e.g. 1973, 1980, 1989; Ekrnan and Oster, 1979) on 'basic emotions' and the rise of the constructivist view in anthropology , there has been a controversy over whether emotions are universal or culturally constructed (Armon-Jones, 1986; Averill, 1980; H~rre, 1986; Lutz, 1988). Many recent studies have shown that everywhere humans express emotions through metaphors and/or metonyms, which are related to bodily feelings (Kövecses, 1995, 1998), which in turn are generated by autonornic nervous system activities. These activities seem to have a panhuman hard-wired basis (for an overview see Levenson et al., 1992). These findings challenge the cultural constructivist hypothesis, which postulates that different cultures construct emotions in an entirely different manner. However, a comparison of the events which lead to the feelings expressed by thesemetaphors and metonyms shows that the antecedents and related appraisals do vary greatly between cultures. This underlines the relevance of the criticism levelled by the constructivists, which stresses the analytic indispensability of cognitive factors (Schachter and Singer, 1962) inculcated in the course of childhood and related to the variety of values, norms and behavioural prescriptions obtaining in different societies. The problems inherent in the theory of 'basic emotions' and the fruitless-ness of either/or, nature/culture, nature/nurture dichotornizations can, we suggest , be overcome by~~ollowing Lyon

shows how frequently emotions were related to facial colour change in 98 of the 135 different languages/dialects analysed.3 The numbers

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Frequency with which emotions were related to colour met: phoTs in 98 of the 135 languages/dialects recorded.

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Content uploaded by Michael Schnegg

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12 Shame across cultures: the evolution, ontogeny

and function of a 'moral emotion'

Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

Our aim in this chapter is to apply a 'dual inheritance theory' and show how

'emotion universals' - in this case shame - are related to physiological pro-

cesses and linked to social and behavioural similarities across cultures on the

Olle hand and how culture-specific emotions are connected to the learning and

coding of specific social and behavioural patterns and conventions on the other.

At least since Paul Ekrnan 's major studies (e.g. 1973, 1980, 1989; Ekrnan and

Oster, 1979) on 'basic emotions' and the rise of the constructivist view in an-

thropology, there has been a controversy over whether emotions are universal or

culturally constructed (Armon-Jones, 1986; Averill, 1980; H~rre, 1986; Lutz,

1988). Many recent studies have shown that everywhere humans express emo-

tions through metaphors and/or metonyms, which are related to bodily feelings

(Kövecses, 1995, 1998), which in turn are generated by autonornic nervous

system activities. These activities seem to have a panhuman hard-wired basis

(for an overview see Levenson et al., 1992). These findings challenge the cul-

tural constructivist hypothesis, which postulates that different cultures construct

emotions in an entirely different manner. However, a comparison of the events

which lead to the feelings expressed by thesemetaphors and metonyms shows

that the antecedents and related appraisals do vary greatly between cultures.

This underlines the relevance of the criticism levelled by the constructivists,

which stresses the analytic indispensability of cognitive factors (Schachter

and Singer, 1962) inculcated in the course of childhood and related to the

variety of values, norms and behavioural prescriptions obtaining in different

societies.

The problems inherent in the theory of 'basic emotions' and the fruitless-

ness of either/or, nature/culture, nature/nurture dichotornizations can, we sug-

gest, be overcome by~~ollowing Lyon (1995, 1998; cf. also Leavitt, 1996,

p. 531; Lyon and Barbalet, 1994; Morton, 1995; Williarns, 2001) in suggesting

Michael J. Casimir would like to thank all those colleagues, students and friends, who helped collect

the language data used in this paper, and who are toD numerous to mention individually. Without

forgetting the usual disclaimer, Christine Avenarius, Monika Böck, Priya Bondre-Beil, Alexander

L. Gerlach, Thomas Helrnig, Aparna Rao, Birgitt Röttger-Rössler, Peter Tschohl and the editors of

the volume were of immense help with their perceptive and critical cornments.

270

Shame across cultures 271

that ideational/interpretative and materialist/positivist/analytic approaches be

surmounted by using a more comprehensive perspective:

Drawing on data on language use across 135 cultures (see appendix I), we

show that the phenomenon of blushing in shameful situations is a panhuman

Olle. This, we suggest, indicates that the emotional mechanisms and physiol-

ogy involved serve a specific function, which has a lang phylogenetic history.

The data available on the ontogeny of emotions in early childhood, and es-

pecially on the emergence of the feelings of shame) could shed light on its

panhuman function. Simultaneously, however, we must allowfor some epige-

netic modulation and flexibility in early childhood für a linkage to take place

wirb culture-specific behavioural norms. Culture prescribes and constructs the

enacting of shame-feelings - it speils out when and why these feelings can or

should be experienced and exhibited and when they should be suppressed.

Here we examine shame and embarrassment - the members of the 'family

of negative self -conscious emotions'. Thesehave been chosen because they are

most suited to reach a clearer understanding of the interrelationship between

bodily feelings and the more or less culture-specific antecedents and appraisals

leading to emotions (cf. Mesquita and Frijda, 1992; Scherer, 1993a, 1997;

Scherer and Wallbott, 1994). Finally, using the cognition/emotion b.ehaviour

complex associated in the West with the terms 'shame' and 'embarrassment'

and applying Wierzbicka's (1986, 1988, 1992, 1999; Harkins and Wierzbicka,

1997) theory of 'natural semantic metalanguage' (NSM), we demonstrate the

interdependence of metaphorical or metonymicallanguage and panhuman phys-

iological reactions and theirrelationship to universal antecedents and appraisals.

It has become increasingly clear in recent years thai only an epigenetic view

can explain the similarities and differences in emotional experiences and ex-

pressions. In some instances it is true that, as Athanasiadou and Tabakowska

(1998, p. xii) wrote, '... while the physiological background as such may well

be universal für all human beings, the actual choice of its elements für conceptu-

alisation, and subsequent expression, need not be'. I:n other instances, however,

even this choice appears to follow some universal pattern, für although 'there are

no completely universal concepts für emotions; there can nevertheless be simi-

larities in conceptualisation of emotions across different languages and different

cultures. This is due to universal human experience, especially physiological

experience' (Mikolajczuk, 1998, p. 158). This is why antecedent events, which

may lead to evolutionarily 'primitive' reactions, such as an attack or flight, are

always accompanied by similar bodily feelings and often conceptualized across

cultures in comparable metonyms and metaphors. The metonymic conceptu-

alization of the physiological reaction is an indirect description of the emo-

tion; thus, für example, the metonymic expression für anger could be 'his face

turned red wirb anger'. Metaphors are also often motivated by physiological

effects - hefe, the central metaphor für anger is 'heat' (Mikolajczuk, 1998,

272 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

pp. 157-8; für a detai1ed discussion of the 'standard theories of metaphor' see

Johnson, 1990, pp. 67-72).

On the origins of the 'negative se]f-reflexi,'e emotions' and the

blushingiflushing complex

An evolutionary perspective always focuses on the function-of a given trait

or behaviour and it is in this framework that we now discuss the evolution

of shame and related emotions. Emotions - and especially the self-centred,

reflexive Olles - are linked to the sociallife of the species and must have had a

continued adaptive importance. Emde (1980,p. 3), in his biosocial approach to

emotional development, stated that:

. . . emotional states represent complex systems of organized functioning inherent in the

human person, states that are generally advantageous to the species as weIl as to the

individual in tbe course of development. Evolutionary considerations seem to highlight

both the complexity of emotions and their centrality in social adaptation.

Again, referring to Hamburg's (1964) study, he pointed out that emotions

. . . evolved because of a selective advantage in facilitating social bonds. In reviewing

the course of primate evolution, he speculated that group living operated as a powerful

adaptive mechanism and that, because of this, the formation of social bonds has been

experienced as pleasurable and their disruption as unpleasurable. (Emde, 1980. p. 3)

All members of the farnily of unpleasant and negative self-reflexive emo-

tions can then be understood as part ofthe 'social fearfulness complex', which

emerged together with the evolution of more complex social structures in the

animal kingdom. Lewis (1995) postulated anearly form ofembarrassment that

is not associated with the self's negative evaluation of its action and a second

phase when embarrassment does become associated wirb self-evaluation. 'This

[latter] form of embarrassment is related to other negative self-conscious eval-

uative emotions, such as shame and guilt' (p. 215). In evolutionary terms the

early emotional type of embarrassment may be linked to unpleasant feelings

(e.g. fear) deriving from the negative reactions experienced by the individual

when his/her behaviour wellt against the expectations of members of the social

group. If the same 'wrang' behaviour occurs again and is once again noticed

by other group members, expected 'punishrnent' may cause these feelings of

embarrassment. This type of emotion and the accompanying behaviour in the

absence of self-recognition is to be found in most species 'below' the higher

primates (Gallup, 1970, 1977); a common example is the behaviour of a dog

that hag düne something 'wrong'. Shying away and subrnissive postures '4fe the

usual signs of punishment expectation and can be interpreted as appeasement

strategies with the obvious intention of changing the opponent's behaviour

(cf. Keltner and Harker, 1998). Should, however, the opponent's strength and

27~

Shame across cultures

dominance be questionable, aggressive

attack. In the process of social integratio

the qualities and capacities of others, m

by calculating his chances and also app

As Öhman (1986, p. 130) observes,

. . . the evolutionary origin of social fear is in systems controlling dominance/su.bmiss-

iveness in group-living animals. Biological factors are clearly involved in the det,ermining

stimulus and response factors, such as which gestures define displays of dominance and

submissiveness, as weIl as readiness to respond to them. However, learning describes

which particular individuals become associated with submissiveness and fear.

It was only later in evolution - at the latest with the emergence of the horninids

with their self-reflexive cognitive capacities - that the function of this mech-

anism was broadened and Lewis' postulated second form of embarrassment/

shame evolved.

The exact mechanisms of the physiological process leading to a ftush/blush

are not clear. They seem to be part or epiphenomena of a general arousal

mechanism, which enables the individual to react quickly by supplying the

periphery with blood. If such a mechanism indicates aggression/rage in the

'lower' mammals (e.g. the bloodshot eyes of an attacking hüll), it probably also

existed in primates and early horninids. When the capacity für self -reftection

developed in the higher primates, the second form emerged and was linked to

the physiological mechanism already present.

Since, arguably, the early horninids bad a dark complexion, it was only when

some of them became melanin deficient that the reddening of the face was

semanticized and now functioned as a signal indicating the emotions, intentions

and possible behaviour of the other. This became a new code which, together

with other signals indicating the individual's emotions (facial expressions, body

postures and, later, language) enhanced communication between individuals,

thus leading to cohesion and consensus between group members. Leary et al.

(1992) rightly suggested that '... the blush reaction may have emerged für

reasons unrelated to social communication and only later came to serve an

interpersonal function among light-skinned peoples'. This would mean that a

ftush-reaction was already fully developed before self-consciousness, complex

sex- and age-specific hierarchically organized social structures - and with them

the expectations of role performance - came into being. But now its function

broadened. If violation of behavioural expectations of group members leads to

probable punishment, arousal is likely in the individual who hag transgressed

these mIes, setting the behavioural options to flight (fear) or fight (anger, rage).

Such behavioural patterns are weIl known among many mammals with complex

social structures and a 'social subrnissive system'. From the phylogenetic point

of view, it could then be suggested that shame is a specific form of social fear

that may lead to feelings of anger and/or rage, enabling the individual to react~

motivation may emerge and lead to an

n the young individuallearns to appraise

inimizing the risk of 'wrong' behaviour

raising the advantages offlight or fight.

274 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

quickly and aggressively in order to change the behaviour of others (Gilbert

and McGuire, 1998; McGuire and Troisi, 1990).

If, however, the neurophysiological mechanisms leading to a shameful blush

are different from those leading to a flush in the context of anger/rage, the

question arises about the evolution of this new mechanism which functioned

as part of an interpersonal communication system. This can only have devel-

oped in concert with the evolution ofcomplex social systems,-the capacity für

self -consciousness and normative value-bound behaviours. If we assurne that in

early dark-skinned primate/human populations with complex social structures

and individual self -consciousness, shame and related emotions (embarrassment,

shyness) bad already developed, the function of a blush as an appeasement signal

is unlikely. Vasodilation and thus blushing in shameful situations occurs in all

humans, regardless of visibility; this suggests an early time-point in evolu.tion.

In other words, it could not have developed exclusively among those human pop-

ulations with decreased levels of melanin in the skin. It is also implausible that a

physiological'blush mechanism, independent tram that of a flush, was coupled in

'shameful situations' with lowering the gaze, shying away and other behavioural

expressions of confusion and insecurity, since these are also observable in many

other mammals living in social groups (cf. Keltner and Harker, 1998).

On the function of shame

Social consensus and the adjustment 01 the self

A major role of emotions when functioning as facial, vocal, or physiological

cues, or when expressed as gestures or body movements, consists of communi-

cating ego's state of mind as part of aseries ofindividual and culture-specific

adjustments to the social environment (Greenwald and Harder, 1998; Keltner

and Harker, 1998; Lazarus, 1991; Planalp, 1999). Mayer (1974) differentiated

between two kinds of behaviour - non-communicative and communicative.

Only the latter, he suggested, elicits responses that can be understood and re-

acted to, if Olle is to maximize chances of goal attainment. Consequently, he

subdivided the emotion 'fear' into that elicited by other species who endanger

the weIl-being of an organism and that elicited by conspecifics.

Hut we can conceive of blushing as expression of emotion as weIl as com-

munication, and to see these as dichotomies would, we suggest, be misleading

(see Ekman, 1997). It is interesting to observehow the change of colour, which

cannot normally be seen by the blusher, affects the other. The blusher only feels

the rise in temperature, and even this seems to occur only after the reddening of

the faceis visible (Shearn et al., 1990) to his/her interlocutor, who might react

even before the blusher realizes that the event hag been observed. This gives

him/her a very brief temporal advantage in which to decide between different

Shame across cultures 275

reactive strategies. The reaction will depend largely on the culture-specific code

that prescribes the correct behaviour in such asituation. Such a code obviously

varies according to class, gender and age and also depends on the specific goals

pursued in this interaction. Forinstance, mocking reactions amplify the feelings

of shame, typically expressed in the German children' s rhyme 'Pfui, pfui schäm

dich, alle Leute seh'n dich' (Fie, fie shame on rau, everyone sees rau). This

may lead to even greater self-focused attention, blushing propensity andfear of

blushing (Bögels, Alberts and de Jong, 1996; Shearn et al., 1990), and eventu-

ally tao many unpredictable reactions which the interlocutor would have td cape

wirb. But the brief period between the moment of observation and the perceived

temperature rise may be enough für an empathetic person, or für Olle who wants

to avoidfurther complications, to politely pretend not to have noticed the em-

barrassing event. It is clear then, that not only the specific cultural appraisals of

the antecedent event hut also the behavioural prescriptions and individual goals,

which are partly cu1t~ral and situation-bound, playamajor role in the perfor-

mance and outcome of (potentially) embarrassing interactions between indi-

viduals. Indeed, the 'blushing complex' is a potent mechanism to help or force

individuals to adjust to group-specific behavioural expectations, and is thus of

great significance in the development and maintenance of social conformity.

Embarrassment and shame function to rapidly integrale and reintegrate an

individual into the normative zeitgeist-specific behavioural mainstream of soci-

ety (cf. Planalp, 1999). When severe punishment (in this or the next world) can

be expected für major normative violations, persistent feelings of guilt occur;

these may lead to confession and finally to reintegration into a social group,

hut as Bastian and Hilgers (1991, p. 102) have noted, 'guilt requires shame as

a precondition'.

The development of shame and related members of the 'family

of seil-reflexive emotions'

The results presented in the bulk of the literature dealing with the develop-

ment of gelt-reflexive emotions depend on definitions, as wen as on the types

of observations and experiments conducted. Wierzbicka (1986, 1992, 1999)

pointed to the question of generalizability of such findings. Lewis (1992, 1995)

hag shown that in Western populations the different members of the 'moral',

'social' or 'se1f-reflexive' family ofemotions, i.e. 'shyness', 'embarrassment',

'shame' and 'guilt', can be differentiated. In many languages, speakers do not

differentiate linguisticany between, für example, embarrassment and sharne,

sharne and guilt or sharne and anger (Fisher, 1985; Heron, 1992; Russen, 1989;

Schieffelin, 1983, also Larnbek and Solway, 2001); alternatively, a multitude

of related terms, all belonging to this 'family', are used. We must therefore

ask whether, and how many. such emotions which were found to emerge.

Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

276

tor exarnple, among children in the Uni ted States, are also distinguished or

distinguishable in other &ocieties. It is likely that all methods based on language-

perforrning experiments must fail if a specific differentiation of the 'family of

negative gelt-reflexive emotions' based on 'Western terms' is expected.

Cultural Darms and values tend to deternline which behaviours are consid-

ered shameful, and in many cultural contexts blushing can have both positive

and negative connotations. The phrase 'he/she blushes', can mean that he/she

hag trespassed a convention or role - hut it can also mean that the person is

weIl mannered. Here the event of blushing WOlle - i.e. the phenomenon without

further contextualization - cannot be correctly interpreted. A photograph pub-

lished by Izard (1992, p. 330, fig. 15.1) illustrating 'shame behaviours along

with a smile in a ten-year-old boy of northem India' is a good example of how

essential culture-specific contextualization iso Many north Indian languages and

most languages ofIran and Afghanistan distinguish between situations and feel-

ings, all of which are conducive to behaviour which could be glossed by the

single English term 'sharne'. Denotedby local terms such as 'sharm', 'laaj' and

'hayaa', these feelings can lead to blushing, lowering one's gaze, veiling, etc.,

hut their antecedents and connotations are varied and several terms in English -

such as embarrassment, modesty, respect, well-mannered, hut also pride and

honour, manliness and femininity - are required to convey the complex contexts

of their usage and meaning (cf. Cohen, Vandello and Rantilla, 1998; Lindisfame,

1998; Menon and Shweder, 1994; Wierzbicka, 1999). Fajans' (1985) discussion

of the complexity of 'sharne' in the folk model of emotions among the Baining

of New Britain and Hennann's (1995) and Jamieson's (2000) studies among

the Ngaing of Papua New Guinea and the Miskitu of Kakabila (Nicaragua),

respectively, are yet other examples of such variation.

But even if we consider only Western societies, the answers to the questions

when and in which sequence the various emotions, understood as different,

develop or mature, depend on the analytic methods used - foT exarnple on the

choice of behaviour patterns andlor language capacities thought to indicate the

presence of a given emotion. Is a given behaviour or facial expression a reli-

ahle indicator tor a specific emotion? Is a parent's report of the first signs of a

child's emotional expression a reliable indicator tor the presence of a given feel-

ing/emotion, or is this a matter of interpretation? Buss, Iscoe and Buss (1979),

für instance, concluded on the basis of paTents' judgementS of their children's

behaviour (including blushing and facial expressions) that '. . . embarrassment

begins tor most children at 5 years of age'. Does a child's capacity at a given age

to name a given emotion or describe a feeling parallel an adult's understanding

of this emotion? After all, '. . . thought-feeling structures are not leamed or en-

acted in a vacuum, hut in socia1life' (Strauss, 1992, p. 15). In same languages,

such as Chinese, the emotion we gloss as 'sharne' is hypercognitive (Heelas,

1986; Levy, 1973, 1984). Shaverandcolleaguesin 1992andWangin 1994 (both

in Russell and Yik, 1996) found more than 100 sharne-related words which are

277

Shame across cultures

all translated in Chinese-English dictionaries as 'shame', or as combinations of

shame with other emotions. It can be supposed that when a given emotion, or

emotion-cluster, is of outstanding cultural importance, children, in accordance

with Piaget's concept of decalage, comprehend and use such terms earlier than

their counterparts in societies where the term is not hypercognitive or even

hypocognitive (Heelas, 1986; Levy, 1973). It is therefore not surprising that

about 95 per cent of Chinese children understand 'shame' and some related

terms as early as at age 2.5-3 years, in stark contrast to American children, of

whomon1y 10per cent in that age groupunderstoodthe term 'ashamed' (RusseIl

and Yik, 1996, pp. 180-1). Using aWesternsamp1eHarterandWhitesell (1989)

showed that only after the emotions 'happiness', 'sadness', 'anger' ( cf. Wellman

et al., 1995) and 'fear' matured, did chi1dren aged 6-7 years understand the feel-

ings glossed by the terms 'pride' and 'shame', and Griffin (1995, p. 224) reports

that only at the age of 7-8 years, in the stage of bi-intentional thought did the

majority of children report self -conscious emotion experience. Mascolo and Fis~)

chef (1995, p. 65) point out' . . . that shame paralleIs pride development, whereas

a positive appraisa1 develops pride, a negative Olle shame'. In their view, distress

leads to distress/shame and thus to shame (p. 84), while joy leads to pride (p. 73).

Two postulates attempt to exp1ain the emergence of 'shame' (and so,me related

emotions) in human ontogeny. The first focuses on self-recognition, the second

sees the emergence of se1f-consciousness and shame as mutually independent:

I. According to the first postulate, 'shame' can occur on1y after the infant

has deve10ped se1f-recognition. Only then can the child re1ate cultural norms,

'inculcated' by the caregiver(s) to its self, classify behaviour as 'wrong', and

recognize this as its own fault. Se1f -consciousness is aprerequisite für empa-

thy (Bischof-Köhler, 1989, 1995; cf. also Zahn-Waxler and Robinson, 1995).

During the process of socialization, caregivers 'inculcate' desired and expected

behaviour and 'punish' deviations from convention. Bischof-Köhler (1989)

rejects Izard's (1980a) and Izard and colleagues' (1980) suggestion that embar-

rassment develops as ear1y as 8 months of age, because this feeling implies the

conscious reflection ofthe se1f, which develops much1ater. Lewis (1992) states

that embarrassment and shame are basically the same emotion, hut at different

levels of intensity. Embarrassment, he points out, is of two types: the first, is

more sirni1ar to shyness than to shame, and is not related to negative evaluation.

Shyness, he states, can be understood as oscillation between fear arid interest,

or between avoidance and approach, and is not related to self -evaluation in

children in the first month of life. The second type of embarrassment is re1ated

to negative self -evaluation, and can be understood as less intense shame.

Self-recognition deve10ps not earlier than at 15 months - it is only at 21-24

months that the majority of children tested showed this capacity (Bischof-

Köhler, 1989; cf. also DiBiase and Lewis, 1997; Scherer, 1993b; Smi1ey and

Huttenlocher, 1991). Lewis (1992, 1995) also observed that the secondary or

se1f-conscious emotions are observed onlv in the middle ofthe second vear. This

278 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

seems to be paralleled by the emergence of olle of the typical shame-related

behaviours - shying away, which, according to Mascolo and Fischer (1995),

can be observed in children about 2 years old; only at the age of 2.5 to 3 years

are clusters of such behaviours enacted in shame-related situations.

These various observations support Darwin's (1872/1965) suggestion that

very young children; who bad not yet imbibed their culture-specific Darms, did

not feel ashamed:

Children at a very early age do not blush; nor da they show those other signs of self-

consciousness which generally accompany blushing; and it is Olle of their chief charms

that they think nothing about what others think of them. (p. 326)

11. The second postulate is based on the assumption that shame and related

feelings can arise even beraTe the development of self-recognition. Ferguson

and Stegge (1995) imply that shame develops early in the infant, caused by

the experience that its behaviour does not meer the expectations of the care-

giver. Here it is thought that the withdrawal of love and/or other negative reac-

tions towards the child elicit fear or guilt, based on anxiety (cf. also Magai,

Distel and Liker, 1995; Rosenberg, 1991). Barrett (1995) also stresses the

important function of the caregivers. If they show love aso areaction to the

child's behaviour, the child experiences bis self as loveable. If the caregiver

shows negative reactions '... children [are] more likely to believe that they

have failed, and to experience the shame of failure' (p. 54). In a comparable

approach, based on Bowlby's (1969) 'Attachment theory' and developmental

neurophysiology, Schüre (1998) demonstrates the functional interaction be-

tweeD the maturation of the orbifrontal cortex, the infant-caregiver behaviour

and the development of emotions of the 'sharne farnily'. Barrett (1995, p. 35)

suggests that '. . . general cognitive acquisitions are not viewed as prerequisites

für the emergence of entire emotion "farnilies" such as shame or guilt'. Here the

crucial question arises whether 'general cognitive acquisitions' include those

necessary für self-recognition and self-reflexive emotions, and whether the self

can exist or be conceived of without self-awareness/self-consciousness?

In what can be considered an attempt to combine these two conjectures, Lewis

(1995), who differentiates 'embarrassment' flom 'sharne', postulated that an

early form of embarrassment, not associated wirb the self's negative evaluation

of the self's action, can be differentiated flom a second type of embarrassment,

occurring only between the second and third years of lire and associated wirb

self-evaluation. 'This form of embarrassment' he writes (p. 215) 'is related to

the negative self -conscious evaluative emotions, such as shame and guilt.' He

speaks of primary emotions (joy, real, anger, sadness, disgust and surprise),

which occur shortly after birth, or are seen within the first 6 to 8 months

of lire. Thereafter, wirb the growing cognitive capacity für se1f-awareness

(15-24 months), these are followed by the 'exposed emotions' (embarrass-

meßt, empathy and envy). Only then, wirb the standards, rules and goals learned,

Shame across cultures 279

by about the third year oflife, do the 'self-conscious evaluative emotions' (em-

barrassment, pride, shame and guilt) emerge (pp. 207-8 and fig. 7.1).

From the above it appears that 'specific emotions such as pride, sharne and

guilt do not emerge at a single point in development' (Mascolo and Fischer,

1995, p. 72). The lil1kS between the elicitation of specific emotions and indi-

vidual events are established in early childhood and adolescence, and triggered

by roJe models during the process of socialization; specific emotions, espe-

cially sharne, themselves influence development (Barrett, 1995; Scherf, 1990).

Later in lire, many of these emotions are mainly released in circumstances, and

following events, which generate meaning in the framework of cultural norrns

and values, because the emergence of such feelings are based on given cultural

contextualizations. However, the debate is rar from over, and wirb a look to

the future of research on emotional development, Mascolo and Fischer (1995,

p. 72) suggested that development should be considered as 'a variable web',

rather than as 'a uniform ladder of stages':

It is not fruitful to debate about the point at which an emotion first 'really' emerges in a

child. . . . Treatment of emotions as developing at one point or age will lead to unproduc-

tive debates. . . Emotions do not emerge fully formed at Olle age; instead they develop

gradually over extended periods of time, taking increasingly complex forms. One can al-

ways identify some form of a given emotion or ability at multiple points in development.l

All these observations and postulates show that many questions still need to

be asked and many problems remain to be solved before we understand those

aspects of the interrneshing of biology and culture that bring about the devel-

opment of emotions. In search of the similarities and differences of emotional

patterns in different societies we should start with the assumption that basic

human biology is the same everywhere. The analysis of the impact of diverse

cultural patterns on the elicitation of different emotions has, however, only just

begun. To develop a panhuman model of emotional development we have first

I These extremely complex issues have teen intensely debated and can not be treated hefe in

detail. As early as 1932, Bridges (in Buechler and Izard, 1983, pp. 297ff.) postulated in his

differentiation theory that generalized excitement is the only emotion present at birth and that

distress develops during the first month. The first signs of anger, he suggested, evolve from distress

between the third and sixth months of lire and clear indicators of anger were not considered to

exist earlier than in the twelfth month. Scroufe (1976, in Buechler and Izard, 1983) is of the

opinion, however, that rage emerges before anger at 3 months, and the latter on1y in the seventh

month; according to hirn anger deve1ops from rage. Charlsworth (1969, in Buechler and Izard,

1983) suggests that 'surprise' (defined as the emotion arising with the recognition of deviation

from expectancy) is present in the seventh month. It has also been suggested (Izard, 1980b; lzard

et al., 1980) that at birth, the emotions interest, disgust, discomfort and shock can be released

and that it is only after about age 6 months that happiness, anger and surprise, and after 1 year

sadness and fright, mature. Emde (1980) gave the following mean ages at which mothers feIt

that given emotions first occurred in their infants: 2.6 months tor interest, 2.9 months tor joy,

5.6 months tor surprise, für anger 6.3 months, für fear 8.1 months, für shyness and distress 9.1

months and 8.9 months, respectively. However, the capacity für the strategic control of emotional

expressions develops much later (Saarni, 1991) and is held to be shaped by culture-specific mIes

and conventions (cf. Goldschmidt, 1976; Lindholm, 1988).

280 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

to determine behavioural and terminological similarities across cultures, which

allow comparisons and enable us to develop and conduct new experiments.

Blushing and the panhuman shame complex: the 'natural

semantic metalanguage' and a cross-cultural approach

The shame-blushing complex is, we believe, eminently suitable für a cross-

cultural analysis. Darwin suggested that blushing2 occurs in all humans. and

that its meaning is always related to the same specific emotion(s). Even when

among darker-skinned persons the flush was less clearly visible than among

fairer Olles, he wrote:

. . . there can always be seen the same expression of modesty or confusion; and even in

the dark, anse oftemperature ofthe skin ofthe face can be feIt... (Darwin, 1872/1965,

p. 317)

Our starting point was the insight that in many European languages people

tend to describe certain emotional states by remarks such as someone's 'face

tumed red with shame because he was caught red-handed', or again 'he/she

tumed red with shame', or simply 'he/she blushed'.1n terms, of Wierzbicka's

(1986) NSM, the general structure here is: 'something happens because ofthis'.

As the basis für this analysis we shall use the structure of Wierzbicka's (1986,

p. 592; cf. also, 1999, p. 110) formulation:

X was ashamed = X feIt as ODe does when ODe thinks that other people see that ODe

hag düne something ODe should not do, when one trunks that other people may trunk

something bad of ODe because of that, and when one wants to ce ase to be seen by other

people because of that.

In OUT context the change in facial colour took place because cf, or coincided

with, a given emotion, caused by a specific event. It was now conjectured that

when, in a given language, native speakers use phrases (see appendix 11) in

colloquial speech, the physiological phenomena parallel specific events and

indicate specific emotional states. Sometimes this relationship between event

and the physiological effect is expressed in metonyms or metaphors. These

metaphors and metonyms are often related to both physiological changes and

culture-specific ideas about the world and its functioning. As Kövecses' (1995,

1998) as weIl as Athanasiadou and Tabakowska's (1998) studies demonstrate,

many such expressions are related to bodily changes or feelings (in cold blood,

his/her blood boiled,-etc.), which coincide with or parallel emotional changes.

The physiological principles involved hefe were described by Darwin (1872/1965) and it has

recently been shown (Drurnrnond, 1997; Mariauzouls, 1996) that active ß-adrenergic vasodilation

is a major process leading to a blush. Although several precise mechanisms have been postulated

(for an overview see Gerlach, 1998), the neurobiology of blushing is still poorly understood

(Stein and Bouwer, 1997; Drummond, 1994). It is also not clear whether the same and/or other

mechanisms are involved when a flush is caused by anger or rage (Drurnrnond, 1994).

281

Shame across cultures

The data and the analysis

On the basis of usage in several European languages, we designed a matrix -form

questionnaire, where the emotions joy/happiness, shame, anger, rage, fear, rain,

shock and envy listed in rows could be related to Olle or more colours listed

in the colurnns. The terms 'bearningishining' were added to the list of colours,

because very early it was found that the emotions 'joy' and/or 'happiness'

were orten related to the expressions 'bearning', 'shilling eyes' or 'a shilling

or bright face'. The term 'sharne' was used by us to designate a prototype tor

all emotions/feelings belonging to the farnily of more or less negative self-

conscious emotions, since in many if not most languages no terrninological

differentiation is made between shame and embarrassment (and, as we shall

see later, even between same other emotion terms).

Only native speakers were interviewed. The task was explaiiied to the infor-

mant in his/her native language/dialect or, to bilingual informants, in a European

language in which he/she was clearly fluent. Informants were asked to relate

facial colour change to emotions. In addition, they were asked to build

colloquial sentences expressing these event-relationships. Remembering that

in many languages only same 'basic colour terms' (Berlin and Kay,- 1969) are

used, descriptive terms such as 'colour of blood', 'colour of the Sky' or 'leaf

coloured' were laken as equivalents of specific colour terms, irrespective of

whether a 'basic colour term' was present in a particular language or whether

the informant was using a metaphor. All these sentences were recorded either in

the local script or transcribed and then translated literally into English, French,

German or Spanish. Whenever possible, more than Olle informant was ques-

tioned in order to counter individual and local variation. In OUT analysis hefe

we shall focus only on the data concerning the emotions shame, rage and anger.

During data collection, in most cases a semantic structure very sirnilar to

Wierzbicka's NSM (1986, 1988, 1992) emerged, consisting of the antecedent

situation (implicit the appraisal), the emotion term and the related colour. The

semantic structures corresponded mostly to Olle of the tour following:

(a) 'He/she turned colour A.'

(b) 'Colour A (in situation C) because of emotion B.'

(d) 'Because of situation C colour A [occurred (on the face) (because of emotion

B)].'

Figure 12.1 shows how frequently emotions were related to facial colour

change in 98 of the 135 different languages/dialects analysed.3 The numbers

In the remaining 37 languages no relationship was found to be expressed between any of these

emotions and any colour term. However, in many of these languages such sudden emotional

transitions were expressed in metaphors indicating the same physiological changes as those

which took place in the speakers of the other 98 languages. Hence, it is plausible that bad

282 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

N 120

100

t:;c:"t.~ ~~.§ e.

-Q:-'b-~ ~&~

Figure 12.1 Frequency with which emotions were related to colour met:

phoTs in 98 of the 135 languages/dialects recorded.

on the y-axis indicate the frequency with which each of the emotions was

associated with any colour. Since an emotion can be related to more than Olle

colour, these values can exceed 98. The figure shows clearly that the differ-

ences between the emotions are neither highnor significant; nevertheless, same

measure of variation was observed: shame, fear and rage were most frequently

associated with same colour(s), whereas pain, anger and envy were found to

be less so. In a next step we switched perspectives, to ex amine the frequency

with whith specific colours were related 10 emotions. Figure 12.2 sets out

these results, whereby the frequency with which any given colour was men-

tioned is represented by the height of the bars. The rank order hefe is much

more differentiated with red, white and black dominating and red and white

figuring more than tour times as orten as other colours. Certain colours, such

as red, were related in same languages to multiple emotions, hence the fre-

quency with which these were mentioned weIl exceeded the language sampIe

of 135.

Figure 12.3 shows in how many languages each of the emotions shame, anger

and rage is related to a specific colour. Shame, tor instance, is associated with

red in 78 of the 98 languages examined. In general red followed by black, and

less frequently white is associated with shame, anger and rage. The frequency

these changes been as visible among the darker complexioned speakers of these 37 languages

as they are among speakers of the remaining 98, they would have also been expressed in similar

metaphors. This logic applies equally to those languages in which no metaphors are used to

indicate the physiological changes. This assumption justifies our not treating these 37languages

as those with 'negative responses', hut rather ignoring them in our calculations.

Sharne across cultures 283

N250

200

150

100

Figure 12.2 Frequency with which colours or colour metaphors were re-

lated to emotions in the various sentences recorded. The colours with a high

frequency were orten related to multiple emotions.

Figure 12.3 Frequency of associations between colours/colour change and

the emotions shame, anger and rage in 98 languages.

of all the other colours is low and roughly equal. Figures 12.4a and 12.4b set

out the geographical distribution of the languages/dialects recorded in which a

connection is made between primarily red and shame, in other words in which

the metaphor 'blushinß' is used and others in which it is absent. From these maps

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Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

286

it can be seen that with only a few exceptions expressions indicating blushing

are used by populations with fair complexions.

The few exceptions can, we suggest, be explained as folIows. Firstly, when

the postulated blushing was hardly visible due to the speaker's relatively dark

complexion, red was sometimes substituted by black - a phenomenon that is

comprehensible, since a dark complexion becomes darker still when the blood

flow into the capillaries intensifies (Darwin, 1872/1965). We can assume that

liefe is a threshold of melanin concentration above which the effect is too small

to be noticeable.

Secondly, in many cases, especially when the speakers' complexions were

very dark, no colour term was related to shame. Sometimes, however, other

metaphors indicating physiological processes were used; many of these point

to a rise in temperature - e.g. 'he/she (his/her) (face/neck) became hot because

of sharne'.

It should also be mentioned that in some languages in Africa shame is orten

associated with 'red eyes', 'fire', or 'blood'; in Zulu angeris associated with the

reddening ofthe sky orof an inflarned eye and Taylorand Mbense (1998, p. 203)

explain that these'. . . expressions testify to the power of the conceptualisation

of anger in terms of the body filling up with blood'. .

So rar we have shown (1) that emotions arerelated to (facial) colour change

in a broad range of languages and (2) which colour(s) is(are) associated with

the spectrum of emotions shame, anger, and rage. These findings point to a

more generalized pattern in which red (and white, though not analysed hefe)

seem crucial, a result that is strikingly corroborated by correspondence analysis

(Greenacre, 1993) of our data. The scatter-plot can be viewed as a 'statistical

map' where substantive relations between iterns are transformed into proxirnity

in the image space. Those colours clustering around a particular emotion are

typical für this emotion.4

Figure 12.5 shows the plot of the first two dimensions obtained from cor-

respondence analysis. On the horizontal axis that captures 51.9 per cent of

the variance in the data, there is a clear split between shame/anger/rage and

pain/fear/shock corresponding respectively to red and white. The predorni-

nant dimension underlying the relationship between colours and emotions is,

however, Olle that separates white from red and simultaneously profi, fear and

shock from sharne, anger and rage. On the vertical axis, which explains an ad-

ditional 30.8 per cent of the variance of the data, a split between envy, mostly

associated with green (for which no physiological explanation is available), and

all the rest of the emotions and colours is visible.

The results presented from the cross-cultural sampIe (see appendix I) of

98 out of the 135 languages in which colour metaphors were used to signal

4 Shining/beaming was excluded tram this analysis because it occurs only in combination with

the emotion joy/happiness. This would introduce a new, partly artificial dimension.

Shame across cultures 287

SHAME

RAGE Red

I. I. I I

ANGER

Figure 12.5 Correspondence analysis of the use of colour terms or metaphors

and the emotions examined.

emotional change indicate a high degree of universality or intercultural con-

sensus. Yet they leave room für variation, and none of the relationships holds

true für all individuals, languages or other speech forrns. To determine more

precisely to what degree these exceptions to the overall pattern are random,

or hide substantial differences across languages or cultures, a second sampIe

of informants was interviewed. This intracultural sampIe consisted of forty-

rune Gerrnan students, socialized in different parts of the country and hence

exposed to different Gerrnan dialects. Though tlle units of analysis are differ-

ent (languages in Olle sampIe and individuals in the other) this second sampIe

can be used as a control group to determine (1) how sirnilar or different the

picture of the emotion-colour relationship can be within Olle language and

(2) the degree of difference between the internal variations within this sin-

gle language sampIe on the Olle hand and the languages in the cross-cultural

288 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

sampIe laken together on the other. A sirnilar or even lower variation within a

single language than that within a cross-cultural sampIe would strongly sup-

port our contention that we are looking at a universal phenomenon. We shall

ex amine both hypotheses separately: first, the similarity of the two colour-

emotion spaces and second the relative amount ofinternal variation in the two

sampIes.

The simplest approach is to compare the relative judgements on each pair

of items and to compute from these the absolute differences between the two

samples.5 The index of similarity (Sab) varies between 0 and 1, where 1 indicates

total equality between two populations and 0 total difference. Computing this

index of similarities für our two sampIes we retain a similarity value (Sab) of

0.91 between the two.6 Thus, within Olle population speaking Olle language there

is roughly the same degree of variation as in a sampIe composed of members

speaking 98 languages.

Still the theoretically more challenging question remains. In spite of sound

evidence that Iorty-nine speakers of Olle language are as good (if not bet-

ter) predictors of cross-cultural content as individuals speaking ninety-eight

languages/dialects, we do not know the extent of intern al variations. Only

if the internal variations within the two sampIe populations. are similar can

we be certain that there is a universal understanding of the colour-emotion

complex.

Variations can be defined as deviation from consensus on a specific judge-

meßt. If all members of Olle population agree that there is a relationship between

a specific emotion and a specific colour (say shame and red), there is no vari-

ation; there exists 100 per cent consensus within this group. The same extent

of consensus can also result from an agreed negative judgement: if all mem-

berg of a group share the notion that there is no relationship between any two

items (e.g. shame and green) we would also find 100 per cent consensus or zero

variation für that pair of items. The amount of variation within Olle population

can be calculated if we sum up all absolute departures from perfect consensus:

The index of variation (V) varies between 0 and the number of judgements

divided by 2, where 0 indicates no variation and the maximal value total dis-

agreement; this value of maximum variation would be reached if, on each pair

of items, 50 per cent of the population agrees with the judgement and 50 per cent

5 The similarity (Sab) between two sampIe populations (a and b) can be expressed as Sab =

1- I: IXij/n - Yij/ml / k where Sab is the index of similarity, Xij is the judgement of the

first population about a given pair of i.tems, Y ij the judgement of the second population about a

given pair of items, n the size of the first population, m the size of the second population and k

the number of pairs. See note 2 for the reasons für taking 98 as the basis of our calculations in

the cross-cultural sampIe.

6 The validity of the measure is also supported by a Pearson correlation of r = 0.84 between the

two datasets.

7 Va = I: Xij/n for Xij/n ~ 0.5 + I: l-Xij/n für Xij/n > 0.5. All indices are the same as above.

289

Shame across cultures

disagrees. The coefficients Va and Vb für the populations considered hefe are 5

für the intercultural sampie and 6 für the German sampie. Given the restriction

that the index varies between 0 and 24.5 für the size of the matrices analysed,

both values are very close to each other. Even more surprising is the fact that

the variations within the German sampie are greater than those in the sampie

of ninety-eight languages from all over the world. This points clearly to the

existence of a panhuman relationship between experiencing specific physiolo-

gical effects and the perception of facial colour change. The contexts/situations

(antecedents) in which the emotions are feIt are, however, culturally constructed,

especially in the case of 'shame'.

Shame, fea1; anger and rage

The metaphor linked in most languages to the emotions 'fear', 'shock' and 'profi'

was either 'white' o! terms close to it, such as 'grey', 'ash coloured' or 'pale'.

Here, obviously, the principal physiological process is the reverse ofblushing or

flushing - hefe blood withdraws from the capillaries in frightening situations. In

cases ofboth anger and fear there is arise in diastolic bloodpressure (Ax, 1953;

Roberts and Weerts, 1982), hut it is significantly higher in cases of intense anger

than of extreme fear. Anger and rage (defined as 'anger out of control', Lewis,

1992, p. 153) are accompanied by a higher heart rate, rising blood pressure and

higher breathing frequency, and in many cultures/languages the related feelings

are expressed with what Kövecses (1995,1998; see also Lakoffand Kövecses,

1987) termed the 'container under pressure' metaphor. In a shameful situation,

however, in the short moment of blushing, neither a rise in blood pressure flor

a higher heart rate can be observed (Gerlach, 1998).

An analysis of the subsampIe of seventy-eight languages in which red was

associated with shame reveals that in sixty-two of these (79 per cent) this colour

was also associated either with anger or with rage; in fifty-one cases (65 per cent)

it was related to anger, and in forty-eight (62 per cent) to rage. In twenty-seven

(35 per cent) of these seventy-eight languages red was associated with all the

three emotions - shame, anger and rage.

The connotations of the term 'shame' exhibit remarkable fuzziness in many

languages and the close relationship between shame, fear and anger (Fisher,

1985; Heron, 1992; Schieffelin, 1983) has orten been described. In some soci-

eties feelings of anger/rage are feared and should be suppressed; if they arise

they lead to the feeling of shame (Dentan, 1978; Levy, 1978; Rosaldo, 1983)

in the angry person. In other societies shameful emotions are related to feel-

ings of anger (Fisher, 1985; Heron, 1992; Rosaldo, 1984; Schieffelin, 1983)-

a famous example is that of 'running amok' which occurs in Malay society

and leads to anger and enraged homicidal attacks (Winzeler, 1990) - which

are projected either on the seIt that has failed socially, or on those who have

Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

290

noticed this failure and thus constitute a danger to the self (cf. also EI-Islam,

1994; Okano, 1994; Sachdev, 1990; Sharpe, 1987). This danger may, in turn,

lead to anger/rage in the ashamed person. It can be assumed that after the first

intense moments of shameful insecurity, confusion, fear, anger or rage may

overwhelm olle, leading to a secondary flush, and once again to shame. This

is in accordance with Lewis' (1992, pp. 149-53) findings that 'the shame-rage

connection can lead to a spiral in which the rage itself becomes a new source

ofshame' (cf. Retzinger, 1987; Scheffand Retzinger, 1991; Schüre, 1998).

Conclusion

In the foregoing we saw that the negative gelt-reflexive emotions belonging to

the shame/embarrassment/shyness complex and terrninologically differentiated

in different languages and societies are orten expressed locally by using either

the 'shying a"Yay' or 'bltishing' metonyms, or both. These emotions play an

important role in the psychological and behavioural shaping of the individual in

childhood and early youth, thus allowing für his/her integration and functioning

in a given society. The physiological principle operating on all the occasions

glossed by the English term 'sharne' also activates the various facial motor

patterns. As Ekman (1972, p. 279 in Ekman, 1980, p. 138) noted:

. . . the elicitors, the particular events which activate the affect program, are in largest

part socially learned and culturally variable, and.. . many of the consequences of an

aroused emotion also are culturallv variable. . .

The cross-cultural analysis and the related correspondence analysis have

shown that the metonyms indicating the reddening, mainly of the face, are used

to indicate states of rind - emotions which are part of this shame complex

and/or of the anger/rage complex. If the physiology of the shame-blushing

complex occurs in all human beings, whether visible or not, it is worthwhile to

explore its phylogenetic roots and examine whether it serves similar functions

in the social context.

We suggest that there is a panhuman experience deeply rooted in evolution,

which first links specific events and appraisals, then leads to the elicitation of

these self-retlexive emotions and finally to behaviour which serves the function

of enhancing the chances of individual survival. We posit the following: indi-

vidual emotions in different sets of 'emotion families' are released by events

of specific sets of 'event farnilies'. The fuzziness of both sets, between cultures

and within 'olle' culture over time, is the result of different culture-specific

concepts about the world. These emotions are experienced and paralleled by

physiological reactions that cause bodily symptoms or syndromes; again, the

cultural setting greatly intluences which bodilyfeeling(s) are taken into account

when speaking of emotions.

Shame across culture: ')Ql

We know that the junction of specific extern al events with physiological

reactions leading to bodily feelings developed in the course of evolution. This

development took place in the differential process of optirnizing the proximate

means of reaching the ultimate goal of maxirnizing Darwinian fitness. With

the evolution of complex social and cultural structures the number of events

included in such' external event farnili"es' grew. Feelings of fear and anger were

now released, not only by predators, hut also by conspecifics and members of

the same social group, when hierarchically ordered sex- and age-related Darms

began to constrain the degrees offreedom. The 'self-conscious emotions' now

enabled the individual to react quickly in self-defence. A second function:

however, developed in all groups where the flush or blush can be observed: it

serves as a signal für the 'other' about ego's state of mind and gives the former

the opportunity to react according to his/her own purposes - für the benefit or

detriment of the blusher.

The data used in this charter indicate that whenever a behavioural norm has

been violated and this violation has been observed by others, feelings belong-

ing to the farnily of self -conscious emotions arise in the violator. These are

often accompanied by a blush. When a more or less fair complexion fenders the

blush visible, this reddening of the face expresses and comrnunicates (Ekrnan,

1997) specific feelings. In these cultures theblushing phenomenon is expressed

metonyrnically or metaphorically in everyday speech, to indicate shame, embar-

rassment or sirnilar feelings that belang to this 'emotion farnily'. Such speech is

encountered in the hypercognitive and hypocognitive emotion vocabularies of

different cultures (Heelas, 1986; Levy, 1973, 1984) with their varied behavioural

Darms. This points to epigenetic d~velopment processes in early childhood and

to the flexibility ofhuman 'emotional intelligence'; it enables humans to cape

optimally, though differentially, with their specific social environments.

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298 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

Appendix I

These follows a list of languages referred to in this paper and the countries

in which they are spaken. Bold type indicates the absence of rnetaphors and

rnetonyrns linking facial colours (or colour change) and emotions, while the

numbers give the sampIe of informants für the given language.

Gabry

Garadjeri

German

Gourane

Greek

Greenlandic

Guabibo I Sukuani

Guajajara

Gupapuynu

Gur I Kabre

Hausa

Hebrew

Hindi

Hungarian

Icelandic

ltalian

Italian / Venetian

Japanese

Javanese

Kabyle (Berber)

Kannada

Kashmiri

Kazhak

Khmer

Kikongo

Kirghiz

Kisuahili

Komi

Konkani

Korean

Kumauni

Kurdish

Ladakhi

Lakota

Lamutic I Ewenic

Laotic

Lingalla

Luo

Macedonian

Malagasy

Malayalam

Chad

Australia

Germany

Chad

Greece

Greenland

Colombia

Brasilia

Australia

Togo

N. Nigeria

Israel

N. India

Hungary

Iceland

Italy

Italy / Venice

Japan

Indonesia

Algeria

S. India

N. India

Kazakhstan

Cambodia

Congo

Kyrgyzstan

Kenya

Russia

S. India

Korea

N. India

Iran

N. India

USA

Russia

Laos

Congo

Kenya

Macedonia

Madagascar

S. India

Namibia

Togo

Albania

S. Russia

Ivory Coast

Egypt

Iraq

Palestine

Tunisia

Iran

Ghana

lndonesia

S.E. Cameroon

lndonesia

Mali

Ivory Coast

Cameroon

Bangladesh

Ivory Coast

W. lndia

Kenya

Bulgaria

Spain

Philippines I Luzon

Tanzania

N.W. Russia

Zambia

China I Peking

China (Taiwan)

Yugoslavia I Croatia

Czech Republic

Cameroon

Netherlands

New Guinea

England

USA

Estonia

Togo

Finland

France

Chad

Afrikaans

Akposso

Albanian

Altai

Ani

Arabic I Egyptian

Arabic Ilraqi

Arabic I Palestinian

Arabic / Tunisian

Armenian

Ashanti I Twi

Bahasa Indonesian

Baka

Balinese

Bambara

Bamileke

Bassa

Bengali

Bete

Bhili

Boran I GaUa

Bulgarian

Catalan

Central Bontoc

Chagga

Chanti

Chichewa

Chinese

Chinese I Taiwan

Croatian

Czech

Douala

Dutch

Eipo I Mek

English I British

English I American

Estonian

Ewe

Finnish

French

Fulfulde

N.W. Russia

Russia

India

W. India (Barrner)

W. India (Jodhpur)

Mongolia

N .E. India

USA

Italy

N.W. Siberia

Nepal

Australia

Norway

E. India

S. Russia

Afghanistan

Iran

Tschad

Poland

N. Brazil

Portugal

N. India

Peru

Russia

Samoa

Mansi

. I.

Lamutic I Ewenic

Marathi

Marwari

Mongolian

Naga I Angami

Navajo

Neapolitan

Nenets

Nepali

Newari

Njanumarda

Norwegian

Oriya

Ossetic

Pashtu

Persian I Dari

Persian I Farsi

Peul

Polish

Portuguese

Punjabi

Quechua

Russian

Samoan

Shoric

Sicilian

Sindhi (BarmeT)

Singhalese

Slovenian

Spanish

Tamang

Tamil

Telugu

Temne

Thai

Tibetan

Tigre

Toba

Toba Batak

Tongan

Tshiluba

Tulu

Thmbuka

Turkish

U'wa

Urdu

Vietnamese

Yakutic

W. Russia

Sicily

W. lndia

Sri Lanka

Slovenia

Argentina

Spain

Costa Rica

Nepal

S. lndia

Sierra Leone

Thailand

Tibet I China

Ethiopia

Argentina

lndonesia I Romeo

Tonga

Congo

S. lndia

Zambia

Turkey

Colombia

Pakistan

Vietnam

Russia I Yacutia

Appendix 11

Examples of metaphors and metonyms indicating shameful feelings in same

languages.

menjadi

is merah

red

Armenian: amantchouchounits karmrav

Literal from shame become red

Translation he/she became red with shame

Bahasa lndonesia: karena dia malu mukanya

Literal: because he is ashamed his face

Translation: his face is red because he is ashamed

Balinese: gobane barak ulian lek

Literal: face red because shame

Translation: his face tumed red because of shame

300 Michael J. Casimir and Michael Schnegg

Bengali: notun barer shaathe chokh miliye bauer mukh lojjaae laal hoe gaelo

Litera!: new groom's with eyes having met bride's face shame red became

shyness with

Translation: the bride blushed when her eyes met those of her new groom

Bulgarian: potscherwenjawam ot sram

Literal: becoming red with shame

Translation: he/she tumed red with shame

Chinese: ta bei shangsi dang zhong piping jiu lian hang se

Literal: he is head/boss in public criticized therefore face red colour

Translation: because the head/boss was criticized in public bis face tumed red

Croatian: pocrvenelo mu je lice od stida

Literal: becomes red hirn is face with shame

Translation: his face became red with shame

Greenlandic: kanngutsikkami aapillerpoq

Literal: shame red

Translation: he/she tumed red because of shame

Hungarian: v(Jrös, mint a paprika

Literal: red as the paprika

Translation: he/she is red as a paprika (from shame or rage)

Kashmiri: washlyok sa vits watse tember

Literal: shame he with became copper-coloured

Translation: his face became copper-coloured with shame

Toba: napagaaqtec cha' aye ncoq

Literal: he/she blushes because he/she is ashamed

Translation: he blushes because he is ashamed

Toba-Batak: marrara bobina ala tarboto ibana manangko

Literal: becoming red his face because recognized he a thief

Translation: he blushed when he was recognized as a thief

Thrkish: utanmaktan kipkirmizi oldu

Litera!: shame from very red has became

Translation: he/she tumed red because of shame

Yakutic: kybystan sireje kytarda

Literal: having been ashamed face becarne red

Translation: his face became red because he has been ashamed

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Jan 2023

Juliane Spiegler

Die Dissertation widmet sich dem Phänomen Scham und Beschämung im inklusiven Grundschulunterricht. Mit einer praxistheoretischen Denkrichtung wird Unterricht als Vollzugspraxis verstanden, bei der eine spezifische soziale Ordnung hervorgebracht wird. In dieser Ordnung(sbildung) spielen Emotionen eine wichtige Rolle, wobei Schamgefühlen eine zentrale Bedeutung zukommt. Scham lässt sich mit dieser Justierung als eine Herstellungspraktik deuten – demnach als etwas, das von den Akteur*innen hervorgebracht wird –, bei der ein sozialer Normbruch im Zentrum steht (vgl. z. B. Demmerling 2009). Mit dieser Perspektive steht im Mittelpunkt, welche Beschämungspraktiken sich zeigen, welche Effekte diese zeitigen und welche Funktionen sie übernehmen. Aufgegriffen wurde ein ethnographisches Vorgehen, mit dem über einen Zeitraum von ca. sieben Monaten parallel der Unterricht von vier Grundschulen erhoben wurde. Die entstanden und relationierten Datentypen wurden zunächst in Anlehnung an das Kodierverfahren der Grounded Theory (vgl. Corbin & Strauss 2015) codiert und anschließend ausgewählte (Scham-)Episoden sequenzanalytisch analysiert. Das Phänomen konnte in unterschiedlicher Ausprägung in sieben einzelnen Situationen und in einer Episode serieller Beschämungssituationen erhoben und rekonstruiert werden. Darauf aufbauend, jedoch von den einzelnen Spezifika abstrahiert, blicken Figurationen unterrichtlicher Scham zunächst auf Praktikenkonstellationen, die Beschämungspotentiale präformieren können und anschließend auf die Praktikenkomplexe der Realisierung der Scham. Die Ergebnisse werden zudem eingebettet in eine Reflexion der eigenen Subjektivität und Standortgebundenheit im Forschungsprozess. Link: https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/64558/

Skin Complexion and the Blush

Article

Jan 2023

Raymond Crozier

The implications of variation in skin pigmentation for the blush have attracted discussion for centuries. Two long-standing positions are identified. First, the blush has been identified with shame, giving rise to claims that because people with dark skin do not blush they do not have the capacity to experience shame. Second, the meaning of a visible blush can be ambiguous. A review of more recent theorizing and empirical research suggests that people blush whatever their level of pigmentation; the blush tends to be associated with embarrassment rather than shame; it serves both intraindividual and communicative functions. Nevertheless, there has been little systematic investigation into the impact of the relative discernibility of the blush on emotional experience or its functions.

Psychometric evaluation of the Persian version of Adolescent Shame‐Proneness Scale

Article

May 2022

Shame is a significant factor for psychological problems in adolescents. The present study aims to assess the Persian version of the Adolescent Shame‐Proneness Scale (ASPS) among Iranian adolescents. Participants of this correlation study were 2291 high school students aged 12–18 (1296 girls and 1036 boys), selected through a multistage random cluster sampling method. The results indicated that the ASPS has adequate validity and reliability. Assessment of model fit using confirmatory factor analysis revealed satisfactory goodness of fit indices. Similar to the original version of ASPS, a three correlated factor model was confirmed in the present sample, and girls scored higher on all three subscales of ASPS. This scale can be a reliable and flexible instrument for measuring the significant emotion of shame in Iranian adolescents in research and clinical settings and can help expand the shame literature. (1) The Persian version of the Adolescent Shame‐Proneness Scale (ASPS) is a reliable scale for researchers and therapists to expand the shame literature in Iran and has cross‐cultural utility. (2) Girls scored higher than boys on all three subscales of ASPS, “Negative Self‐Evaluation,” “Emotional Discomfort,” and “Externalization.” (3) Shame and guilt differ despite overlap because shame is associated with negative self‐evaluation in general attributions, whereas guilt is characterized by a specific behavior. The Persian version of the Adolescent Shame‐Proneness Scale (ASPS) is a reliable scale for researchers and therapists to expand the shame literature in Iran and has cross‐cultural utility. Girls scored higher than boys on all three subscales of ASPS, “Negative Self‐Evaluation,” “Emotional Discomfort,” and “Externalization.” Shame and guilt differ despite overlap because shame is associated with negative self‐evaluation in general attributions, whereas guilt is characterized by a specific behavior.

Being Marginalised

Chapter

Jan 2021

This chapter takes the perspective of the victim of bullying. It begins with a case study to illustrate some of the factors that may be involved in victimisation, such as predispositions arising within the family and the effects on mental health that can continue into adulthood. Some victims may be mentally healthy initially but become convenient targets for alleviating fear of exclusion within a group at some point, whether on the grounds of some arbitrary difference or an attribute that is stigmatised in society more broadly. If bullying is prolonged, a vicious cycle of bullying and mental health (and sometimes educational) deterioration may be established. Being ignored, excluded or subject to contempt (abjection or stigmatisation) causes psychological pain, shame and stress. There are also physical repercussions as a result of prolonged stress.

Artificial Shame in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Chapter

Jul 2021

Rudolf M Oosthuizen

Futurists predict that a third of jobs that exist today could be taken by smart technology, artificial intelligence, human–robot interaction and algorithms. Robots will handle 52% of current work tasks by 2025—almost twice as many as they currently do. According to the World Economic Forum (2018), rapid changes in machines and algorithms, or computer processes, could create 133 million new roles in place of the 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is coming, and it is changing almost all aspects of human life, including the cultural context. The objective of the chapter is to present a critical review of shame for artificial cognitive systems, which must or may not be able to interact with human beings in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, emotional architectures have been focused on more basic models of emotions, and shame has been neglected in most of research cases by researchers of robotics, computer sciences or artificial intelligence (Vallverdú, 2014). Shame in artificial devices, as well as the culture of future human–machine interactions, is investigated (Brougham & Haar, 2018; Samani, Koh, Saadatian, & Polydorou, 2012).

Cultural Models of Emotional Experience

Chapter

Jan 2021

Victor Karandashev

Subjective emotional experience emerges from several sources: physiological changes and body sensations, awareness of these changes, perception of an event eliciting emotion, and its appraisal. Being biologically based in its roots, the experience of emotions may still be influenced by cultural factors through appraisal, interpretation, and labeling, which in turn depend on the culture-specific meaning of the event (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2012).

Speaking of emotions conceptualisation and expression

Book

Jan 2010

Missing emotion: The limitations of cultural constructionism in the study of emotion

Article

Jan 1995

M.L. Lyon

Studying the emotion-antecedent appraisal process: An expert system approach

Article

Jan 1993
COGNITION EMOTION

K.R. Scherer

The expression of the emotions in man and animals

Article

Jan 1993

C. Darwin

Shame' in Papua New Guinea

Article

Mar 1987
Group Anal

John Sharpe

La honte est une notion pivot pour les Melanesiens. Chez les Orokaiva il n'est aucun aspect de l'existence qui n'echappe a son impact: relations intimes et familiales, affaires de clan et de tribus, bref tous les domaines qui ont a voir avec la culture, la religion et la politique. Elle renforce les tabous; elle forme la trame du folklore; elle determine et renforce le statut social. Dans cette societe totalement fondee sur la reciprocite «l'echange de honte» - [comment l'eviter, la manipuler, la contenir et la distribuer] - est le tissu meme de la vie

The social construction of emotions

Article

Jan 1986

C. Armon-Jones

Shame, social roles and status: The psychobiological continuum from monkey to human

Article

Jan 1998

Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning.

Article

Jan 1994
J PERS SOC PSYCHOL

Reviews the major controversy concerning psychobiological universality of differential emotion patterning vs cultural relativity of emotional experience. Data from a series of cross-cultural questionnaire studies in 37 countries on 5 continents are reported and used to evaluate the respective claims of the proponents in the debate. Results show highly significant main effects and strong effect sizes for the response differences across 7 major emotions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, and guilt). Profiles of cross-culturally stable differences among the emotions with respect to subjective feeling, physiological symptoms, and expressive behavior are also reported. The empirical evidence is interpreted as supporting theories that postulate both a high degree of universality of differential emotion patterning and important cultural differences in emotion elicitation, regulation, symbolic representation, and social sharing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

A cognitive-developmental analysis of pride, shame, and embarrassment in middle childhood

Article

Jan 1995

S. Griffin

ANGER: AN EVOLUTIONARY VIEW

Chapter

Dec 1990

An evolutionary interpretation of anger is developed with emphasis on its function in changing behavior in the recipient of anger. Intensity and duration of anger, as well as the recipient's responses, are viewed as critical variables to be explained. Mechanisms of behavioral change in the recipient are discussed. Alteration of the recipient's physiology is viewed as a critical step in the process of change. The analysis places equal emphasis on the person who is angry and the recipient, one implication of which is that both parties have limited behavioral options. A final section discusses possible effects of psychiatric disorders on the expression of anger and its functional effectiveness.

Shame across cultures: the evolution, ontogeny and function of a 'moral emotion'

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