Washington, Sep 29 (IANS) If committing a faux pas in public or mistaking an overweight woman for a prospective mother leaves you red-faced, don’t feel bad. A new study suggests that people who are easily embarrassed are also more trustworthy and more generous. In short, embarrassment can be a good thing.
‘Embarrassment is one emotional signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources,’ said study co-author and social psychologist Robb Willer from University of California, Berkeley.
‘It’s part of the social glue that fosters trust and cooperation in everyday life,’ added Willer, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reports.
Subjects of the research who were more easily embarrassed reported higher levels of monogamy, according to a California statement.
‘Moderate levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue,’ said Matthew Feinberg, doctoral student in psychology at Berkeley, who led the study.
Researchers point out that moderate type of embarrassment should not be confused with social anxiety or with ‘shame’, associated with such moral transgressions as being caught cheating.
While the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partially covering the face and either smirking or grimacing, a person who feels shame, as distinguished from embarrassment, will typically cover the whole face, Feinberg said.
