Cortisol response to embarrassment and shame.
This study examined individual differences in 4-year-old children's (N = 60) expression of the self-conscious emotions of embarrassment and shame and their relation to differences in cortisol response to stress. Results indicated the presence of two different types of embarrassment--one that reflected negative evaluation of the self, and the other a nonevaluative type that reflected simply exposure of the self when the individual was the object of attention of others. Results also indicated a relation between a higher cortisol response to stress and the greater expression of the self-conscious emotions of evaluative embarrassment and shame that reflected negative self-evaluation.
Lewis
Michael
M
Institute 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
Ramsay
Douglas
D
D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012752:Shame
D006854:Hydrocortisone