title: Increased autonomic activation in vicarious embarrassment.
abstract: We studied the somatovisceral response pattern of vicarious embarrassment for someone else's inappropriate condition. Participants (N=54) were confronted with hand-drawn sketches depicting public situations and were instructed to rate the intensity of their vicarious embarrassment. The inappropriate condition varied according to the attribution of intentionality (absent/present) and awareness (absent/present). Irrespective of these attributions, participants reported stronger vicarious embarrassment in comparison to neutral situations. Across a set of eleven somatovisceral variables vicarious embarrassment elicited a pattern of increased autonomic activation which was modulated by the awareness of the protagonist about the ongoing norm violation. The somatovisceral response pattern matches previous findings for the first-person experience of embarrassment. Together, these results support the hypothesis that processes of perspective taking also mediate the vicarious experience of embarrassment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. lamuelle@med.uni-marburg.de
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Müller-Pinzler
authors.forename: Frieder M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stemmler
authors.forename: Sören
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D001821:Blushing / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D010556:Personality Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011674:Pulse; D012881:Skin Temperature; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult