title: Shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation by others, even across cultures.
abstract: We test the theory that shame evolved as a defense against being devalued by others. By hypothesis, shame is a neurocomputational program tailored by selection to orchestrate cognition, motivation, physiology, and behavior in the service of: (i) deterring the individual from making choices where the prospective costs of devaluation exceed the benefits, (ii) preventing negative information about the self from reaching others, and (iii) minimizing the adverse effects of devaluation when it occurs. Because the unnecessary activation of a defense is costly, the shame system should estimate the magnitude of the devaluative threat and use those estimates to cost-effectively calibrate its activation: Traits or actions that elicit more negative evaluations from others should elicit more shame. As predicted, shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation in the United States (r = .69), India (r = .79), and Israel (r = .67). Moreover, shame in each country strongly tracks devaluation in the others, suggesting that shame and devaluation are informed by a common species-wide logic of social valuation. The shame-devaluation link is also specific: Sadness and anxiety-emotions that coactivate with shame-fail to track devaluation. To our knowledge, this constitutes the first empirical demonstration of a close, specific match between shame and devaluation within and across cultures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660; dsznycer2@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6510-3313
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sznycer
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210;
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tooby
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660;
authors.forename: Leda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cosmides
authors.affiliation: Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya 46150, Israel; Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel;
authors.forename: Roni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Porat
authors.affiliation: Center for Experimental Economics and political Decision Making (CREED) and Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Shaul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shalvi
authors.affiliation: Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya 46150, Israel;
authors.forename: Eran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Halperin
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007557:Israel; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D019455:Self Psychology; D012752:Shame; D012938:Social Perception; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States
keywords: culture; emotion; evolutionary psychology; shame; valuation