Mr. Leary et al., THE MOTIVATED EXPRESSION OF EMBARRASSMENT FOLLOWING A SELF-PRESENTATIONAL PREDICAMENT, Journal of personality, 64(3), 1996, pp. 619-636
Two experiments tested hypotheses derived from an interpersonal model
of embarrassment. According to this model, people who have suffered a
self-presentational predicament are motivated to convey to others that
they feel embarrassed as a way of repairing their social image and lo
wering subjective embarrassment in such situations. In Experiment 1, p
articipants who performed an embarrassing task subsequently expressed
greater embarrassment if the researcher did not already know that they
were embarrassed than if she was aware of their embarrassment. Experi
ment 2 showed that embarrassed participants who thought that the resea
rcher did not interpret their blushing as a sign of embarrassment subs
equently engaged in alternative self-presentational tactics to improve
their damaged social image.