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Changes in non‐verbal behaviour during embarrassment
Author(s) -
Edelmann Robert J.,
Hampson Sarah E.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1979.tb00908.x
Subject(s) - embarrassment , interview , psychology , nonverbal communication , eye contact , social psychology , interpersonal interaction , developmental psychology , audiology , medicine , political science , law
Embarrassment was induced experimentally in a videotaped interview by a failure of meshing (an interviewer revealed something unexpected about himself which was designed to embarrass the interviewee). After the interview the interviewees' self‐assessments of their emotions at three points during the interview were obtained. Fifteen of the 22 subjects reported embarrassment at the interviewer's revelation. The level of eye‐contact for these subjects decreased significantly at this point in the interview relative to the preceding and subsequent levels, whereas body motion and speech disturbances increased. The seven non‐embarrassed subjects showed a significant increase in eye‐contact at this point but no change in body motion or speech disturbances. Whilst this experiment provides a methodology for studying embarrassment the part played by the non‐verbal correlates in the communication of embarrassment requires further investigation.