The evolution of shame and its display

Mitchell Landers; Daniel Sznycer

doi:10.1017/ehs.2022.43

journal article Open Access Jan 01, 2022

The evolution of shame and its display

Mitchell Landers

Daniel Sznycer

Evolutionary Human Sciences Vol. 4 · Cambridge University Press (CUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1017/ehs.2022.43

Abstract

AbstractThe shame system appears to be natural selection's solution to the adaptive problem of information-triggered reputational damage. Over evolutionary time, this problem would have led to a coordinated set of adaptations – the shame system – designed to minimise the spread of negative information about the self and the likelihood and costs of being socially devalued by others. Thisinformation threat theory of shamecan account for much of what we know about shame and generate precise predictions. Here, we analyse the behavioural configuration that people adopt stereotypically when ashamed – slumped posture, downward head tilt, gaze avoidance, inhibition of speech – in light of shame's hypothesised function. This behavioural configuration may have differentially favoured its own replication by (a) hampering the transfer of information (e.g. diminishing audiences’ tendency to attend to or encode identifying information – shamecamouflage) and/or (b) evoking less severe devaluative responses from audiences (shamedisplay). The shame display hypothesis has received considerable attention and empirical support, whereas the shame camouflage hypothesis has to our knowledge not been advanced or tested. We elaborate on this hypothesis and suggest directions for future research on the shame pose.

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References

Details

Published: Jan 01, 2022
Vol/Issue: 4
License: View

Authors

Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Cite This Article

Mitchell Landers, Daniel Sznycer (2022). The evolution of shame and its display. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 4. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.43

The evolution of shame and its display

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