Flustered and faithful: Embarrassment as a signal of prosociality
Feinberg, Willer and Keltner, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102(1), 2012, 81-97. Five studies. Study 1: people more easily embarrassed reported more prosocial tendencies and behaved more generously. Studies 2 to 5: observers rated embarrassed targets as more prosocial and less antisocial than targets showing another emotion or none, gave them more resources and expressed more desire to affiliate, with the effects explained by perceived prosociality.
Feinberg, Willer and Keltner, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102(1), 2012, 81-97. Five studies. Study 1: people more easily embarrassed reported more prosocial tendencies and behaved more generously. Studies 2 to 5: observers rated embarrassed targets as more prosocial and less antisocial than targets showing another emotion or none, gave them more resources and expressed more desire to affiliate, with the effects explained by perceived prosociality.
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Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Keltner, D. (2012). Flustered and faithful: Embarrassment as a signal of prosociality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(1), 81-97. doi:10.1037/a0025403 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025403