Why Do We Blush
I have blushed easily all my life. I simply accepted it as unavoidable that whenever I spoke in class, arrived somewhere late or was singled out for praise or correction that my face would redden significantly. As a young child I simply assumed that everyone blushed as much as I did, and that it was only my unusually pale skin that made my tendency towards blushing more apparent. But this is not, in fact, the case. Some people blush more than others do and some families blush more than others do (2). Some attribute blushing to social phobia, though it differs in that it is not accompanied by a change in pulse rate or blood pressure (1). Blushing is generally thought to be a response to embarrassment, but is the emotion
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The source of negative self- attention that results in this need to appease the group and by extension which leads to blushing were divided into categories: threats to public identity, scrutiny and the accusation of blushing (3). All of these result in negative self- attention and the sense that some social norm has been breached, resulting in the perceived necessity for an appeasement behavior, in this case, blushing.
Threats to public identity or a perceived negative reaction of other's often leads to blushing (3). Indeed, many people cited situations in which they have been caught or doing something of which they are ashamed as leading to blushing (3). This is consistent with blushing as an appeasement behavior. The person caught doing something that they perceive to be "shameful" or "improper" would feel the need to signal to the rest of their group that they recognize their transgression. That they reject their actions because they share the values of the groups other members and therefore that the group should accept them despite their mistake (1). Babies, for example, who have no sense of social norms or how they are perceived by others, do not blush at all (2). Blushing increases, though, when strangers witness something that an individual views as unflattering or which puts them in a negative light. For example, when three people together watched a video of one of
Embarrassment is a human reaction that everyone experiences. The decisions that are being made in life are purely based off of the judgements of others and how they affect a person's image. These choices become completely misguided by a lack of morals and become improper. This does not solely apply to people in general, but corporations, companies, and large groups of people. The government attempts to use a good image in order to demand respect from its followers and from other countries. This image causes the government to make decisions that under normal circumstances would not be acceptable. In Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo uses anaphora to convey how an inability to compromise leads to audacious conduct that would exceed tolerable
By criticizing one’s appearance, the community drives people to escape from common limitations. Social boundaries are set by the common flow of people within a community, usually, those who feel the need to break free, are those who have been condemned. “...but seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one defect grow more
I agree with Fran Liebowitz. Embarrassment is a powerful human emotion. Without embarrassment, people would live their life, going around doing stupid stuff and not really having any thought on how the stuff their doing is out of line. Bryan Stevenson brings up this point when he mentions “…no accountability” on page 114. Embarrassment, along with good conscious and good morals, is how people hold themselves accountable for their actions. Without embarrassment, there really is not any accountability.
Having fear of people knowing that, yourself has commit an action that wasn’t really polite or in a religious point of view “sinned” … automatically makes our inner conscience embarrassed. From personal experience it also makes one want to hide in shame. I recall when I was younger, agitating the teacher with missing assignments. So unfortunately I was going to walk into a speech from my mom when I arrive home about what happened earlier. She would advise to my aunties and uncles over the phone on how my behavior was school. I felt ashamed knowing the fact that my family members would judge me in a negative perspective by the actions I performed in school. Noticing them at family events made me abashed, so I hid away. I sense that’s why
Firearms are a very profound subject to speak about due to violence and other issues behind them. College students are already aroused and stressed to do extraordinary in their courses. Would consenting untrained students to carry concealed weapons around campus be such an enticing idea, when at any moment someone could lose their mind and go on a shooting rage? One may never know what kind of background that specific being that carries a concealed firearm has. In reality no one knows what kind of effect this would have towards universities or college campuses, but it could result in a students’ academic performance. Weapons on university campuses would create a vast interference towards the education of college students; an individual might never know who is carrying a concealed weapon or what that person might organize to do. Students would be alarmed to speak up in class or anywhere around the campus for that matter. Concealed Weapon Carry should not be allowed in universities because students are immature, it would be a risky environment, and permit holders are not always lawful citizens.
Clearly, our psychological well-being is dependent upon how we evaluate our sense of self-worth and he argues that we desire recognition from others to uplift our sense of importance in life. He further provides his own perspective on the psychology of humans and their understanding of the self when he writes, “Rather, such behavior is injurious because it impairs these persons in their positive understanding of self – an understanding acquired by intersubjective means. There can be no meaningful use whatsoever of the concepts of “disrespect” or “insult” were it not for the implicit reference to a subject’s claim to be granted recognition by others…” (111). In this case, he is alluding to the fact that the only way we can uphold a positive understanding of self is through the approval of others and there would not be any significant meaning behind the terms “disrespect” or “insult” if it were not for the sense of rejection we experience when others do not grant us the recognition we desire. In addition, Honneth also describes the three forms of disrespect, (disrespect of physical integrity, denial of rights, and evaluative forms of
At 6 weeks infants develop a social smile, at 3 month laughter and curiosity develop, at 4 months full responsive smiles emerge, from 4-8 months they develop anger, from 9014 months they develop a fear of social events, at 12 months the are fearful of unexpected sights and sounds, and at 18 months they are self-aware, feel pride, shame, and embarrassment. In the first two years, infants develop from reactive pain and pleasure to complex patterns of social awareness. Emotions in infants are produced from their body as opposed to their thoughts. Therefore fast and uncensored reactions are common in infants. During their toddler years, the strength of their emotions will increase.
Because humans are perceptive animals, people would mirror their reactions with people around them. These responses allow people to feel as if they are following a social norm by not doing anything different from others. In this experiment, the norm of reciprocity is explored by female and male researchers to not only investigate the truth of this theory, but also observe the between gender differences to various facial expressions.
Roger Chillingworth as a few hidden motives that are concealed under his scholarly charm and visible wisdom. He comes to town after receiving news that the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, has severe health problems. The townspeople are very troubled as the minister has fallen ill because the center of their daily functioning revolves around their religion. The view Chillingworth’s presence as a blessing. He explains to the townspeople that he wants to move in with the minister to take care of him. Hawthorne describes, “He expressed great alarm at the pastor’s health, but was anxious to attempt the cure” (Hawthorne, 72). As Chillingworth works to help cure the minister of his ailment, he reveals his alternative motive. He wants to reveal more
Interesting things in this section is the appearance of physical reactions which is why shame it was perceived at the time as doing something, such as feeling nervous, feeling grogi, felt the cold sweat, especially when doing something that doesn 't want to be known by
The article ‘Embarrassment and Social Organisation’ was written for the American Journal of sociology in 1956, since then Goffman 's work on embarrassment has been the backbone of understanding the sociology of embarrassment, as well as understanding the structures that reinforce the embarrassment. Goffman suggests that embarrassment is a recognisable deviation from the ease that is considered natural during social interaction. Embarrassment can be recognised through signs of emotional disturbance, blushing fumbling stuttering or change in voice, blinking or other actions that can be considered improper given the social interaction. Goffman describes two types of embarrassment, sustained
Thank you for considering my mortgage loan application. I am writing this letter to explain why I was late on one payment at the Peoria Postal Credit Union. Meeting my financial obligations is very important to me, and has always been my number one priority. I regret that this negative situation ever occurred.
We all know that we blush in our faces, but we also blush through several other parts of our body. Following what was said earlier in the above paragraph blood vessels when we encounter strong emotions and prepare to do something tedious. However, there is a distinct difference difference between the blush that occurs when exercising and experiencing the blush which comes with psychological issues. When you exercise, you are obviously going to exert your body for an extended period of time. Humans have been able to change the flow of blood which may very well help them be more effective in their current activity. We take the blood that was flowing to organs such as the stomach and so on and move them to the muscles that we are currently using. We appear a brighter color of red due to the increase of blood flow to the muscles that are receiving blood closer to the surface of the skin. This may happen around our arms, legs, torso, neck, and especially our face. Moving on to the possible side of our psychological blushing, it happens for two main reasons. We enter into a mode that was programed into us since the day we were born. It is the fight-or-flight theory. Similar to exercising but more to the extreme. This is the idea that when we are under extreme stress that we either confront (fight) the point of our stress, or move away (run) from it. We enter a state like earlier explained when we move blood from our organs to our muscles. The reason there is a difference between the two is how far it could possibly go on. We humans obviously know when to stop exercising even when we get rushes of adrenaline. When we go into the fight or flight mode we have such a large amount of adrenaline that we tend to forget the huge amount of stress our organs are under going. While we do show signs of high amounts of blushing, it isn’t all beauty. With the huge amount of stress you
213). As a whole, society tends to mirror the emotions of the person who is speaking or of the person who is playing a part. If a person goes to a play and the actors are experiencing fear, than the people who are watching the play will tend to experience that same fear. If one actor is mad at another actor, than the people watching the play will either experience that same emotion of anger or they will side with the other actor and experience the emotion that the other actor is feeling, whether it be uncertainty about why the other actor is mad at them or a feeling of sadness because the other actor is mad at them. Imitating others emotions happens all the time in society and as long as there is communication between people, whether it is verbal or nonverbal, this catching of emotions will continue.
Another similar theory proposed by Patterson in 1982 deals with providing information, regulating interaction, and expressing intimacy. “However, Patterson (1982) also proposed two other functional categories, social control and service-task functions, neither of which is identified in the earlier classification systems” (Edinger and Patterson, 1983, p. 31). The main function, and more readily accepted is social control. Social control, or attempting to change the behavior of another, is unique because it describes a motivational contrast with the function of intimacy (Edinger and Patterson, 1983, p. 31). Intimacy, or the underlying affectionate reaction towards another, also deals with negative and positive reactions. The positive affect could result in concern for, liking, love, or interest in another; however, the negative ends results in dislike or hate (Edinger and Patterson, 1983, p 31). “…The social control function is characterized by independence of affect and nonverbal behavior…in some cases the real affect is opposite to the affect represented behaviorally; for example, when smiling at, gazing at, and standing close to a disliked superior to win favor with that person”(edinger and Patterson, 1983, p. 31). In this case, by standing close, smiling at and gazing at a disliked superior the person is using intimacy to gain