The effect of embarrassed reactions upon others

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Abstract
The present study examined how different reactions to embarrassment, produced in a confederate, affected subjects' nonverbal behaviour and their feelings of comfort and liking for the confederate. During a role‐played interview, subjects were required to inform a confederate of the experimenter that he had performed badly on a task. The confederate responded to this by reacting in one of three ways: (a) a defiant stare; (b) gaze aversion and fidgeting; or (c) gaze aversion with both fidgeting and laughing. The effect of the confederate's apparent embarrassment on subjects' level of discomfort was measured by subjects' looking, smiling, body motion, liking for the confederate and self rating of comfort. Subjects experienced most discomfort when the confederate stared defiantly at them, and least discomfort when he averted gaze, fidgeted and laughed. The implications of these results for our understanding of the nature of embarrassment are discussed.

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