A Psychological Perspective on Vicarious Embarrassment and Shame in the Context of Cringe Humor

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Annalina Valpuri Mayer ◽  
Frieder Michel Paulus ◽  
Sören Krach
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normative Standards ◽  
Do So

Cringe humor combines the seemingly opposite emotional experiences of amusement and embarrassment due to others’ transgressions of norms. Psychological theories and empirical studies on these emotional reactions in response to others’ transgressions of social norms have mostly focused on embarrassment and shame. Here, we build on this literature, aiming to present a novel perspective on cringe humor. To do so, we introduce the psychological literature on embarrassment and shame, as well as the processes involved that allow humans to also experience these emotions on behalf of others, and draw theoretical links to cringe comedy. We then systematically disentangle contexts in which audiences experience vicarious embarrassment, and structure our argument based on the ongoing processes and consequences of the observed transgressions of norms based on the constituting dimensions of awareness and intentionality of the normative transgression by the social target. We describe how the behavioral expressions of the target along with the social distance and the current motivations of the audience shape the emotional experience and negotiation of social norms, specifically in response to intentional normative transgressions. While this perspective makes it evident that cringe humor is closely linked to the debate around social normative standards between the actor/actress and the audience, we conclude that the different manifestations and specific situational characteristics have fundamentally different consequences for the affirmation or renegotiation of social normative standards.

Dimensions of Cultural Variation

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Measurement Bias ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Social ◽  
Do So

To understand cultural differences, we need to find ways to characterize the variations in the social contexts in which people are located. To do so, we must focus on differences between contexts rather than differences between individuals. Most research of this type has examined differences between nations in terms of dimensions. Treating each nation as a unit, contrasts have been identified in terms of values, beliefs, self-descriptions, and social norms. The most influential difference identified concerned the dimension of individualism–collectivism, which has provided the theoretical framework for numerous studies. The validity of this type of investigation rests on close attention to aspects of measurement to ensure that respondents are able to make the necessary judgments and to respond in ways that are not affected by measurement bias. Where many nations are sampled, multilevel modeling can be used to show the ways in which dimensions of culture affect social behaviors.

Hypnotic Visual Hallucinations as Imaginings: A Cognitive-Social Psychological Perspective

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Spanos ◽  
H. Lorraine Radtke
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Test ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Visual Hallucinations ◽  
Test Situation ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Do So ◽  
Positive Motivation ◽  
Social Psychological Perspective

Research pertaining to the phenomenology of hypnotic (suggested) visual hallucinations is reviewed within a cognitive-social psychological framework. Suggested hallucinations are conceptualized as cognitive-social enactments; as imaginings generated by co-operative subjects to meet the social demands of the experimental test situation. These imaginings differ from corresponding perceptions even in highly responsive (i.e., susceptible) subjects, and when provided with the opportunity to do so, the majority of subjects describe such experiences as “imagined” rather than as “seen.” The few subjects who report that they “saw” the suggested object and believed that it was actually there appear to be highly absorbed in their imaginings. Consequently, they fail to attend to information that contradicts the status of their imaginings as external (i.e., “real”) happenings. Responsiveness to hallucination suggestions is no more strongly facilitated by hypnotic procedures than by short instructions aimed at ensuring subjects' cooperation and positive motivation. There is no support for the hypothesis that hallucinations in hypnotic subjects reflect the operation of a hypothetical hypnotic state.

scholarly journals Employees’ Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Responses to Increasing Statutory Retirement Ages

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Jaap Oude Mulders ◽  
Kène Henkens ◽  
Hendrik P. van Dalen
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Proactive Behavior ◽  
Socioeconomic Groups ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Social

Increasing statutory retirement ages around the world are forcing employees to prolong their working lives. We study the different ways in which mid- and late-career workers respond to such changes. We distinguish between negative emotions about working longer, cognitive engagement with prolonged employment, and proactive behavior to facilitate longer working lives. We analyze data from 1,351 employees aged 40-66 from the Netherlands. We estimate a structural equation model to identify in which ways experiences of age discrimination, accessibility of accommodative HR facilities, and social norms in the workers’ social networks are related to the three different types of responses. Results show that when employees do not experience age discrimination, when their employer offers easily accessible accommodative HR facilities, and the social norms support prolonged employment, employees have fewer negative emotional reactions and are more likely to behaviorally respond to facilitate longer working lives. When these contexts are misaligned, the reverse is generally found. We also find socioeconomic differences in the ways employees respond to the prospect of prolonged employment. This study shows the importance of supportive contexts at different levels—societally, in organizations, and in individuals’ own lives—for policy changes such as increasing statutory retirement ages to be effective. Different responses between different socioeconomic groups may lead to growing long-term inequality.

scholarly journals Against the current: Cultural psychology and culture change management

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-343
Author(s):  
Ernst Graamans ◽  
Wouter ten Have ◽  
Steven ten Have
Keyword(s):  
Change Management ◽  
Culture Change ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Heuristic Model ◽  
Enactive Approach ◽  
Real People ◽  
Organizational Culture Change ◽  
The Social ◽  
Do So

Since the 1980s, psychologists and management scholars have contributed significantly to the popularity of the idea of culture in organizations. A common and tenacious pitfall surrounding this idea, at times pointed out by these scholars themselves, is that culture is too often hypostatized and superimposed upon people. In doing so, this can have harmful consequences for employees at every level of organization. In this article, we reiterate this critique, challenge familiar managerial notions used to address “shared” behavior among employees, and answer to an old but neglected call to bring back real people to the forefront of our analyses. Based upon our adaptation of the enactive approach to the social tuning of behavior developed by Paul Voestermans and Theo Verheggen—made applicable in empirical studies on culture change conducted by the first author of this article—and inspired by principles of Gestalt, we propose a novel heuristic model to address organizational culture change. We attempt to do so both from an analytical and interventionist standpoint, while avoiding attributing causality to the idea of culture.

scholarly journals Emotion Recognition in a Multi-Componential Framework: The Role of Physiology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maëlan Q. Menétrey ◽  
Gelareh Mohammadi ◽  
Joana Leitão ◽  
Patrik Vuilleumier
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Emotion Classification ◽  
Discrete Emotions ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTEmotions are rich and complex experiences involving various behavioral and physiological responses. While many empirical studies have focused on discrete and dimensional representations of emotions, these representations do not fully reconcile with recent neuroscience studies that increasingly suggest a multi-process mechanism underlying emotional experience. Moreover, the latter view accords with psychological theories that consider emotions as multicomponent phenomena, such as appraisal theories. Although there is no complete consensus on the specific components of emotions and fundamental principles defining their organization, the Component Process Model (CPM) is well established framework describing an emotion as a dynamic process with five major highly interrelated components: cognitive appraisal, expression, motivation, physiology and feeling. Yet, few studies have systematically investigated a range of discrete emotions through this full multi-componential view. In the present study, we therefore elicited various emotions during movie watching and measured their manifestation across these components. Our primary goal was to investigate the relationship between physiological measures and the theoretically defined components of emotions. In addition, we also investigated whether discrete emotions could be predicted from information provided by the multicomponent response patterns, as well as the specific contributions of each component in such predictions. Results suggest that physiological features are interrelated to all other components of emotion, but the least significant predictors for emotion classification. Overall, emotion prediction was significantly higher when classifiers were trained with all five components. The findings therefore support a description of emotion as a dynamic multicomponent process, in which the emergence of a conscious feeling state requires the integration of all the components.

scholarly journals Feeling Wronged: The Value and Deontic Power of Moral Distress

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Bagnoli
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Moral Distress ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Reactive Attitudes ◽  
Cognitive Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normative Standards ◽  
Normative Value

AbstractThis paper argues that moral distress is a distinctive category of reactive attitudes that are taken to be part and parcel of the social dynamics for recognition. While moral distress does not demonstrate evidence of wrongdoing, it does emotionally articulate a demand for normative attention that is addressed to others as moral providers. The argument for this characterization of the deontic power of moral distress builds upon two examples in which the cognitive value of the victim’s emotional experience is controversial: the case of micro-aggression, and the case of misplaced distress. In contrast to appraisal and perceptual models of distress, it is argued that its epistemic and normative value is dialogical rather than evidential, in that it presses claims that engage the audience in a normative discussion about the normative standing of the claimant, the proper grounds of the attitude, and the normative standards used to assess them.

THE INTERPLAY OF CONTEXT, EXPERIENCE, AND EMOTION AT WORLD HERITAGE SITES: A QUALITATIVE AND MACHINE LEARNING APPROACH

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manal Ginzarly ◽  
F. Jordan Srour ◽  
Ana Pereira Roder
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
The Social ◽  
Machine Learning Approach

This study illustrates how user-generated content, posted in the form of heritage site reviews on social media, can serve to reveal the relationship between the co-created interpretation of World Heritage Sites (WHSs) — in terms of values, tangible and intangible attributes, as well as site visit logistics — and the emotional experience of the site. Two WHSs are taken as a case study. More than 2000 reviews were retrieved from TripAdvisor and analyzed through the application of a mixed-method that integrates qualitative digital ethnography and machine learning. Results show that TripAdvisor reviews capture tourists’ emotional reactions from personal encounters with heritage and provide insights into the range of values — including the social, historic, and aesthetical values — that visitors experience when engaging with aspects of the past to associate meanings for the present. Results also show that the relation between experiences gained at WHSs and contextual aspects is not linear, instead, it is a complex one that results from the interaction of different factors and their associated sentiments. We discuss our results by reflecting on their theoretical and practical implications.

"I Too Could Be Gay If I Wanted"

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Herrero-Brasas
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Social Rejection ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
Queer People ◽  
The Social

An important factor in the social rejection and marginalization of queer people is misplaced empathy. When it comes to sexual identity, putting oneself in someone else's shoes, if bringing into those shoes a radically non-queer emotional experience, will only lead to further lack of understanding and misconceptions. The religious studies classroom provides a privileged setting for exposing that wrong kind of empathy and help the students reflect about the ways in which negative religious attitudes to queerness may be tainted with it.

The Samarin Family and the Parish Question in the Russian Empire. 1860s–1910s

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Alexey L. Beglov
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

The article examines the contribution of the representatives of the Samarin family to the development of the Parish issue in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The issue of expanding the rights of the laity in the sphere of parish self-government was one of the most debated problems of Church life in that period. The public discussion was initiated by D.F. Samarin (1827-1901). He formulated the “social concept” of the parish and parish reform, based on Slavophile views on society and the Church. In the beginning of the twentieth century his eldest son F.D. Samarin who was a member of the Special Council on the development the Orthodox parish project in 1907, and as such developed the Slavophile concept of the parish. In 1915, A.D. Samarin, who took up the position of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, tried to make his contribution to the cause of the parish reforms, but he failed to do so due to his resignation.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

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