Cortisol Response to Embarrassment and Shame

This study examined individual differences in 4–year–old children’s ( N = 60) expression of the self–conscious emotions of embarrassment and shame and their relation to differences in cortisol response to stress. Results indicated the presence of two different types of embarrassment—one that reflected negative evaluation of the self, and the other a nonevaluative type that reflected simply exposure of the self when the individual was the object of attention of others. Results also indicated a relation between a higher cortisol response to stress and the greater expression of the self–conscious emotions of evaluative embarrassment and shame that reflected negative self–evaluation.