Editing Shame (section)

== Identification and self-evaluation ==
Nineteenth-century scientist [[Charles Darwin]] described shame affect in the physical form of blushing, confusion of mind, downward cast eyes, slack posture, and lowered head;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Charles.|first=Darwin|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1203963155|title=Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals|date=2020|publisher=Digireads.com Publishing|isbn=978-1-4209-6989-4|oclc=1203963155}}</ref> Darwin noted these observations of shame affect in human populations worldwide, as mentioned in his book "[[The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals]]". Darwin also mentions how the sense of warmth or heat, associated with the vasodilation of the face and skin, can result in an even greater sense of shame. More commonly, the act of crying can be associated with shame.

When people feel shame, the focus of their evaluation is on the self or identity.<ref name="Schalkwijk, F. 2016"/> Shame is a self-punishing acknowledgment of something gone wrong.<ref name="Niedenthal, P. M. 2017"/> It is associated with "mental [[Undoing (psychology)|undoing]]". Studies of shame showed that when ashamed people feel that their entire self is worthless, powerless, and small, they also feel exposed to an audience—real or imagined—that exists purely for the purpose of confirming that the self is worthless. Shame and the sense of self is stigmatized, or treated unfairly, like being overtly rejected by parents in favor of siblings' needs, and is assigned externally by others regardless of one's own experience or awareness. An individual who is in a state of shame will assign the shame internally from being a victim of the environment, and the same is assigned externally, or assigned by others regardless of one's own experience or awareness.

A "sense of shame" is the feeling known as [[Guilt (emotion)|guilt]] but "consciousness" or awareness of "shame as a state" or condition defines core/toxic shame (Lewis, 1971; Tangney, 1998). The person experiencing shame might not be able to, or perhaps simply will not, identify their emotional state as shame, and there is an intrinsic connection between shame and the mechanism of denial.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dolezal|first1=Luna|last2=Lyons|first2=Barry|date=2017-12-01|title=Health-related shame: an affective determinant of health?|journal=Medical Humanities|language=en|volume=43|issue=4|pages=257–63|doi=10.1136/medhum-2017-011186|issn=1468-215X|pmid=28596218|pmc=5739839}}</ref> " The key emotion in all forms of shame is contempt (Miller, 1984; Tomkins, 1967). Two realms in which shame is expressed are the ''consciousness of self as bad'' and ''self as inadequate''.<ref name="GreenbergKoole2013">{{cite book|author1=Jeff Greenberg|author2=Sander L. Koole|author3=Tom Pyszczynski|title=Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_9dAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA159|year=2013|publisher=Guilford Publications|isbn=978-1-4625-1479-3|page=159}}</ref> People employ negative coping responses to counter deep rooted, associated sense of "shameworthiness".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Edward Teyber|author2=Faith Teyber|title=Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An Integrative Model|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usHRQnMvD_oC&pg=PA137|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-60420-4|pages=137}}</ref> The shame [[cognition]] may occur as a result of the experience of shame affect or, more generally, in any situation of [[embarrassment]], [[dishonor]], disgrace, inadequacy, [[humiliation]], or [[wikt:chagrin#Noun|chagrin]].<ref>{{Citation |last= Broucek |first= Francis |title=Shame and the Self |publisher=Guilford Press, New York |year= 1991 |isbn= 978-0-89862-444-1 |page=5 }}</ref>

The dynamics of shame and devaluation appear to be consistent across cultures. This has led some researchers to propose the existence of a universal human psychology related to how we assign value and worth. This applies both to us and to others. <ref>Sznycer, Daniel, Dimitris Xygalatas, Elizabeth Agey, Sarah Alami, Xiao-Fen An, Kristina I. Ananyeva, Quentin D. Atkinson et al. "Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 115, no. 39 (2018): 9702–07.</ref>

=== Behavioural expression ===
Physiological symptoms caused by the autonomic nervous system include blushing, perspiration, dizziness, or nausea. A feeling of paralysis, numbness, or loss of muscle tone might set in making it difficult to think, act, or talk. Children often visibly slump and hang their head. In an effort to hide this reaction, adults are more likely to laugh, stare, avoid eye contact, freeze their face, tighten their jaw, or show a look of contempt. In another's presence, there's a feeling of being strange, naked, transparent, or exposed, as if wanting to disappear or hide.<ref>Silvan S. Tomkins (1963). ''Affect Imagery Consciousness'', vol. 2: The Negative Affects. New York: Springer Publishing Company, p. 144. {{ISBN|9780826105424}}.</ref><ref>Lancer, D. (2014). ''Conquering Shame and Codependency: 8 Steps to Freeing the True You.'' Hazelden Foundation, pp. 12–13. {{ISBN|978-1-61649-533-6}}.</ref>
The Shame Code was developed to capture behavior as it unfolds in real time during the socially stressful and potentially shaming spontaneous speech task and was coded into the following categories: (1) Body Tension, (2) Facial Tension, (3) Stillness, (4) Fidgeting, (5) Nervous Positive Affect, (6) Hiding and Avoiding, (7) Verbal Flow and Uncertainty, and (8) Silence.<ref name="France, K. 2017">De France, K., Lanteigne, D., Glozman, J. & Hollenstain, T. (2017). "A New Measure of the Expression of Shame: The Shame Code". ''Journal of Child & Family Studies'', 26(3), 769–80.</ref> Shame tendencies were associated with more fidgeting and less freezing, but both stillness and fidgeting were social cues that convey distress to the observer and may elicit less harsh responses. Thus, both may be an attempt to diminish further shaming experiences. Shame involves global, self-focused negative attributions based on the anticipated, imagined, or real negative evaluations of others and is accompanied by a powerful urge to hide, withdraw, or escape from the source of these evaluations. These negative evaluations arise from transgressions of standards, rules, or goals and cause the individual to feel separate from the group for which these standards, rules, or goals exist, resulting in one of the most powerful, painful, and potentially destructive experiences known to humans.<ref name="France, K. 2017" />