Editing Shame (section)

=== 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" />