TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Witnesses in Humiliation
T2 - Why Does the Presence of an Audience Facilitate Humiliation Among Victims of Devaluation?
AU - Fernández, Saulo
AU - Saguy, Tamar
AU - Gaviria, Elena
AU - Agudo, Rut
AU - Halperin, Eran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - We examined the role that witnesses play in triggering humiliation. We hypothesized that witnesses trigger humiliation because they intensify the two core appraisals underlying humiliation: unfairness and internalization of a devaluation of the self. However, we further propose that witnesses are not a defining characteristic of humiliating situations. Results of a preliminary study using an event-recall method confirmed that witnesses were as characteristic of humiliating episodes as of those that elicited shame or anger. In Experiments 1 and 2, we manipulated the presence (vs. absence) of witnesses when a professor devalued participants and the hostile tone of this devaluation. As hypothesized, in both experiments, witnesses indirectly increased humiliation via the appraisal of unfairness. Results of Experiment 2 revealed that the presence of witnesses also interacted with hostility, enhancing humiliation. As expected, this moderating effect occurred via the other key appraisal of humiliation (i.e., internalization).
AB - We examined the role that witnesses play in triggering humiliation. We hypothesized that witnesses trigger humiliation because they intensify the two core appraisals underlying humiliation: unfairness and internalization of a devaluation of the self. However, we further propose that witnesses are not a defining characteristic of humiliating situations. Results of a preliminary study using an event-recall method confirmed that witnesses were as characteristic of humiliating episodes as of those that elicited shame or anger. In Experiments 1 and 2, we manipulated the presence (vs. absence) of witnesses when a professor devalued participants and the hostile tone of this devaluation. As hypothesized, in both experiments, witnesses indirectly increased humiliation via the appraisal of unfairness. Results of Experiment 2 revealed that the presence of witnesses also interacted with hostility, enhancing humiliation. As expected, this moderating effect occurred via the other key appraisal of humiliation (i.e., internalization).
KW - emotion
KW - humiliation
KW - self-concept
KW - shame
KW - witnesses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120956942&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/01461672211053078
DO - 10.1177/01461672211053078
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C2 - 34802330
AN - SCOPUS:85120956942
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 49
SP - 32
EP - 47
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 1
ER -