Embarrassment, an ambivalent and complex emotion: A theoretical review

This article provides a review of the literature on embarrassment, a complex and social emotion that has not been documented to the same extent as other self-conscious emotions, such as shame or guilt. The first aim of this review, after having defined the main characteristics of embarrassment, is to propose a classification of the different explanatory models of its causes. The second objective is to map and to question the social effects of both experienced and expressed embarrassment, as well as some more straightforward effects (motivational and physiological) on the embarrassed individual. Several ambivalent points are highlighted in order to suggest some future research perspectives arising from cognitive and social psychology.