Abstract
The present study investigated the role of type of embarrassing predicament and dispositional embarrassability on remedial responses used by persons caught in embarrassing situations. Respondents completed a survey regarding a recollected significantly embarrassing event. Results indicated that: (1) apologies were more likely to appear in situations of rule violation and situations of failed role performance, (2) accounts were more likely to appear in situations of damaged self‐image, (3) humor was more likely to appear in situations where an actor loses comportment, but less likely to appear in situations where an actor observes the embarrassment of others indirectly, (4) aggression was more likely to appear in situations of individualization (such as being corrected or teased), and (5) apologies used in conjunction with other strategies were less likely to appear in situations where an actor loses comportment. Dispositional embarrassability was not significantly associated with remedial responses.