Development in children's attribution of embarrassment and the relationship with theory of mind and shyness

Abstract

The present study examined the two-stage developmental theory of the understanding of embarrassment (Modigliani & Blumenfeld, 1979) through the administration of verbal and non-verbal measures. Moreover, the relationship between children's attributions of embarrassment and their ability to understand false beliefs and propensity to be shy was investigated. Ninety-five children (4 to 9 years old) were presented with brief stories in which the main character received negative, neutral, or positive social reactions. Verbal and non-verbal attributions of embarrassment were examined. In addition, a false-belief task and a shyness-propensity questionnaire were administered. Using verbal measures, older children reported more embarrassment in the negative and neutral conditions compared to younger children. However, using non-verbal measures, these age differences disappeared. This suggests that young children may have a “mature” understanding of embarrassment, but may not be able to express this linguistically. Verbal and non-verbal embarrassment attributions were not related to the understanding of false beliefs, but they were related to shyness propensity. The results are discussed in terms of socio-cognitive and emotional factors in understanding emotions.

Keywords:

• Embarrassment
• Shyness
• Theory of mind
• False belief
• Verbal attributions

Acknowledgements

Sandra Rosmuller is acknowledged for help with the data collection. We are grateful to teachers and children of the primary school “Sint Pieter” in Maastricht, The Netherlands, for their participation. Corien Bögels is acknowledged for the drawings.