ABSTRACT
Edelmann defines embarrassment as ‘a common and often dramatic experience’ consisting of ‘a highly uncomfortable psychological state, which can have a severely disruptive effect on social interaction’ (Edelmann 1981: 125) because it ‘can be attributed to the violation of social expectations which govern and define desirable behaviour’ (Edelmann 1981: 126). He also argues that embarrassment must be differentiated from shame because the former is possible only in the presence of a real or imagined audience and that it is, therefore, an interpersonal process, while the latter is a personal and private experience. That is not to say that the two cannot co-exist. However, ‘the crucial condition necessary for embarrassment to occur is that an individual behaves in a manner inconsistent with the way in which he or she would have wished to behave’ (Edelmann 1981: 132).
