ABSTRACT
Distancing emotions are those that emerge to move us away from events and objects perceived as threatening. Unlike those discussed in the previous chapter, this group of emotions represent threats that are more typical to our social status and self-esteem. This would apply to emotions such as embarrassment, anger, and other emotions previously discussed. What is unique about this grouping, and hence the separate category, is that, in the face of threat, these feelings compel us to create psychological distance from the threat object when physical distance is more difficult, which is to say that we are forced by some circumstance to maintain some affiliation with the threat object. In societies where safety can generally be taken for granted, the threat is more often to our psychological integrity, to our self-esteem.
