Some emotions are closer to each other at their experiential level. They share some commonalities, perhaps in expressions, in physiological activities, in the nature of antecedents or in the appraisal process. Therefore, they naturally form a ‘family of feelings’ (Ekman, 1992, p. 172) or a ‘cluster of emotions’. Shame, embarrassment, shyness and doubt form such a cluter. Etymologists link the modern English word ‘shame’ with the Indo-Germanic root kam/kem meaning ‘to cover’ (Jacoby, 2002, p. 1). One wants to cover oneself from the situation, from others and even from oneself when ashamed.
It creates disruption in behaviour, confusion in thought, inability in speech and shrinking of the body. It is not the situation but rather its interpretation by an individual that leads to shame and is attributed to both public and private failure (Lewis, 2008, p. 748). When feeling ashamed, one tends to make a global evaluation and global attribution of responsibility to the self (Lewis, 2008, p. 746), which prompts one to say ‘I am bad’ rather than saying ‘I did something bad’ after a failure.
Feelings like shyness and embarrassment are considered to be variations of shame (Jacoby, 2002, p. viii). Embarrassment is a less intense form of shame. Its duration is shorter and, unlike shame, it does not involve the disruption of thought and language. Embarrassed people do not tend to hide, disappear or die, but have an ambivalent body posture and avoidance approach. Shame also happens in the absence of others, but embarrassment happens only in the presence of others (Lewis, 2008, pp. 750–751). In the case of shyness, one experiences emotional arousal and physiological complaints like a pounding heart, sweating, blushing and an upset stomach. The cognicognitive components of shyness are acute public self-consciousness, self-deprecating thoughts and worries about being negatively evaluated by others. Socially, shy people are withdrawn and exhibit non-verbal awkward body language and gaze aversion (Cheek & Melchior, 1990, p. 49). Erikson (1987) considers ‘doubt as the brother of shame’. For him, both are developed by loss of self-control and foreign over-control in the age range between18 months and 3 years (p. 228). Doubt is the feeling of uncertainty about one’s own ability in a performance situation, which will lead to a self-handicapping performance (Hermann et al., 2002, p. 395).
How are these emotions of the shame cluster–shame, embarrassment, shyness and doubt –correlated with self-esteem? How can they indicate self-esteem status? Jacoby (2002) answers these questions based on his research on shame: “The less self-confidence and self-esteem one has, the greater the likelihood that one will fall victim to intense shame” (p. 23). It seems to be true for other emotions in the cluster.
An empirical study finds a genuine correlation between shyness and low self-esteem. Shy people would actively resist information that disconfirms their negative self-image and focus on negative feedback. Thus, they may remain in a self-defeating vicious circle and with an unrealistic self-image (Cheek & Melchior, 1990, pp. 71–72). The presence of embarrassment, though less intense and durable than shame, is an indication of unhealthy self-esteem. Without exception, self-doubt also indicates low self-esteem (Hermann et al., 2002, p. 396). In short, the presence or recurrent presence of shame cluster emotions– shame, shyness, embarrassment and selfdoubtindicates unhealthy self-esteem.