#10 Does shame have a purpose?
Does shame help us survive?
Hi. We’re here! It’s deep dive week. Does shame has a purpose? I have so many questions after exploring the evolutionary psychology of shame. Let’s dive in!
This study was conducted by Daniel Sznycer, John Tooby, Leda Cosmides, Roni Porat, Shaul Shalvi, & Eran Halperin (see citations).
Another citation to learn more about the invisibility hypothesis5
This work leaves me seeing shame from a new perspective. With more softness.
I’m left with questions.
I wonder how unjustified shame separates us unnecessarily.
I wonder about how we could reckon with shame together.
Could that help us to see each other as human?
I wonder, too, what our future looks like if we don’t.
Thank you for being here.
Next week, I look forward to reflecting on the past few months of newsletters and thinking about next steps for January.
Tell me in the comments:
I’m curious about your thoughts about this research and how it makes us more human.
I would love it if you’d share this or other Soft Things posts with friends.
Thank you.
Tangney, June, and Ronda Dearing. 2002. Shame and Guilt. The Guilford Press: New York.
Elison, Jeff, Garofalo, Carlo, & Velotti, Patrizia. 2014. Shame and aggression: Theoretical considerations. Aggression & Violent Behavior 19(4): 447-453.
Sznycer, Daniel, John Tooby, Leda Cosmides, Roni Porat, Shaul Shalvi, & Eran Halperin. 2016. Shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation, even across cultures. PNAS 113(10): 2625-2630.
Enjoy my rendition of a pretend early cave drawing! And, yes, I’m 100% sure I’ve tagged these in the wrong time period; The Met explains that these drawings began around 40,000 years ago…side note: wow, so cool that we’ve made art for so long.
Landers, Mitchell & Sznycer, Daniel. 2022. The evolution of shame and its display. Evolutionary Human Sciences 4(e45):1-17.
I love this - how Scientific research opens compassion for human behavior! I'm curious about the relationship between making an apology and Shame. A friend recently shared publicly about something he wasn't proud of. But he staunchly refused to say "I'm Sorry." Hmm... any insight?
Incredible work, Cara! Reading your Substack for the first time and I so appreciate the thoughtfulness of your work. This research also gives me compassion for the shame I feel!