European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sympathetic Chagrin what s in a Blush by Janny Scott los Angeles times b Lushing is a Peculiar business humans alone Are blessed or cursed with the ability to Blush ii is mysterious a physiological ire ignited by a psychological spark and it i social few of us Blush in private yet there is Little agreement on the meaning of blushing Why does it happen and whal does it signify freudian see a repressed libido and exhibitionism skulking behind a red lace psychologists see embarrassment a sudden loss of sell image now a new theory has emerged to explain the phenomenon a Blush is a Way of appeasing others like a sheepish Grin it is an instinctive Man Euver Lor a Nerson to rein Graciale himself with a group alter making a Faux Pas or worse and fearing ostracism by Peers it is saying oops. I recognize thai i be broken a social Rule said Mark Leary. A Wake Forest University psychologist who presented his theory at the recent american psychological association meeting in new Orleans it s like a nonverbal apology i m sorry alter All. Blushing works or so it seems displays of embarrassment can disarm onlookers empathic  one researcher Calls it a sympathetic Chagrin so unsettling it has sent television viewers fumbling to switch off / love Lucy Rowland Miller a psychologist at Sam Houston slate University in Huntsville Texas believes that he has measured this empathy in the electrical conductivity of people s skin a sign of emotional arousal that can be gauged using electrodes attached to their hands in one study. Miller asks a person to dance alone in a room a Lone witness looks on from behind a Mirror in interviews later viewers report feeling embarrassed and abashed a reaction Miller has found to correlate with changes in the conductivity of their skin furthermore displays of embarrassment can to endearing As evidence Miller cites a British study in it. Viewers watched a videotape of a person accidentally knocking Over a supermarket toilet paper display the researchers offered three alternate endings asking the viewers what they thought about the culprit in the first ending the Clumsy shopper flees in the second the shopper a embarrassed calmly rebuilds the stack in the third the shopper looks mortified and gathers up the wreckage Miller says that the on lookers left most warmly toward the person who was obviously sheepish a Blush is a Lunny mixture of wanting to hide and at the same Lime to attract  said Murray Birnes. A professor at the California school of professional psychology in Berkeley blushing is literally waving a red Flag at the Bull us a come on " blushing occurs when the Small blood vessels that Supply the Sam Widen allowing an increase in blood flow Blusher a report a burning sensation in their face and often a full body Tingle in most cases it passes within three to five minutes fair skinned people seem to be disproportionately Aluli Clad women May be. Too. Some observers contend blushing lends to Peak in adolescence and decline with age a fact some theorists attribute to a growing immunity to embarrassment. Charles Parwin who wrote a chapter on blushing in a Book on emotions called blushing the most human of All expressions " he traced it to shyness modesty and shame manifestations of humans highly developed awareness of the opinions of others Darwin also recognized that blushing requires a psychological trigger it cannot be caused physically the Way tickling provokes mirth and it is not simply involuntary Darwin observed trying to control it can actually make it worse it is really very interesting that of All the possible things that separate animals from humans that the Blush would be a distinctive thing said Bilmes Why in the world did nature elaborate this thing psychoanalysts in particular see blushing As sexual they say it results from repressed sexual excitement surfacing in the lace because of tear of castration or. It is exhibition Stic an indirect Way of conveying erotic urges or. Carole Lieberman. A Beverly Hills Calif. Psychiatrist offered these examples a woman crosses a vent at an amusement Park her skirt Hies up she blushes she May Blush not simply because she is exposed but because she had an inner wish to exhibit herself. Lieberman suggests she has gratified that wish and Hal is embarrassing a male Boss kisses a female employee on thu Cheek he is thanking her Lor a pm Well done. The woman blushes according to Lieberman. Perhaps because she is reminded of her father and some unacknowledged sexual attraction Between them years before a person going through that situation might not know  Lieberman said most would t they might feel themselves Blush be overwhelmed and wonder Why they would t necessarily be aware of the childhood memories that that evokes existentialists have linked blushing to alienation Jean Paul Sartre blamed the realization that one is distinct from one s physical being others cite a sense of existential unworthiness being unmasked or exposed in Public a person blushes when the Small blood vessels that Supply the skin Widen and allow increased blood flow creating a burning sensation and a red lace. Charles Darwin called blushing the most human of All  psychologists link blushing to embarrassment and shame for example after violating a code of conduct or it May occur after doing something that undermines a person s self image the image that person would like to present to the world the moment you Cut a poor figure or do something Clumsy or improper then All kinds of things  said Andre Modigliani a University of Michigan sociologist you immediately behave thai others Are now paying alte lion to you you become sell conscious " one of the More curious things is that people can eel embarrassed and Blush even when they be done nothing wrong said Miller of Sam Houston slate simple conspicuous Ness can Embarrass people being complimented or Over praised is a classic  yet there is something people like about being the locus of attention experts suggest the striking thing about blushing theorists say. Is its implicit mixed signals blushes want to hide yet the Blush draws attention As an example Bilmes cites blushes reaction when someone else discloses that the Blusher has a secret passion something has been exposed that they want to hide Bilmes said yet the reaction is partly to hide it but also to confirm in so there is that funny dialectic where you have Bolh sides of in going thai s a very important part of the Blush " Leary. The Wayne state psychologist suggests blushing is an appeasement gesture an instinctive acknowledgement a person has done something wrong its purpose he contends is to re endear a person to a group in the face of impending exclusion Leary compares blushing to non verbal Maneu vers humans share with animals aver led eyes and the sheepish Grin primates use those instinctive gestures to Avert aggression or avoid banishment Leary says humans use them mostly Lor the latter the stars and stripes Page 13