The effect of true and false feedback on blushing in women
Introduction
Unwanted social attention is thought to be a potent stimulus for blushing (Leary, Britt, Cutlip & Templeton, 1992). Blushing intensifies if the blusher suspects that other people have noticed that they are blushing, presumably because blushing signals to others that the blusher has had a thought or experienced an emotion that he or she would prefer to keep hidden. Blushing is of far greater concern to some than it is to others; sometimes the fear of blushing becomes so problematic that it limits the range of activities in which the blusher is willing to participate, and occasionally it develops into full-blown social phobia.
To investigate the source of individual differences in blushing, Leary and Meadows (1991) introduced the concept of blushing propensity, a self-reported estimate of the tendency to blush in various social situations. They reported that high scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale also had high scores on various dimensions of social anxiety, a finding which has since been replicated (Bögels et al., 1996, Drummond, 1997, Edelmann and Skov, 1993, Neto, 1996).
Because the intention of the Blushing Propensity Scale is to document individual differences in blushing, one would expect that blushing would be greater in those with high than low scores. To date, however, this prediction has not been confirmed. For example, Mulkens, de Jong and Bögels (1997) measured cheek temperature and changes in cheek blood flow while female participants watched a videotape of themselves singing and while watching the shower murder scene from Hitchcock's movie “Psycho”. Increases in cheek temperature and blood flow were greater while watching the videotaped song than while watching the movie segment, irrespective of the participant's blushing propensity score. Importantly, however, participants with high scores on the Blushing Propensity Scale thought that they blushed more intensely and were more concerned about whether they had blushed than participants with low blushing propensity scores. The intensity of blushing was also rated by two male confederates who formed an audience for the videotaped song. The confederates’ ratings of blushing intensity were similar for participants with high and low blushing propensity scores; however, the ratings may not have been particularly accurate because they were unrelated to changes in cheek blood flow or temperature. Mulkens, de Jong, Dobbelaar and Bögels (1999) recently investigated whether women who were afraid of blushing would blush more than others who were not afraid of blushing under conditions of high and low social stress (watching a videotape of themselves singing or watching a test pattern with two male confederates). Increases in facial temperature and cheek coloration were similar in both groups in both experimental conditions, but women who were afraid of blushing thought that they blushed far more intensely than the low-fear group.
Findings similar to those of Mulkens et al., 1997, Mulkens et al., 1999 were obtained in a study in our laboratory which involved measuring changes in forehead blood flow while participants sang a children's song (Drummond, 1997a). Forehead blood flow increased to the same extent during the song in high and low scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale, despite higher ratings of embarrassment in high scorers. Taken together, the findings of Mulkens et al., 1997, Mulkens et al., 1999, Drummond, 1997 indicate that the intensity of blushing during embarrassment is unrelated to blushing propensity ratings. Whether high scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale actually blush more frequently than low scorers because they are more easily embarrassed has not been established. Thus, it is possible that blushing propensity ratings reflect a concern about blushing rather than documenting individual differences in the intensity or frequency of blushing.
People often blush when they are told that they are blushing. For example, Leary et al. (1992) reported that facial temperature increased in over 50% of subjects when the experimenter inferred that the subject had started to blush. If blushing is considered to be a sign of weakness, being told that one is blushing is analogous to being told that one's social performance is inadequate. This might provoke sufficient embarrassment to induce blushing. Since high scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale typically are frightened of blushing (Mulkens et al., 1997), they may blush more readily when informed that they are blushing than others with low scores. Conversely, being told that they are not blushing could limit the development of embarrassment and blushing during otherwise embarrassing encounters.
The aim of the present study was to investigate triggers of blushing in people with high scores on the Blushing Propensity Scale. Specifically, it was hypothesized that: (1) physiological signs of blushing and self-ratings of blushing and embarrassment would intensify when high scorers were given true feedback of changes in facial blood flow during an embarrassing task (singing a children's song), whereas feedback would not influence blushing or ratings in low scorers; (2) physiological signs of blushing and self-ratings of blushing and embarrassment would be minimal in all subjects during singing when they were given feedback that they were not blushing; (3) embarrassment and physiological signs of blushing would develop in high but not low scorers when they were given feedback that they were blushing during the otherwise innocuous task of reading neutral material aloud; and (4) that physiological signs of blushing would be greater in high than low scorers during a social encounter that should provoke little or no embarrassment in most people (answering questions about age, height, weight and medication intake).
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were selected from 140 undergraduate female students who filled out the Blushing Propensity Scale (Leary & Meadows, 1991). The self-reported frequency of blushing is similar in British and American male and female college students (Edelmann and Skov, 1993, Leary and Meadows, 1991, Simon and Shields, 1996). However, since one of the strongest triggers of blushing is interacting with a stranger of the opposite sex (e.g. Leary & Meadows, 1991), a female research assistant presented
Vascular response to innocuous questions
Finger pulse amplitude decreased substantially (27.1±3.4%) but forehead pulse amplitude barely changed (mean increase 3.3±2.2%) when participants answered questions about their age, height, weight and other personal characteristics. Vascular responses were similar in participants with high and low scores on the Blushing Propensity Scale.
Initial self-ratings
High scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale initially reported more embarrassment than low scorers. Ratings averaged 4.0±0.4 (moderately self-conscious) in
Habituation of blushing
Increases in facial blood flow were greatest during the first round of singing, particularly in high scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale. The decrease in this response during later trials suggests that blushing habituated rapidly. Self-reported blushing and embarrassment also decreased during the later rounds of singing, indicating that the task quickly lost its novelty value. Physiological signs of blushing were similar in high and low scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale during the
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and Murdoch University. I gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Ms. Robyn Lukins.
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