Why do humans experience shame to a much greater degree than many other animals? And what is shame anyway?

Answer 1

I really hate the general willingness to assume that animals are vastly less intelligent than humans. Some animals feel shame. My oldest dog punishes herself with time in a corner when she knows she's done something bad. I've also met several dogs that clearly felt embarrassed. My oldest dog acts embarrassed when she gets what she considers a bad haircut. Another dog had to be in an Elizabethan collar to keep her from licking medication off her feet and every time I put it on her, she went to hide under the couch even though it was difficult to fit with the collar on. I think experiences of shame vary within species, human or other animal.

Answer 2

Humans are at the top of the evolutionary tree, and we have the largest brains (to body ratio) so therefore we have the capacity to experience ALL emotions or feelings. We (most of us) know the difference between right and wrong and as we learn about this there comes the associated feelings when we have done something right or wrong. Shame is an experience or feeling that is connected to wrong doing which society agrees with and is most likely reinforced by parents onto the child. Shame is a mixture of embarrassment, feeling dirty or low. Stealing from your child's money box would be considered shameful. Also if a child did something most likely they would be forgiven because they didn't know any better, but an adult doing the same thing would be considered shameful. A child picking their nose and eating it wouldn't care until an adult came along and embarrassed the heck out of them, especially in front of others, but in order not to create shame in the child you gently tell them it is not acceptable to do this. I guess shame was created to keep things right, because feeling shame is not pleasant, so to avoid it you do the right thing.

Answer 3

Some don't.
There was at one time, during WW 2, two types of cultures in the world. Those based on shame and those based on guilt. This was discovered by anthropologist who were trying to figure out why the Japanese could order there pilots to be Kamikaze pilots and fly their planes in to ships and other planes and Americans couldn't.
It was discovered that the Japanese never sent out a single Kamikaze plane and it was found that when all of the others were shot down the last one would just crash into the sea. This was because no one else was there to see the shame of his death and bring dishonor upon his family. In fact the entire Japanese system was at that time based upon shame and ancestor worship. So any dishonor that one brought upon one's self he brought upon his family. Hence suicide before surrender.
Today the people of America are changing from a guilt to a shame based society. In a guilt based society, if you did something wrong, even if no one was there to see you, your own guilt would drive you to confess to others your sin. In a shame based society you only fell shame if you are caught doing something wrong.
Can you note the difference between guilt and shame from this example?
Now there are those who can commit a crime and fell neither guilt or shame. They may say its just work or something like that, but those are the people for which the death penalty, which I oppose, should apply. I personally can punish them a lot more in the 10 - 15 more miserable years they are alive then if they are dead. Then if they are found not guilty because of DNA or something like that then we can put them in a regular prison because they will think that is a country club.

Answer 4

Shame is a very complex emotion, for a very complex creature. in fact, human brains are so complex that often they end up sabotaging themselves, this is due to the complex interactions between our logical cerebral cortex and our emotional registers (amygdala, etc). Most animals are slaves to their instincts. Humans are not. Our instincts, emotions, and logic constantly battle for control.

Other animals can feel shame, however, and to a great degree. For example, when you tell your dog it did something wrong, and you yell at it, unless it's stupid (which some dogs are) it experiences shame, and you can see it in its eyes.

Answer 5

To feel shame, one must have a values system of some type, rather than mere survival instincts. Shame is a higher thought process. It is also conditioned by culture. Animals lack the capacity for any of that, as far as we know. Humans have the capacity for higher thought, have developed conscience, and religion. Shame stems from that. Deviation from accepted norms and mores. In the animal kingdon, you deviate, you die. In the human kingdom, you torture yourself with shame.

Answer 6

Human has freewill and understanding which animals dont have freewill and could have a little of understanding. Human discern unlike animals do'nt do.

Shame is the consciousness or awareness of dishonor, disgrace, or condemnation. Genuine shame is associated with genuine dishonor, disgrace , or condemnation. False shame is associated with false condemnation as in the double-bind form of false shaming; "he brought what we did to him upon himself". Therapist John Bradshaw calls shame the "emotion that lets us know we are finite".[citation needed]

Answer 7

Shame is not an emotion. It is a title giving to something that makes one feel bad about something.

Answer 8

Shame is when you do something against your own beliefs.Humans experience shame because we have been taught to somewhere in our lives. Good question and worth thinking about.

Answer 9

Because we have culture. Shame is an emotional response to violating a cultural norm. Without it, cultural norms wouldn't be followed, and you wouldn't have culture. Without culture, you don't have language or technology. So, it's an adaptive trait.

Religion, of course, offers a fascile explanation: Adam and Eve ate the Apple, gaining the Knoweldge of Good and Evil. Actually, that prettymuch says the same thing. ;)

Answer 10

We have what is called a conscience!
It makes us feel guilt, shame, remorse and any number of other emotions.
It's also what separates us from the animals.