Shame: the ingenious quilt object, the result of the person being and becoming thoroughly self-focussed (Kaufman, 1992; Nathanson, 1987; Tomkins, 1963). This suggests one of the reasons for the shame-based person‘s absence of empathy: they lack the necessary awareness of the ―other‖ (the object) because of this thoroughgoing focus on the self (B. Brown, 2008; Tangney & Dearing, 2004).
However, one of the singular features of shame is its physiological manifestations, arguably the most recognisable of which is blushing (Cozolino, 2006; Hansen, 2006; Heller, 2003; Nathanson, 1987). Other typical indicators of the activation of shame include variations on avoidance: lowering the head, downcast eyes, covering head and eyes with a hand as if shielding them from the glare of the sun, ―burying‖ the head in both hands (Cozolino, 2006; Heller, 2003; Potter-Efron & Potter-Efron, 1989; Tangney, Mashek, & Stuewig, 2005). Tangney, Miller, Flicker, and Barlow (1996) also reported heart-rate increases in test subjects who felt shamed.
However, if the affect, shame, gives rise to powerful feelings, and if activated shame has a physiological expression, how does shame ultimately appear? what actions might result from a ―shame attack‖ (B. Brown, 2008)? Reid, Harper, & Anderson (2009) used a version of Nathanson‘s (1992) Compass of Shame Scale (CoSS), which Elison, Lennon and Pulos (2006), and Elison, Pulos and Lennon (2006) had modified to account for the ―source of the shaming event‖ (Reid et al, 2009, p. 128). The CoSS attempts to describe broadly the four ―action tendencies‖ (ibid.) of a shamed person. In other words, these four ―poles‖ (ibid.) of the Compass suggest likely behaviours when a person experiences shame.
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