Gender Differences in Empathetic Embarrassment to Social

Situations Psych Lab 240: 14

Lab Instructor: Jenna Wright

Ashley Arnold, Erin Ford, Claire Bourgard, Calvin Battle, and Corey Bennett

Research Question: - Are their any gender differences in

empathic embarrassment between males and females?

Purpose Hypothesis/Rationale:- Females will show greater empathetic

embarrassment compared to males concerning the given embarrassing scenarios.

Introduction

Our methods aim to investigate the correlation between:

Independent Variable: Empathic response to embarrassing scenarios

Dependent Variable: Males and Females We also plan to expand on correlation

between extremity of the situation and male/female reactions

Introduction

Participants- Random Sampling- 240 student participants (120 female, 120

male)- Ages 18-30, with a mean age of 19.24- 78 percent were Caucasian, 12 percent

were African Canadian, 8 percent were Latino, and 2 percent were other

- Main incentive was momentary compensation

Methods

Measures/Materials - Survey Methods20 Multiple Choice Questions-> Rating of embarrassment on 1-5 Scale in

response to a given embarrassing scenario 1. Not embarrassing at all 2. Little embarrassment 3. Moderate embarrassment 4. Strong embarrassment 5. Very strong embarrassment

Methods

Measure/Materials (continued) - 10 Open Ended Questions- Requested participants to describe their

perceived feeling of embarrassment to a variety of hypothetical embarrassing scenarios

- Aimed to further support our scale observations

Methods

Procedure- Participant recruitment at the Antigonish mall- Researchers set up visible booth - Participants joined at their own consent 1) Experimenter asks potential participant for their age, gender

and proof of educational status to see if they qualify for study2) Subjects are informed on nature of the study 3) Participants agree to join study and consent form4) Participants are escorted to closed off, private room by

experimenter5) Participants completed survey among other participants

(mean of 8 participants at a given time)6) Each participant is given identical survey with no time

constraint

Methods

Females will show greater ratings of embarrassment on our 1-5 scale

The differences will not be large, but significant

Further support for hypothesis is on the open ended questions

Anticipated Results

Findings confirmed our hypothesis Results were similar to past research, but

also challenge it Future studies on empathic embarrassment

should acknowledge gender implications Shortcomings/Limitations:- Lack of experimental research- What about physiological differences? - Future ideas for research: female/male

control groups

Dicussion