The Regulatory Function of Self-Conscious Emotion: Insights From Patients With Orbitofrontal Damage

    This study showed that patients who have orbitofrontal damage in their brains have decreased self-conscious emotions, which are defined as sentiments such as embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride. These emotions have been thought to regulate social behavior, which was supported by the findings of the current study. A primary strength of this study was the researchers' use of both self-report measures and emotional facial expressions coded by experimenters to test their hypotheses. The researchers contend that one of the reasons self-conscious emotions and behavioral regulation are correlated is because if one is unable to make sense of others' self-conscious emotions, one cannot benefit from social feedback in embarrassing situations and thus might fail to see the situation as embarrassing.

     This lesion study is interesting because regulation of social behavior is a necessity in the formation of relationships with other people. If self-conscious emotions play a role in regulating social behavior, it could be useful for clinicians to help facilitate these emotions in those who have trouble understanding and interacting with other people.




Beer, J.S., Heerey, E.A., Keltner, D., Scabini, D., Knight, R.T. (2003).  Self-Conscious Emotion: Insights From Patients With Orbitofrontal Damage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85(4), 594-604.