Acute Threat to the Social Self: Shame, Social Self-esteem, and Cortisol Activity

@article{Gruenewald2004AcuteTT,
  title={Acute Threat to the Social Self: Shame, Social Self-esteem, and Cortisol Activity},
  author={Tara L. Gruenewald and Margaret E. Kemeny and Najib Aziz and John L. Fahey},
  journal={Psychosomatic Medicine},
  year={2004},
  volume={66},
  pages={915-924}
}
Objective: Our Social Self Preservation Theory asserts that situations which threaten the “social self” (ie, one’s social value or standing) elicit increased feelings of low social worth (eg, shame), decrements in social self-esteem, and increases in cortisol, a hormone released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. To test our theoretical premise, cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to the performance of laboratory stressor tasks were compared in participants who performed… Expand
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The hypothesis that self-focused attention might increase cortisol release was tested and negative evaluation may increase cortisol regardless of whether this source comes from oneself or others. Expand
Subjective social status moderates cortisol responses to social threat
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Examination of subjective perceptions of social status as a moderator of cognitive, emotional and cortisol responses to stressor tasks characterized by social-evaluative threat or its absence finds that high status individuals showed sizable and significant cortisol increases, while those who perceived themselves to be of low status did not mount a significant cortisol response to the stressor. Expand
When the social self is threatened: shame, physiology, and health.
TLDR
It is demonstrated that acute threats to the social self increase proinflammatory cytokine activity and cortisol and that these changes occur in concert with shame, which support a stressor- and emotional response-specificity model for psychobiological and health research. Expand
The effects of threatened social evaluation of the physique on cortisol activity
TLDR
Results suggest that the threatened social evaluation of one's body can activate the cortisol response, and women who frequently experience such threats may be at increased risk for a variety of health conditions associated with chronic cortisol exposure. Expand
The psychobiology of trait shame in young women: extending the social self preservation theory.
  • N. Rohleder, E. Chen, J. Wolf, G. Miller
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
  • 2008
TLDR
Results support SSPT predictions with respect to chronic shame experience and inflammation, and suggest the importance of SNS activation related to shame, and the possibility that HPA activation may be limited acute experiences of shame. Expand
A General Enhancement of Autonomic and Cortisol Responses During Social Evaluative Threat
TLDR
A threshold-activation model is proposed as a physiological explanation for why engaging stressors, such as those involving social evaluation or uncontrollability, may seem to induce selectively cortisol release. Expand
Role of shame and body esteem in cortisol stress responses
TLDR
It is suggested that body esteem and trait shame independently contribute to strength of cortisol stress responses and as such, a potential contributor to stress-related negative health outcomes. Expand
Social-evaluative threat, cognitive load, and the cortisol and cardiovascular stress response
TLDR
It is found that social-evaluative threat is a central aspect of stressors that elicits a cortisol response; however, there is no evidence that increased difficulty, or cognitive load, contributed to greater cardiovascular or cortisol responses to stressors. Expand
Physiological and emotional responses to subjective social evaluative threat in daily life
TLDR
An important role is suggested for anxiety, embarrassment, and shame as emotional consequences of naturally occurring evaluative threat, especially for those who are more socially anxious. Expand
Negative social evaluation, but not mere social presence, elicits cortisol responses to a laboratory stressor task.
TLDR
It is suggested that the mere social presence of others is not driving the changes in cortisol observed under social-evaluative threat; instead, explicit negative social evaluation may be responsible for increases in this health-relevant physiological parameter. Expand
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