Embarrassment is biological

Scientists have discovered a biological basis for the sensation of embarrassment that people feel when others make fools of themselves, the University of Marburg said.

German is one of the few languages that has a word, Fremdschaemen, for the feeling. In English, it can only be described as "vicarious embarrassment." Some scholars had suggested it was merely a peculiarity of German culture.

But the research, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), discovered the exact area of the brain that tingles in an observer when another person disgraces themselves or violates manners.

Interviews with 600 test persons showed they also felt vicarious embarrassment when the other person was unaware of his lapse, as when a forgetful man walked down the street with his pants zipper open.

The brain area is the same as the one that activates empathy when another person suffers physical pain, the lead authors, Soeren Krach and Frieder Paulus, said. The research was published in PloS One, an online journal.