Arterscham: The Phenomenon of Species Shame

Shame and embarrassment have long been considered uniquely human emotions since, as psychologist Marc D. Hauser has argued, these feelings “depend critically on a sense of self and others”, giving us “a moral sense that no animal is likely to attain.” Without self-awareness, in other words, there can be no shame. However, biologist Marc Bekoff…

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The Anatomy of Cringe

What is the reason for the modern fascination with cringe? The past decade has seen the proliferation of cringe compilation videos (which can generate millions of views), as well as the growth of specific forums where such content is shared, like the various-cringe-related subreddits: r/Cringetopia (1.7 million members, at the time of writing), r/cringepics (1.4…

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