Category Archives: Shame

The universal benefits of a sense of school belonging during adolescence: an exploration of the relationships between parental and peer attachment security, shame and pride

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Assignment type: Thesis
Author: Alicia Halton-Nathan
Submitted: June 2015

Abstract

A cross-sectional design was used to explore the associations between adolescent attachment relationships with parents, and peers and their sense of school belonging, on the role of self-conscious emotions (shame and pride), within a school context. An adolescent sample of 13-16 year olds (n=121) was recruited from two secondary schools in the South of England. Participants completed a daily online diary to measure shame and pride experiences. Results found that adolescents with insecure parental attachments experienced more shame on a daily basis than their securely attached peers; however, this relationship was significantly moderated by a sense of belonging in school. Adolescents with secure parental attachment experienced more pride on a daily basis. Sense of belonging in school was found to significantly moderate the positive relationship between secure parental attachment and pride. No significant relationships were found between peer attachment and shame and pride. Implications for Educational Psychologists and suggested directions for future research are also discussed.

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Understanding Adolescent Shame and Pride in a School Context: The Impact of Perceived Academic Competence and a Growth Mindset.

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Assignment type: Thesis
Author: Ellen Cook
Submitted: June 2015

Abstract

Shame has important implications in educational contexts for educators, children and young people. The first paper presented here is a review of the current literature on shame and explores the implications of this self-conscious achievement emotion within educational contexts. The systematic literature review demonstrated that shame experiences can have both a dysfunctional and functional role, are independent of acculturation status and are influenced by parental attitudes. Crucially, shame management can reduce bullying within schools. The review concludes by drawing attention to implications of these findings for educators and educational psychologists.

The second paper reports empirical research carried out in the field of self-conscious achievement emotions. This study investigated whether holding a growth (intelligence) mindset could reduce shame experiences and/or promote pride experiences, within a secondary school context. The study also focused on the role of perceived academic competence (i.e. the perception that one has sufficient skills and knowledge) on young people’s feelings of shame and pride. Secondary school students (N = 121, Mage = 14.3 years) completed the Scale of Personal Conceptions of Intelligence to measure their mindset, and then completed a 10-day online diary, to rate their daily shame and/or pride experiences. Participants also rated their daily perceptions of academic competence. Results revealed a negative relation between growth mindset and daily shame intensity, and a positive relation between growth mindset and daily pride intensity. Both associations were mediated by perceived academic competence. That is, a growth mindset predicted increased perceived academic competence, which, in turn, predicted reduced shame and increased pride. The findings have far-reaching implications for educators. This research also makes a novel connection between growth mindset, perceived academic competence and self-conscious emotions within a school setting.

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