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Abstract: Humiliation, triggered by sensed insult, is hypothesized as a traumatic stimulus and the driving force of a goal-directed survival response that includes predictable emotional appraisals, and motivational or behavioral responses. Because these responses appear automatic and obligatory, they are most likely innately planted as a survival mechanism. Sensitive to developmental experience, these psychobiological responses can be intensified or modulated by social learning.
This article hypothesizes that the trauma of humiliation drives a goal-directed aggressive defensive response, innately programmed and goal-directed toward survival. It also proposes that learning within the context of relationships can either strengthen the cortical modulation of this response, shaping flexibility and tolerance, or promote aggressive reactivity, generating pathological behaviors. This proposal finds favor through its clinical support and therapeutic relevance, as well as its heuristic utility and neurobiological plausibility.
HUMILIATION: A TRAUMATIC STATE
The word humiliate is from the Latin root humillare, meaning to humble or bring down. One who has been humiliated has felt undeservedly humbled or insulted by a more powerful other. "The internal experience of humiliation is the deep dysphoric feeling associated with being, or perceiving oneself as being unjustly degraded, ridiculed, or put down - in particular, one's identity has been demeaned or devalued" (Hartling & Luchetta, 1999). Elison and Harter (2007) view humiliation as a member of a family that includes embarrassment, shame, and guilt, yet specify that humiliation denotes "a highly intense emotional reaction to the context of having been lowered in the eyes of others (p. 314)." Stressing that humiliation "hurts," they see the one humiliated as a victim of hostile intent, often one who has been mocked or laughed at, who suffers with high intense emotion. They have shown that humiliation, in turn, mediates violent ideation or action (Elison & Harter, 2007).
An important definitial point is distinguishing shame from humiliation. Although humiliation has frequently been used interchangeably with shame, some authors have been struggling to define and differentiate the two. Shame has repeatedly been linked with a fear of being scrutinized or judged negatively by others (Gilbert & Trower, 1990; Tangney & Fischer, 1995). Gilbert (1998) describes it as "a social but inner experience of self as an unattractive social agent, under pressure to limit possible damage via escape or...