Whether you lead a person, a buisness or a nation, trust is one of, if not the most important attribute you can have.
We already know that trust builds over time, some peole being able to generate it more quickly than others, but do some of us have something that may give us the edge? This edge though may come from situations that don’t make us feel the best though.
Emabarrasment.
A study released in September of this year by the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that people who are easily embarrassed are also more trustworthy, and more generous.
In short, embarrassment can be a good thing.
“Embarrassment is one emotional signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources. It’s part of the social glue that fosters trust and cooperation in everyday life,” said UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a coauthor of the study published in this month’s online issue of theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“Moderate levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue,” said Matthew Feinberg, a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the paper. “Our data suggests embarrassment is a good thing, not something you should fight.”
Various studies contributing to the paper including video interviews, economic trust experientials and surveys.
Time and again, the results showed that embarrassment signals people’s tendency to be pro-social, Feinberg said. “You want to affiliate with them more,” he said, “you feel comfortable trusting them.”
