The effect of true and false feedback on blushing in women

Abstract

The effect of true and false feedback of facial blood flow on blushing and embarrassment was investigated in high (n=24) and low (n=24) scorers on the Blushing Propensity Scale. Feedback was given while the participants sang and read aloud. Blushing while singing habituated rapidly in both groups and was not affected by true feedback. Blushing still developed in high scorers when given false-negative feedback of blushing when they first sang, whereas low scorers did not blush. False-positive feedback of blushing while reading aloud increased embarrassment, but facial blood flow decreased. High scorers gave higher ratings for embarrassment and blushing than low scorers during most of the tasks. The findings suggest that people who think that they are prone to blushing feel more self-conscious but generally do not blush more intensely or frequently than people with low blushing propensity scores during clearly embarrassing or innocuous social encounters. However, expecting to blush might actually increase the likelihood of embarrassment and blushing in potentially embarrassing situations.