How to spend money to reduce embarrassment
Can we reduce feelings of embarrassment by spending money? What should we purchase to reduce such negative emotion?
Research shows that when something happens that makes you feel embarrassed, buying a product that restores your face like a restorative facial cream or moisturiser can reduce the feeling of embarrassment (Dong et al., 2013).
In an experiment, people were asked to write about a time when they felt embarrassed. Then they were asked to either wear a pair of sunglasses, apply a face repairing cream or skip these tasks.
The results showed that people felt significantly less embarrassed after putting on the facial cream than wearing sunglasses or skipping these tasks. They also chose to do more social activities like going to a dinner with friends, playing basketball or badminton after putting on the facial cream than wearing sunglasses.
When we feel embarrassed, we become more willing to purchase products that can restore our face like a facial cream, which has a symbolic meaning of restoring our image. These purchases are symbolic actions that we take to manage our emotions. For example, people who think about their unethical deeds in the past become more motivated to wash their hands as a symbolic way of washing away their sins (Zhong and Liljenquist, 2006). People who lie in an email prefer to buy a hand washing liquid but people who lie with their mouth prefer to buy a mouthwash (Lee and Schwarz, 2010). So purchasing products that restore our face is effective in reducing embarrassment as it symbolically restores our image (Dong et al., 2013). On the other hand, purchasing sunglasses does not reduce embarrassment as avoiding social contact does not help reduce embarrassment.
When you feel embarrassed next time, try buying a facial cream!
Dong, P., Huang, X., & Wyer Jr, R. S. (2013). The illusion of saving face: How people symbolically cope with embarrassment. Psychological Science, 24(10), 2005-2012.
Zhong, C. B., & Liljenquist, K. (2006). Washing away your sins: Threatened morality and physical cleansing. Science, 313, 1451–1452.
Lee, S. W. S., & Schwarz, N. (2010). Dirty hands and dirty mouths: Embodiment of the moral-purity metaphor is specific to the motor modality involved in moral transgression. Psychological Science, 21, 1423–1425.