Why are people so easily embarrassed?

[Brotherofwill]

I'm not very easily embarrassed. I can pretty much at any situation laugh about myself and I don't think I've ever blushed in a stupid situation, and I have had quite a few of those.

I've lived in Europe and Asia and noticed that a lot of young people are easily embarrassed nowadays (especially in Asia). Maybe it's the media, or being self-conscious because you're young.

Spoiler: Funny Story

I my Social Studies class we watched a video about stereotypes. It was about how many Westerners believed all Asians to look alike. The video showed a large variety of different looking Asian faces to really show how stupid and unimformed such a claim is. However one face that was shown looked excatly like a Korean girl that was sitting in the class. Everyone was like 'wha...?' and looked at her in response. Man, she nearly died from that. Turned all red and probably wanted to vanish in thin air.

So why are people so easily embarrassed? Are you embarressed often? Why?

Spoiler: Another Funny story

 

[arsenicCatnip]

I'm not easily embarrassed. I may blush, or exclaim, but usually I'm laughing too hard at whatever happened to be truly embarrassed by it.

 

[delet]

In that situation, if I were that girl I'd be laughing my ass off, but that's just me.

I get embarrassed sometimes for certain things, but it seems that lately I've been able to laugh it away much more.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

I don't usually get embarrassed. I have confidence in my...eccentricity. It helps that I'm more intelligent and literate than about eighty percent of the people I talk to daily.

 

[Omikron009]

I'm not very easily embarrassed, but my mum's tendency to talk to everyone and share personal information with strangers is an exception to the rule.

 

[Ocelano]

I can sort of deal in crowds but you put me in a person to person interface and I automatically start panicking holy sh*t what have I done this time, but that is more guild than embarrassment and originates from people only wanting anything to do with me when I was in trouble for something.
That said I don't often feel that embarrassed about things, I dare say that I would if say I lost my bathers at a public beach or something but mostly is just an overreaction to an incredibly slight slip up that no-one else even noticed.

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

This may seem paradoxical, but I'm both shameless and agoraphobic. The latter has actually interfered with my course work.

 

[atalanta]

I have social anxiety and I tend to have panic attacks when people look at me. Doing something dumb = people looking at me = judging with their eyes = oh god I'm a failure and they're all looking at me guess it's time to throw myself off a bridge!

So, uh, yeah.

 

[Shockolate]

I am quite well known (well, to me anyway, if everyone else knew, then I'd be screwed) for my ability to play dumb and brush off anything negative that happens. I'm shameless, but if people keep trying to use whatever it is against me for any reason, I conviently "Forget it ever happened".

Obligatory tvtropes link http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingStupidity

 

[FightThePower]

Oh yeah. I avoid embarrassment at every turn.

I guess I should care less, but oh well.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I've walked round Leeds dressed like a zombie, school in my pyjamas and an evening gown wielding a gun.

So no.

 

[mcgroobber]

because though we all need a certain level of attention, to much unexpected attention is bad

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

I'd have to go with @JZmada on this one.

I only get embarrassed if it's something I'm uncomfortable or insecure about in the first place. For example, I get embarrassed if a stranger compliments me [friends I can just laugh at or act overconfident about it]. Why? Because I have self-esteem issues, blah blah blah.

Otherwise I'm all for laughing at myself or just blatantly acting a fool. It's all in good fun... Though intoxication helps. Easy scapegoat on that one.

[[small]You lazy, lazy bum.[/small]]
TLDR:
Because people are insecure about [insert embarrassing incident] in the first place.

 

[Viciousmf]

well i think it has to do with people's regional upbringing compounded with religious beliefs. When i hang with my friend from florida he's always telling me i'm too loud, and when i hang with my christian buddy he is so danm quit and conserved it irritates me.

 

[Kortney]

"Asians" are easily embarrassed because many Asian cultures places such emphasis on being humble. Western Culture is the culture of attention whores.

Of course there are many exceptions to the rule, but that's a very general answer as to why "Asians" seem to be embarrassed easily.

Personally, I'd say I'm about average on the "how easily I get embarrassed" scale.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Bah. Embarrassment is useless. Streak naked through the quad while screaming out how much you know Edward is perfect for Bella if you want.

You're the only one that makes you feel bad about it, really. Kinda like fear, but fear at least can serve a purpose. Embarrassment was created by man to keep his fellows docile.

 

[Silver_Shade]

I mostly get embarrassed around people I'm not comfortable with. If someone I barely know makes an awkward joke about me, I get flustered and remove myself from the situation.

When I'm with my friends, it's a totally different story.

I think it varies by region and upbringing, absolutely. I've met people from different backgrounds who are far harder to embarrass than me, and the opposite.

 

[xDarc]

I can't stand people who want very much to show everyone how not embarrassed about anything they are, or how much they don't care, so they act like an obnoxious ass.

 

[Agayek]

I don't really get embarrassed in the traditional sense, but there are certain situations where I feel uncomfortable. Maybe I'm just weird, but I rarely get flustered, and I can honestly say that there's nothing (that I can remember) that I've done that I would be embarrassed for a complete stranger to know.

It's just that I am not comfortable when I end up in a situation where I make a spectacle of myself. I think it comes from having every one of my peers for the entirety of my grammar/primary school career want to cave my face in for an as-yet-undisclosed reason. I'm just not comfortable with the attention of people I don't know, be it good or bad attention. I'm probably just crazy though, who knows?

 

[the_bearpelt]

Oh man, about the story on the video.
I noticed that a lot of people have difficulty telling people of other races apart. I'm white and can't tell the various ethnicities of black people apart. Africa, Jamaica, whatever. To me they all look black. I spoke to my friends about this, and my black friend said that she finds all whites look similar, too. Like, she can't tell the difference easily between a white Swede and a white Scott. I thought that was really interesting.

Okay back on topic.
Hmm. I dunno about "embarrassed." I get upset, more often than not. But when I do get embarressed, I tend to flush bright red. When I'm angry AND embarressed, I will actually feel a wave of blood rush up to my face. But it doesn't really happent too often.