vicarious embarrassment

Noun

vicarious embarrassment (countable and uncountable, plural vicarious embarrassments)

1. The uncomfortable sympathetic feeling experienced while watching someone else embarrass themselves.
   • It is noted that vicarious embarrassment does not necessarily indicate the presence of an embarrassed other.1996, Rom Harré, W. Gerrod Parrott, editors, The Emotions: Social, Cultural and Biological Dimensions, SAGE, →ISBN, page 124
   • The same brain regions, the study found, are implicated in vicarious embarrassment – watching President Obama give an awkward hug of his own to departing press secretary Jay Carney, say – as they are when empathizing with the physical pain of others.2014 July 17, Oliver Burkeman, “No, I won't watch that cringe-inducing viral video. I'm a better person than you”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   empathic embarrassment, secondhand embarrassment, Spanish shame