An extreme case of this experience is called social anxiety disorder, or Social Anxiety Disorder. Social phobia is widespread in almost all civilized countries of the world. According to some reports, about 5% of the population - more than fifteen million people - suffers from SAD in the United States alone. However, the irrational fear of attracting the attention of other people is familiar to everyone (except for psychopathic personalities), albeit not in such a severe form. Shame is a more subtle and ubiquitous experience.
It is believed that even children from one year of age can experience shame. Studies show that the severity of this feeling is largely inherited, although, of course, it is unlikely that a certain "shame gene" will ever be found: like other complex traits of character and behavior, it is determined by the work of a huge mass of factors, both genetic and related with individual developmental characteristics and personal history.
When studying shame in toddlers who are still unable to realize this feeling, researchers usually draw a parallel between it and the desire to run away and hide from objects and events that are incomprehensible to the child, unknown and uncontrollable. Indeed, shame is based on a special nervous system response to a potentially dangerous or unfamiliar situation - the nature of this experience is protective (adaptive) and can be extremely useful.
About ten years ago, American scientists put teenagers in a tomograph and looked at what happens to the brain during a game in which they could lose or win money. At the same time, preliminary psychological tests made it possible to select 13 adolescents who were distinguished by special shyness, and 19 who were practically not inclined to it. Both of them only had to press a button in response to a signal - the faster they did it, the more chances they had to win.
Much to the authors' surprise, there was not much difference between adolescents in the activity of the amygdala, the key brain organ responsible for experiencing fear. But the "bashful" showed many times greater activity of the striatum, which is associated with the work of the same internal reward system. The reasons for this are still unclear, but this difference allowed the "bashful" adolescents to show themselves in the experimental game much more effective. According to some assumptions, shyness of character may be due to the fact that the brain as a whole reacts more brightly and sharply to stimuli - both potentially dangerous and beneficial, positive. In other words, to be ashamed is not at all ashamed.