Stephanie Coontz: I don't think my capacity or tendency for embarrassment is very great. Do you consider that a trait of strength? Well, if you go back to the function, actually, i knew a little about this because i was a teaching assistant for john sabini. When we have these transgressions, like i say or do something that is a violation of well accepted social norms, then we experience embarrassment. It's essentially a way of making reparation and also signalling to everyone that like you did wrong. So a function of embarrassment is to create a sustainable and good civilization.