Two experiments were devised to test Goffman's contention that embarrassment provokes face-restoring behavior on the part of spectators to the embarrassment as long as the embarrassed person does not violate the norms of interaction and does not regain composure. When a confederate requests students to volunteer for a study: students will be more likely to volunteer as subjects when the requester loses composure than when the requester docs not lose composure and students will be less likely to volunteer when the requester loses composure and fails to regain it than when he performs without losing composure. Results confirmed both hypotheses.
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