Wait a second, is shame just a lack of power?

When you recognize that you don’t have status or influence, it affects your self-concept — and your social behavior.

A woman bowing her head and covering her face, standing in a foggy clearing. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

I have been writing about shame for years now: where it comes from, how it operates physiologically, the various roles that it has played culturally and historically, evolutionary theories about the function it serves, the impact it has on fights to remedy systemic issues, and of course, a whole wide span of thinking about how an individual might overcome it.

I thought I had a pretty good handle on the subject. But this week I read a newly-published research study that, for whatever reason, made a straightforward realization click into place for me: shame is just a feeling of lacking power.

The study comes from the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, and it’s an examination of how romantic partners’ feelings of power influence their romantic relationship quality and sexual satisfaction.

I think it’s high time for another Research Roundup!