I've started telling my kids that one of my goals in life is to "cringe-max." Embarrassment -- we’ll do anything to avoid it. That hot, flushed feeling in the face, the quickening heartbeat, the mind ...

When I was young, I thought being only average would cause more chances of feeling embarrassed when our inadequacies were revealed. I now know that the fear of being seen as inadequate is socially ...

You know the feeling. You see something embarrassing happen to someone else-or you sit through a particular cringe-inducing scene in a sitcom or comedy movie-and you feel embarrassed on behalf of the ...