Putting the Social in Emotions: The Effect of Audience Presence on Pride and Embarrassment Across Ontogeny

We care about others’ opinions of us and regulate our emotions to make positive impressions. This form of impression management may change during ontogeny as children become increasingly sensitive to others. To examine whether self-conscious emotions are influenced by audience presence across the lifespan, we induced embarrassment and pride in n = 71 3.5–5-year-old children, n = 71 8–10-year-old children, and n = 73 adults, either in the presence of an audience or alone. We measured nonverbal expressions of emotion, physiological arousal, and self-reported emotional experiences. All participants reported more embarrassment and blushed more while watching their singing performance in the presence of others. However, participants’ pride was not contingent on audience presence and differed across age, with adults showing the most nonverbal expressions of pride. These results elucidate how social environments shape how we feel and express emotions across development.