Why blushing and turning red is actually a virtue and will make people trust you more

If tripping in public or offering your seat to an overweight woman in the belief she’s pregnant leaves you red-faced, don’t worry – it means you’re trustworthy.

That’s the conclusion of a study into those who are easily embarrassed.

Researchers did two experiments. In the first, 60 students were filmed recounting embarrassing moments.

The level of embarrassment they showed – such as by blushing – was then graded. They were also given ten raffle tickets and asked to keep a share and give the rest to a partner.

Those who showed greater levels of embarrassment tended to give away more of their tickets.

In the second test, participants watched an actor being told he received a perfect score on a test and responding with embarrassment or pride.

The volunteers then played games with the actor measuring their trust in him. These showed they found him more trustworthy when he had been embarrassed.

Lead author Matthew Feinberg, from the University of California, Berkeley, said: ‘Moderate levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue. You want to affiliate with embarrassed people more. You feel comfortable trusting them.’
Experts say the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partially covering the face. A person who feels shame will typically cover the whole face

Experts say embarrassed people tend to look downwards to one side while partially covering the face. A person who feels shame will cover the whole face

UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study, said: 'Embarrassment is one emotional signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources. It's part of the social glue that fosters trust and cooperation in everyday life.'

The paper's third author is UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, an expert on pro-social emotions.

Researchers point out that the moderate type of embarrassment they examined should not be confused with debilitating social anxiety or with 'shame,' which is associated in the psychology literature with such moral transgressions as being caught cheating.

While the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partially covering the face and either smirking or grimacing, a person who feels shame, as distinguished from embarrassment, will typically cover the whole face, Feinberg said.

'Time and again, the results showed that embarrassment signals people's tendency to be pro-social,' he added. 'You want to affiliate with them more,' he said, 'you feel comfortable trusting them.'

Abercrombie & Fitch ad 'indecent' but will stay for now

The advertisement featuring a topless man that is plastered on the Orchard shopfront of American fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch breaches the local advertising code of decency, said a watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS), which made the ruling, has called for the ad - put up after April - to be removed.

But there is a hitch - ASAS has no legal rights to enforce its decision. The picture of a model wearing a pair of low-slung jeans, which spans the entire four-level shopfront, remains on display at the Knightsbridge mall in Orchard Road for now.

Some people who found the ad to be lewd and inappropriate for the prominent location wrote to The Straits Times' Forum page last month, urging for it to be taken down.

Phone-hacking: NoW reporter Neville Thurlbeck takes publisher to tribunal

A News of the World reporter at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal is taking the defunct tabloid's publishers to an employment tribunal, claiming he was a whistleblower.

Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's former chief reporter, is claiming that he was unfairly dismissed by Rupert Murdoch's News Interrnational. There is scheduled to be a preliminary employment tribunal hearing in east London this Friday. It has only just come to light that Thurlbeck – who had been behind a string of high-profile exclusives at the News of the World – had been fired by the company.

News International said: "We will vigorously contest this case." Thurlbeck was arrested in April on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages but remained on the payroll of the paper until recently, possibly this month.

Thurlbeck has been a key figure in the phone-hacking scandal – his name appeared on an email sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire which contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to professional footballers association chief executive Gordon Taylor.

This "for Neville" email took centre stage in July when Rupert Murdoch and his son James appeared before MPs who believed it was evidence they knew phone hacking was not limited to one "rogue reporter" at the paper. Both the Murdochs denied this was the case. Employment law experts say it is only possible to use the Public Interest Disclosures Act – which protects whistleblowers from losing their jobs – in particular circumstances.

Ruth Neil, of employment law firm Stone Joseph, said that there are "very specific rules" in terms of what an individual whistleblower can claim under the act. She said to use it as a defence it was necessary to have reported any alleged wrongdoing to another person in authority, such as a police officer or other public servant.

A source familiar with the matter said Thurlbeck's use of the whistleblower's defence was "an extraordinary tactic to deploy".

Neil said that it can be used as a defence if confidential information is disclosed about an employer, which is normally a breach of common law. If he wins his case it will also entitle him to unlimited damages. Normally compensation for unfair dismissals are capped at ￡68,400.

The sums involved in whistleblowers' cases can be enormous by comparison. An NHS manager unfairly dismissed "as a whistleblower" over plans to relocate cancer services out of his county was awarded ￡1.2m in compensation.

Last week Thurlbeck was at the centre of a privacy action in France relating to a 2008 "exclusive" concerning Formula one boss Mosley who was awarded ￡60,000 in 2008 after winning his privacy action against the Sunday tabloid in the UK.

In a separate development, Thurlbeck answered police bail along with two former News of the World journalists, Ian Edmondon, the paper's former assistant editor (news) and reporter James Weatherup.