Shame-focused coping: An empirical study of the Compass of Shame

The way in which one copes with, or defends against, shame has important implications. The Compass of Shame (Nathanson, 1992) is a conceptual model consisting of 4 shame-coping styles: attack self, withdrawal, attack other, and avoidance. Participants rated the frequency with which they employed each of the shame-coping scripts across 8 categories of shame-inducing situations as described by Nathanson. The scripts were consistently applied across situations and the ratings were stable over time. A differentiated pattern of correlations was found between the 4 scripts and several indicators of psychological functioning. Results provide empirical support for Nathanson’s Compass of Shame model.