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Awkwardness offers an overview of the psychology and philosophy of awkwardness, addressing questions like, Why do social interactions become awkward, and why does it matter? What can awkwardness teach us about the gaps in our understanding of the world and of each other? Drawing on the psychology of emotion and social norms, Alexandra Plakias posits a theory of awkwardness and explains how it differs from other self-conscious emotions like embarassment. Plakias explores the reasons why we find awkwardness so unpleasant, and shows how our desire to avoid it leads to negative moral and social consequences. Along the way, this book touches on topics like awkward pauses, cringe comedy, and the question of whether some people are more awkward than others.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter One: This is Awkward
- Chapter Two: Feeling Awkward
- Chapter Three: Awkward, Socially
- Chapter Four: Morally Awkward Problems
- Chapter Five: Awkward Silence
- Chapter Six: The Importance of Being Awkward
- Bibliography
About the author
Alexandra Plakias is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College. She grew up in New York City and received her PhD from the University of Michigan. She works on issues in moral psychology and social epistemology and has published on topics including disgust, self-confidence, moral disagreement, and the philosophy of food.
Additional text
Everyone knows what it's like to feel awkward -- if you don't, you may be a psychopath. That's one of the inferences to be drawn from this warmly and well written study, which argues for a better understanding of the phenomenon so that we can learn both to defuse the discomfort that it causes and to recognize it as 'a tool for moral and social progress'... [the author's] message is that we should act and, rather than flinching from an awkward moment, laugh at it, name it and use it as the spur for a difficult conversation.
