Score one for a masterful plan of deliberate humiliation to achieve a goal. People hate being embarrassed. Yet, they often intentionally embarrass others to send a message, control behavior, or attain certain goals. Sandra Petronio studies this behavior, known as strategic embarrassment. Effective strategic embarrassment takes skill and thought.
Successful planners know their target's personality.
They carefully choose the time and place. Sometimes the embarrasser's intent is positive, as in the case of the teenager who bumps his friend into a cute girl in the mall. Other times the intent is search and destroy. In some cultures, women who do not conform to social expectations are brought into a public arena, where the community members humiliate them, Petronio explains. Arizona's own version of that tactic could be Phoenix cable Channel 11's plan to broadcast the photos of people who are caught soliciting prostitutes.