In my first paper (1922) I considered shame and blushing the result of repression of sexual excitation. The repression was due to castration threat. The repressed sexual (genital and pregenital) excitation was displaced—as in conversion hysteria—from below upward, from the genitals to the face. I thought at that time that females experience shame more than do males.

In my second paper (1941) I looked at shame and blushing from the ego's relation to and blind dependence on the superego. The superego was an external threat, instead of being an internalized, silent, directing and independent agency.