Why do we cringe when bad things happen?

Welcome back to the Myfanwy project. Today I want to talk about a strong reaction we all have in awkward situations. That reaction is to cringe. 

When you watch a train wreck, you cannot take your eyes off it — something about the magnificence of failure keeps you arrested, while your brain does the math — attempting to understand how so many things that shouldn’t have gone wrong, went wrong. Now, think about a failed grand, public proposal — the proposer is rejected and at the mercy of a whispering audience. The vicarious embarrassment of watching it all happen isn’t quite different from a trainwreck — one cannot take their eyes away. Our fascination with looking at a hot mess, regardless of the second-hand shame it elicits in certain situations, illuminates quite a bit about what we are, or what we fear we will become.

If you can't handle the cringe, check out the history of record designers Hipgnosis.