Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Spanish

Guilt has been found to accomplish important relational functions, thus promoting reparative behaviours through other- directed strategies. However, when one's self-image is at risk, self-directed strategies may be adaptively preferred. We thus wondered whether social expectations towards morally relevant roles would affect the emotional response to moral transgressions and, consequently, the choice of coping strategies to restore the original emotional status. In two studies, two groups of participants were asked to imagine themselves in guilt-evoking situations and to think of ways of reducing their negative feelings. In study 1, social expectations regarding the transgressor were manipulated by comparing a group of Catholic priests and of lay people. In study 2, we repeated the same design adding a manipulation of perspective (first/third person). Overall, results showed that the priests reported more feelings of shame when in the first person condition, and were more likely to cope with their negative feelings by means of self-directed strategies than the lay people. In these cases, self- directed coping strategies may be adaptively chosen in order to restore a positive self-image.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Baumeister

R. F.

Stillwell

Heatherton

(1995). Personal narratives about guilt: Role in Action control and interpersonal relationships. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 173–198.

Baumeister

R. F.

Stillwell

A. M.

Heatherton

T. F.

(1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 243–267.

Berndsen

Manstead

A. S. R.

(2007). On the relationship between responsibility and guilt: Antecedent appraisal or elaborated appraisal? European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 774–792.

De Hooge

I. E.

Breugelmans

S. M.

Zeelenberg

(2008). Not so ugly after all: when shame acts as a commitment device. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 933–943.

Faiver

C. M.

O'brien

E. M.

Ingersoll

R. E.

(2000). Religion, guilt and mental health. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78, 155–161.

Fontaine

J. R. J.

(2006). Untying the gordian knot of guilt and shame: The structure of guilt and shame reactions based on situation and person variation in Belgium, Hungary, and Peru. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 273–292.

Haidt

(2003). The moral emotions. In Davidson

R. J.

Scherer

K. R.

Goldsmith

H. H.

(Eds.), Handbook of Affective Sciences (pp. 852–870). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hibbert

Smith

Davies

Ireland

(2007). Guilt appeals: Persuasion knowledge and charitable giving. Psychology and Marketing, 24, 723–742.

10.

Joireman

(2004). Empathy and the Self-Absorption Paradox II: Self-Rumination and Self-Reflection as Mediators Between Shame, Guilt, and Empathy. Self and Identity, 3, 225–238.

11.

Lazarus

R. S.

(1991). Emotion and adaptation. London: Oxford University Press.

12.

Leith

K. P.

Baumeister

R. F.

(1998). Empathy, shame, guilt, and narratives of interpersonal conflicts: Guilt-prone people are better at perspective taking. Journal of Personality, 66, 1–37.

13.

Lewis

H. B.

(1971). Guilt and shame in neurosis. New York: Guilford Press.

14.

Lickel

Schmader

Curtis

Scarnier

Ames

D. R.

(2005). Vicarious shame and guilt. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8, 145–157.

15.

Lickel

Schmader

Hamilton

D. L.

(2003). A case of collective responsibility: who else was to blame for the Columbine high school shootings? Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 194–204.

16.

Luyten

Fontaine

Corveleyn

(2002). Does the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) measure maladaptive aspects of guilt and adaptive aspects of shame? An empirical investigation. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1373–1387.

17.

Martinez-Pilkington

(2007). Shame and guilt: The psychology of sacramental confession. The Humanistic Psychologist, 35, 203–218.

18.

Narramore

S. B.

(1974). Guilt: Where theology and psychology meet. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 2, 18–25.

19.

Nencini

Meneghini

A. M.

(in preparation). Narrating episodes of guilt.

20.

Orth

Berking

Burkhardt

(2006). Self-conscious emotions and depression: rumination explains why shame but not guilt is maladaptive. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1608–1619.

21.

Rosenberg

(1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

22.

Scarnier

Schmader

Lickel

(2009). Parental shame and guilt: Distinguishing emotional responses to a child's wrongdoings. Personal Relationships, 16, 205–220.

23.

Sheikh

Janoff-Bulman

(2010). The “shoulds” and “should nots” of moral emotions: a self-regulatory perspective on shame and guilt. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 213–224.

24.

Tajfel

Turner

J. C.

(1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In Worchel

Austin

W. G.

(Eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

25.

Tangney

J. P.

Fisher

K. W.

(1995). Self-conscious emotions. New York: Guilford Press.

26.

Tangney

J. P.

Stuewig

Mashek

D. J.

(2007). Moral emotions and moral behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345–372.

27.

Tracy

J. L.

Robins

R. W.

(2004). Putting the Self Into Self-Conscious Emotions: A Theoretical Model. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 103–125.

28.

Tracy

J. L.

Robins

R. W.

(2006). Appraisal antecedents of shame and guilt: support for a theoretical model. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1339–1351.

29.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

Tellegen

(1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.

The influence of social expectations on strategies for coping with moral transgressions

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References