Four studies used experimental and correlational methods to test predictions about the antecedents of shame and guilt derived from an appraisal-based model of self-conscious emotions (Tracy & Robins, 2004). Results were consistent with the predicted relations between appraisals (i.e., causal attributions) and emotions. Specifically, (a) internal attributions were positively related to both shame and guilt; (b) the chronic tendency to make external attributions was positively related to the tendency to experience shame; and (c) internal, stable, uncontrollable attributions for failure were positively related to shame, whereas internal, unstable, controllable attributions for failure were positively related to guilt. Emotions and attributions were assessed using a variety of methods, so converging results across studies indicate the robustness of the findings and provide support for the theoretical model.
Andrews, B., & Brown, G. W. (1993). Self-esteem and vulnerability to depression: The concurrent validity of interview and questionnaire measures. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 565-572.
2.
Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 243-267.
3.
Brown, J., & Weiner, B. (1984). Affective consequences of ability versus effort ascriptions: Controversies, resolutions, and quandaries. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 146-158.
4.
Bushman, B. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: Does self-love or self-hate lead to violence?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 219-229.
5.
Buss, A. H. (1980). Self-consciousness and social anxiety. San Francisco: Freeman.
6.
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452-459.
7.
Covington, M. V., & Omelich, C. L. (1981). As failures mount: Affective and cognitive consequences of ability demotion in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 796-808.
8.
Dickerson, S. S., Gruenewald, T. L., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004). When the social self is threatened: Shame, physiology, and health. Journal of Personality, 72, 1191-1216.
9.
Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
10.
Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 169-200.
11.
Ekman, P., Levenson, R. W., & Friesen, W. V. (1983). Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. Science, 221, 1208-1210.
12.
Ferguson, T. (in press). Madness to methods and purpose in pain: Studying the beneficial and adverse consequences of shame and guilt. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research. New York: Guilford.
13.
Gilbert, P. (in press). The evolution of shame as a marker for relationship security: A biopsychosocial approach. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research. New York: Guilford.
14.
Haidt, J., & Keltner, D. (1999). Culture and facial expression: Open ended methods find more expressions and a gradient of recognition. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 225-266.
15.
Hudley, C. A. (1992). Attributions for pride, anger, and guilt among incarcerated adolescents. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 19, 189-205.
16.
Jagacinski, C. M., & Nicholls, J. G. (1984). Conceptions of ability and related affects in task involvement and ego involvement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 909-919.
17.
Keltner, D., & Buswell, B. N. (1996). Evidence for the distinctness of embarrassment, shame, and guilt: A study of recalled antecedents and facial expressions of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 155-171.
18.
Kendler, K. S., Hettema, J. M., Butera, F., Gardner, C. O., & Prescott, C. A. (2003). Life event dimensions of loss, humiliation, entrapment, and danger in the prediction of onsets of major depression and generalized anxiety. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 789-796.
19.
Ketelaar, T., & Au, W. T. (2003). The effects of feelings of guilt on the behaviour of uncooperative individuals in repeated social bargaining games: An affect-as-information interpretation of the role of emotion in social interaction. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 429-453.
20.
Kugler, K., & Jones, W. H. (1992). On conceptualizing and assessing guilt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 318-327.
21.
Kuppens, P., Van Mechlen, I., Smits, D. J. M., & De Boek, P. (2003). The appraisal basis of anger: Specificity, necessity, and sufficiency of components. Emotion, 3, 254-269.
22.
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press.
23.
Lefcourt, H. M. (1991). Locus of control. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes(pp. 413-499). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
24.
Lefcourt, H. M., von Baeyer, C. L., Ware, E. E., & Cox, D. J. (1979). The multidimensional-multiattributional causality scale: The development of a goal specific locus of control scale. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 11, 286-304.
25.
Levenson, R. W. (1992). Autonomic nervous system differences among emotions. Psychological Science, 3, 23-27.
26.
Lewis, H. B. (1971). Shame and guilt in neurosis. New York: International Universities Press.
27.
Lewis, M. (2000). Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 623-636). New York: Guilford.
28.
Niedenthal, P. M., Tangney, J. P., & Gavanski, I. (1994). “If only I weren't” versus “If only I hadn't”: Distinguishing shame and guilt in counter factual thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 585-595.
29.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347-374.
30.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.
31.
Roberts, J. E., Gotlib, I. H., & Kassel, J. D. (1996). Adult attachment security and symptoms of depression: The mediating role of dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 310-320.
32.
Robins, R. W., Tracy, J. L., Trzesniewski, K. H., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2001). Personality correlates of self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 463-482.
33.
Robinson, M. D., & Clore, G. L. (2001). Simulation, scenarios, and emotional appraisal: Testing the convergence of real and imagined reactions to emotional stimuli. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1520-1532.
34.
Roseman, I. J. (1991). Appraisal determinants of discrete emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 5, 161-200.
35.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
Russell, D., & McAuley, E. (1986). Causal attributions, causal dimensions, and affective reactions to success and failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1174-1185.
37.
Scheff, T. J. (1998). Shame in the labeling of mental illness. In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.), Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture (pp. 191-205). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
38.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219-247.
39.
Shiota, M. N., & Keltner, D. (2005). What do emotion words represent?Psychological Inquiry, 16, 32-37.
40.
Smith, H. S., Webster, J. M., Parrott, W. G., & Eyre, H. L. (2002). The role of public exposure in moral and nonmoral shame and guilt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 138-159.
41.
Tafarodi, R. W., & Swann, W. B. (2001). Two-dimensional self-esteem: Theory and measurement. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 653-673.
42.
Tangney, J. P. (1991). Moral affect: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 598-607.
43.
Tangney, J. P. (1992). Situational determinants of shame and guilt in young adulthood. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 199-206.
44.
Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2002). Shame and guilt. New York: Guilford.
45.
Tangney, J. P., Miller, R. S., Flicker, L., & Barlow, D. H. (1996). Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1256-1269.
46.
Tangney, J. P., Wagner, P., & Gramzow, R. (1989). The test of self-conscious affect. Unpublished measure, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
47.
Tangney, J. P., Wagner, P., & Gramzow, R. (1992). Proneness to shame, proneness to guilt, and psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 469-478.
48.
Tomkins, S. S. (1963). Affects, imagery, consciousness. New York: Springer.
49.
Tong, E. M. W., Bishop, G. D., Enkelmann, H. C., Diong, S. M., Khader, M., & Ang, J. (2006). The use of ecological momentary assessment to test appraisal theories of emotion. Emotion, 5, 508-512.
50.
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A theoretical model. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 103-125.
51.
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2006). The nonverbal expression of pride: Evidence for cross-cultural recognition. Manuscript submitted for publication.
52.
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (in press) The self in self-conscious emotions: A cognitive appraisal approach. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research. New York: Guilford.
53.
Tracy, J. L., Robins, R. W., & Tangney, J. P. (in press).The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research. New York: Guilford.
54.
Vistica, G. L. (2001, April 29). What happened in Thanh Phong. New York Times Magazine, pp. 50-68.
55.
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548-573.
56.
Weiner, B. (1991). An attributional look at explanatory style. Psychological Inquiry, 2, 1-10.
57.
Weiner, B., Graham, S., & Chandler, C. (1982). Pity, anger, and guilt: An attributional analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 226-232.
58.
Weiner, B., & Kukla, A. (1970). An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 1-20.
