The literature on shame and guilt is very heterogeneous. Researchers and theorists in the field have used a number of definitions, approaches, and measurement methods, rendering futile any attempt at a comparative analysis. The article reviews the relevant literature and summarizes the different approaches to shame and guilt while highlighting relevant conceptual issues. The literature review is followed by a thorough delineation of the two constructs. Affective, cognitive, and phenomenological definitions are discussed for a fuller understanding of the phenomena. The cognitive attributional theory is discussed and is also used to explain the process of elicitation. The delineation of shame and guilt is followed by a comprehensive discussion of parsimony. In addition to drawing attention to the current multiplicity of definitions in the literature, the article intends to serve as a more unified framework for future studies of shame and guilt.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
Andrews, B. (1995). Bodily shame as a mediator between abusive experiences and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 277-285.
3.
Andrews, B., Brewin, C.R., Rose, S., & Kirk, M. (2000). Predicting PTSD symptoms in victims of violent crime: The role of shame, anger, and childhood abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(1), 69-73.
4.
Andrews, B., Qian, M., & Valentine, J.D. (2002). Predicting depressive symptoms with a new measure of shame: The Experience of Shame Scale. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 41, 29-42.
Beck, A.T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper and Row .
7.
Beck, A.T. (1972). Measuring depression: The depression inventory . In T. A. Williams, M. M. Katz, & J. A. Shields (Eds.), Recent advances in the psychobiology of the depressive illnesses (pp. 299-302). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
8.
Darwin, C. (1998). The expression of the emotions in man and animals . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1872)
9.
Demaria, T., & Kassinove, H. (1991). Predicting guilt from irrational beliefs, religious affiliation and religiosity. Journal of rational emotive and cognitive behavior therapy, 6, 259-272.
10.
Derogatis, L.R., Lipman, R.S., & Covi, L. (1973). SCL-90: An Outpatient Psychiatric Rating Scale-Preliminary Report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 9, 13-28.
11.
Drumbl, M.A. (2000). Punishment, postgenocide: From guilt to shame to civis in Rwanda. New York University Law Review, 75, 1221-1326.
12.
Erikson, E.H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: W.W. Norton.
13.
Ferguson, T.J., & Crowley, S.L. (1997). Measure for measure: A multitrait-multimethod analysis of guilt and shame. Journal of Personality Assessment , 69, 425-441.
14.
Ferguson, T.J., Stegge, H., Eyre, H.L., Vollmer, R., & Ashbaker, M. (2000). Context effects and the (Mal)adaptive nature of guilt and shame in children. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 126, 319-345.
15.
Ferguson, T.J., Stegge, H., Miller, E.R., & Olsen, M.E. (1999). Guilt, shame, and symptoms in children. Developmental Psychology, 35, 347-357.
16.
Fischer, K. (1980). A theory of cognitive development: The control and construction of hierarchies of skills. Psychological Review , 87, 477-531.
17.
Freud, S. (1957). Mourning and Melancholia. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 243-258). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1917)
18.
Freud, S. (1959). The Ego and the Id. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). London : Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)
19.
Freud, S. (1961). New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 22, pp. 5-182). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1933)
20.
Gilbert, P. (1998). What is shame? Some core issues and controversies . In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.), Shame: Interpersonal behaviour, psychopathology, and culture (pp. 39-54). New York: Oxford University Press.
21.
Harder, D.W. (1995). Shame and guilt assessment, and relationships of shame- and guilt-proneness to psychopathology. In J. P. Tangney & K. W. Fischer (Eds.), Self-conscious emotions: The psychology of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride (pp. 368-392). New York: Guilford .
22.
Janoff-Bulman, R. (1979). Characterological versus Behavioral Self-blame: Inquiries into depression and rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1798-1809.
23.
Jarrett, R.B., & Weissenburger, J.E. (1990). Guilt in depressed outpatients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 58, 495-498.
24.
Jones, W.H., & Kugler, K. (1993). Interpersonal correlates of The Guilt Inventory . Journal of Personality Assessment, 61, 246-258.
25.
Klass, E.T. (1987). Situational approach to assessment of guilt: Development and validation of self-report measure. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 9, 35-48.
26.
Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self: A systematic approach to the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. New York: International Universities Press .
27.
Kohut, H. (1972). Thoughts on narcissism and narcissistic rage. In P. Ornstein (Ed.), The search for the self: Selected writings of Heinz Kohut: 1950-1994 (Vol. 2, pp. 615-658). Madison, CT: International Universities press.
28.
Kubany, E.S. (1994). A cognitive model of guilt typology in combat-related PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 7(1), 3-19.
29.
Kubany, E.S., & Watson, S.B. (2003). Guilt: Elaboration of a multidimensional model . Psychological Record, 53, 51-90.
30.
Kugler, K., & Jones, W.H. (1992). On conceptualizing and assessing guilt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 318-327.
31.
Lazare, A. (1987). Shame and humiliation in the medical encounter . Archives of Internal Medicine, 147, 1653-1658.
32.
Lee, D.A., Scragg, P., & Turner, S. (2001). The role of shame and guilt in traumatic events: A clinical model of shame-based and guilt-based PTSD. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74, 451-466.
33.
Leskela, J., Dieperink, M., & Thuras, P. (2002). Shame and posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 223-226.
34.
Lewis, H.B. (1971). Shame and guilt in neurosis. New York: International Universities Press.
35.
Lewis, H.B. (1987). The role of shame in symptom formation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
36.
Lewis, M. (1992). Shame the exposed self. New York: The Free Press.
37.
Lewis, M., & Feiring, C. (1989). Infant, mother, and mother-infant interaction behavior and subsequent attachment. Child development, 60, 831-837.
38.
Lewis, M., Sullivan, M.W., Stanger, C., & Weiss, M. (1989). Self-development and self-conscious emotions. Child development, 60, 146-156.
39.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (CD ed.). (2006, October 12). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson ESL.
40.
Lowinger, T., & Solomon, Z. (2004). PTSD, guilt, and shame among reckless drivers . Journal of Loss and Trauma, 9, 327-344.
41.
Martens, W. (2005). A multiple model of shame. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 35, 399-414.
42.
Oxford English Dictionary (2nd CD-ROM ed.). (2004, December 10). New York: Oxford University Press.
43.
Seligman, M.E.P., Abramson, L.Y., Semmel, A., & von Baeyer, C. (1979). Depressive attributional style. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 242-247.
44.
Severino, S.K., McNutt, E.R., & Feder, S.L. (1987). Shame and the development of autonomy. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 15(1), 93-106.
45.
Stone, A.M. (1992). The role of shame in post-traumatic stress disorder . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62(1), 131-136.
46.
Street, A.E., & Arias, I. (2001). Psychological abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder in battered women: Examining the roles of shame and guilt. Violence and Victims, 16(1), 65-78.
47.
Tangney, J.P. (1996). Conceptual and methodological issues in the assessment of shame and guilt. Behavioral Therapy and Research, 34, 741-754.
48.
Tangney, J.P., Burggraf, S.A., Hamme, H., & Domingos, B. (1988). The self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory (SCAAI). Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College.
49.
Tangney, J.P., Marschall, D.E., Rosenberg, K., Barlow, D.H., & Wagner, P.E. (1994). Children's and adults autobiographical accounts of shame, guilt and pride experiences: An analysis of situational determinants and interpersonal concerns. Unpublished manuscript. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
50.
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.
51.
Tangney, J.P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D.J. (2007). Moral emotions and moral behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345-372.
52.
Tangney, J.P., Wagner, P.E., Fletcher, C., & Gramzow, R. (1992). Shamed into anger? The relation of shame and guilt to anger and self-reported aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 669-675.
53.
Tangney, J.P., Wagner, P.E., & Gramzow, R. (1989). The test of self-conscious affect. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.
54.
Tangney, J.P., Wagner, P.E., & Gramzow, R. (1992). Proneness to shame, proneness to guilt, and psychopathology . Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 469-478.
55.
Wilson, J.P., Drozdek, B., & Turkovic, S. (2006). Posttraumatic shame and guilt. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 7(2), 122-141.
56.
Wong, M.R., & Cook, D. (1992). Shame and its contribution to PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 5, 557-562.
57.
Yovell, Y. (2001). Mindstorm. Tel Aviv, Israel: Keshet.
