Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007Contributor Shame and guilt are moral, self-conscious, negative emotions. Moral emotions are those that are linked to the welfare of others, such as the society or other person outside the one that acts, judges, and feels the emotion in question. Self-conscious means that they include self-reflection and self- evaluation. Shame and guilt are often used interchangeably, but there has been found an important difference between the two:

Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007 Helen Lewis Block (1971) distinguished between: Shame: Negative evaluation of the global self I did that horrible thing. Guilt: Negative evaluation of specific behavior I did that horrible thing. This has the following consequences:

Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007 People who experience shame, compared to guilt:  Tend to hide, deny, or escape the shame- inducing situation (Tangney et al., 1996) and show immunological consequences (Dickerson et al., 2004; Grunewald et al., 2004).  Show self-oriented distress and less empathy for others (Tangney, 1991).

Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007 People who experience shame, compared to guilt:  Show destructive reactions to anger, such as externalization of blame, intense anger, and aggression.  Guilt-prone individuals show constructive behaviors toward correcting the wrongdoing (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).

Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007 People who experience shame, compared to guilt:  Show a variety of psychological symptoms: Low self- esteem, depression, anxiety and eating disorders, post- traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), and suicidal ideation.  Findings for guilt-prone individuals are more equivocal; there may be found maladaptive guilt by chronic self-blame and obsessive rumination over one’s transgressions. Else, guilt has adaptive functions, particularly for interpersonal behavior.

Shame and Guilt © POSbase 2007 People who experience shame, compared to guilt:  Shame-proneness in childhood later predicted risky driving behavior, earlier initiation of drug and alcohol use, and lower likelihood of practicing safe sex.  In contrast, guilt has a protective function; guilt- prone fifth-graders free of self-shame were, in adolescence, less likely to be arrested, convicted, and incarcerated (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).