Cultural influence on conscience development: Resistance to temptation and guilt among Samoans and American Caucasians.

In this study (a) the socialization effects of a shame and a guilt culture on conscience development are compared with Samoan and American Caucasian children and (b) the relationships between resistance to temptation and guilt are investigated. Inferences about conscience strength were made from behavior in a real-life temptation situation and from responses to projective story completion items depicting transgressions. The results show that the Samoan Ss were significantly less likely than the mainland Ss to resist temptation and to show susceptibility toward remorse, confession, and restitution after transgression. The projective measures of guilt are shown to be highly interrelated but inconsistently related to temptation behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)