Assessing individual differences in proneness to shame and guilt: Development of the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory.

Individual differences in proneness to shame and proneness to guilt are thought to play an important role in the development of both adaptive and maladaptive interpersonal and intrapersonal processes. But little empirical research has addressed these issues, largely because no reliable, valid measure has been available to researchers interested in differentiating proneness to shame from proneness to guilt. The Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory (SCAAI) was developed to assess characteristic affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses associated with shame and guilt among a young adult population. The SCAAI also includes indices of externalization of cause or blame, detachment/unconcern, pride in self, and pride in behavior. Data from 3 independent studies of college students and 1 study of noncollege adults provide support for the reliability of the main SCAAI subscales. Moreover, the pattern of relations among the SCAAI subscales and the relation of SCAAI subscales to 2 extant measures of shame and guilt support the validity of this new measure. The SCAAI appears to provide related but functionally distinct indices of proneness to shame and guilt in a way that these previous measures have not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are shame and guilt related to distinct self-discrepancies? A test of Higgins's (1987) hypotheses.

A study of 229 undergraduates examined whether specific self-discrepancies are differentially related to shame proneness and guilt proneness. Contrary to E. T. Higgins (1987), but in line with the present authors' expectations, the tendency to experience shame, but not guilt, was positively related to all types of self-discrepancies. An attempt was also made to replicate E. T. Higgins, Klein, and Strauman's (1985) findings that specific self-discrepancies are associated with distinct emotion syndromes. No support was found for the central hypotheses of self-discrepancy theory. Finally, the authors evaluated the utility of two methods for assessing self-discrepancies: Higgins's qualitative method and quantitative adjective ratings. The two methods yielded essentially identical relationships to other variables. The very high correlations among different types of self-discrepancies within each method, however, raise discriminant validity concerns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual and methodological issues in the assessment of shame and guilt

Although shame and guilt are prominently cited in theories of moral behaviour and psychopathology, surprisingly little research has considered these emotions. A key factor hindering research in this area has been a need for psychometrically sound measures of shame and guilt. Fortunately, a number of new measures have been developed in recent years. In this article, I describe the current status of the assessment of these long-neglected emotions, highlighting both conceptual and methodological issues that arise in the measurement of shame and guilt. I begin with a discussion of several definitions of and distinctions between shame and guilt, summarizing the degree to which these alternative conceptualizations have been empirically supported. This background is important when evaluating the relative strengths and weaknesses of a given measurement strategy (e.g. the degree to which a strategy is grounded in a sound conceptual framework). I then describe specific measures of shame and guilt, including dispositional measures (i.e. assessing individual differences in proneness to shame and proneness to guilt across situations) and state measures (i.e. assessing feelings of shame and guilt in the moment), offering my observations on their respective strengths and weaknesses and some suggestions for future measurement development.     

Introducing the GASP scale: A new measure of guilt and shame proneness.

Although scholars agree that moral emotions are critical for deterring unethical and antisocial behavior, there is disagreement about how 2 prototypical moral emotions—guilt and shame—should be defined, differentiated, and measured. We addressed these issues by developing a new assessment—the Guilt and Shame Proneness scale (GASP)—that measures individual differences in the propensity to experience guilt and shame across a range of personal transgressions. The GASP contains 2 guilt subscales that assess negative behavior-evaluations and repair action tendencies following private transgressions and 2 shame subscales that assess negative self-evaluations (NSEs) and withdrawal action tendencies following publically exposed transgressions. Both guilt subscales were highly correlated with one another and negatively correlated with unethical decision making. Although both shame subscales were associated with relatively poor psychological functioning (e.g., neuroticism, personal distress, low self-esteem), they were only weakly correlated with one another, and their relationships with unethical decision making diverged. Whereas shame–NSE constrained unethical decision making, shame–withdraw did not. Our findings suggest that differentiating the tendency to make NSEs following publically exposed transgressions from the tendency to hide or withdraw from public view is critically important for understanding and measuring dispositional shame proneness. The GASP's ability to distinguish these 2 classes of responses represents an important advantage of the scale over existing assessments. Although further validation research is required, the present studies are promising in that they suggest the GASP has the potential to be an important measurement tool for detecting individuals susceptible to corruption and unethical behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

What does it mean to be angry at yourself? Categories, appraisals, and the problem of language.

According to appraisal theorists, anger involves a negative event, usually blocking a goal, caused by another person. Critics argue that other-agency is unnecessary, since people can be angry at themselves, and thus that appraisal theory is wrong about anger. In two studies, we compared anger, self-anger, shame, and guilt, and found that self-anger shared some appraisals, action tendencies, and associated emotions with anger, others with shame and guilt. Self-anger was not simply anger with a different agency appraisal. Anger, shame, and guilt almost always involved other people, but almost half of the occurrences of self-anger were solitary. We discuss the incompatibility of appraisal theories with any strict categorical view of emotions, and the inadequacy of emotion words to capture emotional experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homosexual threat, negative attitudes toward masturbation, sex guilt, and males' sexual and affective reactions to explicit sexual films.

Subjective sexual arousal and affective responses of 215 undergraduate males to films of masturbatory, homosexual, and heterosexual behavior were studied as a function of personality differences in negative attitudes toward masturbation, homosexual threat, and sex guilt. The film of heterosexual behavior elicited more subjective sexual arousal and less disgust, anger, shame, depression, and guilt than did the films of male masturbation and homosexuality. The film of homosexuality elicited both more sexual arousal and more disgust, anger, shame, and guilt than did the film of masturbation. The personality inventories (e.g., Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory) predicted sexual arousal and affective reactions, but the evidence was better for convergent than for discriminant validity. A promising new measure of homosexual threat (Homosexual Threat Inventory) was constructed that was predictive of heterosexual–homosexual orientation and reactions to the films. The concept of homosexual threat is differentiated from the concepts of fear of homosexuals, homosexual panic, and homosexual prejudice. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nuestra culpa: Collective guilt and shame as predictors of reparation for historical wrongdoing.

Three studies examined the hypothesis that collective guilt and shame have different consequences for reparation. In 2 longitudinal studies, the ingroup was nonindigenous Chileans (Study 1: N = 124/120, lag = 8 weeks; Study 2: N = 247/137, lag = 6 months), and the outgroup was Chile's largest indigenous group, the Mapuche. In both studies, it was found that collective guilt predicted reparation attitudes longitudinally. Collective shame had only cross-sectional associations with reparation and no direct longitudinal effects. In Study 2, collective shame moderated the longitudinal effects of collective guilt such that the effects of guilt were stronger for low-shame respondents. In Study 3 (N = 193 nonindigenous Chileans), the cross-sectional relationships among guilt, shame, and reparation attitudes were replicated. The relationship between shame and reparation attitudes was mediated by a desire to improve the ingroup's reputation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing individual differences in constructive versus destructive responses to anger across the lifespan.

Scenario-based, self-report measures were developed to assess how people characteristically experience and manage anger from middle childhood through adulthood. The Anger Response Inventories ( ARIs) for children, adolescents, and adults each assess (a) anger arousal, (b) intentions, (c) cognitive and behavioral responses, and (d) long-term consequences. Several independent studies provide support for the reliability and validity of the ARIs. Theoretically consistent patterns of correlations were observed with (a) global self-report measures of hostility, aggression, and anger-management strategies (adult version); ( b) teacher reports of behavioral and emotional adjustment (child and adolescent versions); and (c) self- and family-member reports of behaviors in specific anger episodes (adolescent and adult versions ) . Findings from additional personality and developmental studies are summarized, further supporting construct validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familial environment associated with Type A behaviors and psychophysiological responses to stress in children.

Studied the characteristics of family environments associated with children"s Type A behaviors, anger frequency and expression, hostile outlook, hostility displayed during an interview, and cardiovascular responses to laboratory stressors. Two measures of family environment, Positive Affiliation and Authoritarianism, were derived by a factor analysis of the Family Environment Scale completed by parents. 66 girls and 48 boys enrolled in Grades 2–12 from 114 families served as Ss. Families scoring low on Positive Affiliation had children who were assessed as more angry and hostile. Boys from these families had a more pronounced heart rate response to all laboratory stressors. High Authoritarianism scores in combination with low Positive Affiliation scores in families predicted a heightened heart rate response in boys. Sex differences in the pattern of associations among family and child characteristics were also found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing some attribution€motion relations in the People's Republic of China.

We conducted a questionnaire study to test the generality of attribution–emotion relations to individuals in the People's Republic of China. Replications of prior findings of studies conducted with American subjects were reported: (a) High efforts and success enhanced interpersonal evaluations when ability, effort, and outcome information were provided; (b) affective communications of pity, anger, and guilt were respectively used to infer low ability, lack of effort, and teacher as causes of failure; (c) effort and ability levels were inferred from the presence or absence of anger reactions; and (d) controllable causes of a broken social contract were expected to result in anger from others. Chinese and American respondents also indicated what situations would arouse the affects of anger, guilt, pity, pride, and shame. We found no evidence for the characterization of Chinese as (a) emphasizing effort over ability as a cause of achievement outcomes or (b) de-emphasizing the importance of personal achievement and stressing group goals and accomplishments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guilt, shame, and symptoms in children.

The authors asked whether evidence could be found for adaptive or maladaptive aspects of guilt and shame in 5–12-year-old children (44 boys, 42 girls). Children completed semiprojective and scenario based measures thought to assess shame, guilt, or both. Their parents (N?=? 83) completed the Child Behavior Checklist to assess child symptoms. Shame and projective guilt were related to symptoms; they also were associated with self-blame and attempts to minimize painful feelings. Scenario-based guilt was related to fewer symptoms in boys but to greater symptoms in girls. This measure of guilt reflected concerns with adhering to standards, expressing empathy, and taking appropriate responsibility. Discussion focuses on possible origins of differential symptom-emotion links in boys and girls as well as measurement implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shamed into anger? The relation of shame and guilt to anger and self-reported aggression.

The relation of shame and guilt to anger and aggression has been the focus of considerable theoretical discussion, but empirical findings have been inconsistent. Two recently developed measures of affective style were used to examine whether shame-proneness and guilt-proneness are differentially related to anger, hostility, and aggression. In 2 studies, 243 and 252 undergraduates completed the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90, and the Spielberger Trait Anger Scale. Study 2 also included the Test of Self-Conscious Affect and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Shame-proneness was consistently correlated with anger arousal, suspiciousness, resentment, irritability, a tendency to blame others for negative events, and indirect (but not direct) expressions of hostility. Proneness to "shame-free" guilt was inversely related to externalization of blame and some indices of anger, hostility, and resentment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using affective cues to infer causal thoughts.

In Exp I, 49 9-yr-olds, 48 11-yr-olds, and 70 undergraduates were told the affective reactions of a teacher toward a failing student. The affects included anger, pity, guilt, surprise, and sadness. Ss were asked to infer the cause of the student's failure. For all ages, there were systematic linkages between the following affect–attribution pairings: anger–lack of effort, guilt–poor teaching, and surprise–lack of effort. In addition, among the undergraduates there was an association between pity and low ability. Exp II, using 103 Ss aged 5, 7, and 9 yrs, examined only the affects of anger and pity. A relationship between anger and lack of effort was exhibited by the youngest Ss whereas a pity–lack of ability association was displayed only by the older Ss. The implications of the findings for self-concept are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting PTSD symptoms in victims of violent crime: The role of shame, anger, and childhood abuse.

To examine the role of cognitive-affective appraisals and childhood abuse as predictors of crime-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, 157 victims of violent crime were interviewed within 1 month postcrime and 6 months later. Measures within 1 month postcrime included previous physical and sexual abuse in childhood and responses to the current crime, including shame and anger with self and others. When all variables were considered together, shame and anger with others were the only independent predictors of PTSD symptoms at 1 month, and shame was the only independent predictor of PTSD symptoms at 6 months when 1-month symptoms were controlled. The results suggest that both shame and anger play an important role in the phenomenology of crime-related PTSD and that shame makes a contribution to the subsequent course of symptoms. The findings are also consistent with previous evidence for the role of shame as a mediator between childhood abuse and adult psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?

182 undergraduates described personal embarrassment, shame, and guilt experiences and rated these experiences on structural and phenomenological dimensions. Contrary to popular belief, shame was no more likely than guilt to be experienced in "public" situations; all 3 emotions typically occurred in social contexts, but a significant proportion of shame and guilt events occurred when respondents were alone. Analyses of participants' phenomenological ratings clearly demonstrated that shame, guilt, and embarrassment are not merely different terms for the same affective experience. In particular, embarrassment was a relatively distant neighbor of shame and guilt, and the differences among the 3 could not be explained simply by intensity of affect or by degree of moral transgression. Finally, participants generally were their own harshest critics in each type of event, evaluating themselves more negatively than they believed others did. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with adults' angry behavior: Behavioral, physiological, and verbal responses in preschoolers.

This study replicated and extended a study of Cummings (1987) by examining 4- and 5-year-olds' behavioral and verbal responses to adults' angry behavior and collected data on physiological responses. We found behavioral and verbal responses of distress and that systolic blood pressure increased in response to anger. As in Cummings (1987), children's behavioral emotional responses to anger predicted other aspects of responding. Angry/ambivalent children showed a complex heart rate pattern, including a decrease with the onset of anger, whereas heart rate increased in response to anger for concerned/distressed children. Both groups reported more emotional distress (mostly anger) than unresponsive children, and angry–ambivalent children reported the most nonplay responses (e.g., leave, mediate). The results provide more support for discrete patterns of responding to adults' angry emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shame, guilt, ego development, and the five-factor model of personality

Shame, guilt, and ego development are conceptually interrelated constructs, yet their empirical relations have not yet been examined. Further, these constructs have not yet been mapped onto the widely used Five-Factor Model. In Study 1, relations were examined between these three domains within a sample of Australian university students. Two types of guilt were distinguished, Empathic Guilt (associated with Agreeableness) and Anxious Guilt (associated with Neuroticism). The relationship between Shame and Ego Level was found to be curvilinear, with Shame greatest for persons at intermediate stages of ego development. In Study 2, relations between ego development and the Five-Factor Model were further examined. Across both studies, Ego Level was best predicted from Conscientiousness among men and from Openness among women. Relations between Ego Level, proneness to shame and guilt, and the five factors were typically modest, suggesting that these represent complementary approaches to the study of personality.     

The Treatment of Dissociation in Sexually Abused Children From a Family/Attachment Perspective.

This article outlines an approach to treatment of sexually abused children with dissociative symptoms. Dissociated self-states are seen as competing interpersonal approaches to handling the many emotional sequela of abuse, including anger, fear, and regressive needs. Parents' responses to their sexually abused children, complicated by guilt and their own histories of trauma, can promote dissociative coping in the children as they have difficulty processing their own real feelings of anger, fear, and responsibility. Children and parents may alternatively take victimizer, victim, and rescuer roles, thus mutually reinforcing a dissociative style of coping with these events. This article illustrates how sensitivity to these family dynamics, along with a problem-solving approach to the child's symptoms, can treat dissociative psychopathology in these children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An attributional analysis of personal and interpersonal motivation for collaborative projects.

Attribution theory provides a framework for examining personal and interpersonal motivation for collaborative projects. Undergraduates were asked to read vignettes concerning student dyads engaged in collaborative projects. The vignettes systematically varied on outcome of the project, student self-ability, student self-effort, partner ability, and partner effort. Participants responded to Likert items measuring personal affect of shame, guilt, and pride; interpersonal affect of pity, anger, and gratitude; and expectations for performance on future projects. Ability and effort attributions were expected to lead to different emotional consequences and future expectations, because they differ on the dimensions of controllability and stability. Overall, student motivation was tied more closely to effort than ability. Specific results are discussed within the framework of attribution theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)