Although theory suggests that guilt motivates approach tendencies and shame motivates avoidance tendencies, research has not always supported these relationships. The present study examined the degree to which shame and guilt are uniquely predictive of avoidance and approach motives, respectively, for both self-caused and other-caused wrongdoings. Results revealed that shame and guilt are more highly correlated for self-caused compared to other-caused wrongdoings. This greater blending of shame and guilt in response to self-caused acts makes it somewhat more difficult to distinguish between different unique motivational correlates of these two emotions. However, in response to other-caused wrongdoings, shame uniquely predicted avoidance tendencies (distancing from the event), whereas guilt uniquely predicted approach tendencies (repairing the event). The implications for research on motivation, emotion, and social relations are discussed.
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Notes
Note that these processes stem from how the perceiver appraises the person’s wrongdoing in terms of relevance to the self. Our appraisal based model of other-caused shame and guilt is distinct from what other research has identified as emotional contagion effects where one might feel empathically the emotion that another is expressing (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994). In fact, according to our model, individuals might in some instances feel more ashamed of a close other’s misdeeds to the degree that the other person does not express shame him or herself.
To explore possible differences by gender, we repeated this analysis with gender included as a between-subjects factor. Results revealed a marginal interaction between directed emotion, causal agent, and sex, F(1, 137)=3.81, p=.053, that was not moderated by the type of emotion participants rated. Simple effects testing suggested that although emotion ratings were generally higher for self-caused events than for other-caused events, p’s < .05, this was not the case for men asked to recall guilt experiences p > .60. Compared to women, men had somewhat weaker emotional reactions to events they recalled as guilt events, p=.061, and thus the strength of their emotion ratings were equivalent for self and other caused guilt events.
When this analysis was repeated with gender included as a between-subjects factor, there was a significant four-way interaction, F(1, 137)=7.56, p < .01. For self-caused events, there was a significant motivation rating by gender interaction, F(1, 137)=4.33, p < .05. For self-caused events, men rated reparations higher than distancing, p < .05, but women did not, p > .20. For other-caused events, there was a significant motivation rating by directed emotion by gender interaction, F(1, 137)=4.74, p < .05. Both men and women rated reparations higher for other-caused guilt events as compared to shame events, although these trends were not significant, p’s < .12. In addition, women rated distancing higher for other-caused shame events compared to guilt events, p < .01, but men did not, p > .20.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant #BCS-0112427 awarded to the first and second authors, a faculty small grant awarded to the first author (T. Schmader) from the University of Arizona Foundation, and a Zumberge Foundation Grant to the second author (B. Lickel). We thank Greg Willard, Shawn Williams, Jonah Firestone, Heather Gangestad, Amy Baesler, Shawna Boggie, Jill Endres, Emily Bacal, Lorena Bravo, Chris Davis, Calli Payne, Jessica Pishney, Cynthia Wallentin, and Ali Winkler for their invaluable help with data collection, entry, and coding.
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Schmader, T., Lickel, B. The Approach and Avoidance Function of Guilt and Shame Emotions: Comparing Reactions to Self-Caused and Other-Caused Wrongdoing. Motiv Emot 30, 42–55 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9006-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9006-0