Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Similar to Guilt motivation and emotion
Similar to Guilt motivation and emotion (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Guilt motivation and emotion
- 1. Guilt and motivation: Tony Last
- 3. • Guilt has been found to motivate individuals, or an individual's actions to alleviate their distress and keep their societal position or relationships, e.g. asking for forgiveness or trying to make amends.
- 5. • Research suggests that guilt may not be sufficient to produce significant change, though it may encourage individuals to act and feel they have done something to alleviate the problem.
- 9. Sabini, J., & Silver, M. (1997). In defense of shame: Shame in the context of guilt and embarrassment. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 27(1), 1-15. Smith, R. H., Webster, J. M., Parrott, W. G., & Eyre, H. L. (2002). The role of public exposure in moral and nonmoral shame and guilt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83 (1), 138. Carnì, S., Petrocchi, N., Del Miglio, C., Mancini, F., & Couyoumdjian, A. (2013). Intrapsychic and interpersonal guilt: A critical review of the recent literature. Cognitive Processing, 14(4), 333-346. doi:10.1007/s10339-013-0570-4 Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: an interpersonal approach. Psychological bulletin, 115(2), 243. Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2003). Shame and guilt. Guilford Press. De Hooge, I. E., Nelissen, R., Breugelmans, S. M., & Zeelenberg, M. (2011). What is moral about guilt? Acting “prosocially” at the disadvantage of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(3), 462. Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2006). Appraisal antecedents of shame and guilt: Support for a theoretical model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(10), 1339-1351. Wang, Q., Bowling, N. A., & Eschleman, K. J. (2010). A meta-analytic examination of work and general locus of control. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 761.
Editor's Notes
- In most cases, guilt indicates that an individual has stepped outside of societal mores or personal values, showing them that their actions are jeopardising a goal, e.g. being a moral person and is highly linked to morality and the prevention of immoral actions, and the growth of moral attitudes.
- It's been argued in appraisal theories that emotions relate to an individual’s interpretation of an event in the context of their beliefs, desires, and goals. Goals are the object of a person's aim or desired results, an ambition or effort; and emotions can help guide and enable an individual through events that influence their goals. Connecting goals and emotions is relevant when discussing guilt, particularly when looking at ethical, moral, and cultural mores and behaviours. Guilt can also function as a facilitating emotion to assist with integration of an individual into a community and motivating them to accept and adapt to the societal mores and avoid ostracisation.
- There has been a shift more recently towards studying the relational consequences of a transgression and guilt has been considered an adaptive response to improve social outcomes as it can help the individual to develop connections to others by generating preoccupation for their well-being.
- However, sometimes the prosocial behaviours triggered in this way can be made at the expense of others in the society; their focus on making reparations blinding them to their neglect of those around them.
- An appraisal is how an individual believes the situation they are experiencing is significant for them and whether, or how, it has implications for their well-being. Appraisal theory suggests that these interpretations are what makes an event significant, and generates emotions; and the appraisal of the event is as important as what actually took place, and applies to guilt in that an event occurs and the individual appraises it as something they shouldn't have done, and hence they feel guilt; which would probably motivate them to make reparatory actions.
- Attribution theory suggests that the way an individual chooses to interpret the cause of an event or another's behaviours, can change they way they feel about the situation and this can change they way they react to it. Research has found that causal attributions of an event that lead to an experience of guilt were positively correlated to internal, unstable, controllable attributions (i.e. mood). It’s generally considered that people that perceive events as internal and controllable believe that they can alter the situation and experience a more positive outcome; this may be due to a more pro-active attitude and believing that they can bring about and initiate change to deal with their distress.
- Guilt is painful, but it can motivate an individual to act prosocially to feel better.