University/Organization
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
MERCY COLLEGE
Title
ARE GUILT AND SHAME MORAL OR MORALIZING EMOTIONS?
Synopsis
Our studies test the impact of two self-directed moral emotions like guilt and shame on responsibility attributions about moral scenarios. We found that both guilt- and shameproneness increased severity of responsibility attributions, except for the behavioral dimension of shame. Moreover, contrary to what other theories predict, our data support a Nietzschean perspective. That is, self-directed emotions make people moralize more without necessarily making them more moral (i.e., they tend to be more severe for others than for themselves).