Guilt is thought to maintain social harmony by motivating reparation. This study compared two methodologies commonly used to identify the neural correlates of guilt. The first, imagined guilt, requires participants to read hypothetical scenarios and then imagine themselves as the protagonist. The second, recollected guilt, requires participants to reflect on times they personally experienced gu...

As the first in their families to attend college, first-generation college students (FGCs) experience a discrepancy between the opportunities available to them and those available to their non-college-educated family members that elicits family achievement guilt. The present studies examined family achievement guilt among an ethnically diverse sample of FGCs and continuing-generation college st...

In this study, individuals’ levels of personal responsibility and actual behavior towards protecting the environment were studied to examine the effects both these variables would have on the individuals’ environmental guilt or “eco-guilt.” The research measured 95 participants’ personal eco-guilt through surveys. Half received a manipulation that was used to make them feel responsible for thei...

introduction: similar to social and conscious emotions, shame and guilt have gained increasing attention because of their eminent emotional, motivational, and cognitive functions that ultimately guide human beings' perception and behavior. the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between shame and guilt feelings with the dimensions of loneliness (familial, social, and romantic). met...

This study examined consumers' emotional responses, their attitudes toward advertisements and brands, attributions about the companies promoting the brands, and purchase intention for ads varying on level of guilt appeal. Sixty working mothers, a prime target of guilt appeals, participated in the study. Results indicated that moderate guilt appeals elicited more felt guilt in the working mother...

This study explores the relationship between existential guilt, inferences of manipulative intent, attitude towards the brand, and donation behaviour intentions. A scale was also developed to measure existential guilt. Although it is exploratory in nature, it fills the gap in the literature that guilt is not a unified construct and should be measured separately. This research found that consume...

BACKGROUND Empirical studies of the relationships between shame, guilt, and drinking are sparse and sometimes appear contradictory. However, a more coherent picture emerges when researchers differentiate between measures of experienced of guilt and shame (i.e., questionnaires that ask how often people experience thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with the emotion) versus proneness to...

Guilt has been identified as both an intrapsychic and an interpersonal emotion. The current study presents evidence of the existence of two senses of guilt, deontological and altruistic guilt, induced through different experimental paradigms. Deontological guilt evolves from having slighted moral authority or norms, while altruistic guilt arises from selfish behavior and the distress of others....