Guilt and shame in the cognitive-evolutionary perspective

Journal title PSICOBIETTIVO
Author/s Eleonora Pietropaoli, Maria Giuseppina Mantione
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/2
Language Italian Pages 18 P. 125-142 File size 120 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSOB2017-002010
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Through this work, the authors reviewed some studies that examined the emotions of guilt and shame highlighting their similarities and differences. After illustrating the data available in the literature, the authors go on to define guilt and shame from a cognitive-evolutionary approach, which considers emotions related to innate motivations and Interpersonal Motivation Systems (IMS) that push to create interpersonal bonding and determine how the individual interprets events. In the cognitive-evolutionary view, the knowledge of the behavioral and emotional reportorial of each IMS allows evaluating and distinguishing guilt from shame and at the same time understands the reason for their existence.

Keywords: Moral Emotions; Guilt; Shame; Cognitive-Evolutionary Approach.

  1. Tangney J.P., Stuewig J., Mashek D.J. (2006) An emotional-cognitive framework for understanding moral behavior, George Mason University, Fairfax
  2. Taylor G.J., Bagby R.M., Parker J.D.A. (1997) I disordini della regolazione affettiva, Giovanni Fioriti, Roma
  3. Tracy J.L., Robins R.W. (2004) “Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: a theoretical model”, Psychological Inquiry, 15: 103-125.
  4. Tracy J.L., Robins R.W. (2007) “Self-conscious: Where self and emotion meet”, in Sedikides C., Spence S. (eds.), The Self in social psychology: frontiers of social psychology, Psychology Press, New York, pp. 187-209
  5. Trivers R.L. (1971) “The evolution of reciprocal altruism”, Quarterly Rewiew of Biology, 46: 35-57. DOI: 10.1086/40675
  6. Wallbott H., Sherer K.R. (1986) “How universal and specifici s emotional experience? Evidence from 27 countries on five continents”, Social Science Information, 25: 763-795. DOI: 10.1177/05390188602500400
  7. Webb T. (2003) Towards a mature shame culture: Theoretical and practical tools for personal and social growth, PhD Thesis, University of Western, Sydney. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from --http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/676.
  8. Williams B. (1993) Shame and necessity, University of California Press, Berkeley
  9. Averill P.M., Diefenbach G.J., Stanley M.A., Breckenridge J.K., Lusby B. (2002) “Assessment of shame and guilt in a psychiatric sample: A comparison of two measures”, Personality and Individual Differences, 32: 1365-1376. DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00124-
  10. Barrett K.C. (1995) “A functionalist approach to shame and guilt”, in: Tangney J.P., Fisher K.W. (eds.), Self-conscious emotions: the psychology of shame, guilt, embarrassment and pride, Guilford Press, New York
  11. Battacchi M.W. (2000) Vergogna e senso di colpa. In psicologia e nella letteratura, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2002
  12. Baumeister R.F., Stillwell A.M., Heatherton T.F. (1994) “Guilt: an interpersonal approach”, Psycholocical Bulletin, 115: 243-267. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.115.2.24
  13. Berndsen M., Van der Pligt J., Doosje B., Manstead A.S.R. (2004) “Guilt and regret: the determining role of interpersonal and intrapersonal harm”, Cogn. Emot., 18: 55-70. DOI: 10.1080/0269993024400043
  14. Buber M. (2008) Colpa e sensi di colpa, Apogeo, Milano
  15. Catarino F., Gilbert P., McEwan K., Baião R. (2014) “Compassion motivations: Distinguishing submissive compassion From genuine compassion and its Association with shame, submissive Behavior, depression, anxiety and stress”, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33, 5: 399-412.
  16. Castelfranchi C. (1995) Le difese della mente, NIS, Roma
  17. Castelfranchi C., Poggi I. (1988) “Vergogna”, in: Castelfranchi C. (a cura di), Che figura. Emozioni e immagine sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna
  18. De Hooge I.E., Zeelenberg M., Breugelmans S.M. (2011) “A functionalist account of shame induced behavior”, Cogn. Emot., 25: 939-946. DOI: 10.1080/0269931.2010.51690
  19. Farina B., Liotti G. (2011) “L’incontro con la teoria dell’attaccamento e la svolta relazionale della psicoterapia cognitiva”, Psiche, 1
  20. Fontaine J.R.J., Luyten P., De Boeck P., Corveleyn J. (2001) “The Test of Self-Conscious Affect: Internal structure, differential scales and relationships with long-term affects”, European Journal of Personality, 15: 449-463.
  21. Gilbert P. (1989) Human Nature and Suffering, Erlbaum, London
  22. Gilbert P. (2003) “Evolution, social roles and the differences in shame and guilt”, Soc. Res., 70: 1205-1230
  23. Gilbert P. (2007) “The evolution of shame as a marker for relationship security”, in: Tracy J.L., Robins R.W., Tangney J.P. (eds.), The Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research, Guilford Press, New York, pp. 283-309
  24. Gilbert P., Allan S., Price J. (1997) “Social comparison, social attractiveness and evolution: How might they be related?”, New Ideas in Psychology, 13: 149-165. DOI: 10.1016/0732-118X(95)00002-
  25. Harder D.W., Lewis S.J. (1987) “The assessment of shame and guilt”, in: Spielberg C.D., Butcher J.N. (eds.), Advances in personality Assessment, vol. 6, pp. 89-114, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NY
  26. Hrdy S.B. (1999) Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infant and Natural Selection, Pantheon, New York
  27. Keltner D., Haidt J. (2001) “Social functions of emotions”, in: Mayene T., Bonanno G.A. (eds.), Emotions: current isues and future directions, Guilford Press, New York, pp. 192-213
  28. Kroll J., Egan E. (2004) “Psychiatry, moral worry and moral emotions”, J. Psychiatr. Pract., 10: 352-360
  29. La Rosa C., Iannucci C. (2000) Il sistema motivazionale agonistico, Associazione di Psicologia Cognitiva, Roma
  30. Lewis H.B. (1971) Shame and guilt in neurosis, International Universities Press, New York
  31. Lewis M. (1992) Shame the exposed self, The Free Press, New York
  32. Liotti G. (2005) La dimensione interpersonale della coscienza, Carocci, Roma
  33. Liotti G., Monticelli F. (2008) I Sistemi Motivazionali nel dialogo clinico, Raffaello Cortina, Milano
  34. Mancini F. (1997) “Il senso di colpa: un’analisi cognitiva”, Psicoterapia, 3: 31-46
  35. Mancini F. (2008) “I sensi di colpa altruistico e deontologico”, Cognitivismo Clinico, 5, 2: 125-144
  36. Miller S.B. (1989) “Shame as an impetus to the creation of coscience”, Internatio-nal Journal of Psychoanalysis, 70: 273-287
  37. Mitani J.C., Watts D. (1997) “The evolution of non-maternal caretaking among anthropoid primates”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 40: 213-40.
  38. Nathanson D.L. (1987) The many faces of shame, Guilford Press, New York
  39. Onofri A., Tombolini L. (2003) “La prospettiva cognitivo-evoluzionista, i sistemi motivazionali interpersonali e la psicoterapia cognitiva dei disturbi dell’umore”, Psicobiettivo, 1
  40. Ricci Bitti P.E., Boggi Cavallo P., Garotti P.L. (1994) “Antecedenti situazionali, espressione e regolazione del senso di colpa”, in: Castelfranchi C., D’Amico R., Poggi I. (a cura di), Sensi di colpa, Giunti, Firenze, pp. 203-217
  41. Scherer K.R. (2000) “Psychological Models of Emotion” in: Borod J. (ed.), The Neuropychological of Emotion, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 137-162
  42. Sheikh S., Janoff-Bulman R. (2010) “The ‘Shoulds’ and ‘Should Nots’ of moral emotions: a self-regulatory perspective on shame and guilt”, Pers. Soc. Psychol., B 36: 213-224. DOI: 10.1177/014616720935678
  43. Storey A.E., Walsh C.J., Quinton R.L., Wynne-Edwards K.E. (2000) “Hormonal correlates of paternal responsiveness in new and expectant fathers”, Evolution and Human Behavior, 21: 79-95. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00042-
  44. Tangney J.P., Dearing R. (2002) Shame and guilt, Guilford, New York
  45. Tangney J.P., Fisher K.W. (1995) Self conscious emotions: shame, guilt, embarrassment and pride, Guilford Press, New York
  46. Tangney J.P., Marschall D.E., Rosenberg K., Barlow D.H., Wagner P.E. (1994) Children’s and adults’ autobiographical accounts of shame, guilt, and pride experiences: An analysis of situational determinants and interpersonal concerns, unpublished manuscript
  47. Tangney J.P., Miller R.S., Flicker L., Barlow D.H. (1996) “Are shame, guilt and embarrassment distinct emotions?”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70: 1256-1269. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.125

Eleonora Pietropaoli, Maria Giuseppina Mantione, La colpa e la vergogna nella prospettiva cognitivo-evoluzionista in "PSICOBIETTIVO" 2/2017, pp 125-142, DOI: 10.3280/PSOB2017-002010