Guilt motivates prosocial behaviors that mend damaged relationships.

Evidence

One potential way to alleviate the distress would be to engage in an act of prosocial behavior. Acts of prosocial behavior are generally considered to be voluntary and result in benefits for another person (Jackson & Tisak, 2001). Estrada-Hollenbeck and Heatherton (1998) report that personal guilt and prosocial behavior occur most often in interpersonal relationships and are linked by empathy. They propose that people perform relationship-mending and relationship-enhancing acts in order to regulate feelings of guilt. Mending behaviors may include acts of reparation, an apology, or compensation and serve to diminish guilt. Enhancing behaviors may include being considerate, understanding, and reliable and serve to avoid feelings of guilt. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 456

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Guilt signals damaged relationships and motivates apology and repair. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 343; Guilt motivates corrective actions while shame triggers defensive reactions to inequality — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt: Its Antecedents and…, 137; Collective guilt can spur creating new just relationships, not only compensating past wrongs — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 567 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Guilt signals damaged relationships and motivates apology and repair. #corroborates (0.98) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 343
• Collective guilt motivates repair and compensation just as personal guilt does #corroborates (0.90) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 564
• Collective guilt and shame drive conflict-attenuating behaviors, not just inner feelings. #corroborates (0.88) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 366
• Collective guilt follows unrepentant perceived wrongdoing and motivates repair #expands (0.85) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 817
• Guilt motivates corrective actions while shame triggers defensive reactions to inequality #expands (0.82) — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt, 137
• Collective guilt can spur creating new just relationships, not only compensating past wrongs #expands (0.80) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 567
• Personal guilt arises from internal attributions for controllable harmful outcomes #expands (0.78) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 144
• Guilt works as motivation whose intensity tracks the cost of required action. #qualifies (0.72) — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 61