Guilt stems from bad behavior while shame stems from a flawed self

Evidence

Among those who have investigated guilt and shame felt for one’s own misdeeds, most agree that these two emotions result from different interpretations of the self-relevance of a blameworthy event (Lewis, 1971; Tangney, 1992; 1995). If an event is seen as implying something negative about controllable aspects of one’s behavior, then guilt is likely to be the dominant emotional response. Conversely, if the event is seen as implying something negative about one’s stable dispositional qualities, shame is likely to be the dominant emotional response. In other words, people feel guilty for what they have done, but feel ashamed for who they are. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 310

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core conceptual anchor distinguishing guilt from shame by locus of appraisal, which Roccas et al. later build on to distinguish collective guilt from collective shame.
• XREF: connects to: Guilt targets specific acts while shame taints the entire self — Emanuele Castano, On the Perils of Glorifying the…, 64

Broader Connections

• Guilt targets specific acts while shame taints the entire self #corroborates (1.00) — Emanuele Castano, On the Perils of Glorifying the In-group, 64