Self-reported guilt is underestimated because guilt implicates one’s own ingroup.

Evidence

Future research could expand on the present fi ndings by including additional measures of collective guilt. People may be reluctant to report feeling guilt because it implicates their ingroup, and thus levels of reported guilt might underestimate the intensity of the experience. Perhaps this explains the moderate levels of guilt reported by our participants overall. More subtle, covert, or sensitive measures of guilt might better capture fl uctuations in emotional intensity. — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 82

Categorization

• QUESTION: If guilt is systematically underestimated, the observed non-monotonic deterrent effect might be an artifact of self-report ceiling/suppression — worth probing.
• XREF: connects to: Guilt works as motivation whose intensity tracks the cost of required action. — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 61; Guilt requires self-categorizing as a group member — Torsten Masson and Markus Barth, The identification-guilt paradox…, 20

Related

• Guilt requires self-categorizing as a group member (similarity 0.87)
• The ingroup’s own suffering suppresses guilt even when it sees itself as responsible (similarity 0.87)
• Self-categorization at group level makes members feel ingroup wrongdoings as their own. (similarity 0.87)
• Guilt works as motivation whose intensity tracks the cost of required action. (similarity 0.87)
• Categorizing at a broader level diffuses responsibility and lowers collective guilt (similarity 0.84)
• Denying collective guilt provokes more affect than denying personal guilt (similarity 0.84)
• Group-based guilt peaks at medium self-investment and drops at high levels (similarity 0.84)
• Highly identified group members resist feeling collective guilt by reinterpreting events (similarity 0.83)
• Guilt is deeply unpleasant because it threatens one’s self-image as good (similarity 0.83)
• Group members feel guilt by association without personal responsibility for the harm. (similarity 0.83)
• Group self-investment predicts guilt up to a tipping point where further investment suppresses it (similarity 0.83)
• Men feel most collective guilt when reparations are moderately difficult. (similarity 0.83)
• Collective guilt requires admitting in-group responsibility and spurs reparations (similarity 0.82)
• Strongly identified group members resist collective guilt more than weakly identified ones. (similarity 0.82)
• High identification with a group suppresses collective guilt, not only enables it. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Guilt requires self-categorizing as a group member #expands (0.78) — Torsten Masson and Markus Barth, The identification-guilt paradox…, 20