Editing Guilt (emotion) (section)

== Psychology ==
Guilt and its associated causes, advantages, and disadvantages are common themes in [[psychology]] and [[psychiatry]]. Both in specialized and in ordinary language, guilt is an [[Affect (psychology)|affective state]] in which one experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done (or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done). It gives rise to a feeling which does not go away easily, driven by '[[conscience]]'. [[Sigmund Freud]] described this as the result of a struggle between the [[Id, ego and super-ego|ego]] and the [[superego]]&nbsp;– parental imprinting. Freud rejected the role of [[God]] as punisher in times of illness or rewarder in time of wellness. While removing one source of guilt from patients, he described another. This was the unconscious force within the individual that contributed to illness, Freud in fact coming to consider "the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt...as the most powerful of all obstacles to recovery."<ref>{{cite book|first=Sigmund|last=Freud|authorlink=Sigmund Freud|editor-first=Albert|editor-last=Dickson|title=On Metapsychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis : 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle,' 'The Ego and the Id' and Other Works|publisher=[[Gardners Books]]|date=1991|pages=390–1|location=Essex, East Sussex, England|isbn=978-0140138016}}</ref> For his later explicator, [[Jacques Lacan]], guilt was the inevitable companion of the signifying subject who acknowledged normality in the form of [[the Symbolic]] order.<ref>{{cite book|first=Catherine|last=Belsey|authorlink=Catherine Belsey|title=Shakespeare in Theory and Practice|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|date=2008|isbn=978-0748633012|page=25}}</ref>

[[Alice Miller (psychologist)|Alice Miller]] claims that "many people suffer all their lives from this oppressive feeling of guilt, the sense of not having lived up to their parents' expectations....no argument can overcome these guilt feelings, for they have their beginnings in life's earliest period, and from that they derive their intensity."<ref>{{cite book|first=Alice|last=Miller|authorlink=Alice Miller (psychologist)|title=The Drama of Being a Child|publisher=[[Time Warner|Time Warner UK]]|location=London, England|date=1995|pages=99–100|isbn=978-1860491016}}</ref> This may be linked to what Les Parrott has called "the disease of false guilt....At the root of false guilt is the idea that what you ''feel'' must be true."<ref>Parrott, pp. 158–9</ref>

Therapists recognized similar feelings of guilt in individuals that survived traumatic events that involved a loved one perishing called [[Survivor guilt|survivor's guilt]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Survivor guilt |date=2024-07-05 |work=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Survivor_guilt&oldid=1232672190 |access-date=2024-07-07 |language=en}}</ref>

The philosopher [[Martin Buber]] underlined the difference between the [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] notion of guilt, based on internal conflicts, and ''existential guilt'', based on actual harm done to others.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Martin|last=Buber|authorlink=Martin Buber|title=Guilt and guilt feelings |journal=Psychiatry |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=114–29 |date=May 1957 |pmid=13441838|doi=10.1080/00332747.1957.11023082 }}</ref>

Guilt is often associated with [[anxiety]]. In [[mania]], according to [[Otto Fenichel]], the patient succeeds in applying to guilt "the defense mechanism of denial by overcompensation...re-enacts being a person without guilt feelings."<ref>Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) pp. 409–10</ref>

In psychological research, guilt can be measured by using questionnaires, such as the [[Discrete emotion theory|Differential Emotions Scale]] (Izard's DES), or the [[Dutch Guilt Measurement Instrument]].<ref>{{cite journal  |author=Van Laarhoven, H|display-authors=etal | title=Comparison of attitudes of guilt and forgiveness in cancer patients without evidence of disease and advanced cancer patients in a palliative care setting |journal=Cancer Nursing |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=483–492 |date=November–December 2012|doi=10.1097/NCC.0b013e318243fb30 |pmid=22336967 |s2cid=34898552 |hdl=2066/101471 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

=== Defenses ===
According to psychoanalytic theory, defenses against feeling guilt can become an overriding aspect of one's personality.<ref>[[Otto Fenichel]] ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (1946) p. 496</ref> The methods that can be used to avoid guilt are multiple.  They include:
#[[Psychological repression|Repression]], usually used by the [[superego]] and ego against instinctive impulses, but on occasion employed against the superego/conscience itself.<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''On Metapsychology'' (PFL 11)p. 393</ref> If the defence fails, then (in a return of the repressed) one may begin to feel guilty years later for actions lightly committed at the time.<ref>Eric Berne, ''A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis'' (Penguin 1976) p. 191</ref>
#[[Psychological projection|Projection]] is another defensive tool with wide applications. It may take the form of [[blaming the victim]]: The victim of someone else's accident or bad luck may be offered criticism, the theory being that the victim may be at fault for having attracted the other person's hostility.<ref>''The Pursuit of Health'', June Bingham & Norman Tamarkin, M.D., Walker Press</ref> Alternatively, not the guilt, but the condemning agency itself, may be projected onto other people, in the hope that they will look upon one's deeds more favorably than one's own conscience (a process that verges on [[Ideas of reference and delusions of reference|ideas of reference]]).<ref>Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (1946) p. 165 and p. 293</ref>
#Sharing a feeling of guilt, and thereby being less alone with it, is a motive force in both art and joke-telling; while it is also possible to "borrow" a sense of guilt from someone who is seen as in the wrong, and thereby assuage one's own.<ref>Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (1946) pp. 165–6 and p. 496</ref>
#Self-harm may be used as an alternative to compensating the object of one's transgression – perhaps in the form of not allowing oneself to enjoy opportunities open to one, or benefits due, as a result of uncompensated guilt feelings.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Nelissen | first1 = R. M. A. | last2 = Zeelenberg | first2 = M. | year = 2009 | title = When guilt evokes self-punishment: Evidence for the existence of a dobby effect | journal = Emotion | volume = 9 | issue = 1| pages = 118–122 | doi = 10.1037/a0014540 | pmid = 19186924 }}</ref>

=== Behavioral responses ===
Guilt proneness is a personality trait that reflects a tendency to feel negative emotions about one's own misdeeds, even when they are not known by others.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Taya R. |last2=Panter |first2=A. T. |last3=Turan |first3=Nazli |title=Guilt Proneness and Moral Character |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |date=October 2012 |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=355–359 |doi=10.1177/0963721412454874|s2cid=146370931 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/6705713 }}</ref> Guilt proneness is reliably associated with moral character.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Taya R. |last2=Panter |first2=A. T. |last3=Turan |first3=Nazli |title=Guilt Proneness and Moral Character |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |date=October 2012 |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=355–359 |doi=10.1177/0963721412454874|s2cid=146370931 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/6705713 }}</ref> Similarly, feelings of guilt can prompt subsequent [[Virtue|virtuous]] behavior. People who feel guilty may be more likely to exercise restraint,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Giner-Sorolla |first1=Roger |title=Guilty pleasures and grim necessities: Affective attitudes in dilemmas of self-control. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=2001 |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=206–221 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.80.2.206 |pmid=11220441 }}</ref> avoid self-indulgence,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zemack-Rugar |first1=Yael |last2=Bettman |first2=James R. |last3=Fitzsimons |first3=Gavan J. |title=The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=2007 |volume=93 |issue=6 |pages=927–939 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.927 |pmid=18072846 }}</ref> and exhibit less prejudice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amodio |first1=David M. |last2=Devine |first2=Patricia G. |last3=Harmon-Jones |first3=Eddie |title=A Dynamic Model of Guilt: Implications for Motivation and Self-Regulation in the Context of Prejudice |journal=Psychological Science |date=June 2007 |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=524–530 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01933.x |pmid=17576266 |s2cid=15468026 }}</ref> Guilt appears to prompt reparatory behaviors to alleviate the [[negative emotion]]s that it engenders. People appear to engage in targeted and specific reparatory behaviors toward the persons they wronged or offended.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cryder |first1=Cynthia E. |last2=Springer |first2=Stephen |last3=Morewedge |first3=Carey K. |title=Guilty Feelings, Targeted Actions |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |date=May 2012 |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=607–618 |doi=10.1177/0146167211435796 |pmid=22337764 |pmc=4886498 }}</ref> Guilt proneness is also an important predictor of [[trustworthiness]]. The sense of responsibility of guilt-prone people is strong and this makes them trustworthy.<ref name=psy2018>{{cite web | last=Emamzadeh | first=Arash | title=New Research Determines Who You Can Trust the Most | website=Psychology Today | date=20 Sep 2018 | url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/201809/new-research-determines-who-you-can-trust-the-most | access-date=13 Mar 2025 }}</ref>

=== Lack of guilt in psychopaths ===
Individuals high in [[psychopathy]] lack any true sense of guilt or [[remorse]] for harm they may have caused others. Instead, they [[Rationalization (making excuses)|rationalize]] their behavior, [[blame]] someone else, or [[Denial|deny]] it outright.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Widiger |first1=Thomas A. |last2=Lynam |first2=Donald R. |chapter=Psychopathy and the five-factor model of personality  |pages=171–187 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSiBsdxcGigC&pg=PA171 |editor1-last=Millon |editor1-first=Theodore |editor2-last=Simonsen |editor2-first=Erik |editor3-last=Birket-Smith |editor3-first=Morten |editor4-last=Davis |editor4-first=Roger D. |title=Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior |date=2002 |publisher=Guilford Press |isbn=978-1-57230-864-0 }}</ref> People with psychopathy have a tendency to be harmful to themselves and to others. They have little ability to plan ahead for the future. An individual with psychopathy will never find themselves at fault because they will do whatever it takes to benefit themselves without reservation. A person that does not feel guilt or remorse would have no reason to find themselves at fault for something that they did with the intention of hurting another person. To a person high in psychopathy, their actions can always be rationalized to be the fault of another person.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Neumann |first1=Craig S. |last2=Kosson |first2=David S. |last3=Forth |first3=Adelle E. |last4=Hare |first4=Robert D. |title=Factor structure of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) in incarcerated adolescents. |journal=Psychological Assessment |date=June 2006 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=142–154 |doi=10.1037/1040-3590.18.2.142 |pmid=16768590 }}</ref> This is seen by psychologists as part of a lack of moral reasoning (in comparison with the majority of humans), an inability to evaluate situations in a moral framework, and an inability to develop emotional bonds with other people due to a lack of [[empathy]].

One study on psychopaths found that, under certain circumstances, they could willfully empathize with others, and that their empathic reaction initiated the same way it does for controls. Psychopathic criminals were brain-scanned while watching videos of a person harming another individual. The psychopaths' empathic reaction initiated the same way it did for controls when they were instructed to empathize with the harmed individual, and the area of the brain relating to pain was activated when the psychopaths were asked to imagine how the harmed individual felt. The research suggests psychopaths can switch empathy on at will, which would enable them to be both callous and charming. The team who conducted the study say they do not know how to transform this willful empathy into the spontaneous empathy most people have, though they propose it might be possible to rehabilitate psychopaths by helping them to activate their "empathy switch". Others suggested that it remains unclear whether psychopaths' experience of empathy was the same as that of controls, and also questioned the possibility of devising therapeutic interventions that would make the empathic reactions more automatic.<ref name="empathy switch">{{cite news |title=Psychopathic criminals have empathy switch | vauthors = Hogenboom M |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23431793 |newspaper=BBC News |date=July 25, 2013 |access-date=July 28, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727080108/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23431793 |archive-date=July 27, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Lewis T | title = Cold-hearted Psychopaths Feel Empathy Too | work = Live Science | date = 24 July 2013 | url = https://www.livescience.com/38421-psychopaths-feel-empathy-when-they-try.html }}</ref>

Neuroscientist [[Antonio R. Damasio]] and his colleagues showed that subjects with damage to the [[ventromedial prefrontal cortex]] lack the ability to empathically feel their way to moral answers, and that when confronted with moral dilemmas, these brain-damaged patients coldly came up with "end-justifies-the-means" answers, leading Damasio to conclude that the point was not that they reached immoral conclusions, but that when they were confronted by a difficult issue – in this case as whether to shoot down a passenger plane hijacked by terrorists before it hits a major city – these patients appear to reach decisions without the anguish that afflicts those with normally functioning brains. According to [[Adrian Raine]], a clinical neuroscientist also at the University of Southern California, one of this study's implications is that society may have to rethink how it judges immoral people: "Psychopaths often feel no empathy or remorse. Without that awareness, people relying exclusively on reasoning seem to find it harder to sort their way through moral thickets. Does that mean they should be held to different standards of accountability?"<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701056.html
|title=If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural
|newspaper=The Washington Post
|date=May 28, 2007
|first=Shankar
|last=Vedantam|name-list-style=vanc
|access-date=23 April 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

=== Causes ===
==== Evolutionary theories ====
Some [[evolutionary psychology|evolutionary psychologists]] theorize that guilt and [[shame]] helped maintain beneficial relationships,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sznycer |first1=Daniel |last2=Tooby |first2=John |last3=Cosmides |first3=Leda |last4=Porat |first4=Roni |last5=Shalvi |first5=Shaul |last6=Halperin |first6=Eran |title=Shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation by others, even across cultures |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=8 March 2016 |volume=113 |issue=10 |pages=2625–2630 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1514699113|pmid=26903649 |pmc=4790975 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.2625S |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sznycer |first1=Daniel |last2=Xygalatas |first2=Dimitris |last3=Agey |first3=Elizabeth |last4=Alami |first4=Sarah |last5=An |first5=Xiao-Fen |last6=Ananyeva |first6=Kristina I. |last7=Atkinson |first7=Quentin D. |last8=Broitman |first8=Bernardo R. |last9=Conte |first9=Thomas J. |last10=Flores |first10=Carola |last11=Fukushima |first11=Shintaro |last12=Hitokoto |first12=Hidefumi |last13=Kharitonov |first13=Alexander N. |last14=Onyishi |first14=Charity N. |last15=Onyishi |first15=Ike E. |last16=Romero |first16=Pedro P. |last17=Schrock |first17=Joshua M. |last18=Snodgrass |first18=J. Josh |last19=Sugiyama |first19=Lawrence S. |last20=Takemura |first20=Kosuke |last21=Townsend |first21=Cathryn |last22=Zhuang |first22=Jin-Ying |last23=Aktipis |first23=C. Athena |last24=Cronk |first24=Lee |last25=Cosmides |first25=Leda |last26=Tooby |first26=John |title=Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=25 September 2018 |volume=115 |issue=39 |pages=9702–9707 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1805016115|pmid=30201711 |pmc=6166838 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.9702S |s2cid=52183009 |doi-access=free }}</ref> such as [[reciprocal altruism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pallanti |first1=Stefano |last2=Quercioli |first2=Leonardo |title=Shame and Psychopathology |journal=CNS Spectrums |date=August 2000 |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=28–43 |doi=10.1017/s1092852900007525 |pmid=18192938 |s2cid=23493449 }}</ref> If a person feels guilty when he harms another or fails to reciprocate kindness, he is more likely not to harm others or become too selfish. In this way, he reduces the chances of retaliation by members of his tribe, and thereby increases his survival prospects, and those of the tribe or group. As with any other emotion, guilt can be [[Psychological manipulation|manipulated]] to control or influence others. As highly social animals living in large, relatively stable groups, humans need ways to deal with conflicts and events in which they inadvertently or purposefully harm others. If someone causes harm to another, and then feels guilt and demonstrates regret and sorrow, the person harmed is likely to forgive. Thus, guilt makes it possible to forgive, and helps hold the social group together.