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Abstract
Recent accounts support the existence of two distinct feelings of guilt: altruistic guilt (AG), arising from the appraisal of not having been altruistic toward a victim and deontological guilt (DG), emerging from the appraisal of having violated an intuitive moral rule. Neuroimaging data has shown that the two guilt feelings trigger different neural networks, with DG selectively activating the insula, a brain area involved in the processing of disgust and self-reproach. Thus, insula activation could reflect the major involvement of self-reproach in DG rather than in AG. However, only a few studies have empirically tested whether and how DG and AG differently affect decision making and none have compared enhanced self-worth. Here we asked three groups of participants, respectively, induced with either pride, DG or AG, to participate in a third-party version of the ultimatum game in which they were asked to decide on behalf of others to accept or reject economic offers with several degrees of fairness. Results revealed that only deontological participants had higher median acceptances of Moderately Unfair offers as compared to proud participants. However fairness judgments were not different between groups, suggesting that deontological participants’ moral standards had not decreased. Crucially, a higher increase in DG was associated with an increase in the odds of accepting 30:70 offers. The opposite effects that DG and pride exert on self-worth can account for these results. Specifically, proud participants felt entitled enough to take action in order to restore equity, while deontological participants followed the “Do not play God” principle, which limited their decisional autonomy, not allowing them to decide on behalf of others.
Highlights
Traditional approaches to guilt tend to describe a unique emotion with specific situational and psychological determinants, a precise behavioral drive and a clear evolutionary function
According to the interpersonal approach, guilt should promote altruistic tendencies as well as a closeness to the putative “victim.” The question is the following: is guilt a single emotion that activates contrasting behavioral outcomes depending on different situational variables, or are we to consider the existence of two distinct senses of guilt? (Carnì et al, 2013)
A recent attempt has been made (Mancini, 2008) to integrate these two perspective in a comprehensive model. According to this approach the intrapsychic and interpersonal models are not mutually exclusive if we consider the existence of two independent emotions, namely deontological guilt (DG) and altruistic guilt (AG)
Summary
Traditional approaches to guilt tend to describe a unique emotion with specific situational and psychological determinants, a precise behavioral drive and a clear evolutionary function. The evolutionary function of altruistic guilt (AG) is to establish non-aggressive relationships and its aim is to protect and maintain reciprocal altruism and to restore equity (Trivers, 1971; Baumeister et al, 1994) Even if both approaches describe guilt as a unique feeling, it is clear that they show important contrasting elements both on the level of motivation and on action tendencies. DG emerges from the appraisal of having disobeyed moral authority, or a deontological norm such as “Do not play God.” According to this norm, no one has the right to make a decision that does not respect the limits of his/her social rank or function (Sunstein, 2005). Its evolutionary function is to maintain, reinforce and protect social relationships through the development of an empathic preoccupation for the well-being of others, especially loved ones (Hoffman, 1982, 1998; Baumeister et al, 1994; Tangney and Dearing, 2002)
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