Shame on Me

Abstract

In two experimental studies, we used a moral self-evaluation implicit association task to investigate reactions to personal moral transgressions. In Study 1, negative self-evaluation was higher after participants had been blamed for being late to the experiment compared to a control condition. In Study 2, participants imagined committing either (a) a moral transgression or (b) no moral wrongdoing. In the transgression condition, negative self-evaluation was increased compared to the control condition. This effect was particularly pronounced among participants high in dispositional shame-proneness. Moreover, in the transgression condition, negative moral self-evaluation mediated the effect of shame-proneness on the preference for physical cleansing products. The present findings contribute to a better understanding of the cognitive and affective processes that underlie moral motivation.