Abstract
This experimental study examined the role of negative feedback and social rank in the experience of self-conscious emotions, shame and guilt, in typically developing children aged 8 to 13 years. Participants were tested by means of a vignette paradigm in which feedback and social rank were systematically manipulated and levels of shame and guilt were assessed after listening to each of the vignettes. In addition, children completed a set of questionnaires for measuring individual differences in shame and guilt proneness, social comparison, submissive behavior, and external shame. The results showed that children presented with negative feedback reported higher ratings of shame and guilt than when presented with positive feedback, implying that the provision of negative feedback has a significant impact on children’s experience of self-conscious emotions. Social rank had less effect on children’s report of these self-conscious emotions. Furthermore, the individual difference variables of guilt proneness, and to a lesser extent shame proneness and submissive behavior, appeared to be positively related to self-conscious emotions as reported during the vignette task.
Highlights
The self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt both involve negative self-evaluations elicited when some moral or social standard is violated which is noticed by other people [1]
Within this article we focus on the question why some children experience higher levels of shame and guilt than others
The results suggest that feedback is an important factor in children’s experience of self-conscious emotions
Summary
The self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt both involve negative self-evaluations elicited when some moral or social standard is violated which is noticed by other people [1]. These emotions occur if one has performed an act that is inconsistent with the current norms and values or one’s own expectations. This will cause disapproval by others leading to rejection or losing face.
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