Guilty feelings, targeted actions

Abstract

Early investigations of guilt cast it as an emotion that prompts broad reparative behaviors that help guilty individuals feel better about themselves or about their transgressions. The current investigation found support for a more recent representation of guilt as an emotion designed to identify and correct specific social offenses. Across five experiments, guilt influenced behavior in a targeted and strategic way. Guilt prompted participants to share resources more generously with others, but only did so when those others were persons whom the participant had wronged and only when those wronged individuals could notice the gesture. Rather than trigger broad reparative behaviors that remediate one's general reputation or self-perception, guilt triggers targeted behaviors intended to remediate specific social transgressions.

Figure 1

Mediation by self-reported guilt. Note: Coefficients without parentheses are parameter estimates from a simple linear regression model; coefficients in parentheses are parameter estimates from a regression model containing both predictors. Asterisks indicate parameter estimates significantly different from zero,* < .05 and ** < .01.

Figure 2

Guilt increases spending only when guilt is relevant to the recipient. Note: Guilty people spend more on others than do controls when choosing wine to share (Panel A) and contributing extra money to a dinner bill (Panel B), but only when the recipients are “integral,” or related, to source of their emotion.

Figure 3

Guilt, but not immorality, prompts different spending based on recipient. Note: People experiencing feelings of immorality spend similarly regardless of recipient type. People experiencing feelings of guilt spend selectively, increasing spending only when the recipient was a victim of their transgression (in this case, in their project group).

Figure 4

Guilt increases spending only when recipients can notice the gesture. Note: Guilty people spend more on wine to share with others than do controls, but only when the recipients are wine experts and are able to notice the gesture.