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Guilt: an Emotion Under Suspicion

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Guilt: an Emotion Under Suspicion Psicothema ISSN 0214 - 9915 CODEN PSOTEG 2000. Vol. 12, Supl., pp. 101-108 Copyright © 2000 Psicothema Guilt: an emotion under suspicion Itziar Etxebarría University of the Basque Country Nowadays, both among psychologists and in large social groups, there is a wide acceptance of the idea that guilt feelings are something culturally conditioned, with mostly negative effects on the individual, without any other function apart from that of social control. It is seen as something, thus, that we would be better off without and replace it -in any case- with a rational judgment on actions. In this article by reviewing the main studies regarding its effects, its functions, and the influence of culture upon it, we will analyze to what extent this outlook on guilt is justified. Cultura y Culpa: la culpa, una emoción bajo sospecha. En la actualidad, tanto entre los psicólogos co- mo entre diferentes grupos sociales, se acepta ampliamente que los sentimientos de culpa están condi- cionados culturalmente, que producen efectos mayormente negativos para las personas, sin ninguna otra función que la de control social. La culpa se percibe como un fenómeno con el que se viviría me- jor sin el cual se podría reemplazar con un juicio racional de las acciones. Mediante la revisión de los principales estudios sobre los efectos y las funciones de la culpa, así como sobre la influencia cultural en los anteriores, analizaremos hasta qué punto la concepción antes descrita de la culpa es adecuada. Nowadays, feelings of guilt have quite a bad press. Both among Indeed, following Freud, guilt feelings act as an inhibitor fac- psychologists and in large social groups, the idea that guilt fee- tor of personality. They inhibit not only transgressions of the indi- lings are something culturally conditioned, with mostly negative vidual’s moral norms but also many other aspects of her/his life, effects on the individual, without any other function apart from including the most productive and creative ones. Guilt feelings that of social control; is widely accepted. These feelings are seen create an «intimidation» in the person, with more serious effects in as something with which we would be better off without, and in children, since it is in opposition to their natural curiosity and re- any case could replace them with a rational judgment on actions. search interest. Moreover, guilt feelings create a need for punish- This negative point of view on guilt has outstanding defenders. ment, which tends to turn into self-punishment and can lead the Among those who have had most influenced on this issue in psy- person to failure in many daily activities —including professional chology, is Freud himself. ones— and, in certain extreme circumstances, to suicide itself. In From a freudian point of view (Fre u d, 1923/1973, addition, as long as they constitute an unpleasant emotion, the per- 1930/1973), as a result of the resolution of the Oedipus Com- son will activate many defense mechanisms against them (repres- p l ex, social norms and coercions become intern a l i zed —consti- sion, projection, reaction-formation, etc.). In this way, guilt fee- tuting a new age n cy, the s u p e r- ego— and start to act from inside lings emerge in many different forms, often difficult to recognize: the individual. This implies a fundamental ch a n ge: internal coer- they can be found both under the loosest moral behaviour or in the cion is added to ex t e rnal coercion, wh i ch makes the last one less strict behaviour of the obsessive neurotic. They can be both the n e c e s s a ry. From that moment on, the ego, as well as taking re a- consequence as well as the cause of criminal behaviour, they can lity into account, has at the same time to respect a new rep re s e n- be found both in paranoid syndromes and in hysterical ones… t at ive of it, wh i ch is often irrational and mu ch stricter: the super- Guilt feelings are present in most of the psychological pathologies, ego. When it does not, it will suffer the super- ego ’s re c ri m i n a- acting to a greater or lesser extent on all of them. tions and feel guilty. Guilt feelings, the anxiety in the face of su- Taking into account guilt’s negative effects in the individual, p e r- ego ’s seve re vigi l a n c e, make the ego defer to the re q u i re- Freud poses the need to confront its disturbing dynamism. It is ne- ments of this one. Thus, guilt feelings constitute an import a n t cessary to eliminate the negative effects of a sense of guilt, which c u l t u ral fa c t o r. Howeve r, according to Fre u d, although these guilt is mostly unconscious and, other times excessive and equally dis- feelings can be beneficial for society, they are stro n g ly negat ive turbing, even if it is conscious. Having this aim in mind, it is ne- for the indiv i d u a l . cessary to help the person recognize the underlying conflict and come to terms consciously with it in both cases (displacement of guilt from an object or situation which originaly was bound to another one, an extremely strict super-ego…). And it is as well ne- Correspondencia: Itziar Etxebarría cessary —though also more difficult — to try and replace those Department of Basic Psychology guilt feelings, through emotional reeducation, with a «conscious University of the Basque Country 20080 San Sebastián (Spain) condemnatory judgment», always refered to the real fault and pro- E-mail: [email protected] portionate to it. Besides this therapeutic solution, Freud also points 102 ITZIAR ETXEBARRÍA out the need to conduct preventive work. This would consist in with the work of theorical writers in moral learning might be sur- guiding appropriately children’s upbringing, giving up too coerci- prised—, authors such as Eysenck (1964/1970, 1976), Aronfreed ve educational procedures and replacing them with other methods: (1964, 1976) or Grusec (1966) have made important contributions methods that, without leaving an open path to an indiscriminate on guilt. Finally, in moral psychology and refering to guilt, we satisfaction of the child’s drives, would not allow an excessive should not forget Hoffman’s work (1982, 1998). At an empirical reinforcing of super-ego and guilt feelings. level, as it will be seen further on, there are also numerous studies Many other psychoanalysts have pointed out the negative ef- on the subject. These studies, most of them developed from a view fects of guilt. Fromm (1947/1985, 1950/1987), in particular, espe- which sees moral development as an internalization, have focused, cially insists in the power of «authoritarian» guilt to get the person above all, on the influence of diverse socialization variables —es- to bow to the orders of diverse authorities (more or less interiori- pecially, parental disciplines— on guilt feelings and in the effects zed). «Authoritarian» guilt is confused with fear of authority —ex- that those feelings have. ternalized or internalized in consciousness (as we can see, this Bearing in mind the state of research into guilt that has just be- guilt shows strong similarities with freudian guilt). The person en sketched, the proposed review requires to go further on into who feels this kind of guilt is particularly prone to bow to autho- what is usually considered as the area of psychology of emotion. rities’ demands, in order to obtain their approval and calm those Adding to contributions in this area, it require to consider those ca- guilt feelings. S/he is a dependent and easily manipulated being. rried out from other areas as well, especially from psychoanalysis This outlook on guilt, as many other psychoanalytic ideas, has and moral psychology. exerted strong influence on our culture. Through essays written in the context of left wing freudian thought and freudomarxism, this Guilt and culture perspective on guilt feelings probed deeply into western progres- sive thinking. Especially from the nineteen sixties onwards, for The influence of culture on guilt experience seems unquestio- large intelectual and social groups, guilt looked as an emotion cle- nable. It is not necessary to review much empirical research to pro- arly teamed with social order, which did not have any other func- ve it. It is enough, for example, to think about guilt related to ho- tion but to disturb the individual and to obstruct his/her freedom. mosexuality in Classic Greece and nowadays. However, let us see Probably, this outlook on guilt has also had a great deal of in- more in detail in which sense and to what extent culture has an in- fluence on the strong «temptation of innocence» that characterizes fluence on guilt. our culture nowadays, «that illness of individualism that consists Starting with the work of Margaret Mead (1937) and Ruth Be- in escaping from the consequences of one’s own acts» so accura- nedict (1946), anthropologists have classically distinguished bet- tely analyzed by Bruckner (1996, p. 14). ween «guilt cultures» and «shame cultures»: cultures that, in the In this article by reviewing the main studies conducted regar- socialization of their members, promote guilt or shame, respecti- ding its effects, its functions, and the influence of culture upon vely. Shame cultures are said to regulate their members’ behaviour guilt, the extent in which this outlook is justified will be analyzed. via external sanctions, whereas in guilt cultures behaviour would Before that, let us make some remarks about the whereabouts of be regulated via internal sanctions —sanctions the person would research in this area.
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