EVIDENCE FOR THE DISTINCTNESS OF EMBARRASSMENT, SHAME, AND GUILT - A STUDY OF RECALLED ANTECEDENTS AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION

Following proposals regarding the criteria for differentiating emotion s, the current investigation examined whether the antecedents and faci al expressions of embarrassment, shame, and guilt are distinct. In Stu dy 1, participants wrote down events that had caused them to feel emba rrassment, shame, and guilt. Coding of these events revealed that emba rrassment was associated with transgressions of conventions that gover n public interactions, shame with the failure to meet important person al standards, and guilt with actions that harm others or violate dutie s. Study 2 determined whether these three emotions are distinct in ano ther domain of emotion-namely, facial expression. Observers were prese nted with slides of 14 different facial expressions, including those o f embarrassment, shame, and candidates of guilt (self-contempt, sympat hy, and pain). Observers accurately identified the expressions of emba rrassment and shame, but did not reliably label any expression as guil t.