AVOIDERS VS AMENDERS - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF GUILT AND SHAME DURING TODDLERHOOD

Recent research and theory highlights the distinctive features of sham e vs. guilt, as well as the important implications of that distinction for typical and atypical behaviour regulation. Briefly, shame is char acterised by withdrawal and hiding from judgemental others, and guilt by making amends-repairing and confessing. The present study was aimed at determining whether a shame-relevant and a guilt-relevant pattern of responses to a standard violation could be distinguished in toddler s. Two-year-old children participated in a play session, during which a mishap occurred that the children appeared to have caused. Based upo n whether or not children avoided the experimenter (E) after the misha p, they were dichotomised into a shame-relevant group of subjects (Avo iders) who avoid E after the mishap, are slow to make reparation, and are slow to tell E about the mishap; and a guilt-relevant group (Amend ers) showing the opposite pattern. All guilt-relevant behaviours were greater for Amenders than Avoiders, and all but one shame-relevant beh aviour was greater for Avoiders than for Amenders, suggesting coherenc e in the organisation of responses. Moreover, convergent evidence from a maternal report questionnaire indicated that in non-laboratory sett ings as well, Amenders manifested greater guilt relative to shame than did Avoiders. Further research is needed to determine developmental a ntecedents and consequences of the Avoider/Amender dichotomy.