EMPATHY, SHAME, GUILT, AND NARRATIVES OF INTERPERSONAL CONFLICTS - GUILT-PRONE PEOPLE ARE BETTER AT PERSPECTIVE-TAKING

Both guilt and empathic perspective taking have been linked to prosoci al, relationship-enhancing effects. Study 1 found that shame was linke d to personal distress, whereas guilt was linked to perspective taking . In Studies 2 and 3, subjects were asked to describe a recent experie nce of interpersonal conflict, once from their own perspective, and on ce from the perspective of the other person. Guilt-prone people and gu ilt-dominated stories were linked to better perspective taking (measur ed by changes between the two versions of the story) than others. Sham e had no effect. Guilt improved relationship outcomes but shame harmed them. Path analysis suggested that trait guilt-proneness leads to per spective taking, which leads to actual guilt feelings, which produces beneficial relationship outcomes. Guilt feelings may mediate the relat ionship-enhancing effects of empathy.