SHAME AND GUILT - SELF-REFERENTIAL AFFECT S IN ALTERITY THEORY

By critically analysing Wurmser's concept of shame, the author develop s his understanding of shame and guilt. He theoretically takes as his starting point the theory of object relations and the theory of struct ure, and broadens these approaches by including the aspect of reciproc ity to the ''theory of alterity'' ''Shame'' is taken as an ''interface ''-emotion, which first manifests itself in the interactional outside and which constitutes the relational structure of self-consciousness v ia the internationalisation of the interacting relations between subje ct and object. Characteristic structures of these levels of internalis ation are described from the viewpoint of developmental psychology. - ''Guilt'' on the other hand is taken as the emotional surface of the a ctivity of separating the subject from the other person. Leading first via processes of allocation of blame to the collapse of the harmony b etween subject and object, this activity is later secondarily employed to regressively restore the former condition. These efforts result in an easier to manage ''secondary guilt'' and possibilities of remorsef ul reparation.