During my recent trip to Erasmus University in the Netherlands, I asked marketing professor Ilona de Hooge what is the difference between guilt and shame:
In a recent blog post about guilty pleasures, I suggested that you can figure out what songs you feel guilty about by your attempts to hide your (bad) behavior from others. However, based on Ilona’s answer, I should rename the post: Shameful Pleasures.
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Ilona knows a lot about shame and guilt:
-De Hooge, I.E. (2012). The exemplary social emotion guilt: Not so relationship-oriented when another person repairs for you. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 1189-1207.
-De Hooge, I.E., Zeelenberg, M. & Breugelmans, S. M. (2011). A functionalist account of shame induced behavior. Cognition & Emotion, 25(5), 939-946.
-De Hooge, I.E., Nelissen, R. M. A., Breugelmans, S. M. & Zeelenberg, M. (2011). What is moral about guilt? Acting “prosocially” at the disadvantage of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(3), 462-473.
-De Hooge, I.E., Zeelenberg, M. & Breugelmans, S. M. (2010). Restore and protect motivations following shame. Cognition & Emotion, 24(1), 111-127.
-De Hooge, I.E., Breugelmans, S. M. & Zeelenberg, M. (2008). Not so ugly after all: When shame acts as a commitment device. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(4), 933-943.
-De Hooge, I.E., Zeelenberg, M. & Breugelmans, S. M. (2007). Moral sentiments and cooperation: Differential influences of shame and guilt. Cognition & Emotion, 21(5), 1025-1042.