Defend or repair? Explaining responses to in-group moral failure by disentangling feelings of shame, rejection, and inferiority

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Nicolay GauselRupert Brown

Abstract

Research on shame about in-group moral failure has yielded paradoxical results. In some studies, shame predicts self-defensive motivations to withdraw. In other studies, shame predicts pro-social motivations, such as restitution. We think that this paradox can be explained by disentangling the numerous appraisals and feelings subsumed under the label "shame." In 2 studies, we asked community samples of Norwegians about their in-group's discrimination against the Tater minority. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the measures of the appraisals and feelings used in Study 1 (N = 206) and Study 2 (N = 173). In both studies, an appraisal of the in-group as suffering a moral defect best predicted felt shame, whereas an appraisal of concern for condemnation of the in-group best predicted felt rejection. In both studies, felt rejection best predicted self-defensive motivation, whereas felt shame best predicted pro-social motivation. Implications for conceptualizing and studying shame are discussed.

Citations

May 22, 2013·Journal of Experimental Social Psychology·Lee ShepherdAntony S R Manstead
Jul 31, 2014·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Sana Sheikh
Jan 8, 2014·Psychological Science·June P TangneyAndres G Martinez
Oct 21, 2016·Journal of Interpersonal Violence·Alexandra IrwinTom Hollenstein
Nov 22, 2017·Cognition & Emotion·Patricia M Rodriguez Mosquera
Jan 6, 2018·Cognition & Emotion·Ilona E de HoogeMarcel Zeelenberg
Apr 13, 2019·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Kanishka Karunaratne, Simon M Laham
Feb 11, 2020·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Jens LangeAgneta H Fischer
Aug 28, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Nicolay Gausel, David Bourguignon
Sep 19, 2017·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Gilad HirschbergerTsachi Ein-Dor
Aug 28, 2018·Frontiers in Psychology·Gilad Hirschberger
Oct 16, 2018·Frontiers in Psychology·Susanne TäuberStuart W Flint
Nov 7, 2019·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Rupert Brown
Dec 29, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Susanne TäuberNicolay Gausel
May 7, 2021·Addictive Behaviors·Anke SnoekJeanette Kennett

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