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Resolving the paradox of shame: Differentiating among specific appraisal-feeling combinations explains pro-social and self-defensive motivation

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Abstract

Research has shown that people can respond both self-defensively and pro-socially when they experience shame. We address this paradox by differentiating among specific appraisals (of specific self-defect and concern for condemnation) and feelings (of shame, inferiority, and rejection) often reported as part of shame. In two Experiments (Study 1: N = 85; Study 2: N = 112), manipulations that put participants’ social-image at risk increased their appraisal of concern for condemnation. In Study 2, a manipulation of moral failure increased participants’ appraisal that they suffered a specific self-defect. In both studies, mediation analyses showed that effects of the social-image at risk manipulation on self-defensive motivation were explained by appraisal of concern for condemnation and felt rejection. In contrast, the effect of the moral failure manipulation on pro-social motivation in Study 2 was explained by appraisal of a specific self-defect and felt shame. Thus, distinguishing among the appraisals and feelings tied to shame enabled clearer prediction of pro-social and self-defensive responses to moral failure with and without risk to social-image.

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Notes

  1. Reliabilities were calculated using the pooled data with items centered around their mean within each sample, as described subsequently.

  2. Although the small sample sizes speak against a CFA, we tested our measurement model separately in the data from each study. In both samples, the model fit was acceptable (Study 1 χ 2 [55] = 130.42, p < .001, CFI = .901, SRMR = .086; Study 2 χ 2 [55] = 127.43, p < .001, CFI = .925, SRMR = .061) and all items loaded substantially (standardized λ’s > .50) and significantly (p < .001) on their predicted factors. To confirm whether it was appropriate to pool the data across the two samples, we tested for metric invariance within our measurement model by comparing two multi-group models so that we could validly compare correlational patterns across samples (Chen 2008). A first model estimating factor loadings and intercepts freely within each sample showed acceptable fit, χ 2 (110) = 257.85, p < .001, CFI = .914, SRMR = .073. We then computed a second model, in which we constrained the factor loadings to be equal across the two samples. If the fit of the constrained model remains acceptable, it can be preferred to the unconstrained model because it is more parsimonious, and the hypothesis of invariance can be considered tenable (e.g., Little et al. 2007). The constrained model showed an acceptable fit to the data, χ 2 (118) = 290.03, p < .001, CFI = .900, SRMR = .091, indicating that the assumption of metric invariance across the two samples was tenable.

  3. In our original study design, a further forty-three participants were assigned to a moral failure with damage to social-image condition. The instructions here were identical to those of the moral failure with risk to social-image condition, except that participants were told that their story had been selected to be read to the group and that they would be identified. Thus, social-image was clearly going to be damaged in this condition, rather than risked. This strong threat appeared to lead to reactance, whereby participants gave very low average ratings on all of our measures. Moreover, six participants (i.e. 14 % of this condition) left the study before completing the substantive measures. Given our uncertainty about the validity of participants’ responses, as well as the threat to internal validity posed by the high drop-out rate, we decided not to analyze the moral failure with damage to social-image control condition. Note that this condition does not relate directly to our theoretical predictions, which focus on how people respond to risks to their social image, rather than certain damage.

  4. Further analysis showed that felt shame was a unique predictor of the pro-social motivation to make restitution even when controlling for felt guilt. We conducted a hierarchical Multiple Regression analysis predicting restitution, rather than avoidance. To ensure that the pro-social effects of felt shame were not in fact attributable to guilt (cf. Tangney and Dearing 2002), we additionally included a measure of felt guilt (α = .80: “I feel guilty because of this”, “I feel responsible because of this”, “I feel guilty when I think about what I did towards my family member”). In Step 1, we controlled for gender and risk to social-image. In Step 2, felt shame significantly predicted restitution (β = .47, p < .001) and explained a substantial amount of additional variance, ΔF (1, 78) = 22.09, p < .001, ΔR 2 = 21.5 %. In Step 3, felt guilt did not explain significant additional variance, ΔF (1, 77) = 1.83, p = .180, ΔR 2 = 1.8 %, and felt shame remained a significant predictor of restitution (β = .35, p = .009), whereas felt guilt was not (β = .18, p = .180). In Step 4, felt rejection, felt inferiority, and appraisals of individual defect and concern for condemnation did not explain significant additional variance, ΔF (4, 73) = 1.81, p = .135, ΔR 2 = 6.7 %, whereas felt shame remained a significant predictor of restitution (β = .28, p = .044).

  5. We checked the multi-collinearity diagnostics in our regression analyses. None of the Variance Inflation Factors was above 5, and none of the tolerances was below .2.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the three coders of Study 1—Kristin Enge, Cristine Rekdal and Bodil Skåland. We would also like to thank David A. Kenny and the students and faculty at the International Graduate College, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany, for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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    1. Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Centre for Emotion Research, Østfold University College, 1757, Halden, Norway

      Nicolay Gausel

    2. School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

      Vivian L. Vignoles

    3. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

      Colin Wayne Leach

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    1. Nicolay Gausel
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    Correspondence to Nicolay Gausel.

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    Nicolay Gausel, Vivian L. Vignoles and Colin Wayne Leach have contributed equally to this article.

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    Gausel, N., Vignoles, V.L. & Leach, C.W. Resolving the paradox of shame: Differentiating among specific appraisal-feeling combinations explains pro-social and self-defensive motivation. Motiv Emot 40, 118–139 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9513-y

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