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The roles of the centrality of shame memory and self-blame in the association between shame and paranoia: an experience sampling study

Shame and paranoia

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Abstract

Shame is a painful emotion that plays a key role in a range of mental disorders, mainly when individuals employ maladaptive emotion regulation strategies to cope with it. Heightened feelings of shame may lead to increased levels of paranoid ideas. We explored the association between daily shame and paranoia by using Experience Sampling Methods (EMS) in a student sample and the potential roles of the moderator (centrality and trauma-like characteristics of shame memories and perceived social rank) and mediator variables (maladaptive emotion regulation strategies) in this association. In total, 198 undergraduate students completed self-report questionnaires (Perceived Social Rank, Centrality of Event Scale, Impact of Event Scale, General Paranoia Scale) and ESM measures (i.e., shame, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, and paranoia). Data were analysed using a multi-level model to accommodate the multi-level structure of the data. Our results indicated that shame at t-1 predicts paranoia at t even when controlling for the effects of anxiety and sadness. Self-blame was found to mediate the relationship between shame and paranoia. Finally, the centrality of the shame memory moderated the effect of daily shame on paranoia. Thus, these results indicate that daily shame, past shame experiences, and a tendency to blame oneself are predictors of paranoia and should be taken into account when assessing and treating people with paranoia. Limitations include limited generalizability and use of single-item measurements. These results need replications in more representative samples of the general population and clinical samples.

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Data availability

Data and scripts for data analyses are available here: https://osf.io/dfgj7/.

Notes

  1. Our first hypothesis was described in the “Study Rationale and Goals” of the OSF.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the French National Research Agency in the framework of the “Investissements d’avenir” program (ANR-15-IDEX-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, LIP/PC2S, Grenoble, 38000, France

    Catherine Bortolon

  2. Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France

    Catherine Bortolon

  3. Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Marcela Matos & Bárbara Lopes

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  1. Catherine Bortolon
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  2. Marcela Matos
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Catherine Bortolon took part in the conceptualisation, methodology design, formation analyses, funding acquisition, project administration and supervision, and writing. Marcela Matos took part in the conceptualisation, methodology design and review of the first draft of the manuscript. Finally, Bárbara Lopes participated in conceptualising the study, methodology design and writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Catherine Bortolon.

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Bortolon, C., Matos, M. & Lopes, B. The roles of the centrality of shame memory and self-blame in the association between shame and paranoia: an experience sampling study. Curr Psychol 43, 16637–16648 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05566-1

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