Some psychological aspects of shame and guilt in school children.

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an investigation into some psychological aspects of shame and guilt of a group of school children aged fourteen. The research, which involved forty seven children, showed that majority of them, and girls in particular, treat guilt as distinctly different from shame. Guilt seems to be as a more intensive, longer-lasting experience, usually accompanied by a feeling of bad or wrong behaviour, with a general tendency to be coped with in privacy and rather consciously. In the case of the feeling of guilt, it is the individual in question who is his/her own judge (inner source), whereas in the case of shame judgement seems to come from the outside (i.e. other people). The paper proposes ways in which children can be protected from these two emotions.