Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 9;12(12):504.
doi: 10.3390/bs12120504.

Feeling One Thing and Doing Another: How Expressions of Guilt and Shame Influence Hypocrisy Judgment

Hyeman Choi  1
Affiliations

Feeling One Thing and Doing Another: How Expressions of Guilt and Shame Influence Hypocrisy Judgment

Hyeman Choi. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

The present study investigated how people, as uninvolved social observers (i.e., those not affected by the emotion expresser's behavior), judge hypocrisy in a target who publicly expresses their self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame and guilt) after making an immoral decision, then repeats the same immoral behavior again. Results across the two studies conducted showed that participants viewed the target as more hypocritical when the target expressed guilt (vs. shame) for their past misdeed and then committed the same act again. The present study suggests that social perceivers tend to infer expressions of guilt (and of shame to a lesser degree) as signaling future changes, which is reflected in judgments of hypocrisy. The study further discusses implications for the social functions of emotional expression and communication.

Keywords: emotion communication; emotion expression; future change; guilt; hypocrisy; moral judgment; redemption; self-conscious emotion; shame.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design of the study; collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; writing of the manuscript; or decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypocrisy ratings (Study 1). Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hypocrisy ratings (Study 2). Error bars represent standard errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Tangney J.P., Dearing R.L. Shame and Guilt. Guilford Publications, Inc.; New York, NY, USA: 2002.
    1. Leary M. How the self became involved in affective experience: Three sources of self-reflective emotions. In: Tracy J.L., Robins R.W., Tangney J.P., editors. The Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. Guilford Press; New York, NY, USA: 2007. pp. 38–52.
    1. Sheikh S., Janoff-Bulman R. The “shoulds” and “should nots” of moral emotions: A self-regulatory perspective on shame and guilt. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2010;36:213–224. doi: 10.1177/0146167209356788. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tracy J.L., Robins R.W. Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A theoretical model. Psychol. Inq. 2004;15:103–125. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli1502_01. - DOI
    1. Baumeister R.F., Stillwell A.M., Heatherton T.F. Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychol. Bull. 1994;115:243–267. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.115.2.243. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources