Moral emotions and moral behavior

Moral emotions represent a key element of our human moral apparatus, influencing the link between moral standards and moral behavior. This chapter reviews current theory and research on moral emotions. We first focus on a triad of negatively valenced "self-conscious" emotions-shame, guilt,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of psychology Vol. 58; p. 345
Main Authors: Tangney, June Price, Stuewig, Jeff, Mashek, Debra J
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 2007
Subjects:
Adult
Anger
Body Image
Child
Child Abuse - psychology
Conscience
Defense Mechanisms
Emotions
Empathy
Guilt
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Morals
Personal Construct Theory
Shame
Social Behavior
Social Conformity
Virtues
ISSN:0066-4308
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Moral emotions represent a key element of our human moral apparatus, influencing the link between moral standards and moral behavior. This chapter reviews current theory and research on moral emotions. We first focus on a triad of negatively valenced "self-conscious" emotions-shame, guilt, and embarrassment. As in previous decades, much research remains focused on shame and guilt. We review current thinking on the distinction between shame and guilt, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of these two moral emotions. Several new areas of research are highlighted: research on the domain-specific phenomenon of body shame, styles of coping with shame, psychobiological aspects of shame, the link between childhood abuse and later proneness to shame, and the phenomena of vicarious or "collective" experiences of shame and guilt. In recent years, the concept of moral emotions has been expanded to include several positive emotions-elevation, gratitude, and the sometimes morally relevant experience of pride. Finally, we discuss briefly a morally relevant emotional process-other-oriented empathy.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0066-4308
DOI:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070145