Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Psychology, School of Humanities, University of Sciences and Culture, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant professor of Clinical Psychology

3 Center of Medical Education -Iran University of Medical Sciences and health services (IUMS), Tehran, Iran

4 Faculty of Psychology. school of Humanities. University if Sciences and Culture.Tehran.Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Purpose: Shame is one of the self-conscious emotions that play an important role in human life. Due to the lack of contextual and cultural knowledge in this field, the present study aimed to explain the concept of shame in the non-clinical population and to provide a conceptual model for it.
Method: This was a qualitative research study, which was performed
using the grounded theory method. Participants included 16 adults (8 men and 8 women). The selection of participants was initially purposeful and then based on theoretical sampling. Data were collected using unstructured in-depth interviews. Corbin and Strauss’ (2014) method and the MAXQDA software (2018) was used to analyze the data.
Findings: According to our results, the three main categories in describing participants' experiences of shame were "internalized judgment", "humiliation" and "duplicity". Also, the experience of shame has been associated with a variety of strategies that they used to avoid or get rid of shame. The consequences of these strategies were summarized in two categories: "duplicity" and "negative attitude toward self" along with three subcategories: "incompetence", "inadequacy" and "being different".
Conclusions: shame in the non-clinical population was studied in more depth, the results of which showed a significant effect of this emotion on the quality of life. The importance of educational interventions in managing this emotion is also discussed.

Keywords

Berg, K. C., Crosby, R. D., Cao, L., Peterson, C. B., Engel, S. G., Mitchell, J. E., & Wonderlich, S. A. (2013). Facets of negative affect prior to and following binge-only, purge-only, and binge/purge events in women with bulimia nervosa. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122,111–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029703.
Brown, B. (2006). Shame Resilience Theory: A Grounded Theory Study on Women and Shame. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 87(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.3483
Brown, B. (2007). I thought it was just me: Women reclaiming power and courage in culture of shame. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Cândea, D.-M., & Szentagotai-Tăta, A. (2018). Shame-proneness, guilt-proneness and anxiety symptoms: A meta-analysis. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 58, 78–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.07.005
Clerkin, E. M., Teachman, B. A., Smith, A. R., & Buhlmann, U. (2014). Specificity of Implicit-Shame Associations. Clinical Psychological Science, 2(5), 560–575. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614524944
Cohen, T. R., Wolf, S. T., Panter, A. T., & Insko, C. A. (2011). Introducing the GASP scale: A new measure of guilt and shame proneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(5), 947–966. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022641
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2014). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Sage publications.
Cromby, J. (2011). Feeling the Way: Qualitative Clinical Research and the Affective Turn. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 9(1), 88–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2012.630831
Crozier, W. R. (1998). Self-consciousness in shame: The role of the ‘other’. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 28, 273–286.
De Hooge, I. E. (2013). Moral emotions and prosocial behaviour: It may be time to change our view of shame and guilt. In C. Mohiyeddini, M. Eysenck, & S. Bauer (Eds.), Handbook of psychology of emotions: Recent theoretical perspectives and novel empirical findings (Vol. 2, pp. 255-276). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.
de Hooge, I. E., Zeelenberg, M., & Breugelmans, S. M. (2010). Restore and protect motivations following shame. Cognition & Emotion, 24(1), 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930802584466
Dearing, R. L., Stuewig, J., & Tangney, J. P. (2005). On the importance of distinguishing shame from guilt: Relations to problematic alcohol and drug use. Addictive Behaviors, 30(7), 1392–1404.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.02.002
Fergus, T. A., Valentiner, D. P., McGrath, P. B., & Jencius, S. (2010). Shame- and guiltproneness: Relationships with anxiety disorder symptoms in a clinical sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 811 –815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.06.002.
Frijda, N. H., Kuipers, P., & ter Schure, E. (1989). Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2), 212–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.2.212
Fung, H., Lieber, E., & Leung, P. W. L. (2003). Parental beliefs about shame and moral socialization in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States. In K.-S. Yang, K.-K. Hwang, P. B. Pedersen, & I. Daibo (Eds.), Contributions in psychology, no. 42. Progress in Asian social psychology: Conceptual and empirical contributions (p. 83–109). Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group.
Gausel, N., Vignoles, V. L., & Leach, C. W. (2015). Resolving the paradox of shame: Differentiating among specific appraisal-feeling combinations explains pro-social and self-defensive motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 118–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9513-y
Gilbert, P. (1997). The evolution of social attractiveness and its role in shame, humiliation, guilt and therapy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 70(2), 113–147. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1997.tb01893.x
Gilbert, P. (1998). What is shame? Some core issues and controversies. In P. Gilbert & B. Andrews (Eds.), Series in affective science. Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture (p. 3–38). Oxford University Press.
Gilbert, P. (2003). Evolution, Social Roles, and the Differences in Shame and Guilt. Social Research, 70(4), 1205-1230.
Gilbert, P., & Procter, S. (2006). Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self-criticism: overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 13(6), 353–379. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.507
Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Irons, C., Bhundia, R., Christie, R., Broomhead, C., & Rockliff, H. (2010). Self-harm in a mixed clinical population: The roles of self-criticism, shame, and social rank. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 49(4), 563–576. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466509x479771
Gilbert, P., Pehl, J., & Allan, S. (1994). The phenomenology of shame and guilt: An empirical investigation. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 67(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1994.tb01768.x
Harper, James M. (2011). "Regulating and coping with shame." Re-constructing emotional spaces: From experience to regulation: 189-206.
Harper, D. (2008). Clinical psychology. In C. Willig & W. Stainton-Rogers (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 430–454). London: SAGE.
 
Harre´, R. (1986). An outline of the social constructionist viewpoint. In R. Harre´ (Ed.), The social construction of emotions (pp. 2–14). Oxford: Blackwell.
Hernandez, V. R., & Mendoza, C. T. (2011). Shame Resilience: A Strategy for Empowering Women in Treatment for Substance Abuse. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 11(4), 375–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/1533256x.2011.622193.
Hubbard, G., Backett-Milburn, K., & Kemmer, D. (2001). Working with emotion: Issues for the researcher in fieldwork and teamwork. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 4, 119–137.
Karlsson, G., & Sjöberg, L. G. (2009). The Experiences of Guilt and Shame: A Phenomenological–Psychological Study. Human Studies, 32(3), 335–355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-009-9123-3
Kaufman, G. (1989). The psychology of shame: Theory and treatment of shame-based syndromes. New York: Springer
Keltner, D., & Harker, L.B. (1998). The forms and functions of the nonverbal signal of shame. Kinston, W. (1983). A theoretical context for shame. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 64, 213–226.
Kim, S., Thibodeau, R., & Jorgensen, R. S. (2011). Shame, guilt, and depressive symptoms: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 137(1), 68–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021466
Lazarus, G., & Shahar, B. (2018). The Role of Shame and Self-Criticism in Social Anxiety: A Daily-Diary Study in a Nonclinical Sample. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(2), 107–127. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.2.107
Leeming, D., & Boyle, M. (2004). Shame as a social phenomenon: A critical analysis of the concept of dispositional shame. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 77(3), 375–396. https://doi.org/10.1348/1476083041839312
Lewis, H. B. (1971). Shame and guilt in neurosis. New York: International Universities Press.
Lewis, M., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1979). Social cognition and the acquisition of self. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Lichtenstein, H. (1963). The Dilemma of Human Identity: Notes on Self-Transformation, Self-Objectivation, And Metamorphosis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 11(1), 173–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/000306516301100111
Lickel, B., Kushlev, K., Savalei, V., Matta, S., & Schmader, T. (2014). Shame and the motivation to change the self. Emotion, 14(6), 1049 –1061. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038235.
Manjrekar, E., Schoenleber, M., & Mu, W. (2013). Shame aversion and maladaptive eating-related attitudes and behaviors. Eating Behaviors, 14(4), 456–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2013.08.012
Munt, S. (2008). Queer attachments: The cultural politics of shame. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Nathanson, D. L. (1992). Shame and pride: Affect, sex and the birth of the self. New York: Norton.
Nathanson, D. L. (1997). Affect theory and the compass of shame. In M. R. Lansky & A. P. Morrison (Eds.), The widening scope of shame (pp. 339–354). Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice82(2), 137-152.
Nazarov, A., Jetly, R., McNeely, H., Kiang, M., Lanius, R., & McKinnon, M. C. (2015). Role of morality in the experience of guilt and shame within the armed forces. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 132(1), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12406
Øktedalen, T., Hoffart, A., & Langkaas, T. F. (2015). Trauma-related shame and guilt as time-varying predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms during imagery exposure and imagery rescripting—A randomized controlled trial. Psychotherapy Research, 25, 518–532. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2014.917217
Roberts, T. A., & Goldenberg, J. L. (2007). Wrestling with nature: An existential perspective on the body and gender in self-conscious emotions. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research (pp. 389–406). New York, NY: Guilford.
Robinaugh, D. J., & McNally, R. J. (2010). Autobiographical memory for shame or guilt provoking events: Association with psychological symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48(7), 646–652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.03.017
Scheff, T. J. (2000). Shame and the Social Bond: A Sociological Theory. Sociological Theory, 18(1), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089
Scheff, T. J. (2003). Shame in Self and Society. Symbolic Interaction, 26(2), 239–262. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2003.26.2.239
Seu, B. I. (2006). Shameful selves: Women’s feelings of inadequacy and constructed façades. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 8(3), 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642530600878196
Silfver, M. (2007). Coping with guilt and shame: a narrative approach. Journal of Moral Education, 36(2), 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240701325274
Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(4), 813–838. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.48.4.813
Stipek, D., Recchia, S., McClintic, S., & Lewis, M. (1992). Self-Evaluation in Young Children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 57(1), i. https://doi.org/10.2307/1166190
Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. J. (2007b). What's moral about the self-conscious emotions? In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research (pp. 21-37). New York: The Guilford Press.
Tracy, J. L., & Matsumoto, D. (2008). The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: Evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(33), 11655–11660. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0802686105
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2006). Appraisal Antecedents of Shame and Guilt: Support for a Theoretical Model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(10), 1339–1351. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206290212
Van Vliet, K. J. (2008). Shame and resilience in adulthood: A grounded theory study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(2), 233–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.55.2.233
Van Vliet, K. J. (2009). The role of attributions in the process of overcoming shame: A qualitative analysis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice82(2), 137-152.
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92(4), 548–573. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.92.4.548
Wetterneck, C. T., Singh, S., & Hart, J. (2014). Shame proneness in symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 78(2), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1521/bumc.2014.78.2.177
Wong, Y., & Tsai, J. (2007). Cultural models of shame and guilt. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research (pp. 209–223). New York, NY: Guilford Press.