Revisiting the Role of Public Exposure and Moral Beliefs on Feelings of Shame and Guilt: Replication Registered Report of Smith et al. (2002)’s Study 1

• Published in: Collabra. Psychology 2023-06, Vol.9 (1)
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yikang, Cheung, Fung Chit, Wong, Hei Tung, Yuen, Lok Yee, Sin, Hui Ching, Chow, Hiu Tung Kristy, Feldman, Gilad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Guilt; Interpersonal relations; Psychological aspects; Shame; Social aspects
• ISSN: 2474-7394; 2474-7394
• DOI: 10.1525/collabra.77610

Shame and guilt are unpleasant self-conscious emotions associated with negative evaluations of oneself or one’s behavior. Smith et al. (2002) demonstrated that shame and guilt are distinct and are impacted differently by public exposure, that is, the (potential) exposure to disapproving appraisals of one’s misdeeds by others. The impact of public exposure (compared to no exposure) was greater for feelings of shame than for feelings of guilt. We conducted a direct replication (N = 1272) of Smith et al. (2002)’s Study 1 and found that exposure increased both feelings of shame (ηp2 = .14, 95%, CI [.11, .17]) and guilt (ηp2 = .13, 95% CI [.10, .16]) compared with the private condition. Moreover, people who were in the high moral conditions reported both higher shame (ηp2 = .33, 95% CI [.29, .37]) and guilt (ηp2 = .36, 95% CI [.32, .39]). Shame and guilt both had moderate-to-high correlations with the shame-related and guilt-related reactions and both exposure and moral belief manipulations had effects on shame-related and guilt-related reactions. Our results suggest a failed replication: public exposure and moral belief influence both shame and guilt, so we cannot conclude that shame and guilt can be distinguished from each other solely based on public exposure, which diverges from the target article’s main theory and findings. All materials, data, and code are available at https://osf.io/j3ue4/