According to Cybernetic Control theories, negative emotions result when goal progress is thwarted and these emotions facilitate behavioural regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1998). Self-conscious emotions are recognized for their self-regulatory functions with guilt and shame being especially central to governing unhealthy behavior change (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2008). However limited research has explored the role of self-conscious emotions and exercise. In light of the concern about low physical activity rates among Canadians (Canadian Community Health Measures Survey, 2011) examining the role of guilt and shame in the self-regulation of exercise is warranted. Purpose. To examine the nature of guilt and shame related to recent exercise behavior. Procedures. In this online, observational study, 128 women and 47 men aged 18-64 (mean age 36, SD = 12.74) completed measures of recent physical activity, trait shame and guilt, exercise identity and demographics at baseline. On both a day when they did and did not engage in intended exercise, participants completed measures of recent exercise quantity and quality, exercise-related state shame and guilt, attributions (on the missed exercise day) and exercise intentions. Results. T-tests revealed that participants experienced more guilt and shame after a missed as opposed to an engaged-in intended exercise session, and that of these two emotions guilt was felt more intensely. Regression analyses determined that perceptions of exercise quality were negatively related to both guilt and shame, however these emotions were not related to exercise intentions. Guilt was associated with the attribution dimension of internal locus of casualty and shame with stability, but no relationships were found between the two emotions and exercise identity. Lastly, logistic regressions showed that shame, but not guilt, was associated with exercise behaviour with shame showing a negative relationship with behaviour. Findings add to the extant literature on the role of shame and guilt in exercise self-regulation.

This dissertation explored the subjective experience and neural correlates of self-conscious emotion (SCE) understanding in adolescent males with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and age-matched neurotypical (NT) males (ages 11-17). Study I investigated group differences in SCE attributions (the ability to recognize SCEs conveyed by others) and empathic SCEs (the ability/tendency to feel empathic SCEs for others) in 56 adolescents (ASD = 30; NT = 26). It also explored associations between SCE processing and a triad of social cognitive abilities (self-awareness/introspection, perspective-taking/cognitive empathy, affective empathy) and autistic symptoms/traits. Study II investigated the neural correlates of SCE processing in 52 adolescents (ASD = 27; NT = 25). During an MRI scan, participants completed the Self-Conscious Emotions Task-Child, which included 24 salient, ecologically-valid videos of adolescents participating in a singing competition. Videos represented two factors: emotion (embarrassment, pride) and perspective-taking (PT) demands (low, high). In low PT clips, singers’ emotions matched their performance (sing poorly, act embarrassed); in high PT clips, they did not (sing well, act embarrassed). Participants used a 4-point Likert scale to rate how intensely embarrassed and proud singers felt. They made congruent ratings, which matched the conveyed emotions (rating how embarrassed an embarrassed singer felt), and incongruent ratings, which did not match the conveyed emotions (rating how proud an embarrassed singer felt). Outside the scanner, participants rated how empathically embarrassed and proud they felt for the singers. The ASD and NT groups made similarly intense inferred congruent and empathic congruent SCE ratings, suggesting that emotion attribution and affective empathy are intact in ASD. However, the ASD group made more intense inferred incongruent SCE ratings, suggesting that emotion attribution in ASD may be more strongly impacted by the situational context. An over-reliance on contextual cues may reflect a strict adherence to rule-following and serve as a compensatory strategy for attenuated mentalizing. Neuroimaging results support this interpretation. The ASD group recruited atypical neural patterns within social cognition regions, visual perception regions, salience regions, and sensorimotor regions. These findings similarly suggest an over-reliance on abstract social conceptual knowledge when processing discrepant affective and contextual cues. Implications for intervention are discussed. / 10000-01-01

<p>Syftet med föreliggande uppsats var dels att psykometriskt utpröva en svensk översatt självskattningsskala för bland annat skam, Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) och dels att undersöka i vilken grad patienter, som får korttidsbehandling av social fobi med hjälp av kognitiv beteendeterapi upplevelse av skam förändras. För den psykometriska utprövningen utgjordes jämförelsegruppen av 72 st psykologstuderande vid psykologiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet. Den kliniska gruppen utgjordes av 8 st behandlingsdeltagare. Resultaten visar att TOSCA har en god intern konsistens och en hög test-retest relia¬bilitet. Dock kunde ej testets samtidiga validitet påvisas i denna studie. Behandlingen uppvisade ej effekt på behandlingsdeltagarnas upplevelse av skam. Studien visar således att TOSCA:s reliabilitet är god men att dess validitet behöver utredas vidare.</p>

Guilt theoretically functions to motivate reparative behaviors, which, in turn, theoretically function to alleviate guilt and prevent psychopathology. Although several empirical studies in adults have demonstrated that guilt and reparative behaviors function as theorized, research has not investigated causal relations between guilt and reparative behaviors in children. Thus, this study examined whether guilt motivates children’s reparative behaviors, and whether their reparative behaviors successfully alleviate guilty feelings. Six-to ten-year olds (N = 97) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the experimental condition, children were led to believe that they had transgressed to cause a peer’s distress. Children self-reported their guilt feelings following the pretend transgression, and then had the opportunity to repair the transgression by giving stickers and writing a note to the victimized peer. Following the repair opportunity, children self-reported their guilt a second time. Children in the experimental condition (i.e., children who felt guilty) engaged in greater reparative behavior relative to children in a no-guilt condition who were led to believe that they had caused a peer’s positive emotions. Further, children in the experimental condition reported reduced guilt at the second measurement, whereas children in the no-repair condition (who were led to believe that they had transgressed but were not be given a repair opportunity) did not report reduced guilt over time. Results demonstrate that guilt and reparative behaviors function as theorized in children and may begin to inform reparative interventions aimed at preventing unalleviated, maladaptive guilt and psychopathology.

Syftet med föreliggande uppsats var dels att psykometriskt utpröva en svensk översatt självskattningsskala för bland annat skam, Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) och dels att undersöka i vilken grad patienter, som får korttidsbehandling av social fobi med hjälp av kognitiv beteendeterapi upplevelse av skam förändras. För den psykometriska utprövningen utgjordes jämförelsegruppen av 72 st psykologstuderande vid psykologiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet. Den kliniska gruppen utgjordes av 8 st behandlingsdeltagare. Resultaten visar att TOSCA har en god intern konsistens och en hög test-retest relia¬bilitet. Dock kunde ej testets samtidiga validitet påvisas i denna studie. Behandlingen uppvisade ej effekt på behandlingsdeltagarnas upplevelse av skam. Studien visar således att TOSCA:s reliabilitet är god men att dess validitet behöver utredas vidare.

Athletic environments subject athletes to evaluation not only on performance, but also on appearance (Krane et al., 2001). This likely facilitates self-conscious emotions, which have a self-evaluative focus (Leary, 2004; Tracy & Robins, 2004). However, self-compassion might serve as a buffer against the self-conscious emotions by countering self-evaluative processes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride) and self-evaluative thoughts and behaviours (i.e., social physique anxiety, obligatory exercise, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation) for young women aged 13 -18 involved in high school sport (N = 151). The role of self-compassion as a moderator variable between self-conscious emotions and self-evaluative thoughts and behaviours was also explored. Consistent with the contention that shame and hubristic pride may be less adaptive than guilt and authentic pride, shame and hubristic pride showed positive relations with fear of failure (r = .26 and .20, respectively) and fear of negative evaluation (r = .21 and .21, respectively). Hubristic pride was also positively related to objectified body consciousness (r = .32). Conversely, guilt and authentic pride showed negative relations with objectified body consciousness (r = -.20 and -.34, respectively). Authentic pride also showed negative relations to fear of failure (r = -.38) and fear of negative evaluation (r = -.37). Self-compassion was negatively related to shame (r = -.32) and positively related to authentic pride (r = .42), but had no relation with guilt and hubristic pride. Self-compassion was also negatively related with social physique anxiety (r = -.39), objectified body consciousness (r = -.34), fear of failure (r = -.38), and fear of negative evaluation (r = -.37). Additionally, self-compassion was found to explain variance beyond self-esteem on objectified body consciousness (∆R2 = .07), fear of failure (∆R2 = .11), and fear of negative evaluation (∆R2 = .06). A significant interaction effect was found with self-compassion on the relation between shame and obligatory exercise, suggesting that even moderate levels of self-compassion may help to buffer some negative effects of shame. Taken together, these results suggest that self-compassion might be an important resource for young women involved in sport in managing self-conscious emotions.

Athletic environments subject athletes to evaluation not only on performance, but also on appearance (Krane et al., 2001). This likely facilitates self-conscious emotions, which have a self-evaluative focus (Leary, 2004; Tracy & Robins, 2004). However, self-compassion might serve as a buffer against the self-conscious emotions by countering self-evaluative processes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride) and self-evaluative thoughts and behaviours (i.e., social physique anxiety, obligatory exercise, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation) for young women aged 13 -18 involved in high school sport (N = 151). The role of self-compassion as a moderator variable between self-conscious emotions and self-evaluative thoughts and behaviours was also explored. Consistent with the contention that shame and hubristic pride may be less adaptive than guilt and authentic pride, shame and hubristic pride showed positive relations with fear of failure (r = .26 and .20, respectively) and fear of negative evaluation (r = .21 and .21, respectively). Hubristic pride was also positively related to objectified body consciousness (r = .32). Conversely, guilt and authentic pride showed negative relations with objectified body consciousness (r = -.20 and -.34, respectively). Authentic pride also showed negative relations to fear of failure (r = -.38) and fear of negative evaluation (r = -.37). Self-compassion was negatively related to shame (r = -.32) and positively related to authentic pride (r = .42), but had no relation with guilt and hubristic pride. Self-compassion was also negatively related with social physique anxiety (r = -.39), objectified body consciousness (r = -.34), fear of failure (r = -.38), and fear of negative evaluation (r = -.37). Additionally, self-compassion was found to explain variance beyond self-esteem on objectified body consciousness (∆R2 = .07), fear of failure (∆R2 = .11), and fear of negative evaluation (∆R2 = .06). A significant interaction effect was found with self-compassion on the relation between shame and obligatory exercise, suggesting that even moderate levels of self-compassion may help to buffer some negative effects of shame. Taken together, these results suggest that self-compassion might be an important resource for young women involved in sport in managing self-conscious emotions.

Background Shame is a powerful emotion involved in a wide variety of phenomena including psychopathology. The propensity to react with shame to situations of transgression is formed early in life, but the processes by which elevated shame-proneness causes higher levels of psychological distress and functional impairment in some people rather than in others is as yet poorly understood. Objectives The main objective of this thesis was to further elucidate these processes by investigating the implications for shame states, guilt, general coping strategies, attachment styles, and shame-related coping in this context, as well as to evaluate an assessment method for shame-proneness. Methods The self-report questionnaires Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA), Compass of Shame Scale (CoSS-5), Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), and an interview measure for event-related shame and guilt were used for assessment in adult normative, healthy-only, crime victim, and patient samples (n=25-361). A combination of uni- and bivariate approaches and multivariate soft and hard modeling approaches were used for statistical analysis. Results Paper I showed that the TOSCA could be used as a reliable measure for shame-proneness. Paper II showed that guilt was unrelated to post-victimization distress. Elevated shame-proneness was related to higher levels of post-victimization distress. This effect was partially mediated by event-related shame. Paper III showed that in CFS patients, higher levels of shame-proneness, escape-avoidance, and accepting responsibility coping contributed to elevated levels of psychological distress. Seeking support, positive reappraisal coping, and proneness to detachment contributed in the opposite direction. These relationships were weaker in the comparison groups. Paper IV showed that shame-proneness was associated with secure attachment style in a negative direction. Higher levels of secure attachment style contributed to lower levels of psychological distress, whereas shame-proneness, insecure attachment styles and withdrawal, attack self, and attack other shame coping strategies contributed in the opposite direction. There were mean differences between women and men regarding most of the variables, butiithe relationships between variables did not differ between men and women. Conclusions The association between shame-proneness and psycho-logical distress seem to involve a complex balancing act between motives toward preserving close relationships and protecting a relatively positive sense of self. If others are perceived as trustworthy and compassionate and are utilized for support in times of need, the effects of shame-proneness may be less debilitating, whereas if others are perceived as distancing or disapproving, and life stress and social transgressions are managed by escape strategies, social withdrawal, self-blame or by transferring blame onto others, the distress effects become more severe. The inner psychodynamics of these functional patterns seem to be rather similar in women and men.

The education of the emotions is a valuable tool not always taken into account in the development of the democratic, egalitarian background essential to empower citizens. Perhaps the difficulty lies in the fact that, firstly, it is necessary to probe the possibilities of educability of emotions. Martha Nussbaum is one of the contemporary philosophers who have devoted much of their work to the study of emotions, and from her theory, conclusions can be drawn about the question of their educability. Her theory of emotions can be situated within a set of theories that understand emotions as cognitive, which turns literature into a useful tool for their education. However, the author does not put forward an explicit methodology for such development from narrative. To this end, in this interview Nussbaum is asked about the concept of self-conscious reflection as a feasible proposal to enable the education of emotions, as well as about whether a list of democratic emotions” can be built from her theory. Also, in this context, Nussbaum responds and elaborates on these themes. / La educación de las emociones es un valioso instrumento no siempre tomado en cuenta para el desarrollo de un trasfondo valorativo igualitario y  democrático  indispensable  para  la  autonomía  de  los  ciudadanos.  Tal  vez  la dificultad radique en que, en primer lugar, es necesario sondear las posibilidades de la educabilidad de las emociones. Martha Nussbaum es una de las filósofas contemporáneas que han dedicado gran parte de su obra al estudio de las emociones, y de su teoría pueden derivarse conclusiones acerca de la pregunta de su educabilidad. Su teoría de las emociones se circunscribe dentro de un conjunto de teorías que consideran a las emociones como cognitivas, y eso convierte a la literatura en una útil herramienta para su educación. Sin embargo, la autora no explicita una metodología que permita dicho desarrollo desde las narraciones. A  estos  efectos,  en  esta  entrevista  se  le  propone  el  concepto  de  autorreflexión como posibilitador de ello, a la vez que se busca reconstruir a partir de su teoría un listado de emociones democráticas”. Asimismo, en este contexto, Nussbaum responde y profundiza acerca de estas temáticas.

Although the overall quantity of international research has increased, existent studies tend to adopt an instrument developed in one culture to use in the other, leading to measurement bias. In addition, previous cross-cultural research mainly focuses on comparisons between collectivist and individualistic backgrounds (e.g., American vs. Chinese) without considering the similarities and differences within the collectivist societies (e.g., China vs. Mexico). This dissertation project has two purposes, with Study 1 aiming to examine measurement equivalence of two widely used instruments while Study 2 investigating if an attachment-based two-serial mediation model remained constant among three cross-cultural samples collected from the US, Mexico, and China. A total of 1211 participants, including 360 American university students, 441 Mexican students, and 410 Chinese students participated in the study. Differential item functioning (DIF) in lordif package in R and structural equation modeling (SEM) in Mplus 8.1 were adopted for Study 1 and 2, respectively. The results of Study 1 indicated the proposed instruments were culturally invariant in English, Spanish, and Chinese with some modifications. Study 2 showed that assertiveness/self-conscious emotions mediated the association between adult attachment and depression/aggression only in the US group. However, the two-serial mediation model in which the link between adult attachment and depression/aggression via assertiveness to self-conscious emotions was supported in Mexican and Chinese groups, not in the US group. Findings from these two cross-cultural adult attachment studies provide additional insights for future attachment research and useful implications for psychologists working with diverse individuals from the US, Mexico, and China.