This thesis analyses women’s stories and experiences of living in a relationship with domestic violence. The study is done in order to gain a deeper understanding of what the retaining mechanisms are that prevents women from leaving their partner. The research is carried out by the usage of qualitative textual analysis of autobiographical novels. With the support of the theories of shame and the normalization process it is possible to accentuate how women are staying in their relationships because of the mental degradation caused by the man. The retaining mechanisms are numerous and complex and both socio-economic and psychological factors contribute to that women stay in the relationship, which previous research also has concluded. This research concludes that the retaining mechanisms evolve and change throughout the relationship. The women’s reason for staying in the relationship is in the beginning their love for the man but later on in the relationship it evolves further into embracing the reality of the man and making the reasons for the violence legitimate

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the degrees of proneness to the self-conscious emotions of nonruminative guilt, ruminative guilt, and shame and several indices of psychological functioning, including depression, narcissism, anger, dysphoric affect, cooperation, need for affection, and self-inspection, in a college population. Gender differences were also examined. A measure of psychological functioning (the Rorschach) and a measure of guilt- and shame-proneness (the Test of Self-Conscious Affect--Modified) were administered to 91 college students (43 males and 48 females). Females reported higher levels of all three self-conscious emotions. The only gender difference found among the psychological functioning variables was higher levels of narcissism for males. For the total sample, cooperation was related to nonruminative guilt, whereas an unhealthy level of need for affection was related to ruminative guilt and shame. When males and females were considered separately, depression was related to ruminative guilt in males, but not in females. Narcissism was related to all three emotions for males, but not for females. An absence of dysphoric affect was associated with nonruminative guilt in females. Cooperation and self-inspection both correlated with nonruminative guilt for females, but not for males. The predominant emotion related to unhealthy levels of need for affection was shame for males but ruminative guilt for females. Preliminary results from 21 subjects with positive DEPI scores differed from the results of the entire sample in the relationships between the self-conscious emotions and dysphoric affect, self-inspection, and cooperation. Study results were discussed in light of the different levels of awareness at which the Rorschach and the TOSCA--M assess emotions and psychological functioning. Socialization of gender differences in guilt- and shame-proneness was also discussed. Implications for treatment, future research, and creation of future assessments of guilt- and shame-proneness were examined.

No description available.

No description available.

No / This article draws on findings from a three-year project to develop and deliver culturally appropriate support group materials for South Asian and Eastern European family carers of relatives with dementia living in the UK. Analysis of interview and field note data revealed insights into how understandings of dementia in different cultural contexts can become operationalized through stigma processes and in turn influence the ways in which people with dementia and their family carers engage with formal and informal support.

Despite research documenting the association between shame and aspects of poor psychological functioning, shame's adverse effects have remained largely invisible in modern societies. Shame has been described as the "attachment emotion" (Lewis, 1980), yet, there is little research that examines the relationship between attachment style and shame, and conclusions from this research are tempered by methodological limitations. The current study aimed to address methodological limitations with a quasi-experimental design and employed measures of state and trait shame, shame coping styles, an Emotional Stroop task for assessing implicit shame, and a shame mood induction procedure (MIP). This methodology provided a basis to examine differences by attachment style for 271 university students in state, trait, and implicit shame, as well as the use of maladaptive shame coping styles at baseline and following a shame MIP. Additionally, a qualitative analysis of the shame MIP written responses was conducted to provide a more nuanced understanding of the task used to elicit feelings of shame and individual differences in events identified as shame-triggering. Results revealed that students evidencing an insecure attachment style (i.e., preoccupied, fearful, or dismissive). reported significantly more state and trait shame compared to students evidencing a secure attachment style after the shame MIP. Individuals with an insecure attachment also demonstrated significant increases in state shame from baseline to post-MIP. Additionally, students with a preoccupied or fearful attachment style were also significantly more likely to endorse utilizing maladaptive shame coping strategies compared to students with a secure attachment style. Clinical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Shame and perfectionism are associated with and longitudinal predictors of eating disorder (ED) symptoms. Because shame represents painful emotions that result from negative self-evaluation and perfectionism involves unrealistically high standards for oneself, proneness to shame may intensify the relation between perfectionism and ED symptoms. The current study aimed to examine relations between perfectionism, shame, and ED symptoms (binge eating, body dissatisfaction, and excessive exercise) cross-sectionally and longitudinally across three months. College students [N = 259; 78% women; 71% White, mean (SD) age = 19.21 (1.24)] completed an online baseline survey in August 2022 and a follow-up survey three-months later. Participants completed measures assessing binge eating, body dissatisfaction, excessive exercise, shame, and perfectionism. Data were analyzed using path analysis in Mplus and significant interactions were probed using the Johnson-Neyman technique. Baseline shame was positively associated with baseline levels of binge eating and body dissatisfaction while baseline perfectionism predicted follow-up excessive exercise. There were not main effects of baseline perfectionism on any baseline ED symptoms nor of baseline shame on any follow-up ED symptoms. Interactive effects revealed that baseline perfectionism was negatively associated with follow-up levels of binge eating and excessive exercise for participants with average and high, but not low, levels of shame. There was not an interactive effect between baseline shame and perfectionism in predicting body dissatisfaction. Clinically, among individuals low in perfectionism, binge eating and excessive exercise interventions should address shame. / Master of Science / Shame and perfectionism play a role in the development and maintenance of eating disorder (ED) symptoms. Shame is a painful emotion that results from negative self-evaluation. Perfectionism involves holding oneself to unrealistically high standards, often resulting in negative emotions when these standards are not met. Because both shame and perfectionism both involve negative self-evaluation, it is possible that one’s proneness to shame could intensify the relation between perfectionism and ED symptoms. The goal of the current study was to test the influence of shame on the relations between perfectionism and ED symptoms (binge eating, body dissatisfaction, and excessive exercise) over a span of three months. The study analyzed data collected from 259 college students in August and November 2022 via online surveys. About 78% of participants were women and 71% were White. Results of the study indicated that shame negatively influences the relation between perfectionism and binge eating and perfectionism and excessive exercise for people with average and high, but not low, levels of shame. Clinically, among individuals low in perfectionism, binge eating and excessive exercise interventions should address shame.

Aan die hand van 'n literatuur- en empiriese studie is daar ondersoek ingestel na die fenomene skuld en skaamte. Vir diagnosering is daar onderskeid tussen die emosies gemaak. Dit blyk dat die belewing van skaamgevoelens direk met die self te doen het, terwyl skuldgevoelens fokus op die daad wat gedoen of versuim is. Aan die hand van 'n literatuurstudie is riglyne vir die hantering van skuld en skaamte voorgestel. 'n Vraelys is daargestel om skuld en skaamte te identifiseer, om die intensiteit van die emosies te bepaal asook om te onderskei tussen rasionele of irrasionele belewing van skuld en skaamte. 'n Empiriese studie is gedoen om kwalitatief na 'n paar gevallestudies te kyk om sodoende die effektiwiteit van die psigoterapeutiese model en die vraelys te bepaal. Bevindinge van die empiriese studie dui daarop dat die psigoterapeutiese model en die vraelys effektief vir die hantering van skuld en skaamte is. / The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the phenomena guilt and shame. For effective diagnosis a differentiation between the two emotions was made. It appears that shame feelings focus directly towards the self. Guilt feelings focus on "wrong" or neglected deeds. In view of literature and empirical investigations guidelines were set up for the handling of guilt and shame. A questionnaire was developed to identify guilt and shame, to determine the intensity of these feelings and to differentiate between rational and irrational guilt and shame. Results of the empirical study indicated that the psychotherapeutic model and questionnaire were effective in the treatment of guilt and shame. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

This study began testing the Sewell and Williams (in press) model that differing trauma types yield differing presentations in social versus event processing domains. Other hypotheses explored trauma type with levels of guilt, and shame-proneness with anxiety. Volunteers were 44 male combat veterans being treated for PTSD. Data analyses determined whether trauma type related to guilt and perceived social support and whether shame-proneness related to levels of anxiety. High shame persons may process anxiety and social support differently than low shame persons. Results can assist professionals understand how a person's functioning is affected by certain types of trauma. Future research should focus on increasing social support for persons who have experienced trauma.

Towards a mature shame culture seeks to identify new tools for social change through a deeper understanding of the social psychology of shame and guilt. The study takes as its starting point a suggestion by Richard Hauser and Hephzibah Menhuin-Hauser that many personal and social crises can be interpreted through the lens of a late 20th Century transition from a guilt culture to an 'infantile' shame culture. Implicit in this is the need to develop more socially mature forms.This idea is placed in the context of praxis for personal/social growth drawing on previously unpublished material from the Hauser's archive. The study then explores a theoretical framework for understanding the social psychology of emotions in general, and shame in particular. It draws on affect psychology, micro-sociology and social attachment theory. Shame is located primarily as a social emotion, with a normative function of monitoring social bonds between people - rather than, as it is usually framed, as a 'self-conscious', 'negative' and 'pathological'emotion. This reframing of the experience highlights the 'salutogenic' function of shame in building and strengthening relationships. In this frame much of what is commonly thought of as 'shame' can be seen to be the result of unacknowledged shame, where other emotions are bound to the sense of shame and carried as 'toxic' memories of unresolved shame experiences. This pattern of unresolved shame can be seen at the root of the personal and social pathologies of violence and alienation.The study charts how attempts to communicate this salutogenic perspective on shame led to an experiential education workshop Working with shame. It draws on the experience of participants in this workshop in a variety of settings (including anger management programs, workshops at men's gatherings, and community professional development training, and other group work). Interview data is used to illustrate how the masking of the physiological expression of shame, principally with anger and/or fear, interrupts the affective/emotional signals between people that would normally result in empathic responses an salutogenic outcomes. Finally, the study explores how this perspective on shame might inform social crisis-intervention programs at community level; and how it might be applied to the larger, and longer-term challenge of bringing about cultural change. It suggests key features that mark the transition from 'infantile' to 'juvenile' forms of shame and some of the factors limiting further growth towards shame-maturity. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)