Guilt cf. Shame

The words guilt and shame are sometimes used interchangeably or may denote somewhat different distinctions according to the user or school of thought.

I will use these words according to the following denotations.

Guilt indicates a painful self-judgment and self-criticism that is most often triggered without the need for another person (or people) to witness and/or point out the assumed transgression.

Shame indicates a painful self-judgment and self-criticism that is triggered only when another person (or people) witnesses and/or points out the assumed transgression. 

One cultural anthropologist observed that a major difference between the USA culture and the Japanese culture is that the USA culture is guilt-based and the Japanese culture is shame-based.

​

See Undoing guilt.

 

Both guilt and shame, including regret, live inside the HOGAB.