People always seem to have such a knee-jerk negative reaction when they hear the words guilt and shame, but really, wouldn't we be in moral chaos without them? Your thoughts?
2007-01-18 04:33:03 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
Yes they have gotten a bad wrap. Guilt and shame are the primary means of social control and getting a person to accept societal norms. People learn much more from negative experiences than they do from positive ones.
I think juvenile boot camps are a lop-sided form of the shaming process. It attempts to break down the ego of a person, but fails to have the continuous strength of the immediate community behind the punishment.
2007-01-18 05:16:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You have a point. Guilt and shame have to do with having a conscience, don't you think? They need to be kept in proper perspective. If you feel guilty or ashamed because of your own behavior toward someone, you have to recognize it so you can make amends, and not repeat bad choices. But if not dealt with appropriately, the two can keep a person from going on to the next level, like someone who creates more confusion by being motivated by guilt or shame, which are negative and on the side of fear. Ideally, we are motivated by love, kindness, integrity.
I think guilt and shame get their 'bad rap' from the media, where we constantly hear that we should not feel guilty because we want to eat more chocolate, drink more alcohol, buy everything they want to sell us, use their credit card, take that vacation we deserve, get in debt, get out of debt, on and on!
And I think it is important to note that no other human being can or should MAKE you feel guilty or ashamed for things beyond your control. Like being a different race than them, or being poor, or being the offspring of someone who is mentally ill, for example.
(Sorry I wrote a book here. It was a good question.)
2007-01-18 05:03:14 · answer #2 · answered by catarina 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Would we be a moral chaos without them? very likely, but not being held back by guilt or shame is seen as a positive trait and often seen in successful people.
People tend to focus on the extremes, so when people think of shame or guilt, they see someone too ashamed to do anything or too guilt ridden to move on.
2007-01-18 04:40:42 · answer #3 · answered by MrItwasgood 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For guilt read paranoia. For shame read paranoia. It's that religion trip.
If there's no bait of Paradise or Heaven I think we would be less acquisitive and get on pretty well actually liking each other instead of telling everyone what we expect them to do!
2007-01-22 23:04:38 · answer #4 · answered by salubrious 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Guilt and shame keep us from doing things we should later regret. They are our consciouns(sorry I misspelled it).
However, taken to the extreme they can cause us a lot of problems.
2007-01-22 15:10:05 · answer #5 · answered by jorst 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Guilt and shame are the flip side of honor and dignity. If we prop up the latter, we'll see the former when we fall short.
2007-01-18 04:40:33 · answer #6 · answered by Murphy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sumtimes guilt and shame stand in the way of us attaining power
2007-01-23 11:23:37 · answer #7 · answered by the_red_authority 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
...humans tend to be narrow minded and don't see the big picture. You do have a point and i agree with you...
2007-01-18 04:48:50 · answer #8 · answered by mørbidsшεεŧnεss 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋