On the interplay between pain observation, guilt and shame proneness and honesty

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the interplay between pain observation, guilt and shame proneness and honesty

AU - Mitkidis, Panagiotis

AU - Thaler, Hanna

AU - Perkovic, Sonja

AU - Ayal, Shahar

AU - Karg, Simon Tobias Schulz

AU - Ariely, Dan

N1 - Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PY - 2023/6

Y1 - 2023/6

N2 - Seeing others in pain can stimulate powerful socio-emotional responses. Does it also make us more moral? In two laboratory experiments, we examined the interplay between pain observation, self-reported guilt and shame, subjective perceptions of pain intensity, and subsequent honest behavior. Watching a confederate perform a moderately painful (vs. non-painful) task did not affect honest behavior in a subsequent die-roll task. Independent of pain observation, there was a positive relationship between self-reported guilt proneness and shame proneness and honesty. More specifically, individuals who are more prone to feeling guilt -and to a lesser extent shame- behaved more honestly. Furthermore, we found weak support for the hypothesis that greater perceived pain (rather than objective pain) is associated with less cheating. We call for further research in the interconnections between perceived pain, guilt, shame, and moral behavior.

AB - Seeing others in pain can stimulate powerful socio-emotional responses. Does it also make us more moral? In two laboratory experiments, we examined the interplay between pain observation, self-reported guilt and shame, subjective perceptions of pain intensity, and subsequent honest behavior. Watching a confederate perform a moderately painful (vs. non-painful) task did not affect honest behavior in a subsequent die-roll task. Independent of pain observation, there was a positive relationship between self-reported guilt proneness and shame proneness and honesty. More specifically, individuals who are more prone to feeling guilt -and to a lesser extent shame- behaved more honestly. Furthermore, we found weak support for the hypothesis that greater perceived pain (rather than objective pain) is associated with less cheating. We call for further research in the interconnections between perceived pain, guilt, shame, and moral behavior.

KW - Expectations

KW - Guilt proneness

KW - Morality

KW - Pain

KW - Performers-observers gap effect

KW - Humans

KW - Self Report

KW - Shame

KW - Guilt

KW - Emotions

KW - Morals

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152730203&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103920

DO - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103920

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37086665

SN - 0001-6918

VL - 236

JO - Acta Psychologica

JF - Acta Psychologica

M1 - 103920

ER -