Understanding the Psychology of Guilt – Why Do People (not) Share Guilt with Others? – Chapter 5

Even though social sharing of negative emotional experiences, such as regret, has been extensively studied, not much is known on the sharing of guilt. We report three studies on the sharing of guilt.

In Study 1, we re-analyzed data about sharing guilt experiences posted on a social website called “Yahoo Answers,” and found that people share intrapersonal as well as interpersonal guilt experiences with others online. Study 2 found that the main motivations of sharing guilt (compared with the sharing of regret) were “venting”, “clarification and meaning”, and “gaining advice”. Study 3 found that people were more likely to share experiences of interpersonal guilt and more likely to keep experiences of intrapersonal guilt to themselves.