Everywhere guilt is born out of the fear of punishment. However, the punishment depends on the characteristics of the society in which the person lives. Psychologist Galina Soldatova and French psychotherapist Toby Nathan explain.
Galina Soldatova – Professor of the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, author of the books “Psychology of inter-ethnic tension” (Sense, 1998) and “Trainings to improve intercultural competence” (MSU, 2006).
Toby Nathan – Professor of Clinical Psychology at Paris-VIII University, author of research papers on ethnopsychiatry.
Psychologies: Do people experience guilt in the same way in different societies, civilizations, ethnic groups?
Toby Nathan: No, it’s different. To a large extent, this depends on what standards of behavior and punishments are defined in a given society for those who violate them. It is also important how the laws are enforced, how the court and the penitentiary system work. Fear causes guilt, and this principle works in any society.
Galina Soldatova: Cultural characteristics in the experience of guilt also depend on the tradition and style of upbringing in the family. Where children are early accustomed to independence, independence, the ability to experience guilt develops more intensively. But, of course, this feeling is felt more strongly by those who are brought up in a culture focused on the interests of the group, rather than the individual. In such a society, social control is more pronounced, there are much more “policemen”: family (clan), community (clan, teip), state, religious institutions. And even if we avoid official “sanctions”, the feeling of guilt (as a psychological – internal – punishment) will remain with us. Although we feel it, I think, in the same way, because it is a universal, basic emotion, the same as pleasure and joy, interest and sadness, fear and love.
Does the strength of this feeling depend on the type of culture?
T. N .: Certainly. To give an example, once one of my students was driving a car in Cameroon and hit a child, who, according to him, literally threw himself under the wheels. Shocked by what had happened, he went to the commissariat. Excited parents also came there. After discussing the situation, everyone, including the police, came to the conclusion that my student was… completely innocent. They decided that the child was a victim of witchcraft. From their point of view, the real culprit of the incident was the sorcerer who caused damage to the boy. What is the result? In a society where age-old traditions still operate at the legal level, my student was not even interrogated, while in many other countries he would be considered guilty. Consequently, the feeling of guilt that the young man experienced was much weaker than what he would have felt if this had happened in a European country.
G.S.: But it is important not to confuse guilt with shame. Both of these emotions are associated with the concept of conscience and a sense of responsibility, but are represented differently in consciousness. Shame is extraverted (directed outward) and is associated with social responsibility. This is a reaction to the external environment, when our offense, committed contrary to accepted standards and therefore hidden by us, is on public display. As for guilt, it is introverted, refers to the inner world of a person, this is our personal experience, generated by a sense of personal responsibility. In the first half of the XNUMXth century, the prominent American anthropologist Ruth Benedict contrasted the Western culture of guilt with the Japanese culture of shame. It is extremely important for the Japanese how others will react to his act. “Knowing shame” – so in Japan they say about a man of honor. And in some primitive societies, for example, the Australian Aborigines, there is not even a separate word for shame, but there is a general concept that simultaneously means horror, fear, timidity, fear and shame.
It turns out that the determining factor is the cultural level of the society in which a person lives?
T. N .: Yes, since the feeling of guilt is primarily associated with the action of a third person – the guardian of order. In the south of Togo, as in many other parts of Africa with a traditional way of life, in the event of the death of a husband, the wife is automatically considered guilty. She is suspected of having “taken” him, such as secretly drugging him or poisoning him. To live on, the widow must “wash” her guilt with the help of long and cruel rites. I knew a widow living in Paris who was born in the south of Togo. This woman, absolutely not guilty of the death of her husband, was tormented by remorse. And all because she did not pass the rite of “initiation into a widow” and was not “washed” by her relatives.
“GUILTY IS FIRST OF ALL RELATED TO HER Awareness – THIS” POLICE OFFICER “SITS INSIDE EVERY OF US.”
G.S.: More precisely, it is not the level, but the peculiarities of culture that also influence the formation of personal responsibility. The feeling of guilt is associated primarily with its awareness – this is such a “cop” that sits inside of us. By condemning our act, he makes us treat it with all severity, thanks to which we can draw conclusions and become better. No matter what culture we belong to.