Guilt versus shame: Distinguishing the two emotions from a Chinese perspective

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between two self-emotions (guilt and shame) and self from a Chinese perspective. In a 2 x 2 experiment conducted with 72 Chinese college students, the outcomes showed that by priming a big-me self-condition, participants would be likely to feel more guilt than shame; whereas by priming a little-me self-condition, participants reported more shame than guilt. The findings are important to distinguish the two self-emotions and also shed a light on the relationship between self-emotion and self.