Shame, Guilt, and Secrets on the Mind

Shame, Guilt, and Secrets on the Mind

Recent work suggests that what is harmful about secrecy is not active concealment within social interactions but rather mind wandering to a secret outside of concealment contexts. However, it is not yet clear what predicts mind wandering to and concealing secrets. We proposed that emotional appraisa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2020-03, Vol.20 (2), p.323-328
Main Authors: Slepian, Michael L., Kirby, James N., Kalokerinos, Elise K.
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Adult
Cognitive Appraisal
Emotions
Female
Guilt
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Mind Wandering
Secrecy
Shame
Social Interaction
Test Construction
Well Being
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Summary:Recent work suggests that what is harmful about secrecy is not active concealment within social interactions but rather mind wandering to a secret outside of concealment contexts. However, it is not yet clear what predicts mind wandering to and concealing secrets. We proposed that emotional appraisals of shame and guilt for secrecy would predict how secrecy is experienced. Four studies with 1,000 participants keeping more than 6,000 secrets demonstrated that shame was linked with increased mind wandering to the secret. Guilt, in contrast, was linked with reduced mind wandering to the secret. The current work represents the first test of how emotions from secrecy determine how that secrecy is experienced.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516