• Question: What causes that sensation of feeling "guilty/bad"?

    Asked by nicenadia to Alessandro, Angela, Claudia, Marina, Phil on 12 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Claudia Krehl

      Claudia Krehl answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I think guilt is a very neat emotion as it kind of enforced that we all keep within the morals of our society and culture. It is basically cause because others feel pain or suffer. If you have caused this pain then you feel responsible for it because it is against your moral standards. If we wouldn’t feel guilty I don’t think we would work as a society as we would just steal from each other and have no regard for other people. That’s quite a scary thought!

    • Photo: Phillip Wilkinson

      Phillip Wilkinson answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Agree with Claudia.

      Guilt and empathy are somewhat linked. It is theorized that guilt has evolved so that we can have mutually beneficial relationships. If we did not know we had done something wrong, people would be less likely to help us. Probably why I can tell when my dog has done something wrong because he puts on his ‘guilty’ face.

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