Explore your inner world and find out whether you are more likely to feel guilt or shame. PsycTest provides you with professional personality analysis to help you better understand yourself and improve your emotional management capabilities. Take the test and uncover your psychological secrets!
Have you ever made the atmosphere freeze instantly due to a careless remark, and have you fallen into deep self-blame? Do you often feel guilty and at the same time have an unspeakable sense of shame? We all have a moral sense and have emotional reactions to things we do wrong. However, different people will have different emotional experiences when facing mistakes. Some people are prone to guilt, while others are more prone to shame.
PsycTest’s guilt and shame tendency test is designed to help you understand which emotional experience you are more inclined to, so as to better understand yourself and improve your emotional management ability. This test is not a formal psychological assessment and is only used as a reference for self-exploration.
What is guilt?
Guilt is a sad emotion caused by one’s actions causing harm to others. When you feel guilty, you instinctively apologize or make amends for your behavior. A guilty person sees the image of the person who has been hurt by him, and will amplify the negative impact of his words and deeds, and is eager to make amends. People who feel guilty tend to constantly look at themselves and worry about the impact they have on others.
- Guilt is Behavior-Related: Guilt is usually related to something you did or didn’t do.
- Guilt will make you want to make amends: Guilt will make you want to apologize or take action to correct the mistake.
- Guilt may stem from irrational beliefs: People with guilt may subconsciously believe that they are doing something harmful to others.
- Guilt may lead to ’negative grandiosity’: People with strong feelings of guilt may have unrealistic beliefs about their ability to influence negative events.
What is shame?
Shame is a feeling of imperfection, inadequacy, or badness about oneself. When you feel shame, you feel bad about yourself and want to hide or escape. Shame may motivate people to hide, blame, or angrily lash out at others.
- Shame is Existential: Shame is often related to who you think you are.
- Shame Makes You Feel Small, Vulnerable, and Bad: Shame can make you feel like you’re not good enough and have a low sense of self-worth.
- Shame may stem from early experiences: Shame tendencies may be related to childhood neglect, abuse, or abandonment.
- Shame may lead to defense mechanisms: People with a strong sense of shame may defend themselves against this feeling through narcissism, for example.
- Shame can lead to anger and jealousy: People with shame are more likely to feel angry and more likely to interpret other people’s behavior in a negative way.
The difference between guilt and shame
Although guilt and shame are both related to negative emotions, they are different. Guilt focuses on your actions, while shame focuses on your being.
| feature | guilt | shame |
| focus | Behavior | exist |
| feel | Feeling sorry for the harm caused to others | Feeling inadequate or bad about oneself |
| behavioral motivation | Want to apologize and make amends | Want to hide, blame others |
| psychological characteristics | Amplify the impact of behavior, desire to make amends, self-examination | Feeling small, vulnerable, bad, and needing defense |
| possible impact | Less frustrated and angry, more empathetic and affiliative behavior toward others | More likely to feel angry, jealous, express anger in more destructive ways, depressed, anxious |
Are you guilt prone or shame prone?
So, are you more likely to feel guilt or shame? Take this test to help you get a preliminary understanding of your own emotional tendencies. Please note that this is not a formal, standardized psychological test and the results are for reference only.
Understanding your emotional tendency to feel more likely to feel guilt or shame can help you better understand your own emotional reactions and behavioral patterns. This self-awareness is the first step to self-growth.
- If you tend to feel guilty, you may constantly scrutinize your actions and worry about negatively affecting others.
- If you are prone to shame, you may often feel low self-worth and need defense mechanisms to protect yourself.
No matter what your orientation is, there is room for improvement. If you find that these emotional problems are seriously affecting your life, you can seek help from a professional psychological counselor.
PsycTest is dedicated to helping everyone understand themselves better. Through our psychological tests, you can explore your inner world more deeply and start a journey of self-growth. Wondering if you’re more likely to feel guilt or shame? Click the button below to start testing now!
