Guilt: Personal and Collective

Abstract Guilt is an unpleasant emotion that is evoked when people's behavior deviates from salient moral standards concerning how other people should be treated. Simply deviating from these standards, however, is insufficient to experience guilt. For guilt to occur, the individual must recognize that his or her behavior is inconsistent with what is normative with regard to the treatment of others and accept personal responsibility for the harm inflicted. For example, John might feel guilt if he knowingly and unjustifiably failed to hire a person because of his/her race or ethnicity rather than the merit of that particular applicant.