Guilt Reconsidered：A Study of Four Types of Guilt

Abstract

　The purpose of this study was to review the main psychological theories about guilt and to classify different types of guilt according to certain criteria. We identified four groups by using two criteria as follows: The first criterion is based on the person for whom one feels guilt, and the second criterion is based on whether one considers only his own act and basically mono-directive, or compares his act with the acts of others.

　The first type of guilt arises from a focus on what one has done and is self-reproach of doing wrong from the viewpoint of an authority like God or his own. Many earlier psychological studies have documented this type of guilt. The second type of guilt is that which centers on the other whom one has injured or has influenced, in relation with others, and that in recent years has been studied vigorously. The third type is the guilt which results from a disequilibrium in an interaction between one person and the other. The fourth is the guilt which results from a disequilibrium between one person and another who has no particular relationship to him. Even though there have been few studies of the third and the fourth types, the fourth type has come to be referred to as survivor's guilt, and the third type is expressed in the Ajase complex and Naikan therapy, both of which developed originally in Japan. The third type is also described in Shuusaku Endo's literary works, which depict the figure of Christ as different from the Christ of Western interpretation. These examples support the notion that Japanese are apt to feel the third type of guilt.