guilt

guilt in psychology, a term denoting an unpleasant feeling associated with unfulfilled wishes. Sigmund Freud initially contended that sexual drives produce sense of guilt in the superego, the moral conscience of the mind. He later maintained, however, that guilt was associated with aggressive impulses. Freud felt that guilt was often confused with remorse, the former being an emotion signaling the presence of aggressive wishes, the latter a self-imposed punishment which occurs if the aggressive wish is fulfilled. Individuals suffering from various neurotic disorders may experience feelings of guilt and remorse even when they have not acted on their aggressive impulses. The term guilt is most commonly used in traditional psychoanalysis, as a way of describing unconscious processes which may lead to neurotic reactions. It is also used in criminal law, in cases where a defendant is found to be responsible for the crime for which he is on trial.

Bibliography: See L. Wurmser, The Mask of Shame (1981).

guilt / gilt/ • n. the fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime: it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt. ∎  a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation: he remembered with sudden guilt the letter from his mother that he had not yet read. • v. [tr.] inf. make (someone) feel guilty, especially in order to induce them to do something: Celeste had been guilted into going by her parents. PHRASES: guilt by association guilt ascribed to someone not because of any evidence but because of their association with an offender.

guilt †offence, crime OE.; †responsibility for something XII; †desert XIII; fact of having committed an offence XIV; state of having wilfully offended XVI. OE. gylt, of unkn. orig.
Hence guilty OE. gyltiġ.