Guilt

Guilt is considered to be an emotion secondary to doing what is perceived as wrong. Because it is a painful emotion, people try to act in a fashion to avoid guilt feelings. Guilt is classified as a negative emotion as opposed to positive emotions such as joy and happiness. Once a person experiences guilt from some perceived wrongdoing, there is usually an attempt to reduce this negative emotional state. Sexuality has been linked to guilt through the association of certain behaviors as evil or sinful. The prohibitions range from the universal taboo of incest to condemnation of masturbation, premarital or extramarital affairs, and sexual fantasies.

Throughout history cultures have institutionalized a number of methods to help individuals relieve guilt. Ancient cultures proscribed animal sacrifices or offerings of material resources. Over the course of time various forms of penitent behavior, including confession of one's sins, were developed by religious institutions to alleviate the emotion of guilt. In order to remove the guilt, individuals were asked by societies and religious institutions to complete good deeds, apologize, and endure a punishment or a penance for their sins and wrongdoings. Compliance to confess one's wrongdoings and make up for the transgressions reflected the need to remove the negative emotion of private guilt and restore self-esteem and a positive public image.

SEX GUILT

In the 1960s, Donald Mosher developed the concept of sex guilt to signify the negative emotion associated with sexual arousal. Sex guilt is defined as the expectation that a person will feel guilty if a standard of proper sexual conduct is violated. The concept was devised with the notion that individuals who were punished in their childhood for interest in sexual matters or showed any behaviors that were interpreted as sexual would show significant sex guilt as adolescents and adults. Verbal admonishments or physical punishments would eventually lead to the child internalizing the message that sex is bad, dirty, or sinful. Consequently, those individuals showing curiosity, interest, or sexual arousal as an adult would have an increased likelihood of experiencing the negative emotion of sex guilt. Mosher has found that high levels of sex guilt among adults have been linked to an avoidance of sexual activities. Dennis Cannon found that females in general showed higher sex guilt than males and that this outcome was probably related to a societal tendency for parents to be more restrictive and critical of sexual matters with daughters than sons. Cannon also categorized people with sex guilt as: being devout in religious beliefs; subscribing to a higher authority; using denial to handle sexual feelings; accepting few variations in sexual behavior; following traditional gender roles; and being offended by explicit sexual material.

DEVELOPMENT OF GUILT

The interaction of guilt and sexuality was formally proposed in the theory of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). He identified the libido as the force of the sexual instinct and included both the physiological foundations of the drive state and mental representations of sexuality. At birth, the child functions under the pleasure principle, which is defined as the innate tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain. As a child observes or is taught that one must delay gratification or postpone pleasure, the reality principle takes over.

In Freud's theory, beginning in infancy children are influenced by the sex drive and are capable of erotic activity. The focus of the erotic activity follows a developmental pattern that moves from the oral zone to the anal zone and then to the phallic or urethral zone. In the oral stage of development from birth to eighteen months, the infant's libidinal energy has a focus on the mouth and is expressed in sucking, chewing, and biting. The libidinal energy then switches focus in the anal stage from eighteen to thirty-six months of age. Elimination and bowel control are the focus of libidinal pleasure. Next, the phallic or urethral stage takes place from three to five years of age. Erotic activity is focused on urination, the penis, vagina, and clitoris. It is during this stage that the Oedipal complex emerges, which signals the development of sexual interests toward the parent of the opposite sex and subsequent feelings of aggression and jealousy toward the same-sex parent. It is also at this time that the superego or conscience emerges as the child internalizes parental values and standards. The child now is expected to act on the reality principle and give up the Oedipal fantasies. The superego acts as a censor of behaviors, thoughts and fantasies, and elicits anxiety and guilt over sexual matters.

The psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson (1902–1994) reduced the importance of the libido in development and focused on the social interactions experienced by a child. His stage theory is based upon the epigenetic principle, which means the development unfolds in a sequential and orderly fashion. For Erikson, the relationship between guilt and sexuality occurs during the third stage of development between the ages of three to five years. At that time the child must resolve the conflict between initiative and guilt. During this time of their lives, children show curiosity, competitiveness, aggressiveness, and genital preoccupations. The child seeks favored status with the opposite sex parent and develops fantasized possession of that parent. This possessiveness inevitably fails and the child feels guilt and anxiety. Now the child must learn to begin to look outside of the family structure for accomplishments. The child now forms a conscience or foundation for a moral perspective that serves as a guide. If a child is severely punished at this stage for the curiosity, competitiveness, and possessiveness, the formation of initiative is inhibited and guilt becomes the central feature of the child's emotional development. Independent expression of sexuality can then elicit feelings of guilt.

DEVELOPMENT OF GUILT AND SELF-REGULATION

According to developmental psychologist Suzanne Denham, guilt develops in a child during the middle childhood period between the ages of six to nine years. The child gradually gains an appreciation of the role of personal responsibility in one's actions. The socialization process takes place as children learn through instruction, observing the actions of others, the value systems of their parents, as well as from institutions and society.

Self-regulation or the capacity to control one's actions without outside influence is a goal of socialization. The child who has been socialized monitors personal actions based upon standards that have been internalized into a conscience or ethical philosophy. In relation to sexuality, a child learns certain moral standards that help to inhibit or direct instinctual urges. As the child grows and faces temptations to act upon sexual urges, self-regulation permits the child to follow moral rules. Violation of the moral codes induces guilt and the subsequent desire to remove the negative emotional state.

In developing the codes of morality, children proceed through several phases. Between the 1980s and early 2000s, Claire Kopp identified the phases beginning with what she termed the control phase at twelve to eighteen months in which the child relies on the cues of others to indicate acceptable behaviors. The self-control phase from around eighteen months to four years of age is indicated through an ability to comply with the expectations of others during their absence. The self-regulation phase begins around four to five years of age and is marked by the capacity to use strategies and plans to direct behavior and delay gratification.

Delay of gratification is particularly important in the control of sexual urges as it permits an individual to defer sexual satisfaction or avoid sexual arousal. Guilt or the anticipation of guilt serves as a deterrent to engage in sexual behaviors or expose oneself to sexually explicit materials when they are perceived to be a violation of a moral code. Styles of parenting influence the development of guilt. Physical punishment or power assertive discipline used by caretakers leads to a low level of guilt. These children do not develop strong internal controls for their sexual urges and try to avoid being caught for any misdeeds.

GUILT AND CHANGING ATTITUDES

The National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) of the early 1900s found that Americans could be grouped into three distinct moral perspectives. Approximately a quarter of the population viewed sex in the recreational sense and experience little or no guilt over sexual actions. Nearly a third of the people followed a traditional moral perspective, which emphasized sexual expression within a marriage. Guilt emerged for these individuals if they engaged in extramarital relations or nontraditional sexual behaviors. The remaining members of the American society subscribed to a relational moral perspective. This perspective permited a wider range of sexuality as long as it is contained within a relationship that is longstanding and committed. This group would experience guilt when engaging in recreational or casual forms of sexuality.

The NHSLS found membership in each moral perspective was somewhat related to certain demographic characteristics. Females were more likely to be relational than males, and older individuals were most apt to be traditional in moral perspective. Increasing education levels was associated with the recreational perspective. Members of most mainstream religious affiliations adhered to a relational perspective, whereas conservative Protestants and Baptists favored a traditional perspective.

The attitudes toward sexuality and consequently the experience of guilt in the American society have been changing significantly since the early 1970s. The General Social Survey has found a steady decline in the percentage of the population who believe that sex before marriage is wrong; extramarital sex, by contrast, continues to be seen in the negative. Attitudes about sexuality in the United States and other countries were surveyed by the Gallup Organization in 1997. Moral standards varied significantly around the globe with such countries as India, Singapore, and Taiwan showing the most restrictive attitudes of the countries surveyed. Iceland, France, Germany reported the most recreational attitudes about sexuality. The secularization of Western Europe has been seen as a significant factor in the development of recreational attitudes concerning sexuality. The moral perspectives of these secular societies have limited internalized prohibitions toward sexual behavior and consequently limited the expression of sex guilt.

see also Honor and Shame; Penance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allgeier, Elizabeth, and Albert Allgeier. 2000. Sexual Interactions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Damon, W., and R. Lerner. 2006. Handbook of Child Psychology. Vol. 3: Social, Emotional, and Personality Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Laumann, E. O., and J. H. Gagnon. 1994. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Scholly, K., and P. Holck. 2005. "Using Social Norms Theory to Explain Perceptions and Sexual Health Behaviors: An Exploratory Study." Journal of American College Health 53(2): 159-166.

Schultz, D., and S. Schultz. 2001. Theories of Personality. 7th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth and Thomson.

Suggs, David, and Andrew Miracle. 1993. Culture and Human Sexuality: A Reader. Pacific Grove: Brooks and Cole.

                                              Frank Prerost