The Effect Of Guilt And Shame On Self-forgiveness

There have been many studies on forgiveness from the perspective of the victim,but relatively few studies on self-forgiveness from the perspective of the offender.But it’s important to note that individuals who score high on the self-forgiveness scale show higher life satisfaction and higher physical health.Based on this,this paper takes self-forgiveness as the dependent variable,guilt and shame as the independent variables,and introduces the cognitive factor rumination,aiming to explore the specific relationship between guilt and shame on self-forgiveness and whether rumination plays a mediating role.In experiment 1,the questionnaire method was used to induce the subjects’ feelings of guilt and shame through situational simulation,and a single-factor experiment was conducted to explore the influence of guilt and shame on self-forgiveness.340 subjects were selected for the experiment.The results showed that guilt and self-forgiveness are negatively correlated,and there was also a significant negative correlation between shame and self-forgiveness.The level of self-forgiveness in the guilt group was higher than that in the shame group.In experiment 2,subjects were designed at three levels of a single factor(type of emotion: shame,guilt and control).The independent variable was the type of emotion.The emotional initiation was carried out through behavioral experiments,and the emotional induction effect and degree were tested by the emotional detection scale.The dependent variable is self-forgiveness,which is measured by the State Self-forgiveness Scale.Finally,the sum of all scores is taken to represent the level of self-forgiveness.The mediating variable is rumination,which is measured through the "Rumination response Scale",and the final sum of all scores is taken to represent the level of rumination.166 subjects were selected.The results found that guilt and shame are both significantly negatively correlated with self-forgiveness,again verifying the results of Experiment 1;and the effect of guilt on self-forgiveness is partly mediated by rumination.The same is ture of the effect of shame on self-forgiveness.Therefore,this study suggests that guilt and shame are negatively correlated with self-forgiveness,and that cognitive factors such as rumination play a partial mediating role.Individuals can reduce the negative impact of negative emotions on self-forgiveness and improve their mental health by reducing rumination.