The Expression of Guilt
Abstract
Though aversive, the experience and expression of guilt is important to healthy social functioning. Guilt is often described as visceral, and nonverbal guilt expressions are anecdotally observed, yet much remains unknown about how guilt is expressed. The present work aimed to explore the visceral experience of guilt via the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and the nonverbal display of guilt via facial, gestural, and postural expressions. Using a novel film paradigm, we explored ANS activity during guilt in healthy adults and adults with neurodegenerative disorders (NDs). We further explored the nonverbal behaviours associated with guilt in healthy adults. We hypothesized that, in healthy adults, patterns of ANS or nonverbal expressions would distinguish guilt from comparison emotions. We further hypothesized that these expressions would be altered in NDs. In healthy adults, we identified the electrogastrogram, swallowing rate, and electrodermal activity as related to the experience of guilt. In patients, we identified swallowing rate and electrodermal activity as altered during guilt. We further found a pattern of activation indicating that in certain NDs there may be overactivation of the parasympathetic nervous system or underactivation of the sympathetic nervous system during guilt. Finally, we found participants were equally or less likely to perform nonverbal behaviours during guilt compared to other emotions. These findings suggested that the nonverbal communication of guilt may be reliant on the presence of observers. Overall, this work suggests that, in healthy adults, guilt is associated with a pattern of psychophysiological and nonverbal outputs, and that the psychophysiology of guilt may be altered in dementia. These results may be applied to future work on the topic of guilt expression and may suggest diagnostic or treatment targets for diseases with maladaptive levels of guilt.