ON CONCEPTUALIZING AND ASSESSING GUILT

The psychological construct of guilt and its measurement were investigated in a series of studies (N = 1,041). Data collection and analyses involved 3 broad issues: (a) the further development and validation of the Guilt Inventory, designed to measure trait guilt, state guilt, and moral standards; (b) comparisons involving extant measures of guilt, shame, moral standards, and other emotions for the purpose of exploring the distinctions between trait guilt and state guilt, affective guilt and moral standards, and guilt and other emotions including both shame and the full range of emotional traits; and (c) an exploration of the factor structure of the trait guilt scales. Results supported the validity and reliability of the Guilt Inventory and the validity of most of the other guilt measures. However, results also raised questions regarding commonly articulated distinctions between trait and state guilt and shame, and, for some measures, affective guilt and moral standards. Discussion focuses on issues of measurement and conceptualization.