Shame and Guilt: A Psycho cultural View of the Japanese Self 1

In a previous paper (Lebra 1971) I attempted to analyze shame and guilt with a focus on the social mechanism underlying these emotions, shame being associated with status occupancy and guilt with the rule of reciprocity. The present paper supplements that paper by concentrating on the psychocultural dimension of shame and guilt. The Japanese case is taken, but I do not claim that the following discussion applies exclusively to Japan. Some attempts will be made, however, to differentiate the more culture-bound from the more culture-free aspects of both concepts. Shame and guilt are defined here as two psychic channels for processing stress into self-punishment. "Stress" rather than "norm violation" is chosen in this definition because among the Japanese norm