Biomaterial Database

[The anthropology of guilt and guilt feelings]. 1979

D Wyss, and B Laue

Considering the sociological and historical relativeness of 'objective' guilt and the relativeness of guilt feelings in the light of 'objective guilt' the authors delve into the problem of whether there exists such a thing as 'objective guilt'. This is particularly relevant after considering recent American investigations by Kohlberg et al. on children's development. They show the importance of guilt feelings that are aroused quite independently of the moral status of a society or a supposed 'super-ego'. Such feelings are the individual's response to some sort of interactional annihilation of communication. Highly dependent and variable, because of their dispositional and situative connections, guilt feelings seem to represent an anthropological, universally existing factor acting as an individual response to the destruction of communication but not necessarily being related to any kind of 'objective' guilt.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D011574	Psychoanalytic Theory	Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior.	Oral Character,Psychoanalytical Theory,Theory, Psychoanalytic,Character, Oral,Characters, Oral,Oral Characters,Psychoanalytic Theories,Psychoanalytical Theories,Theories, Psychoanalytic,Theories, Psychoanalytical,Theory, Psychoanalytical
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002657	Child Development	The continuous sequential physiological and psychological maturing of an individual from birth up to but not including ADOLESCENCE.	Infant Development,Development, Child,Development, Infant
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D003142	Communication	The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups.	Miscommunication,Misinformation,Social Communication,Communication Programs,Communications Personnel,Personal Communication,Communication Program,Communication, Personal,Communication, Social,Communications, Social,Miscommunications,Misinformations,Personnel, Communications,Program, Communication,Programs, Communication,Social Communications
D006167	Guilt	Subjective feeling of having committed an error, offense or sin; unpleasant feeling of self-criticism. These result from acts, impulses, or thoughts contrary to one's personal conscience.	Guilts
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D000884	Anthropology, Cultural	Study of social phenomena which characterize the learned, shared, and transmitted social activities of particular ethnic groups with focus on the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability.	Ethnography,Cultural Anthropology,Material Culture,Culture, Material,Ethnographies,Material Cultures