Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?

@article{Tangney1996AreSG,
  title={Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?},
  author={June P Tangney and R S Miller and Laura Flicker and D H Barlow},
  journal={Journal of personality and social psychology},
  year={1996},
  volume={70 6},
  pages={
          1256-69
        }
}
182 undergraduates described personal embarrassment, shame, and guilt experiences and rated these experiences on structural and phenomenological dimensions. Contrary to popular belief, shame was no more likely than guilt to be experienced in "public" situations; all 3 emotions typically occurred in social contexts, but a significant proportion of shame and guilt events occurred when respondents were alone. Analyses of participants' phenomenological ratings clearly demonstrated that shame, guilt… Expand
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References

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Following proposals regarding the criteria for differentiating emotions, the current investigation examined whether the antecedents and facial expressions of embarrassment, shame, and guilt are… Expand
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  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Journal of personality and social psychology
  • 1991
TLDR
Results indicate that shame and guilt are distinct affective experiences that have important and quite different implications in the interpersonal realm, and suggest that guilt may not be that bad after all, at least at the interpersonal domain. Expand
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TLDR
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