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Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical o...

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Autores principales: Schär, Selina, Vehlen, Antonia, Ebneter, Julia, Schicktanz, Nathalie, de Quervain, Dominique J. F., Wittmann, Lutz, Götzmann, Lutz, grosse Holtforth, Martin, Protic, Sonja, Wettstein, Alexander, Egloff, Niklaus, Streitberger, Konrad, Schwegler, Kyrill I. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9403731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36035017
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.891831
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author Schär, Selina
Vehlen, Antonia
Ebneter, Julia
Schicktanz, Nathalie
de Quervain, Dominique J. F.
Wittmann, Lutz
Götzmann, Lutz
grosse Holtforth, Martin
Protic, Sonja
Wettstein, Alexander
Egloff, Niklaus
Streitberger, Konrad
Schwegler, Kyrill I. M.
author_facet Schär, Selina
Vehlen, Antonia
Ebneter, Julia
Schicktanz, Nathalie
de Quervain, Dominique J. F.
Wittmann, Lutz
Götzmann, Lutz
grosse Holtforth, Martin
Protic, Sonja
Wettstein, Alexander
Egloff, Niklaus
Streitberger, Konrad
Schwegler, Kyrill I. M.
author_sort Schär, Selina
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation. METHODS: Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days. Groups were tested in the following consecutive order: Group A: guilt induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 59; Group B: guilt induction, cold-pressure-pain/sham, N = 43; Group C: emotionally neutral induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 39. Guilt was induced on both test-days in group A and B before pain/sham administration. Visual analog scale (VAS) guilt ratings immediately after pain/sham stimulation served as the primary outcome. In a control group C the identical heat-pain experiment was performed like in group A but a neutral emotional state was induced. RESULTS: A consistently strong overall effect of guilt-induction (heat-pain: p < 0.001, effect size r = 0.71; CPT-pain p < 0.001, r = 0.67) was found when compared to the control-condition (p = 0.25, r = 0.08). As expected, heat- and cold-pressure-stimuli were highly painful in all groups (p < 0.0001, r = 0.89). However, previous research supporting the hypothesis that pain is apt to reduce guilt was not replicated. CONCLUSION: Although guilt-induction was highly effective on both test-days no impact of pain on behavioral guilt-ratings in healthy individuals could be identified. Guilt induction per se did not depend on the order of testing. The result questions previous experimental work on the impact of pain on moral emotions.
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spelling pubmed-94037312022-08-26 Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain Schär, Selina Vehlen, Antonia Ebneter, Julia Schicktanz, Nathalie de Quervain, Dominique J. F. Wittmann, Lutz Götzmann, Lutz grosse Holtforth, Martin Protic, Sonja Wettstein, Alexander Egloff, Niklaus Streitberger, Konrad Schwegler, Kyrill I. M. Front Behav Neurosci Behavioral Neuroscience INTRODUCTION: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation. METHODS: Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days. Groups were tested in the following consecutive order: Group A: guilt induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 59; Group B: guilt induction, cold-pressure-pain/sham, N = 43; Group C: emotionally neutral induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 39. Guilt was induced on both test-days in group A and B before pain/sham administration. Visual analog scale (VAS) guilt ratings immediately after pain/sham stimulation served as the primary outcome. In a control group C the identical heat-pain experiment was performed like in group A but a neutral emotional state was induced. RESULTS: A consistently strong overall effect of guilt-induction (heat-pain: p < 0.001, effect size r = 0.71; CPT-pain p < 0.001, r = 0.67) was found when compared to the control-condition (p = 0.25, r = 0.08). As expected, heat- and cold-pressure-stimuli were highly painful in all groups (p < 0.0001, r = 0.89). However, previous research supporting the hypothesis that pain is apt to reduce guilt was not replicated. CONCLUSION: Although guilt-induction was highly effective on both test-days no impact of pain on behavioral guilt-ratings in healthy individuals could be identified. Guilt induction per se did not depend on the order of testing. The result questions previous experimental work on the impact of pain on moral emotions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9403731/ /pubmed/36035017 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.891831 Text en Copyright © 2022 Schär, Vehlen, Ebneter, Schicktanz, de Quervain, Wittmann, Götzmann, grosse Holtforth, Protic, Wettstein, Egloff, Streitberger and Schwegler. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Behavioral Neuroscience
Schär, Selina
Vehlen, Antonia
Ebneter, Julia
Schicktanz, Nathalie
de Quervain, Dominique J. F.
Wittmann, Lutz
Götzmann, Lutz
grosse Holtforth, Martin
Protic, Sonja
Wettstein, Alexander
Egloff, Niklaus
Streitberger, Konrad
Schwegler, Kyrill I. M.
Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title_full Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title_fullStr Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title_full_unstemmed Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title_short Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
title_sort guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain
topic Behavioral Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9403731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36035017
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.891831
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