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Guilty Americans and Shameful Japanese? An Affect Control Test of Benedict’s Thesis

In: Purpose, Meaning, and Action

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  • Herman W. Smith
  • Yap MiowLin

Abstract

Benedict (1946) offers one of the most cited and enticing—but least tested—thesis in cross-cultural social psychology. In essence, she argues that the basic motivator of Japanese behavior is shame, with guilt providing the major driving force among Americans. Other scholars have extended the same thesis of Asian shame cultures to India and China (Hsu 1949) and Burma (Hitson 1959). Benedict based her thesis on Freud’s somewhat unsystematic observations. (Freud and Breuer 1966) noting that his patients (all of whom were women) expressed shame, and his adult male colleagues felt guilt. His implication was that shame was a childish, feminine emotion outgrown by mature adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Herman W. Smith & Yap MiowLin, 2006. "Guilty Americans and Shameful Japanese? An Affect Control Test of Benedict’s Thesis," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Kent A. McClelland & Thomas J. Fararo (ed.), Purpose, Meaning, and Action, chapter 9, pages 213-236, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-10809-8_9
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-10809-8_9
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    Cited by:

    1. Herman Smith & Andreas Schneider, 2009. "Critiquing Models of Emotions," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 37(4), pages 560-589, May.

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