GENERAL CATEGORIES OF SHAME: ONTOGENESIS, EARLY RELATIONSHIPS, CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

article presents an overview of theoretical and empirical concepts of shame that exist in science and psychological practice. The material includes references to key domestic researches of the second half of 20th century, researches of psychophysiology and social psychology. Biological perspectives on shame, starting with the paper of Ch. Darwin, as well as a phylogenetic response of shame in the infant are reviewed. Psychoanalytic views are the most widely covered. Shame is first used in a title of a publication in 1942 and thereafter appears there only 17 times until 1971. Then the paper on the distinction between shame and guilt emerges. The author provides a vignette depicting their differences. According to the sources on general psychology, psychoanalysis and dictionaries, a set of criteria defining shame is collected and analyzed. An ontogenetic sequence of shame appearance in the individual's life in the theories of S. Freud and E. Erikson is demonstrated. Localization of shame in the structural model is expanded, a number of authors place it between Ego and Ego-Ideal. Also the analysis of the Greek myth is presented as an illustration. Having explored the shame characteristics in different theories, an attempt is made to group shame by attributes including stimulus of occurrence; duration of influence; period of manifestation in ontogenesis; degree of personality coverage on depth and breadth. The following general categories are allocated as a result of the analysis: External–Internal; State–Chronic (trait); Primary–Secondary; Intensity–Extensiveness. They imply complementary ‘and/or’ characteristics in order to create a volumetric portrait of shame and personality.