A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives

Shame and guilt are two higher-order emotions which are believed to play a role in motivating moral behavior and developing moral character. It is for this reason that they are also referred to as moral emotions. Emotions help people to distinguish moral features in specific contexts, to motivate mo...

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Main Authors: Sawai, Rezki Perdani, Mohd Noah, Sidek, Krauss, Steven Eric, Juhari, Rumaya, Abdullah, Salhah, Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf, Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/1/fail3.cfm-3.pdf
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author Sawai, Rezki Perdani
Mohd Noah, Sidek
Krauss, Steven Eric
Juhari, Rumaya
Abdullah, Salhah
Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf
Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili
author_facet Sawai, Rezki Perdani
Mohd Noah, Sidek
Krauss, Steven Eric
Juhari, Rumaya
Abdullah, Salhah
Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf
Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili
author_sort Sawai, Rezki Perdani
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Shame and guilt are two higher-order emotions which are believed to play a role in motivating moral behavior and developing moral character. It is for this reason that they are also referred to as moral emotions. Emotions help people to distinguish moral features in specific contexts, to motivate moral behavior, and to undercut immoral behavior. The concept of moral emotions in the Islam and Western cultural traditions differs. The majority of Western psychologists consider shame as detrimental to psychological well-being. Guilt, however, is generally viewed as an adaptive emotion. In Islam, the moral character of a person is determined by how much shame (haya’) his heart possesses while guilt (nadam) motivates the person to ask for forgiveness from fellow beings and repentance to Allah SWT. The greater the shame and guilt of a person, the more they will stay away from sin, resulting in a better-mannered individual. Thus, the aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the concepts of shame and guilt from the Western and Islamic perspectives. The research is significant in contributing a deeper understanding of the role of emotions in human functioning.
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spelling upm-644432018-07-05T09:33:28Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/ A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives Sawai, Rezki Perdani Mohd Noah, Sidek Krauss, Steven Eric Juhari, Rumaya Abdullah, Salhah Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili Shame and guilt are two higher-order emotions which are believed to play a role in motivating moral behavior and developing moral character. It is for this reason that they are also referred to as moral emotions. Emotions help people to distinguish moral features in specific contexts, to motivate moral behavior, and to undercut immoral behavior. The concept of moral emotions in the Islam and Western cultural traditions differs. The majority of Western psychologists consider shame as detrimental to psychological well-being. Guilt, however, is generally viewed as an adaptive emotion. In Islam, the moral character of a person is determined by how much shame (haya’) his heart possesses while guilt (nadam) motivates the person to ask for forgiveness from fellow beings and repentance to Allah SWT. The greater the shame and guilt of a person, the more they will stay away from sin, resulting in a better-mannered individual. Thus, the aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the concepts of shame and guilt from the Western and Islamic perspectives. The research is significant in contributing a deeper understanding of the role of emotions in human functioning. 2015 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/1/fail3.cfm-3.pdf Sawai, Rezki Perdani and Mohd Noah, Sidek and Krauss, Steven Eric and Juhari, Rumaya and Abdullah, Salhah and Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf and Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili (2015) A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives. In: Seminar Wahyu Asas Tamadun IV Peringkat Antarabangsa (SWAT 2015), 6-7 Okt. 2015, Dewan Kuliah Utama, FPQS, USIM. (pp. 948-959).
spellingShingle Sawai, Rezki Perdani
Mohd Noah, Sidek
Krauss, Steven Eric
Juhari, Rumaya
Abdullah, Salhah
Khalid, Muhammad Yusuf
Mohd Ghazali, Norzulaili
A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title_full A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title_fullStr A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title_full_unstemmed A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title_short A comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the Western and Islamic perspectives
title_sort comparison of the moral emotions concepts 'shame' and 'guilt' from the western and islamic perspectives
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64443/1/fail3.cfm-3.pdf