Does Shame Still Prevail in China and Guilt Prevail in the U.S.A?

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This study examined whether Chinese and Americans varied in guilt and shame. A 2 (relational closeness: friends vs. acquaintance) × 3 (targets of harm: self only vs. self and the other vs. the other only) × 2 (country: China vs. U.S.) between-subject factorial study was conducted. Results showed regardless of cultures, the extent of damage caused by transgression significantly predicted guilt and shame, whereas relational closeness between a transgressor and a witness did not have an impact. U.S. participants exhibited stronger guilt and shame compared to Chinese on scaled items; Chinese participants had more open-ended shame expressions than U.S. participants.