Guilt in the Digital Communication Environment: A Theoretical Model of Moral-Relational Regulatory Functioning

Psychological research has long conceptualized guilt as a moral-relational regulatory emotion, yet its functioning in digital communication environments has received little systematic theoretical attention. This article proposes a theoretical model to understand the conditions created by the digital medium for the emergence, intensity, and moral-relational regulatory functioning of guilt. Conceptualizing guilt as a communicatively embedded regulatory process, the model integrates four theoretical approaches: the theory of mediatization, the psychology of moral and self-conscious emotions, narrative identity theory, and the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation. The model describes guilt as a process comprising five interrelated moments. Its central thesis is that four structural characteristics of the digital medium—partial anonymity and increased social distance, temporal asynchronicity, mass publicity, and the unpredictability of the normative framework—influence all moments of the process in a similar direction, thereby weakening or destabilizing the moral-relational regulatory role of guilt. Using intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations as examples, the model also shows that these effects may operate differently depending on the type of orientation. The proposed framework may contribute to the dialogue among psychology, media studies, and the study of religion by interpreting the functioning of guilt under the specific conditions of the digital communication environment.