Abstract
Humans are highly adapted to living in groups and are inherently social beings,navigating their world through social interaction with others (Stevens & Fiske, 1995). One’s
social identity (perception of how they are perceived by others) and sense of self (one’s own
sense of who they are) evolve out of interactions with others (Brewer, 1991; Fiske, 2018). We
engage with others as social agents who one can make sense with, instead of just of (Needs &
Adair-Stantiall, 2018), facilitating our understanding of our social world both as a distinct
individual and as a participant within a group connecting with others (Kyselo, 2014). Being
part of a group provides great benefits (e.g. self-esteem), and the mutual and reciprocal sense
of belonging and connectedness is fundamental to our existence and survival (Baumeister &
Leary, 1995; Gruenewald, Kemeny, Aziz and Fahey, 2004).
We are therefore acutely responsive to how others evaluate and feel about us, to
ensure we are approved of and accepted (Richman & Leary, 2009). Effort and sacrifices are
made to self-regulate, with the aim of maintaining our belongingness and, in turn, our
positive social identity (Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco & Twenge, 2005; Baumeister,
Brewer, Tice & Twenge, 2007). Situations that threaten one’s status or value can result in
psychological and physiological alerts (Kemeny, Gruenewald, & Dickerson, 2004).
Shame, for example, is a key emotional response to devaluation of the social self,
acting as a warning signal that one may be rejected from a group. The thought of being
viewed by another as defective and unacceptable, even if the ‘other’ is not physically present,
is enough to elicit shame. This can motivate defensive strategies in an attempt to create a
positive self-image and reduce the threat of rejection. These strategies can, however, become
maladaptive (Tangney & Dearing, 2002), contributing to associations between shame and
violence, and recidivism (e.g. see Shanahan, Jones & Thomas-Peter, 2011; Tangney, Stuewig
& Martinez, 2014).
Shame is a social phenomenon, closely interlinked to one’s sense of identity, but
evidently there is scope for things to go very wrong. Threats to the social self and fragile self-worth, coupled with reliance on maladaptive coping strategies, appear to be strongly
associated with offending behaviour. Accordingly, the experience of shame is of particular
interest to forensic psychology (Walker & Knauer, 2011).
This introductory literature review explores the above shame-related processes in
greater detail. Focus is given to the crucial role of shame in the social self, adaptive and
maladaptive functions of shame; and how these processes apply to offending populations. A
relationship between shame and resilience is proposed, following on to why this would be
problematic in forensic populations. This positions the premise of the overall thesis, which
looks at the predictive role of shame in offending by those in the criminal justice system. This
is followed by empirical research investigating how shame impacts forensic psychiatric
patients’ resilience. The implications this could have for engagement in psychological
therapy to address offending behaviour is discussed. Finally, recommendations are made on
how to address shame in forensic settings.
| Date of Award | Nov 2020 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Adrian Paul Charles Needs (Supervisor) |