Self-conscious emotion and Ove

1. Self-Conscious Emotions

Shame, pride, guilt, and hubris are elicited by cognitive abilities. This is why these emotions are called self-conscious (evaluative) emotions. Self-conscious emotions involve a set of standards, rules, or goals (SRGs). Based on SRGs, we evaluate our actions, thoughts, and feelings. Because SRGs are varied by each individual, group such as peers or family, society, or culture, evaluation toward the same behavior differs across different SRGs. After our evaluation is completed, self-conscious emotions arise. In the process of eliciting emotions, two aspects of evaluation are considered: 1) success or failure; 2) global or specific. Global attribution focuses on the total self. When people with global attribution violate SRGs, they tend to focus on their total self instead of their behavior (e.g., “Because I did this, I am bad.”). On the other hand, people with specific attribution focuses on behaviors of the self (e.g., “What I did was wrong, I should not do it again.”). Emotional consequences of failure evaluation are shame and guilt. However, the focus of shame is a global evaluation of the self, whereas the focus of guilt is the specific action of the self. On the other hand, hubris and pride are emotional consequences of success evaluation. Still, hubris has to do with global self-attribution, while pride with specific self-attribution. 

2. Guilt of Ove

Similar to shame, guilt is caused by a perceived failure to satisfy internalized SRGs. However, when we feel guilt, we are surprised rather than shocked toward our behavior and are motivated to make things right. Ove did not like talking to others about his dead wife. This was because he was worried that his memories of Sonja would be disorganized or changed as he talks to other people. One day, after driving practice, Parvaneh offered Ove to clean his home in return for his driving lessons. Parvaneh touched Sonja’s stuff while asking Ove why every furniture was built lowered. Ove could have answered Parveneh that he and Sonja were in a car accident, and he built all furniture lowered for Sonja because she became wheelchair dependent. However, instead of answering like this, Ove yelled at her to get out of his house in anger. Parvaneh was embarrassed and left Ove’s house without knowing why he was angry. After Parvaneh left, Ove felt guilty about his rude behavior to Parvaneh. Deep down in Ove's mind, he has a self-set standard for a "good person" who is helpful and honest with others. Ove perceived he violated his standard by being offensive to Parvaneh who had been a good friend of him. Therefore, he decided to share his experiences with Parvaneh and to apologize to her to recover their relationship again.  

Ove’s feeling of guilt arose because of other friends Rune and Anita. While patrolling his neighborhood, Ove got to know his old friend Rune will be supposed to be sent to a nursing home by public officials. Rune's wife, Anita, objected to sending him to a nursing home, so she spent two years pleading with the authorities. Besides, Ove got to know that Anita did not ask Ove for help because she thought Ove was going through a hard time after Sonja's death. Ove felt guilty because he realized he had been disinterested in his friends because he was overwhelmed by his past. As a friend, he did not give any help to Rune and Anita, so he evaluated his past behaviors as failures. Soon, however, he decided to put effort to support Anita’s trial by finding ways to save Rune from the tyranny of public officials.