Is the emotion "Guilt" inherited or learned/mechanical?

billbatard

part of the evolutionary empthy gene   , proves you have a concience@ZeusAres42

billbatard

@ZeusAres42 sociopaths and psycopaths lack it and that makes them dangerous

maxx

@ZeusAres42 first I think you may mean remorse rather than guilt; there is a difference. regardless. both come about by either the threat or actual punishment, but mainly by shame and humiliation. I think that shame is learned from being laughed at as a child by other children and being laughed at makes one feel inadequate. in children this feeling of being laughed at due to the shame is in my opinion not something we learned; it seems to show up as early as age 3-4. so perhaps guilt and remorse may be learned, but they stem from an instinctive reaction.

Plaffelvohfen

@ZeusAres42

Guilt is indeed a learned emotion and is closely related to shame, love is also a learned emotion... As opposed to primary emotions which do not require any kind of knowledge like happiness, sadness, anger, and fear...