Schär Selina, Vehlen Antonia, Ebneter Julia, Schicktanz Nathalie, de Quervain Dominique J F, Wittmann Lutz, Götzmann Lutz, Grosse Holtforth Martin, Protic Sonja, Wettstein Alexander, Egloff Niklaus, Streitberger Konrad, Schwegler Kyrill I M
University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Abteilung für biologische und klinische Psychologie, University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2022 Aug 11;16:891831. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.891831. eCollection 2022.
The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation.
Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days. Groups were tested in the following consecutive order: Group A: guilt induction, heat-pain/sham, N = 59; Group B: guilt induction, cold-pressure-pain/sham, = 43; Group C: emotionally neutral induction, heat-pain/sham, = 39. Guilt was induced on both test-days in group A and B before pain/sham administration. Visual analog scale (VAS) guilt ratings immediately after pain/sham stimulation served as the primary outcome. In a control group C the identical heat-pain experiment was performed like in group A but a neutral emotional state was induced.
A consistently strong overall effect of guilt-induction (heat-pain: < 0.001, = 0.71; CPT-pain < 0.001, = 0.67) was found when compared to the control-condition ( = 0.25, = 0.08). As expected, heat- and cold-pressure-stimuli were highly painful in all groups ( < 0.0001, = 0.89). However, previous research supporting the hypothesis that pain is apt to reduce guilt was not replicated.
Although guilt-induction was highly effective on both test-days no impact of pain on behavioral guilt-ratings in healthy individuals could be identified. Guilt induction per se did not depend on the order of testing. The result questions previous experimental work on the impact of pain on moral emotions.
本研究的目的是（1）通过一篇书面自传体文章来验证内疚诱导方法，以及（2）测试实验性疼痛是否易于减轻内疚的心理负担，这一概念得到了实证研究和临床观察的支持。
招募了三组独立的健康男性参与者。分组并非随机进行，但在组内，疼痛/假刺激在两个测试日进行了平衡处理。各小组按以下连续顺序进行测试：A组：内疚诱导、热痛/假刺激，N = 59；B组：内疚诱导、冷压痛/假刺激，N = 43；C组：情绪中性诱导、热痛/假刺激，N = 39。在A组和B组的两个测试日，在疼痛/假刺激之前均进行内疚诱导。疼痛/假刺激后立即使用视觉模拟量表（VAS）进行内疚评分作为主要结果。在C组对照组中，与A组进行相同的热痛实验，但诱导的是中性情绪状态。
与对照条件相比（F = 0.25，η² = 0.08），发现内疚诱导具有始终如一的强大总体效应（热痛：F < 0.001，η² = 0.71；冷压痛：F < 0.001，η² = 0.67）。如预期的那样，热刺激和冷压刺激在所有组中都引起了高度疼痛（F < 0.0001，η² = 0.89）。然而，之前支持疼痛易于减轻内疚这一假设的研究并未得到重复验证。
尽管在两个测试日内内疚诱导都非常有效，但未发现疼痛对健康个体行为内疚评分有影响。内疚诱导本身并不取决于测试顺序。该结果对之前关于疼痛对道德情绪影响的实验工作提出了质疑。
