shame and guilt??

[thir]

[I]
Wiki is a wonderful first stop sometimes:

Yes, and I can see that tantric is right that there are many ideas on this topic!

According to cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict, shame is a violation of cultural or social values while guilt feelings arise from violations of one's internal values. Thus, it is possible to feel ashamed of thought or behavior that no one knows about and to feel guilty about actions that gain the approval of others.

But - the question arises whether there really is a difference between cutural or social values, and one's internal ones?? At the very least, there must be some overlap, in that they all come from our surroundings.

Psychoanalyst Helen B. Lewis argued that "The experience of shame is directly about the self, which is the focus of evaluation. In guilt, the self is not the central object of negative evaluation, but rather the thing done is the focus."

I think there may be something about this, though it needs more thinking about..
I think shame may be a real bad thing in most cases, while guilt may be a sort of compass to regulate our behaviour - according to ideas of what is ok or not.

Clinical psychologist Gershen Kaufman's view of shame is derived from that of Affect Theory, namely that shame is one of a set of instinctual, short-duration physiological reactions to stimulation. In this view, guilt is considered to be a learned behavior consisting essentially of self-directed blame or contempt, with shame occurring consequent to such behaviors making up a part of the overall experience of guilt.

I cannot buy the idea that shame is instinctual. I have come to believe that both shame and guilt must come from the outside, since we are not born with a knowledge or right or wrong, good or evil.