The sources of moral motivation

This study focuses on the motivational forces behind moral behavior: the emotions of empathy, guilt, and shame, and personal value priorities. The different forms of guilt and shame and their implications to social behavior are analyzed based on students’ descriptions of personal guilt and shame experiences. The connections between empathy and guilt as well as between emotional tendencies and value priorities are studied using questionnaire data. Gender differences in emotional tendencies and values are also addressed, and the cultural features of these differences are shown by comparing samples of Finnish and Peruvian adolescents. This book offers a detailed review of the literature on moral emotions and values, and four articles that approach the topic from different perspectives. It can be useful to students and researchers interested in moral emotions and values.