where does guilt come from?

Guilt is believed to be an emotion that derives from behavior, either actively engaging in a behavior or by choosing not to engage in a certain behavior, or even thinking of behavior that has or could potentially cause harm in some way. It is important to note that the harm may not be objectively real, per se, but it can also be the perceived harm that one is convinced they have caused, whether one wanted to engage in the action or not. Simply having the thought of the action can result in the emotion of guilt being experienced. In terms of a cognitive framework, where the thought directly follows thoughts cause emotions, the emotion of guilt is the cause of someone else’s misfortune, whether this be the reality or not. Individuals who experience guilt more often than not falsely suffer from the illusion that they have caused harm to other people. Another belief is that guilt stems from fear in that if one showed their true emotions, they would commit an objectionable act.  They can experience guilt simply from having the thought of certain behavior that may cause harm without even acting on the thought and engaging in the behavior. Additionally, guilt can also derive from a person who has not engaged in some behavior due to the inaction; something morally or ethically wrong in regards to their beliefs occurred. An example would be if one had knowledge that a friend’s significant other was cheating on them and not informing the friend of their significant other’s transgressions, thus feeling guilty for not providing said information and allowing the friend to maintain the relationship under pretenses unknowingly. This will likely occur if one has the dilemma of a moral conflict between wishing someone would tell them this information if they knew it versus not wanting to meddle in other people’s relationships and allowing the other person to learn of said information on their own. This situation places one in the unfortunate situation of possibly experiencing guilt regardless of the action one takes. It is also important to note that guilt can be experienced from having thought one acted in a certain way in when objective one did not, that one did not do enough to help someone else, as well as having the experience of doing “better” than someone else (as in survivors guilt).