People who are guilt-prone are likely to focus on the behavior in question. For example, a guilt-prone person who misses a day of work after a night of heavy drinking is likely to think, “If I keep missing work, I could lose my job.” In contrast, a person who is shame-prone is much more likely to focus on what they view as a defective self (“I’m a complete failure because I keep missing work”). As you can imagine, it is much easier to change or fix any given behavior than it is to fix a defective self. So, as a result, the guilt-prone person in this situation will try to figure out what they
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