Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

90 THE PSYCHOLDGY OF ENVY
tension, guilt and shame are two of the most important, not only in the
pathology of emotion but also in character formation and the socialization
of the individual.
The painful inner tension termed a feeling of guilt always occurs when
the barrier set up by the super-ego is reached or exceeded. By contrast,
the feeling of shame arises out of the conflict between the ego and the
ego-ideal. In more simple terms, we feel guilt when we have undertaken
or attained something which, though desired by the elemental driving
forces within us, we know to be incompatible with the official norms of
our group-incompatible, that is, if we seek its realization. Guilt is
therefore the consequence of trespass. Shame arises, on the other hand,
if we have not been able to do or to attain something which, according to
the ideal we have set ourselves, we should have been able to achieve.
Hence shame is indicative of failure.
Piers prefers the wider term 'shame' to that of 'inferiority feeling'
because the latter presupposes comparison with some outside, other
person. In the case of being ashamed, the comparison is between the
actual self and the perfect, or at least adequate, self to which we aspire.
For the man who is tormented by feelings of inferiority has no potential
which he has failed to exploit. The man who is ashamed knows or
believes that what he has done is below the level he should have
attained. 19
Piers next observes that envy is often suppressed or restrained by a
feeling of guilt at being envious. This type of envy is usually rooted in the
oral aspect of sibling jealousy. The unconscious train of reasoning is
more or less as follows: 'The other gets more than I. I must take it away
from him or kill him. ' This type of envy, as Piers remarks, is generally
accompanied by resentment which may be so strong that it will colour
the whole personality. This resentment, resulting from impotence in the
face of authority, is directed against the parents, who, consciously or
unconsciously, are accused of favouritism towards the sibling. Resentment
can also be turned against a mere image of parental authority,
ultimately against God or fate.
Piers then draws attention to another type of envy. This he believes to
19 G. Piers and M. Singer, Shame and Guilt. A Psychoanalytical and Cultural Study,
Springfield (111.), 1953, pp. 6, 11.