Research Article

The Role of Moral Emotions in Interpersonal Repair: Implications for Education and Social Context

Wanqi ShuUniversity of Manchester*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

The role of moral emotions in repairing interpersonal relationships is one of the most important research topics. Based on existing studies, researchers have systematically explained the role of moral emotions in interpersonal relationship repair. However, there are still some gaps in these studies, such as deeply relying on a single situation and not elaborating on the chain role of different moral emotions. Therefore, the research theme of this thesis is the role of three moral emotions (guilt, embarrassment, and compassion) in interpersonal repair and their application in educational situations. In general, this article adopts the evaluation literature review method to objectively review the existing research and add further discussion. The results show that guilt can stimulate the motivation of individuals to take recovery actions. Embarrassment as a signal of willingness to repair. Empathy stimulates the ability of transpositional consideration and tolerance. The chain interaction between them can be summarized as embarrassment causes individuals to 'want to repair’, guilt causes individuals to 'make behaviors of repair’, and empathy causes repair to be 'accepted’. This mechanism is also applicable in the education scenario, and specific practical measures include empathy training, teachers' apology guidance, etc. In general, this paper further analyzes the chain role of three kinds of moral emotions and proposes reasonable practical measures for repairing interpersonal conflicts at the educational level. However, there are also shortcomings, such as the neglect of longitudinal research and cross-cultural research, which provide a direction for future research.

Keywords: moral emotions; relationship repair; guilt; embarrassment; empathy.
Published: November 5, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.HT28918
Volume: CHR Vol.93
pp. 232-240
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