Harry Potter’s Experience of Guilt

One clear self-conscious emotion Harry Potter repeatedly experienced was guilt. Guilt is different from shame or embarrassment because guilt comes from believing “I did something bad,” while shame is more like “I am bad,” and embarrassment is more social and usually short-term. Harry’s guilt was triggered not because he believed he was an unworthy person, but because he blamed himself for specific negative outcomes, even when they were often not actually his fault.

A strong example is
at the end of The Goblet of Fire. After Cedric is killed by Voldemort, Harry immediately internalized responsibility. His appraisal was: “I told Cedric to take the cup with me. If I had not done that, he would not have died.” This attribution was internal (he believed he caused it), stable in the short term (he continued to think about it long afterward), and uncontrollable (he could not change what happened). The combination of internal and uncontrollable attributions is very likely to produce guilt, and that is exactly what happened. He felt he had caused harm through his actions, even though externally it was Voldemort’s choice alone.