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The Asian guilt code – 2 Parts

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CNA (Channel NewsAsia) là kênh tin tức truyền hình và kỹ thuật số đa quốc gia của Singapore, thuộc sở hữu của tập đoàn truyền thông nhà nước Mediacorp.

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Why Do We Feel Guilty For Things We Didn’t Do? | The Asian Guilt Code – Part 1

CNA – 30-9-2026
 
Social psychologist Elaine Fernandez explores the complex and often overlooked impact of guilt across Asia. Drawing on her experience of working in Malaysia and the UK, she investigates how community, history and faith come together to shape the emotional life of the region in unique ways.
 
From Japan’s wartime legacy and collective guilt to the trauma of anti-drug violence in the Philippines, the online scams that manipulate victims’ emotions in China and rituals of atonement in India, Elaine examines how guilt influences individual lives in a myriad of tangible ways.
 
Along the way, she meets people whose experiences reveal both the destructive power of guilt and its potential to inspire accountability, healing and social transformation. She sees that guilt is not simply a private emotion, but one that is intrinsically tied to social identity and belonging across the region.

 
00:00 Introduction
01:17 Guilt comes loaded with many meanings & emotions
05:18 Guilt used to shape Philippine culture of migration
08:18 Guilt in Chinese culture
12:25 How Japan tried to individualise their war guilt
17:13 How modern Japanese understand their inherited war guilt
20:17 Inter-generational war guilt in Indonesia
24:03 Trauma of the Philippines’ War on Drugs
27:35 How scammers use guilt to target victims
37:43 How guilt is absolved across Asia
44:24 Conclusion
 

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Is Asia’s Next Generation Breaking The Cycle Of Guilt? | The Asian Guilt Code – Part 2

CNA – 30-9-2026

Social psychologist Elaine Fernandez explores how guilt shapes everyday life across Asia in often unseen ways. From Japan’s culture of overwork and moral education to changing attitudes towards burnout in China and family obligations in India, she examines how guilt influences the choices people make and the burdens they carry.

But these feelings are not shaped by culture and family alone. Across the region, laws turn intergenerational responsibility into legal obligations.

Looking ahead, Elaine asks whether AI can understand and respond to an emotion as complex as guilt, and what this means for those seeking support in Asia. Her journey reveals how guilt remains a powerful force in people’s lives, evolving alongside culture, technology and generational change.

00:00 Introduction

01:12 Why Japan works so hard

03:59 Moral education in Japan

11:30 Rejecting guilt and burnout

12:14 China’s “Lying Flat” rebellion

14:04 Guilt in Indian families

16:33 The eldest daughter syndrome

19:29 When family duty becomes law

23:40 The cost of guilt-tripping

26:26 Youth activism across Asia

31:40 Art, identity and rebellion

32:14 Pressure to succeed in South Korea

35:17 Can AI understand guilt?

38:32 Building culturally aware AI

41:24 AI as emotional support

45:15 Conclusion

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