Note: Guilt and Depth of Reaction to the Death of a President

The death of President John F. Kennedy was followed by great emotional reaction. Although the passing of any public leader always arouses strong feelings, this event led to particularly intense reactions. The depth of such feelings was reflected in overt weeping, prolonged moodiness and shocked, aimless wanderings of people in the streets. The impact of the assassination appeared to be widespread, influencing people of all ages and backgrounds. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that guilt feelings contributed to the severity of the emotional response. It was believed that Ss with greater reason to feel guilty would experience greater depth of grief over the President's death.

Ss were 50 undergraduate students who had demonstrated open emotionality upon hearing of the President's death during the class period. Within five days, they were asked to fill out a questionnaire covering three areas: depth of reaction, family size, and political affiliation. The questions relating to depth of reaction were provided with multiple choice answers representing a gradation of emotional intensity and provided the Depth of Reaction score. Such questions involved topics as depth of immediate reaction, nature of prolonged mood, and time for recovery from emotions.

Indices of guilt were the replies to the questions on family size and political affiliation. It was assumed that Ss from larger families would have experienced sibling rivalry feelings during their lives; further, that these feelings would have been transferred to the youthful President.