The Pleasure of Guilt
22.05.12
As February passes, we can reflect on a month associated with both guilt and pleasure. Valentine's Day means heart-shaped boxes that soon rattle with the sounds of empty wax-paper chocolate holders. Bathroom scales are pushed to a shadowy corner. Through a headache and haze, we greet half-remembrances, better forgotten, of Mardi Gras revelry. To borrow from Emerson, "Guilt is in the saddle, and rides mankind."
It is intuitively appealing to believe that feelings of guilt will negatively affect the pleasure one receives from an indulgent, or hedonic, experience. In our recent survey, participants were asked if they would enjoy a dessert more when they felt guilty consuming it versus when they felt no guilt. An overwhelming majority of respondents ( 94 percent ) indicated that the dessert would be more enjoyable without guilt.
However, new research undertaken at the Yale Center for Customer Insights with my colleagues Kelly Goldsmith at the Kellogg School of Management and Eunice Kim at the Rotman School of Management finds otherwise.
Source: Huffington Post