Guilt and pleasure are oddly intertwined, says Yale Professor Ravi Dhar.
In fact, in his experiments with researchers from Northwestern and Penn State Universities he found induced feelings of guilt can actually make things more pleasurable.
A prime example: The Las Vegas slogan "What happens here, stays here." Dhar says the slogan is crafted to attract tourists by emphasizing guilt associated with pleasure.
The naughty feeling of indulging in a chocolate bar, when you know you shouldn't, gives rise to pleasure, not pain.
Guilt can work the other way, too. In his experiments, Dhar found that giving people a choice of an indulgent coffee drink or a $5 donation to charity, made them give to charity. On the other hand, fewer people gave to charity when presented with the choice of a $5 laundry detergent versus the donation.
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