How Should I Feel About This? Investigating the Emotions and Processes Involved in Indulging in Guilty Pleasures

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Affective Science

Background:

• Understanding ambivalent affective states is crucial for comprehending social motivations and behavior.
• Guilty pleasures (GPs) represent a common experience involving mixed emotions.
• Previous research has not fully explored the emotional and cognitive processes underlying GPs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the positive and negative emotions associated with guilty pleasures.
• To examine the role of cognitive dissonance and self-presentation in guilty pleasure behaviors.
• To understand how social audience affects the disclosure of guilty pleasures.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted, including one experimental study and two correlational studies with student and general population samples.
• Participants reflected on or reported their guilty pleasures, emotions experienced, and self-presentation concerns.
• Audience distance was manipulated or assessed in relation to the likelihood of sharing guilty pleasures.

Main Results:

• Guilty pleasures elicited a range of positive emotions (amusement, contentment, enthusiasm) and negative emotions (guilt, embarrassment, shame).
• Participants were less likely to share their guilty pleasures with distant audiences (strangers, acquaintances) compared to closer ones (friends, family).
• Findings suggest cognitive dissonance and self-presentation processes are linked to guilty pleasure engagement.

Conclusions:

• Guilty pleasures are characterized by ambivalent emotional experiences.
• Self-presentation concerns and audience social distance significantly influence the disclosure of guilty pleasures.
• These findings contribute to a discrete, functionalist understanding of emotion and social behavior.