Normally we do not allow ourselves to indulge in special pleasure or splurge on something expensive when we cannot find reasons to justify it. In essence, it is because we think we will not enjoy becausewe will feel guilty if we are too lenient with ourselves. However, in an article recently published by the magazineJournal of Marketing Research, Norbert Schwarz and his colleague Jing Xu found that although consumers expect less enjoyment and more guilt when they indulge themselves without a reason or simply to console themselves for some setback, while we are having a sweet or indulging in some other “whim”, that exists or no reason does not affect how much we enjoy. And it does not matter if we indulge ourselves to console ourselves for something that has come out more or as a reward for a previous effort. It’s more,When we indulge ourselves, the pleasures dominate our attention and the justifications disappear from the mind..
Schwarz and Xu also concluded that these feelings are fleeting and, a few days later,when we need to reconstruct the memory of that pleasant moment, we modify it according to our expectations and prejudices, regardless of our actual experience. That is, if we believe that we will feel guilty for enjoying some “pleasures of life” it may be that we “remember” that we did feel guilty at that time, even though it is not true.
On the other hand, on the occasions when we feel a bit guilty by allowing ourselves, for example, to have a chocolate cake on a diet, the pleasures taste better, as a study by the University of Toronto reveals. “Guilt can add to fun and delight,” says Kelly Goldsmith, a co-author of the paper.
