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

Many circumstances trigger mixed feelings, and understanding how people navigate ambivalent affective states sheds light on how social motivations guide behavior. We adopted a discrete, functionalist account of emotion to explore the positive and negative emotions experienced when indulging in guilty pleasures (GPs) and how these outcomes implicate cognitive dissonance and self-presentation processes. Study 1 randomly assigned participants to reflect on a GP or their previous morning routine, whereas Studies 2 (student sample) and 3 (general population sample) assessed participants’ GPs, emotions experienced, and self-presentation concerns. Across these studies, GPs elicited positive emotions of amusement, contentment, and enthusiasm, and negative emotions of guilt, embarrassment, and shame, highlighting their ambivalent nature. Participants consistently reported being less likely to share their GPs with more interpersonally distant audiences (e.g., strangers, acquaintances, grandparents) than closer audiences (e.g., friends, immediate family). These findings suggest that cognitive dissonance and self-presentation processes are implicated in GP behaviors.