Guilty displeasures: How imagined guilt dampens consumer enjoyment

Within the domain of food consumption, we explore the antecedents and consequences of “guilty displeasures,” or experiences that consumers should enjoy, but do not. Food is an emotionally charged stimulus, with consumption leading to both positive (e.g., joy) and negative (e.g., guilt) emotions. Individuals who are high in dietary restraint are particularly susceptible to experiencing negative emotions given their heightened state of arousal in the presence of indulgent food. We show that these negative emotions arise even when individuals simply imagine the food. Across one pilot study and three experiments, we provide evidence that restrained eaters actively dampen their enjoyment of indulgences (i.e., guilty displeasures). We manipulate guilt using imagery type, with outcome imagery leading to greater guilt than process imagery (study 1). We also demonstrate that individuals high, compared to low, in dietary restraint dampen their savoring of even a hypothetical indulgence when guilt is evoked (study 2). Finally, we show these effects within the context of actual food consumption (study 3). Our exploration shows that merely anticipating an indulgence can elicit guilt among consumers high in dietary restraint, thus resulting in the dampening of enjoyment during a subsequent consumption experience.