The strong historical association between shame, guilt and pleasure might help to explain a number of paradoxical human behaviours, as well as the historical preference for formulating scientific research questions in terms of behaviour rather than pleasure and other hedonic feelings.

Irene Tracey, A Common Neurobiology for Pain and Pleasure, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol. 9, no. 4, 2008, pp. 315, p. 315