ABSTRACT
The motivational hedonism tends to neglect the implications that an individual’s dysphoric state has for individual others, or for the greater good. The motivational hedonism assumption is that people wish to approach pleasure and to avoid pain and suffering. The motivational hedonism underlying a great deal of thinking about emotion and action has wielded its influence most clearly in the understanding of dysphoric emotions like anger and shame. Although interesting and important, the socio-functional view of shame as appeasement leaves undisturbed the motivational hedonism view of shame. In the absence of a desire to win others over with shame, the common presumption is that a more internally-oriented shame is too psychologically devastating to be useful or sustainable. A growing body of work in psychology supports the idea that shame can be a productive – self-improving and/or pro-social – dysphoria.
