The Woe of Wanting: Anticipatory Pleasure Can be Unpleasant

We manipulated anticipatory pleasure (i.e., wanting) using monetary incentives and probed participants’ subjective reports of pleasantness, unpleasantness, desire, and psychological capture during anticipation of rewards. As incentives increased, participants felt simultaneously more pleasant and psychologically captured, a state described as unpleasant. Increases in desire were accompanied by greater psychological capture.