Introduce EQ here: Take no longer than 10 seconds on this.

INTRO: Throughout Konrad Bocian's "Pain(less) cleansing: Watching other people in pain reduces guilt and sadness but not shame", it is found that many people take comfort in the pain (or punishment, in that matter) in others as it reduces their own guilt for actions they have committed, and now contemplate on. Watching others struggle also makes us feel as if we are not alone. Guilt, being as powerful as an emotion as it is, has the ability to tear us apart, not only mentally, but also (as seen from Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter") physically. Sadness is no less powerful than that of guilt, being controlling, and having a heavy influence on our day-to-day activities when it is present.

FACTUAL REASONING: If someone where to fall, or to be physically injured, one may see themselves finding it humorous, so would it be that far off to assume that a similar effect takes place when the previously mentioned scenario is set to a bigger scale? In the Article previously mentioned, one of the studies held required participants to watch a painful (prerecorded) blood collection procedure. Their brains where scanned before and after. Before they watched the procedure, they reminded themselves of a time they felt guilt, sadness, or ashamed. Astonishingly, the "participants’ guilt decreased after the participants observed another person in pain" (Bocian).

This can be attributed to The Scarlet Letter, when Hester is atop the scaffold, and is publicly shamed. The massive crowd this event garners each and every time may be full of people who are suffering from guilt, and find this some sort of escape from that.

In one of the following studies conducted by Bocian, it is found that while guilt and sadness levels are improved by watching others suffer, the feeling of shame remains as it is, or possibly gets worse. The third study was an exact replication of the first one, except shame was studied. When "participants watched another’s pain, their levels of shame remained the same" (Bocian).

"Schadenfreude" is the German word for enjoying other people's pain, which reflects that of which has been happening within The Scarlet Letter. It is very much in part of the insecurities of the Puritans that they take so much joy in shaming others. They may not, however, be joyful, but relieved.