A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret

Regret (emotion)

Regret is a negative conscious and emotional reaction to personal past acts and behaviors. Regret is often expressed by the term "sorry." Regret is often felt when someone feels sadness, shame, embarrassment, depression, annoyance or guilt after committing an action or actions that the person later...

 such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt

Guilt

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...

), health, economic, etc. Temptation also describes the coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation

Psychological manipulation

Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...

 or otherwise of curiosity

Curiosity

Curiosity is an emotion related to natural inquisitive behavior such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity...

, desire or fear of loss.

Derivation

Though at present used in many non-religious connotations, the term has implications deeply rooted in Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and the The Old Testament, starting with the story of Eve

Eve (Bible)

Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...

 and the original sin

Original sin

Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...

. Many non-Western cultures had no precise equivalent until coming into contact with Europeans; for example, Jesuit missionaries in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, translating the Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...

 into Old Tupi, had to use the Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 word tentação, since Tupi had no word expressing "temptation" in that sense (see Old Tupi language#Sample text).

Contemporary use

• "Temptation" is usually used in a loose sense to describe actions which indicate a lack of self control
  Self control
  Self control is the ability to control one's emotions, behavior and desires in order to obtain some reward later. In psychology it is sometimes called self-regulation...
  
  .
• Temptation is a common recurring theme in world literature. Temptation has repercussions for even the strongest.
• "Temptation" is something that allures, excites, and seduces someone. Infatuation
  Limerence
  Limerence is a term coined c. 1977 by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov to describe an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction to another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated...
  
   can also lead to temptation as someone might do something for love in spite of one's better judgement.
• In advertising
  Advertising
  Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
  
  , "temptation" is a theme common to many of the marketing
  Marketing
  Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
  
   and advertising
  Advertising
  Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
  
   techniques used to make products more attractive.

External links

• Article about Temptation in Marketing