Pain, guilt, punishment -some research

The research seems to show that people who feel guilty are likely to both subject themselves to pain more readily and also to feel that pain helps with the guilt. It's the interpretation then that becomes interesting. How far is this cultural and how far somatic. Of course the two are inextricable, but where does the balance lie of factors? Well,

"According to the scientists, although we think of pain as purely physical in nature, in fact we imbue the unpleasant sensation with meaning. Humans have been socialized over ages to think of pain in terms of justice. We equate it with punishment, and as the experimental results suggest, the experience has the psychological effect of rebalancing the scales of justice -- and therefore resolving guilt" Cleansing the soul by hurting the flesh: The guilt-reducing effect of pain

I'm not entirely sure on this hypothesis: I'm willing to believe it but I can't help a niggly feeling that it's offering too much to culture. To be sure we are inveterately meaning-making creatures and therein lies our inescapable culture-making. But I'm wondering whether the pain-punishment-guilt linkage may not be more deeply rooted that this hypothesis seems to give credit for. I'm thinking that the impetus for punishment seems to be more connected to a more instinctual anger/frustration which when turned on to others is often expressed with 'violence'. When turned on the subject results in guilt (ira incurvata in se?), but since this is a form of anger>violence, the pain in the study serves as a release. So this would be a more somatic genesis.

Interested to hear further thoughts. Clearly this has potential implications for issues of forgiveness and atonement (which is actually where my interest comes from at the moment).