That happy error is what launches dopamine into action. It’s not the extra time or the extra money themselves. It’s the thrill of the unexpected good news. Mike Long: Yes, anticipation to cultivate your ability to just experience where you are. To put the first simple things. I put the phone down during dinner, turn it off when you're talking to somebody, look in their eyes and listen to what they say. Don't worry about what you're going to say next. Listen to be here now, as the phrase goes. The simple awareness that this exists at all is a profound gift that you can give yourself. Daniel Lieberman: I think so. I think there's still an enormous amount of stigma. In general, brain illnesses are more stigmatized compared to other illnesses. But we're making progress. You're probably too young to remember. But, there was a time when having cancer was stigmatized.

Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain

Violence is sometimes the result of dysfunction or pathology. But most of the time, violence is a choice—a coercive and calculated way to get the thing you want. The surge of dopamine feels good, but it’s different from a surge of H&N pleasure, which is a surge of satisfaction. And that difference is key: the dopamine surge triggered by winning leaves us wanting more.Daniel Lieberman: That's why there's a fine line between art and insanity. Sometimes we don't know. Sometimes initially we say, this is crazy. This is not art. And then maybe a few decades later we take a second look and we say “wait a minute. That is art.” Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times - and so good at figuring them out? Mike Long: Highly dopaminergic people are easily distracted in many cases. They see something. They want to know what it is. And so, there are a lot of more random things that — I'm speaking in broad terms here. Mike Long: Sure, so dopamine is all about the future, making the future better. Maximizing resources. It gives us desire and anticipation. But as Mike pointed out, it makes promises it can't keep. So, for example, you may be wanting a brand-new TV and going on the Internet, getting all excited about that TV. But as soon as you get it, things change because it's gone from the future to the present and dopamine can only process the future. So, what happens is dopamine shuts down, and that's one of the causes of buyer's remorse, which everybody has heard of. But let me change the situation slightly, and what my change is going to do is it's going to shift the neuro transmitters you're going to use to think about this problem, and it's going to change the way you view it.

The Molecule of More - RSB The Molecule of More - RSB

Introduction: Up Versus Down......................................................................................... 5 And the experience is that it actually diminishes free will. It does not take it away completely. People still have a choice, but it makes making the right choice so much more difficult because we, we respond to the biological activity of our brain and dopamine is very, very powerful in that respect. Daniel Lieberman: So, you know, people will take amphetamine and it will make them work harder. It will make them more excited. It will focus them in on being goal directed, but eventually it will also ruin their life. So, artificially boosting dopamine is not the best strategy for a successful life.Kaitlin Luna: Everything in our body serves a purpose. So, from evolutionary perspective, why does dopamine exist in our brains and are we the only animals who have dopamine? Daniel Lieberman: When people think about dopamine, they often think about reward, and that is an important aspect of it. We get feelings of pleasure, reinforcement, even euphoria when we do things that promote our survival and our reproduction, eating food, drinking water, winning competitions and having sex. Just as dopamine is the molecule of obsessive yearning, the chemicals most associated with long-term relationships are oxytocin and vasopressin. Daniel Lieberman: Because that's what dopamine does. It says here’s something new. There might be something useful in this that will help me in the future. Help me reproduce or keep me safe or whatever it is. In the case of loves, my goodness, look at this possibility. It's right in front of me and you get this euphoria and the more you learn about the thing, the less there is to explore, and the dopamine begins to fade. The dopamine-boosting effect is also evident when marijuana smokers get lost in their own thoughts, floating aimlessly through imaginary worlds of their own creation.

The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain

Daniel Lieberman: Now, if you survey people about that, about ninety percent of people are going to say that it's ethically permissible to pull the switch. And we call that a utilitarian approach to ethics. Maximize future resources. It's very dopaminergic. It's better to save five lives at the expense of one. So, this is a situation which dopamine determines our ethical approach. Daniel Lieberman: I think perhaps the broadest way to describe dopamine is that it's designed to maximize future resources, and we can see that working in ourselves when we're constantly focused on the future, I need more. I'm not satisfied. I'm not a good enough person rather than just kind of taking a deep breath and saying wow, look at all the wonderful things I have, the good things I've done. I'm grateful for them. Mike Long: I'll add just this because that's right on the nose. If you're aware that there are two ways to anticipate or to experience the world, to anticipate it or to experience it and to learn which one is the troll point for you. For most people, probably most people listening to this podcast, It's going to be on the dopaminergic side.

Topics in Psychology

But there are a lot of more random things — concepts, images, what have you, floating around in their brains than non-dopaminergic people or people of lower levels of dopamine. And just by dent of having more things, is more likely to associate things that haven't been associated before.