CarderPlanet
Professional
Neuromarketing is an applied neuroscientific discipline that harnesses brain-related discoveries to market needs. The heyday of the science of building a manipulative environment is just beginning with the development of technology and big data. Mass interest in the idea of neuroarchitecture in the non-professional community has arisen quite recently. Former Facebook employee and now venture capitalist and billionaire Chamat Palihapitiya in December at a meeting with students at Stanford University admitted that he felt guilty for his participation in the development of social network algorithms.
He called these algorithms "dopamine fast feedback loops", which, in his opinion, are already disrupting the healthy functioning of society.
They lead to the destruction of civil discussion and cooperation, the spread of disinformation and allow all kinds of clowns to control the masses of people.
What is this "dopamine loop" and why is it so bad?
Loop architecture
Feedback is the data that a certain system receives after a certain segment of its work in order to correct it. For example, you are a barista and a visitor says that your espresso is liquid like bird guano. You have received feedback (feedback) and now you know that you need to make your coffee thicker and tastier.
A loop is formed if the feedback system closes on itself, according to the principle: “I walked somehow across the bridge: a crow dries up on the bridge; put it under the bridge - let the crow get wet. Once I was walking across the bridge: under the bridge the crow gets wet; put it on the bridge - let the crow dry. "It can be depicted like this:
The feedback loop is familiar to us, including from the game loop in game design: any action leads to a given result in virtual reality and the gamer's reaction to this result - after which the game again requires action. Such a loop is sometimes called "compulsive", that is, obsessive: the game can be arranged in such a way that every moment seems inappropriate for a break, because the loop must be completed - but it never has an end point.
The dopamine feedback loop occurs when incentives are used, such as receiving bonuses, increasing strength, unexpected wins, etc. This is the technique behind the work of Facebook and other social networks: quick likes, shares, and in general any interactions with your account, which can be carried out instantly, are the same bonuses. Each user becomes a source of dopamine feedback for the other, providing their likes, which, in turn, increases their own chances of waiting for feedback.
As soon as a reward looms on the horizon, dopamine, a brain substance that helps you focus on a goal, on what you want, is released.
This principle is called the “brain reward system,” and it influences our actions much more than it might seem. Such mechanisms are actively used in the market: since the release of dopamine is a completely normal and healthy reaction of our body and you cannot just get rid of it, there are practically no people immune to "dopamine engineering".
What is dopamine
Dopamine is the main active substance of the reward system in the human and animal brains. Its allocation is subjectively experienced as an improvement in mood, exacerbation of desires and an increase in motivation. This system forces us to make efforts that are beneficial for the body: to look for food fatter and sweeter, defeat rivals, copulate with suitable partners and procreate. The brain lures us in with the anticipation of pleasure.
Why Wish Fulfillment Doesn't Bring Happiness
The most famous experiment with dopamine is the tragic story of a rat, which researchers James Olds and Peter Milner stuck an electrode in the brain region responsible for the reward system and gave a stimulation lever to its legs. The animal stopped eating and drinking and endlessly sting at the button. As a result, the experimental rodent, in eternal self-stimulated ecstasy, became a dystopian image-symbol of the era of consumption.
Previously, it was believed that this rat experienced bliss: what else can make a living creature get hung up on the unfortunate electrode? Therefore, dopamine was called the "pleasure molecule." However, it soon began to seem that not everything is so simple and unambiguous.
The difficulty is that pleasure is a very subjective experience, and the rat cannot tell about his feelings. Luckily for us, medicine in the 1960s USA was highly unethical: Robert Heath of Tulane University implanted such electrodes in the brains of his patients and gave them the opportunity to stimulate themselves.
The experimental patients behaved like a notorious rat: they were engaged in self-stimulation up to 40 times a minute, did not interrupt for food and continued to press the button hundreds of times even after turning off the current. In the days of behaviorism, it never occurred to anyone to ask clients about their psychological experiences, so little can be learned from reports of patients' actual well-being. They reported rather briefly that they felt something pleasant, but the compulsive pressing of a button and the constant anxiety that the current would be turned off led many researchers to the idea that it was not about pleasure. For example, a patient who was similarly treated for narcolepsy said that during the entire procedure he had not experienced a single joyful moment and felt despair.
Later experiments showed that "like" and "want" are not only different, but also unrelated experiences.
It turned out that if the brain of a rodent is deprived of dopamine, then the rat will still like sweet food and, when eaten, a blissful mine, familiar to experimenters, will appear on its face, caused by the work of opioids, which are associated with the direct experience of sensual pleasure. However, despite this, without dopamine, she will not do anything to get food, since she will not be motivated. If you suppress the "hormone of joy", then the attractiveness of any rewards disappears.
In 2001, Stanford scientist Brian Knutson proved that dopamine is responsible for the anticipation of pleasure. It is a way of motivating and rewarding evolutionarily sound choices that are conducive to survival. Dopamine uses pleasure cravings like a carrot in front of a donkey's face to get a person to do the right thing. He forces us to seek pleasure - but not to experience it. The work of this hormone is responsible for the psychological illnesses of the consumer society.
10 simplest hooks to catch us
Likes
Smartphones and tablets, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other applications regularly provide us with portions of social approval, which we have a biological need for ( conformism is an automatic reaction of the brain). Each like triggers a small dopamine spike - pleasant, but short-term, only reinforcing the desire for more.
Sugar, fat, calories
Food that is attractive to the reward system should be as high-calorie as possible, contain enough sugar and fat. Addictive fizzy sodas are actually liquid sugar, which is why, according to researchers, American schoolchildren so often develop attention deficit disorder.
Free samples of food and drinks
At the entrance to a supermarket or cafe, we may be asked to try something sweet, salty, or caffeinated to set the dopamine hook on and provoke the desire to return to this place again. For the same purpose, restaurants often serve free sweets with coffee or tea.
Alluring aroma
There is an entire industry working in neuromarketing to create "persuasive" incense.
The signature scent around the café, the relaxing or energizing scents in the various sections of the stores, influence customer behavior on an unconscious level.
There are even sophisticated engineering solutions in this area: for example, using a multi-layered scent in a shopping center, you can lure visitors to an ice cream parlor on the ground floor. On the upper tiers, a light aroma of fruit is spread, on the middle tiers - ice cream, and closer to the cafe itself - waffles and caramel.
Appetizing pictures
Visual incentives have a profound effect on the reward system. Research shows that when people view attractive images of food, they taste the food more. That is why restaurants have moved from an understandable and rational organization of the menu "name - composition - price" to an album of juicy photos of the dishes themselves. Add to this the endless stream of food porn on social media: the reward system heats up like a mercury thermometer rubbed with a woolen blanket.
The constant visual presence of any, not only gastronomic, products is important: the main thing is that the picture appears in front of the client at the very moment when he feels a vague consumer itch, but does not yet know who to give his money to. The data collected based on your social network activity helps to track the direction of desires. This is how ads that you have already paid attention to (or similar ones) appear in front of you over and over again.
Sexuality
The sex sells formula is boring, but not outdated. Allusions of sex, mostly in the form of half-naked girls or naked female body parts, cause dopamine itching: damn it, you will miss this encouragement! The sprawling pornography market also plays into the hands of marketers.
By shaping the compulsive need to masturbate while watching videos, the porn market pumps high doses of dopamine into the brain, making us more vulnerable to other hooks.
Erotic arousal encourages risky financial behavior.
Novelty
The dopamine system encourages us to learn new things, because information about changes in the world around us can save our lives. Therefore, it reacts worse to predictable stimuli, and every self-respecting fast food giant with a menu familiar from childhood constantly adds new positions to it or tries to arrange a week of some Eurasian dishes.
Gamification
Gamification is one of the architectural principles of dophanomics. Involving the consumer in a game-like activity with a set of points, the opportunity to take the lead, unexpected bonuses and winnings allows you to get the maximum investment from him. Various customer loyalty systems are game interfaces with dopamine feedback: they encourage people to buy certain goods and services at a certain time using bonuses, discounts, contests and other tricks. Gamification is used not only in the market, but also in education, for example in the recently released fake news game.
Surprise
Experiments show that if the subjects know exactly when and how much sweet juice they will receive, then almost no dopamine is produced. At the same time, contrary to expectations, the acquired bonus includes a reward system much more actively. This is used by companies like Kiip, a mobile reward platform. The app supports active users by unexpectedly rewarding them with prizes when they are successful. Brands gain access to target audiences and associate them with happy moments of great accomplishments and achievements. The less predictable the reward, the more enjoyable it is.
Risk of loss
Dopamine is associated not only with excitement and high spirits, but also with nervousness and increased alertness, because this substance is the precursor of adrenaline and norepinephrine. The fear of losing something, as shown by experiments in the neurobiology of decision-making, is much stronger than the desire to save and save. Therefore, words such as “have time to buy”, “limited offer”, “only two days left”, “until everything is sorted out”, “last copy”, etc., can make us buy just to get rid of nervousness ... The striking effect of "Black Friday", when even wealthy people go crazy and with a primitive roar fight for goods that are far from essential, is a consequence of the skillfully promoted experience of scarcity. We exaggerate the value of rewards when the risk of losing it is high.
Tastes, smells, promises to make us rich and attractive, half-naked models, cheap alcohol and fast food - for our brains, Friday night seems like a crazy motivational carousel.
The market uses dopamine stimulation techniques to not only manipulate consumers' attention, but also to hack our reward system. The increase in the level of this hormone makes us more receptive to anticipation of any pleasure.
How the market tricks our brains
How does the market trick the brain - the smartest system on the planet?
The brain takes millennia for the slightest changes: it is locked in the darkness of the skull and is not aware that the era of technology has begun, that there is no risk of becoming a victim of some creature that does not mind eating you, or dying of hunger, that food does not need to be pursued and to mine. He still reacts to everything as he did thousands of years ago, as if nothing has changed since then. His task is to make sure that we live to the reproductive period, receive valuable high-calorie food, win suitable sexual partners and reproduce successfully, passing on our genes.
Dopamine reward is one of the mechanisms of the so-called limbic system, which is very conventionally considered the main emotional processor in the brain. It is located mostly under the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, as it was formed in the process of evolution before them. This ancient structure is sometimes referred to as the "hot brain system." She responds to stimuli faster than we can realize it, and prefers to receive the reward as soon as possible.
Neuromarketing uses a whole set of tools that activate and inflame the hot system, bypassing our consciousness. Even before we begin to understand what is happening, basic emotions take over the body, forcing us to behave as if we are on the verge of starvation, the human species is threatened with extinction - and only our hunger and unrestrained copulation can save everyone.
Fired by pictures, smells, and promises, our brains make us believe in the reality of future rewards, so we keep pushing the lever again and again, consuming what is more anxiety and emptiness than satisfaction. The reward mechanism that was so beneficial to our primate ancestors is doing us a disservice today when online shopping, games, fast sex apps, affordable drug orders, always-open supermarkets and restaurants are all linked into a large dopaminergic brain hacking system.
The dopamine architecture of the market clearly shows how chemically the Baudrillard simulacrum works: it forces us to chase after what we do not want, to get what we need, only in order to further fuel the itch of expectation of a reward.
In such a state, it is difficult to act consciously, to analyze the processes taking place in the surrounding world, political and economic events. There is only enough motivation to react to the next injection of sharp, new, scandalous information, to experience a collective hype - and to throw out the information feed undigested. It is through dopamine feedback loops that fake news has gained such political power. Chamat Palihapitiya talks about this destructive effect of Facebook in his speech.
Who is the boss in the brain
The younger system is the cerebral cortex, the neocortex. Basically, it is she who is responsible for higher mental functions and "makes us human." Located in the forehead, the prefrontal cortex is considered "the most rational". It is associated with planning, decision-making, controlling desires and emotions, and containing needs. In other words, if "willpower" exists, then it is localized here. This is what is called a "cold system". A younger formation, the cortex is slower than the limbic system, which responds instantly and loudly. Tomography can even detect a state of conflict between conscious and unconscious intentions, and together they shape our behavior.
Alcohol and drugs, stress and lack of sleep not only make the limbic system "louder", but also hit the prefrontal cortex, making it difficult to think rationally and strategically - and letting the market shake your piggy bank clean.
To help your brain, you need to train your prefrontal cortex and try to solve the difficult task of distinguishing between false (which makes us frustrated and addicted) and true (giving our life value) rewards. This is not easy at all, because the reward system "claims rights" to the most accessible pleasures. But already understanding how everything works can make the struggle for control over your brain a little easier, even in moments of dopamine clouding.
There are a few simple rules to help the brain stabilize the prefrontal cortex and dopamine system.
- Adequate sleep is directly related to self-control and efficiency of the prefrontal cortex: deprivation of rest makes us confused and impulsive.
- Constant stress and overexertion leads to the fact that you become more vulnerable to dopamine triggers, this applies not only to physical, but also to emotional fatigue.
- Nutrition is one of the easiest ways to unload dopamine from the brain: eliminate or limit sugar and simple carbohydrates from the diet, avoid excessively salty and fatty foods, as well as flavor enhancers such as those found in fast food, convenience foods and chips ...
- Coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, amphetamines and cocaine explode the reward system. Get off if you can.
- Physical activity improves blood circulation and the brain receives more oxygen. And from energy-intensive activities, the body experiences short-term controlled beneficial stress, which stimulates the production of endorphins, improving mood for a long time.
- And most importantly: focus on what you really love.
This opens up the opportunity to "make friends" the prefrontal cortex with the reward system and "teach" the brain to long for long-term results. This will motivate you to explore new areas of science, pursue challenging business projects, master complex techniques, and bring creative concepts to life.
How to distinguish a useful desire from a useless one
Each person has an undeniable right to experience pleasures and to satisfy their needs. It is an integral component of the feeling of happiness. There is nothing wrong with desires and striving for pleasure - on the contrary, without this life loses its meaning, and we become incapable of great deeds. In the "American Journal of Psychiatric" was published the story of a longtime drug addict Adam, who consumed the entire supply of substances in his possession in order not to get caught in a raid. Oxygen starvation damaged his reward system, and when he left the hospital, he did not want only drugs, but nothing at all. None of the things made him happy, he became gloomy, unsociable and depressed. Don't be like Adam.
Desires are useful as long as you are in control of yourself and do not confuse "want" with the pursuit of happiness, as long as these pleasures make sense in the context of the values of your particular life. Internal reward is difficult to "feel", but the process of achieving our goals also triggers dopamine releases, and when the mission is completed, we feel satisfaction and joy in its entirety, because we did something that connected our prefrontal cortex in teamwork. and a reward system.
He called these algorithms "dopamine fast feedback loops", which, in his opinion, are already disrupting the healthy functioning of society.
They lead to the destruction of civil discussion and cooperation, the spread of disinformation and allow all kinds of clowns to control the masses of people.
What is this "dopamine loop" and why is it so bad?
Loop architecture
Feedback is the data that a certain system receives after a certain segment of its work in order to correct it. For example, you are a barista and a visitor says that your espresso is liquid like bird guano. You have received feedback (feedback) and now you know that you need to make your coffee thicker and tastier.
A loop is formed if the feedback system closes on itself, according to the principle: “I walked somehow across the bridge: a crow dries up on the bridge; put it under the bridge - let the crow get wet. Once I was walking across the bridge: under the bridge the crow gets wet; put it on the bridge - let the crow dry. "It can be depicted like this:
The feedback loop is familiar to us, including from the game loop in game design: any action leads to a given result in virtual reality and the gamer's reaction to this result - after which the game again requires action. Such a loop is sometimes called "compulsive", that is, obsessive: the game can be arranged in such a way that every moment seems inappropriate for a break, because the loop must be completed - but it never has an end point.
The dopamine feedback loop occurs when incentives are used, such as receiving bonuses, increasing strength, unexpected wins, etc. This is the technique behind the work of Facebook and other social networks: quick likes, shares, and in general any interactions with your account, which can be carried out instantly, are the same bonuses. Each user becomes a source of dopamine feedback for the other, providing their likes, which, in turn, increases their own chances of waiting for feedback.
As soon as a reward looms on the horizon, dopamine, a brain substance that helps you focus on a goal, on what you want, is released.
This principle is called the “brain reward system,” and it influences our actions much more than it might seem. Such mechanisms are actively used in the market: since the release of dopamine is a completely normal and healthy reaction of our body and you cannot just get rid of it, there are practically no people immune to "dopamine engineering".
What is dopamine
Dopamine is the main active substance of the reward system in the human and animal brains. Its allocation is subjectively experienced as an improvement in mood, exacerbation of desires and an increase in motivation. This system forces us to make efforts that are beneficial for the body: to look for food fatter and sweeter, defeat rivals, copulate with suitable partners and procreate. The brain lures us in with the anticipation of pleasure.
Why Wish Fulfillment Doesn't Bring Happiness
The most famous experiment with dopamine is the tragic story of a rat, which researchers James Olds and Peter Milner stuck an electrode in the brain region responsible for the reward system and gave a stimulation lever to its legs. The animal stopped eating and drinking and endlessly sting at the button. As a result, the experimental rodent, in eternal self-stimulated ecstasy, became a dystopian image-symbol of the era of consumption.
Previously, it was believed that this rat experienced bliss: what else can make a living creature get hung up on the unfortunate electrode? Therefore, dopamine was called the "pleasure molecule." However, it soon began to seem that not everything is so simple and unambiguous.
The difficulty is that pleasure is a very subjective experience, and the rat cannot tell about his feelings. Luckily for us, medicine in the 1960s USA was highly unethical: Robert Heath of Tulane University implanted such electrodes in the brains of his patients and gave them the opportunity to stimulate themselves.
The experimental patients behaved like a notorious rat: they were engaged in self-stimulation up to 40 times a minute, did not interrupt for food and continued to press the button hundreds of times even after turning off the current. In the days of behaviorism, it never occurred to anyone to ask clients about their psychological experiences, so little can be learned from reports of patients' actual well-being. They reported rather briefly that they felt something pleasant, but the compulsive pressing of a button and the constant anxiety that the current would be turned off led many researchers to the idea that it was not about pleasure. For example, a patient who was similarly treated for narcolepsy said that during the entire procedure he had not experienced a single joyful moment and felt despair.
Later experiments showed that "like" and "want" are not only different, but also unrelated experiences.
It turned out that if the brain of a rodent is deprived of dopamine, then the rat will still like sweet food and, when eaten, a blissful mine, familiar to experimenters, will appear on its face, caused by the work of opioids, which are associated with the direct experience of sensual pleasure. However, despite this, without dopamine, she will not do anything to get food, since she will not be motivated. If you suppress the "hormone of joy", then the attractiveness of any rewards disappears.
In 2001, Stanford scientist Brian Knutson proved that dopamine is responsible for the anticipation of pleasure. It is a way of motivating and rewarding evolutionarily sound choices that are conducive to survival. Dopamine uses pleasure cravings like a carrot in front of a donkey's face to get a person to do the right thing. He forces us to seek pleasure - but not to experience it. The work of this hormone is responsible for the psychological illnesses of the consumer society.
10 simplest hooks to catch us
Likes
Smartphones and tablets, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other applications regularly provide us with portions of social approval, which we have a biological need for ( conformism is an automatic reaction of the brain). Each like triggers a small dopamine spike - pleasant, but short-term, only reinforcing the desire for more.
Sugar, fat, calories
Food that is attractive to the reward system should be as high-calorie as possible, contain enough sugar and fat. Addictive fizzy sodas are actually liquid sugar, which is why, according to researchers, American schoolchildren so often develop attention deficit disorder.
Free samples of food and drinks
At the entrance to a supermarket or cafe, we may be asked to try something sweet, salty, or caffeinated to set the dopamine hook on and provoke the desire to return to this place again. For the same purpose, restaurants often serve free sweets with coffee or tea.
Alluring aroma
There is an entire industry working in neuromarketing to create "persuasive" incense.
The signature scent around the café, the relaxing or energizing scents in the various sections of the stores, influence customer behavior on an unconscious level.
There are even sophisticated engineering solutions in this area: for example, using a multi-layered scent in a shopping center, you can lure visitors to an ice cream parlor on the ground floor. On the upper tiers, a light aroma of fruit is spread, on the middle tiers - ice cream, and closer to the cafe itself - waffles and caramel.
Appetizing pictures
Visual incentives have a profound effect on the reward system. Research shows that when people view attractive images of food, they taste the food more. That is why restaurants have moved from an understandable and rational organization of the menu "name - composition - price" to an album of juicy photos of the dishes themselves. Add to this the endless stream of food porn on social media: the reward system heats up like a mercury thermometer rubbed with a woolen blanket.
The constant visual presence of any, not only gastronomic, products is important: the main thing is that the picture appears in front of the client at the very moment when he feels a vague consumer itch, but does not yet know who to give his money to. The data collected based on your social network activity helps to track the direction of desires. This is how ads that you have already paid attention to (or similar ones) appear in front of you over and over again.
Sexuality
The sex sells formula is boring, but not outdated. Allusions of sex, mostly in the form of half-naked girls or naked female body parts, cause dopamine itching: damn it, you will miss this encouragement! The sprawling pornography market also plays into the hands of marketers.
By shaping the compulsive need to masturbate while watching videos, the porn market pumps high doses of dopamine into the brain, making us more vulnerable to other hooks.
Erotic arousal encourages risky financial behavior.
Novelty
The dopamine system encourages us to learn new things, because information about changes in the world around us can save our lives. Therefore, it reacts worse to predictable stimuli, and every self-respecting fast food giant with a menu familiar from childhood constantly adds new positions to it or tries to arrange a week of some Eurasian dishes.
Gamification
Gamification is one of the architectural principles of dophanomics. Involving the consumer in a game-like activity with a set of points, the opportunity to take the lead, unexpected bonuses and winnings allows you to get the maximum investment from him. Various customer loyalty systems are game interfaces with dopamine feedback: they encourage people to buy certain goods and services at a certain time using bonuses, discounts, contests and other tricks. Gamification is used not only in the market, but also in education, for example in the recently released fake news game.
Surprise
Experiments show that if the subjects know exactly when and how much sweet juice they will receive, then almost no dopamine is produced. At the same time, contrary to expectations, the acquired bonus includes a reward system much more actively. This is used by companies like Kiip, a mobile reward platform. The app supports active users by unexpectedly rewarding them with prizes when they are successful. Brands gain access to target audiences and associate them with happy moments of great accomplishments and achievements. The less predictable the reward, the more enjoyable it is.
Risk of loss
Dopamine is associated not only with excitement and high spirits, but also with nervousness and increased alertness, because this substance is the precursor of adrenaline and norepinephrine. The fear of losing something, as shown by experiments in the neurobiology of decision-making, is much stronger than the desire to save and save. Therefore, words such as “have time to buy”, “limited offer”, “only two days left”, “until everything is sorted out”, “last copy”, etc., can make us buy just to get rid of nervousness ... The striking effect of "Black Friday", when even wealthy people go crazy and with a primitive roar fight for goods that are far from essential, is a consequence of the skillfully promoted experience of scarcity. We exaggerate the value of rewards when the risk of losing it is high.
Tastes, smells, promises to make us rich and attractive, half-naked models, cheap alcohol and fast food - for our brains, Friday night seems like a crazy motivational carousel.
The market uses dopamine stimulation techniques to not only manipulate consumers' attention, but also to hack our reward system. The increase in the level of this hormone makes us more receptive to anticipation of any pleasure.
How the market tricks our brains
How does the market trick the brain - the smartest system on the planet?
The brain takes millennia for the slightest changes: it is locked in the darkness of the skull and is not aware that the era of technology has begun, that there is no risk of becoming a victim of some creature that does not mind eating you, or dying of hunger, that food does not need to be pursued and to mine. He still reacts to everything as he did thousands of years ago, as if nothing has changed since then. His task is to make sure that we live to the reproductive period, receive valuable high-calorie food, win suitable sexual partners and reproduce successfully, passing on our genes.
Dopamine reward is one of the mechanisms of the so-called limbic system, which is very conventionally considered the main emotional processor in the brain. It is located mostly under the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, as it was formed in the process of evolution before them. This ancient structure is sometimes referred to as the "hot brain system." She responds to stimuli faster than we can realize it, and prefers to receive the reward as soon as possible.
Neuromarketing uses a whole set of tools that activate and inflame the hot system, bypassing our consciousness. Even before we begin to understand what is happening, basic emotions take over the body, forcing us to behave as if we are on the verge of starvation, the human species is threatened with extinction - and only our hunger and unrestrained copulation can save everyone.
Fired by pictures, smells, and promises, our brains make us believe in the reality of future rewards, so we keep pushing the lever again and again, consuming what is more anxiety and emptiness than satisfaction. The reward mechanism that was so beneficial to our primate ancestors is doing us a disservice today when online shopping, games, fast sex apps, affordable drug orders, always-open supermarkets and restaurants are all linked into a large dopaminergic brain hacking system.
The dopamine architecture of the market clearly shows how chemically the Baudrillard simulacrum works: it forces us to chase after what we do not want, to get what we need, only in order to further fuel the itch of expectation of a reward.
In such a state, it is difficult to act consciously, to analyze the processes taking place in the surrounding world, political and economic events. There is only enough motivation to react to the next injection of sharp, new, scandalous information, to experience a collective hype - and to throw out the information feed undigested. It is through dopamine feedback loops that fake news has gained such political power. Chamat Palihapitiya talks about this destructive effect of Facebook in his speech.
Who is the boss in the brain
The younger system is the cerebral cortex, the neocortex. Basically, it is she who is responsible for higher mental functions and "makes us human." Located in the forehead, the prefrontal cortex is considered "the most rational". It is associated with planning, decision-making, controlling desires and emotions, and containing needs. In other words, if "willpower" exists, then it is localized here. This is what is called a "cold system". A younger formation, the cortex is slower than the limbic system, which responds instantly and loudly. Tomography can even detect a state of conflict between conscious and unconscious intentions, and together they shape our behavior.
Alcohol and drugs, stress and lack of sleep not only make the limbic system "louder", but also hit the prefrontal cortex, making it difficult to think rationally and strategically - and letting the market shake your piggy bank clean.
To help your brain, you need to train your prefrontal cortex and try to solve the difficult task of distinguishing between false (which makes us frustrated and addicted) and true (giving our life value) rewards. This is not easy at all, because the reward system "claims rights" to the most accessible pleasures. But already understanding how everything works can make the struggle for control over your brain a little easier, even in moments of dopamine clouding.
There are a few simple rules to help the brain stabilize the prefrontal cortex and dopamine system.
- Adequate sleep is directly related to self-control and efficiency of the prefrontal cortex: deprivation of rest makes us confused and impulsive.
- Constant stress and overexertion leads to the fact that you become more vulnerable to dopamine triggers, this applies not only to physical, but also to emotional fatigue.
- Nutrition is one of the easiest ways to unload dopamine from the brain: eliminate or limit sugar and simple carbohydrates from the diet, avoid excessively salty and fatty foods, as well as flavor enhancers such as those found in fast food, convenience foods and chips ...
- Coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, amphetamines and cocaine explode the reward system. Get off if you can.
- Physical activity improves blood circulation and the brain receives more oxygen. And from energy-intensive activities, the body experiences short-term controlled beneficial stress, which stimulates the production of endorphins, improving mood for a long time.
- And most importantly: focus on what you really love.
This opens up the opportunity to "make friends" the prefrontal cortex with the reward system and "teach" the brain to long for long-term results. This will motivate you to explore new areas of science, pursue challenging business projects, master complex techniques, and bring creative concepts to life.
How to distinguish a useful desire from a useless one
Each person has an undeniable right to experience pleasures and to satisfy their needs. It is an integral component of the feeling of happiness. There is nothing wrong with desires and striving for pleasure - on the contrary, without this life loses its meaning, and we become incapable of great deeds. In the "American Journal of Psychiatric" was published the story of a longtime drug addict Adam, who consumed the entire supply of substances in his possession in order not to get caught in a raid. Oxygen starvation damaged his reward system, and when he left the hospital, he did not want only drugs, but nothing at all. None of the things made him happy, he became gloomy, unsociable and depressed. Don't be like Adam.
Desires are useful as long as you are in control of yourself and do not confuse "want" with the pursuit of happiness, as long as these pleasures make sense in the context of the values of your particular life. Internal reward is difficult to "feel", but the process of achieving our goals also triggers dopamine releases, and when the mission is completed, we feel satisfaction and joy in its entirety, because we did something that connected our prefrontal cortex in teamwork. and a reward system.
