100 Things You Should Know About People: #8 — Dopamine Makes You Addicted To Seeking Information
Do you ever feel like you are addicted to email or twitter or texting? Do you find it impossible to ignore your email if you see that there are messages in your inbox? Have you ever gone to Google to look up some information and 30 minutes later you realize that you’ve been reading and linking, and searching around for a long time, and you are now searching for something totally different than before? These are all examples of your dopamine system at work.
Enter dopamine – Neuro scientists have been studying what they call the dopamine system for a while. Dopamine was “discovered” in 1958 by Arvid Carlsson and Nils-Ake Hillarp at the National Heart Institute of Sweden. Dopamine is created in various parts of the brain and is critical in all sorts of brain functions, including thinking, moving, sleeping, mood, attention, and motivation, seeking and reward.
The myth — You may have heard that dopamine controls the “pleasure” systems of the brain: that dopamine makes you feel enjoyment, pleasure, and therefore motivates you to seek out certain behaviors, such as food, sex, and drugs.
It’s all about seeking — The latest research, though is changing this view. Instead of dopamine causing us to experience pleasure, the latest research shows that dopamine causes seeking behavior. Dopamine causes us to want, desire, seek out, and search. It increases our general level of arousal and our goal-directed behavior. (From an evolutionary stand-point this is critical. The dopamine seeking system keeps us motivated to move through our world, learn, and survive). It’s not just about physical needs such as food, or sex, but also about abstract concepts. Dopamine makes us curious about ideas and fuels our searching for information. The latest research shows that it is the opoid system (separate from dopamine) that makes us feel pleasure.
Wanting vs. liking – According to Kent Berridge, these two systems, the “wanting” (dopamine) and the “liking” (opoid) are complementary. The wanting system propels us to action and the liking system makes us feel satisfied and therefore pause our seeking. If our seeking isn’t turned off at least for a little while, then we start to run in an endless loop. The latest research shows that the dopamine system is stronger than the opoid system. We seek more than we are satisfied (back to evolution… seeking is more likely to keep us alive than sitting around in a satisfied stupor).
A dopamine induced loop – With the internet, twitter, and texting we now have almost instant gratification of our desire to seek. Want to talk to someone right away? Send a text and they respond in a few seconds. Want to look up some information? Just type it into google. What to see what your friends are up to? Go to twitter or facebook. We get into a dopamine induced loop… dopamine starts us seeking, then we get rewarded for the seeking which makes us seek more. It becomes harder and harder to stop looking at email, stop texting, stop checking our cell phones to see if we have a message or a new text.
Anticipation is better than getting — Brain scan research shows that our brains show more stimulation and activity when we ANTICIPATE a reward than when we get one. Research on rats shows that if you destroy dopamine neurons, rats can walk, chew, and swallow, but will starve to death even when food is right next to them. They have lost the desire to go get the food.
More, more, more – Although wanting and liking are related, research also shows that the dopamine system doesn’t have satiety built in. It is possible for the dopamine system to keep saying “more more more”, seeking even when we have found the information. During that google exploration we know that we have the answer to the question we originally asked, and yet we find ourselves looking for more information and more and more.
Unpredictable is the key — Dopamine is also stimulated by unpredictability. When something happens that is not exactly predictable, that stimulates the dopamine system. Think about these electronic gadgets and devices. Our emails and twitters and texts show up, but we don’t know exactly when they will or who they will be from. It’s unpredictable. This is exactly what stimulates the dopamine system. It’s the same system at work for gambling and slot machines. (For those of you reading this who are “old school” psychologists, you may remember “variable reinforcement schedules”. Dopamine is involved in variable reinforcement schedules. This is why these are so powerful).
When you hear the “ding” that you have a text – The dopamine system is especially sensitive to “cues” that a reward is coming. If there is a small, specific cue that signifies that something is going to happen, that sets off our dopamine system. So when there is a sound when a text message or email arrives, or a visual cue, that enhances the addictive effect (for the psychologists out there: remember Pavlov).
140 characters is even more addictive – And the dopamine system is most powerfully stimulated when the information coming in is small so that it doesn’t full satisfy. A short text or twitter (can only be 140 characters!) is ideally suited to send our dopamine system raging.
Not without costs — This constant stimulation of the dopamine system can be exhausting. We are getting caught in an endless dopamine loop.
Write a comment and share whether you get caught in these dopamine loops and whether you think we should use what we know about these systems to create devices and websites that stimulate them.
And for those of you who like research:
Kent C. Berridge and Terry E. Robinson, What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward
learning, or incentive salience?: Brain Research Reviews 28 1998. 309–369.
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Thanks Susan, I got so much out of reading this. Made myself a page of notes and thoughts almost as long as your post! And it was definitely my dopamine system that drove me to your page.
“According to Kent Berridge, these two systems, the “wanting” (dopamine) and the “liking” (opoid) are complimentary”
Didn’t you mean ‘complementary’? Or do you get these two systems for free with a purchase of another system?
M — Thanks … Great catch. (I’ve fixed it now)… I kind of like your definition of how they could be complimentary!
Oh my goodness. Well, this explains a lot! I’ve been joking for years that I’m addicted to the internet. I nearly had a nervous breakdown giving up my Blackberry AND iPhone to switch to a regular flip phone without web capabilities (trying to curb this very problem). I know they were researching internet addiction in China. What I want to know: HOW to fix this? What’s the cure? What am I (and thousands of others) supposed to do? I would love to just close my laptop, read a book, go outside, and disconnect from the web and phone, but that doesn’t actually seem to work. If the doctors opened up an Internet Addiction clinic, I’d go right in
The question is: what do you do AFTER that?
Absolutely fascinating.
Makes a lot of sense, and it excites me to see how a previous model (dopamine causes pleasure) can still work but be wrong when presented with new information. I figure this sort of thing reaches out with math, science, physics (especially physics), what we know about other people, what we know about our relationships, etc.
And I’m sure getting the e-mail saying you have a comment on your blog has stirred your dopamine system
Thanks for writing in Dawn. I think there are a lot of people who feel the way you do. I guess I’d better write the blog on how to change habits soon… because that is what you have to do to break the dopamine loop. I’ll work on it for an upcoming post soon!
“Research on rats shows that if you destroy dopamine neurons, rats can walk, chew, and swallow, but will starve to death even when food is right next to them. They have lost the desire to go get the food.”
Can you please share with me the citation? I’m having a hard time buying this.
I used several sources of information for the article, but I think that Kent Berridge has done a lot of the recent work in this field. I would check out the article I reference in the post, or else search for his research on Google. He’s done a lot of studies on dopamine and rats.
Nice post! Thanks for the walk down psych. memory lane for me. My first thought was of good ol’ Pavlov and of course Skinner. Specifically, I was reminded of the Variable Ratio schedule because of how powerfully it drives responses and resists extinction. Gambling is the most often cited example, but many Internet activities may be analogous.
This also reminded me of a great slate article by Emily Yoffe on the same topic. It’s well worth a read.
Prasanna: Yoffe’s article cites as the Berridge paper for the “…rats whose dopamine neurons have been destroyed…” studies.
Sorry. I didn’t realize my URLs would be stripped. My comment read strangely now.
The Emily Yoffe article is easily found by Googling “‘Emily Yoffe’ Slate Berridge” exactly as shown in the quotes.
The Berridge citation I mentioned is in the second sentence of the thirteenth paragraph of Yoffe’s article.
Thanks Mack for finding that. Yes, the Slate article is great and it is what got me searching out Berridge.
Great stuff, Susan
But this article is a bit too short. I want more. Give me more.
Scott
Fabulous! This has rejuvenated my love of biological psychology. Shared it on Twitter, in about 8 different Tweets. Still waiting for the replies to come in ::::tap tap tapping my fingers::::
Fascinating. So this generation will have a different brain chemistry than any other generation before. I wonder how this will change human behavior? Are there any studies that show what happens when animals are kept in a dopamine group permanently?
Many thanks for this post. loved it.
so glad that after a year, I finally started using twitter in 08, as otherwise, I would have never come across gem blog/posts like yours.
It also explains the ‘mechanism’ of why we love mystery box like JJAbrams explains!?
http://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box.html
definitely a lot of food for thought.. now how do we ‘apply’ that into the business.. that would be an interesting artform.
BR
@GarethWong
Love it…I’m going to reSEARCH into the matter!
Seriously, its fascinating.
Never heard of you before Susan, but I’m gonna subscribe to your rss now. I’m seeking more of your mind!
Sincerely
Darren.
dopamine is a by-product, not a cause, of seeking .. it is consciousness embodied as self that does the seeking ..
Loved this article, thank you. I think of Rachel about if this chemistry change will have some effect in future human behaviours.
I fear I may be addicted to Twitter (to me it’s now the most useful source of professional info as well as networking. The day I don’t connect or tweet I feel something is missing
Conxa
@innova2
Keep up the interesting posts. I love to see keen bloggers!
Thanks for the brilliant post!
The human desire to explore unpredictable circumstances and seek new information is powerful!
In my opinion, it’s the root cause of the complicated behavioral phenomena known as distracted driving.
My name is Matt Howard and i am the founder of a company called ZoomSafer. We’re the leading provider of innovative software solutions to ensure safe and legal use of mobile phones while driving. Uniquely designed for today’s highly mobile, hyper-connected, and dopamine-driven society, ZoomSafer offers practical and affordable solutions that prevent distracted driving for consumers, corporations, and government organizations.
In other words, we automatically detect when you’re driving and we apply a policy to your phone that suppress alerts, minimize distractions, and protect you from your own dopamine.
Help prevent distracted driving. Check it out for FREE at http://www.zoomsafer.com
It’s more the pathways/systems within the brain that rely on dopamine as a neurotransmitter than it is the dopamine itself. Dopamine is also used as neurotransmitter outside of these feedback systems.
It’s the wiring pattern more than it is the electrons that matters.
Interesting Susan.
I just finished Jonah Lehrer’s book “How We Decide”.
He says: “Dopamine is the reward your brain delivers to the pleasure receptors in your brain when you make a correct decision. Over time it trains your brain, and creates shortcuts. The purpose of dopamine neurons is to predict future events. Unpredictable events deliver 3 to 4 times the dopamine.”
Do you agree with his definition?
Here’s a link to my notes on Jonah Lehrer’s book “How We Decide” if anyone is interested: http://www.marketingfirst.co.nz/blog/2009/12/how-we-decide-by-jonah-lehrer/
Thanks for writing in Sheldon. Jonah Lehrer’s book is one of my favorites. I think that what Jonah says about dopamine is kind of correct. I believe that the latest research shows that dopamine is more complicated than we think. And after reading some of the research articles I’m convinced that the seeking behavior that it causes is probably some of the most significant effects of dopamine.
Dopamine made me do this: Research shows rats starve sans dopamine receptors. Go to the website for the full Berridge research article at……
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/research&labs/berridge/publications/Berridge&RobinsonBrResRev1998.pdf ……and do a search for the word…starve
Fascinating.
I’ve been designing technology for 30 years since my Psychology degree and only recently realised how fundamentally that background informs the way I approach design and what I value in it.
I found myself explaining the lure of social media to a friend (of my own generation) only this week and resorting to that little lift (or drop) we all get when we broach our inbox (according to whether it’s brimming or empty) as the best pointer
The effect on my kids generation is clearly even more pronounced by a couple of orders of magnitude. Twitter, Facebook – and whatever comes next – now ARE the mainstream and starting to fulfil the potential for change that everyone got so excited about in the run up to the Internet bubble – and then lost interest when it burst. This only hid the change and delayed it a bit. Global recessionary forces are changing that. Those who understand these drives (intuitively and academically) will shape not just the web or the Internet but the future of human society and civilization.
This article was riveting but you lost major points by giving every symptom BUT NO RELIEF. I am in a desperate dopamine loop and want to stop but can’t seem to do it. Why on earth would you leave us hanging. FINISH the story by offering some assistance for the rats who would very much like to stop drooling and seeking and seeking and drooling
Natural way to regulate and/or balance your dopamine
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/14818
Isn’t the writing of these comments also tied in to the dopamine system? “Will I get a response? Will I get a response?…”
The genius of Zynga’s FarmVille is that it taps into these impulses.
Tom Turnbull´s last blog ..iPhone app short list – it’s pretty short…
Fascinating read–delighted to find this website (linked from an MSNBC Red Tape article).
This puts my instinctive revulsion of Twitter in a new light and may explain why my cell phone is usually off (I only carry it for emergencies) and why I *usually* avoid blogs.
Or maybe I’m just a hardcore Luddite.
I love reading up on information online. I must have plenty of dopamine.
Hi Susan. I’m a little late to the game here but I was wondering if you could comment on some criticism to the whole dopamine – information link I encountered over at MindHacks? The critique, I think, is quite compelling. Then again, so are the arguments _for_ the motion
“Desperately Seeking Something” from MindHacks
http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/desperately-seeking-something/
Your thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks.