Dopamine - You'll Never Be Satisfied

On the 28th of December 2018, Chad Smith launched himself off a cliff in Dover, fell 180 ft, and survived. It was a planned base jump that went terribly wrong:

Chad spent 3 weeks in the hospital and then announced that he would attempt the jump again.

The term adrenaline junkie is precisely that – we’re wired to react to danger – our body releases serotonin and adrenaline – but it also releases dopamine which plays a massive part in the addiction side of things. 

But dopamine doesn’t just exist for extreme sports.

Thanks to dopamine, our brain is motivated to seek pleasures that will keep us alive. So, whether it’s eating, drinking, sex, seeking interaction – anything that brings us happiness – dopamine plays a part in us wanting to repeat the actions so that they become habitual. 

Learning through pleasure

Most creatures are motivated by three key things – seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, and conserving energy – this has helped them survive and evolve. Unfortunately, many humans live in a much safer environment than our ancestors (and other creatures), making seeking pleasure a potential threat.

Dopamine plays a dominant role in motivating us to seek pleasure. The thinking behind this is that our dopamine is triggered by us predicting a reward. If the prize is more significant than we anticipated, then our dopamine spikes set everything in motion for us to feel pleasure. And because we enjoyed it, we do it again. dopamine also plays a part in adjusting the synaptic connections between neurons – “re-wiring” our brains to continue with the action. So it also plays a role in our learning (as well as forming habits/addictions).

It's not what it seems

My original understanding of dopamine was that you did an action, got pleasure, and did it again – hence dopamine is the pleasure drug.

This isn’t the case.

The current thinking is that your neurons transmit dopamine in two phases tonic and phasic. Essentially there’s a steady baseline of dopamine that’s actively working and vital for enabling the normal functions of your neural circuits (tonic). However, in the phasic phase, your dopamine can spike, causing significant changes lasting for several seconds.

Wolfram Schultz calls it the ‘reward prediction error’:

“I am standing in front of a drink-dispensing machine in Japan that seems to allow me to buy six different types of drinks, but I cannot read the words. I have a low expectation that pressing a particular button will deliver my preferred blackcurrant juice (a chance of one in six). So I just press the second button from the right, and then a blue can appears with a familiar logo that happens to be exactly the drink I want. That is a pleasant surprise, better than expected. What would I do the next time I want the same blackcurrant juice from the machine? Of course, press the second button from the right. Thus, my surprise directs my behavior to a specific button. I have learned something, and I will keep pressing the same button as long as the same can comes out. However, a couple of weeks later, I press that same button again, but another, less preferred can appears. Unpleasant surprise, somebody must have filled the dispenser differently. Where is my preferred can? I press another couple of buttons until my blue can comes out. And of course I will press that button again the next time I want that blackcurrant juice, and hopefully all will go well.”

What happened? The first button press delivered my preferred can. This pleasant surprise is what we call a positive reward prediction error. “Error” refers to the difference between the can that came out and the low expectation of getting exactly that one, irrespective of whether I made an error or something else went wrong. “Reward” is any object or stimulus that I like and of which I want more. “Reward prediction error” then means the difference between the reward I get and the reward that was predicted.” (Schultz, 2016).

We'll never be satisfied

Our dopamine spikes when we predict an outcome that is more rewarding than expected. If it happens, as we anticipated, then the levels stay consistent. However, if the experiences disappoint, the dopamine spikes down, and we learn to avoid it.

We do something, it’s better than we expected, and we get pleasure. We do it again; our predicted reward is a little less, and we still get a spike, but not as high.

However, our brain is starting to re-wire, so that action starts to become a habit. Before we know it, we’re habitually doing something because we’ve learned, and it’s not giving us as much pleasure.

We’ll never be satisfied – we can either continue what we’re doing (but with less pleasure) or up the game to maintain that original ‘high’ and take action to make it more extreme to give us more pleasure. But what then? We anticipate that reward and then have to take it another step further to feel that level of pleasure again?

In other words, you jump off a cliff for the first time – you cannot anticipate the reward – you do it, and your brain becomes wired to go back repeatedly. In base jumper, Chad’s case, on the 28th of December, the pleasure exceeded the lack of reward, and he lived – of course, he wants to do it again.

The Takeaway

Multiple companies thrive off creating habitual behaviour (special offers, for example, start the dopamine flowing).

One day, you walk past a coffee shop with a mocha and a muffin deal, and you decide to start the day with a mocha and a muffin – it brings you pleasure. You repeat the action a week later (because the offer only has one week to go), and before you know it, it becomes a part of your morning routine.

To get the dopamine chain into action with your audience – deliver them anticipation and then over-deliver – exceed people’s expectations within your content. Surprise them, lead them to a reward, and then make it better than they expected.

On the flip side – if your audience’s expectations are not rewarded, they will feel adverse to your brand, and if this happens consistently, you have a problem.