If we haven’t learned anything over the past five years of blogging, it is that psychology and the brain are complicated. There are tons of findings from various studies, some of them not replicated, some of them contradictory. Then there is the brain and its 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion neural connections. So, man, some times it takes several posts to not only adequately explain some psychology bit, but apply it to some interesting situation.

To solve this, we’ve tried using a title and tag, like The Dopamine of Politics — our latest — and like The Great Civics Lesson. When the topics are more closely related, we use multiple parts.

This post is the foundation of The Dopamine of Politics series. It follows along The Dopamine of Social Media where many years ago, we explained how dopamine drives our social media “addictions.” Since the US is so cleanly split along partisan lines, I thought it a useful way of looking at some of our more troubling behaviors.

This post will go over the basics of the reward and liking systems and how they interact to affect our behavior. The Dopamine of Politics: Trump’s Rallies will go over how dopamine drives Trump to hold his rallies and his followers attend them in spite of the clear and present danger they pose to everyone’s health vis-a-vis #COVID19. And, in The Dopamine of Politics: The Partisan Divide we’ll look at how dopamine has contributed to our political discourse devolving to sports-like trash talking than discussing policy and political decisions.

Dopamine and the Reward Circuit

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is found in a part of the brain called the reward system of the brain. It is triggered whenever we feel that a behavior has resulted in a benefit, like posting a tweet and seeing it liked or re-tweeted. Rewards are reinforce behavior making it more likely for that behavior to be repeated.

The Reward and Liking Systems Work Together

The Reward System

A reward makes us more likely to do something like turn in a criminal featured on Crime Stoppers, win a bet or poker hand, or clean up your room — Man, did it just get cold in here? Okay, ma! I KNOW I never cleaned up my room no matter the rewards or punishments. You happy now? I’m a bad son! It was always my fault. There I’ve said it. You can rest now restless spirit! Any time you get a reward, the mesolimbic dopamine reward system gets involved by releasing a little spritz of dopamine and just like the pinball wizard, the machine lights up and says Let’s do this again!

It is responsible for producing that all too familiar feeling of wanting just one more: one more episode when we’re binge watching a series, scrolling just a bit more when we’re going through our social media feed, playing just a bit longer when we’re playing an electronic game. It is the reason we feel just a bit of depression when the football season ends or a series finishes. It’s why we feel restless and dissatisfied right after we quit doing one of these things. Once activated, the reward circuit don’t want to stop. It just wants more dopamine. It is the dopamine of more.

The makers of social media and electronic games hijack the reward system using what is called persuasive design. Social media platforms and electronic games are designed to keep doling out rewards frequently enough to make you want to continue just a little longer to get just one more like, make just one more snarky remark, or achieve the next little goal in the game, acquire a weapon, potion, clothing, or whatever it is. Dopamine and the reward system are acting when you want just one more.

The Liking System

Without these opiates in our brain, we would be in pain all the time. That’s right, the natural state of existence is pain! It hurts to live. We have to find ways to produce endorphins and other opioid-like neurotransmitters so that we aren’t in physical or emotional pain — Yes, that’s right, too, emotional pain is experienced in the same way as physical pain in the brain. I guess that’s why running and exercise have become so popular.

Here is the saving grace, though. We cannot experience pain and pleasure at the same time. It is an either or switch, but we can switch back and forth quite quickly. So, when you are in pain, look for something fun or pleasurable to do. When something bad happens, tell someone about it! Social interaction is usually pleasurable. Another reason we are better in groups.

Dopamine and Opioids Working Together

Analyzing their effects can be confusing because they are so closely connected. The reward systems produces the wanna and the liking system produces the euphoria. The dopamine produces compulsive behaviors looking for that next hit of the opioids.

Even more importantly, the reward system reacts to anticipating the achievement of a reward and the resulting pleasure. If a reward is larger than anticipated, we’re excited and adjust our expectations upwards for next time. If it is smaller, though, we are disappointed and adjust downward.

As long as the reward is encountered frequently enough to produce an association,s reached, the regularity doesn’t matter. In fact, irregularly spaced rewards are the most powerful reinforcers. You’re thinking, maybe next time! And, you really really want that next dose of opiate.

In this way, the reward system creates compulsive behaviors. You keep doing something hoping for the pay off. The liking system can become sated where the payoff is no longer pleasurable. Your done. You need to rest and allow your supply of endogenous opioids to restock, but the reward system is never satisfied. You’re sure there is one more hit to be squeezed out and you want it. You can be exhausted and no longer really paying attention or enjoying what you’re doing, but you’ll keep playing, watching, scrolling, and surfing. Ain’t that just a kick in the crotch?

Believe it or not, these two systems work together to produce the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s superspreader events, MAGAs attending them, and our deeply divided partisan politics.

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