Social media rewards like food, sex
2012-05-12 14:21
Washington - Posting views on Facebook and
other social media sites delivers a powerful reward to the brain similar to the
pleasure from food and sex, a Harvard study concludes.
The study led by two neuroscientists and
published this week concluded that "self disclosure" produces a
response in the region of the brain associated with dopamine, a chemical
associated with pleasure or the anticipation of a reward.
The researchers said most people devote 30 to
40% of their speech to "informing others of their own subjective
experiences" but that on social media, this is closer to 80%.
They conclude "that humans so willingly
self-disclose because doing so represents an event with intrinsic value, in the
same way as with primary rewards such as food and sex."
Although Facebook was not specifically cited
in the study, it focused on the brain response of people's "opportunities
to communicate their thoughts and feelings to others".
"To the extent that humans are motivated
to propagate the products of their minds, opportunities to disclose one's
thoughts should be experienced as a powerful form of subjective reward,"
wrote Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell of Harvard's Social Cognitive and
Affective Neuroscience Lab.
The research, published in the May 7 edition
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the study support
the notion that humans, like some other primates, will give up some rewards
because of a powerful brain response.
The study gave people a small cash reward for
answering certain factual questions about things they observe, and a lower
reward for offering their own views about a subject. But in many cases, the
participants chose a smaller reward if they could talk about themselves.
- SAPA
