In many criticisms of short videos, we often hear the word "dopamine" or "dopamine withdrawal". It sounds like dopamine is responsible for our addiction to these short videos, so dopamine is considered negative. In fact, dopamine is a neutral substance without any positive or negative effects. It is just a signaling neurotransmitter in the reward system. To understand why dopamine is stigmatized, we need to understand the principles behind human addiction to short video software.
We learned about conditioned reflexes in junior high school biology. The most classic example of conditioned reflexes is the bell and the dog: giving the dog meat will cause it to drool, and drooling is the dog's reflex response to meat. Meat is an unconditioned stimulus, and drooling is an unconditioned response. After that, ring the bell every time before giving the dog meat. After many times of matching the bell with food, the dog knows that the bell indicates that he can eat meat, and starts to drool. Once this connection is made, the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus, and drooling after hearing the bell becomes a conditioned reflex.
In fact, the same principle applies to short videos. People will feel happy after seeing the video content they like. This is a reflex reaction. Video is an unconditional stimulus, and producing a happy mood is an unconditional response. After that, each time the upward swipe was associated with a new video. After countless times of matching the upward swipe with good-looking videos (this is why the algorithm is so important for short video software), people knew that the upward swipe meant they could see interesting videos, and they began to feel happy. Once there is this connection, the action of upward stroke becomes a conditioned stimulus, and the pleasant mood produced by upward stroke becomes a conditioned response.
However, the analogy between the above two examples has two flaws. First, the above reactions are instinctive reactions of organisms (such as dogs drooling), but the behavior of watching videos is not a human instinctive reaction, but an operable behavior under human control. Second, the behaviors of giving meat and ringing the bell are all done by humans. Dogs only have the unconditional response of drooling. However, when watching short videos, our upward scrolling behavior and the pleasure generated by the video content are all generated by ourselves. Short video software only provides videos that can be scrolled down infinitely. The example of the dog and the bell is classical conditioning. In addition to classical conditioning, there is another type of conditioning that is operant conditioning. Although operant conditioning and classical conditioning both involve the stimulation of external conditions, the behavioral operations of organisms are considered controllable, and the behavior of operant conditioning will change according to the reinforcement of rewards. For example, when a child is burned by a hot kettle, he immediately retracts his hand and learns to avoid touching the kettle. The action of immediately retracting the hand is an instinctive reaction, while the action of moving away from the hot pot is considered a "voluntary" action by the child. From here we can know that people are addicted to short videos because the software constantly informs you that you can see new videos by swiping up and get pleasure from the video content. If you repeat it many times, we will gradually feel pleasure from the action of swiping up and "like" it.
Through the above explanation, we already know why we "like" to watch short videos, but we still don't know why people have the idea of "wanting" to watch short videos, and why watching short videos has become a habit. To solve these problems we need to understand the higher-level reward system in the brain.
The reward system has three distinct functions:
- Generates associative learning
- Influences decision-making by motivating salience
- Induces positive emotions
The classical conditioning and operant conditioning mentioned above are the specific implementation processes of associative learning. For example, cup bow snake shadow is a kind of associative learning. The "rewards" in the reward system are divided into two different types, intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic reward is an unconditional reward that is intrinsically attractive and motivates behavior because it is inherently pleasurable. Extrinsic rewards are linked to intrinsic rewards through associative learning. After conditioned reflexes are conditioned on intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards can also trigger happiness (for example, winning money in the lottery can also bring great pleasure). The action of swiping up does not inherently bring happiness to people, but through associative learning, the pleasure brought by the video watched can be associated with the action of swiping up. Extrinsic rewards are the result of associative learning as intrinsic rewards, which means that once obtained, extrinsic rewards will trigger "wanting" rather than "liking". For example, money essentially does not bring any pleasure to people (extrinsic rewards), but it can bring us pleasure when we use money for shopping (intrinsic rewards). Through associative learning, we have established money and the pleasure of consumption can trigger our "want" to obtain money.
The idea of "wanting" to watch videos is brought about by incentive salience. Incentive salience is the form of attention that causes us to behave, pushing people toward pleasant objects, events, or results. Incentive salience reinforces our "want" for a behavior by continuously stimulating dopamine pathways. When we need to choose which software to open when we turn on our mobile phones, incentive salience will push us to choose enjoyable applications. As mentioned earlier, operant conditioning will change behavior according to the reinforcement of rewards, and dopamine is the reinforcer of reward in operant conditioning. Behaviors learned in this way may or may not be sensitive to the value of the consequences they lead to. Behaviors that are sensitive to the contingency and value of their consequences are goal-directed, whereas behaviors that are insensitive to the contingency and value of their consequences are called habits. Obviously, when we are watching videos, we rarely think about the contingency or value of the results of this behavior, and eventually watching videos becomes a habit. A habit is an induced behavior that appears accidentally, which is why you often turn on your phone and then calm down and open the short video software.
Dopamine is just a small neurotransmitter in the entire reward system. It has no idea whether your behavior is good or bad. Reward systems were originally designed to motivate animals to engage in behaviors that increase health and help the animal survive. Although we no longer need to worry about survival, the mechanism in our bodies is still discovered by short video companies. These companies use software to control people's attention. Isn't this like short video software that trains users by ringing bells?