The Brain Chemistry of Dopamine, it’s Rush and Remorse
I’ve lost track of how many ads I see a day. Even though I make a point to not click on them, and have shut off nearly all of my notifications, the habitual desire to pick up my phone and check in on all my texting and social platforms is strong, and so, even the recurring ads I have not clicked on, like the “middle-age man chair workout”, have got me thinking about it and blogging about it anyway. Last week, according to my Screen Time app, I clocked 34 hours and 21 minutes of screen time, including all the time spent on blogging, zoom calls, website visits, email, texting, and social sites. The algorithms are mining that data, vying for my attention, to provoke my desire and get me to buy, click, like, and pursue. So why does it work? This is where Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long’s book, The Molecule of More lets us in on the brain chemistry of dopamine.
In short, their work serves as a layperson’s guide to dopamine, the chemical released in our brain that drives our motivation and desire for what we do not yet have [1]. “Having things”, Lieberman and Long explain, “is uninteresting… [t]he dopamine circuits in the brain can be stimulated only by the possibility of whatever is shiny and new, never mind how perfect things are at the moment. The dopamine motto is “More” [2]. Or to pick up on a different metaphor they use, “Dopamine is the conductor, not the orchestra” [3]. It’s in love with the next, not the now, the pursuit of pleasure and novelty, not the possession of it, and is at the core of how we understand human desire.
What I find particularly helpful is how they relate this to the more obvious human behaviours of love, sex, and addiction, but also to our politics. In understanding the battle between the now and the not-yet, the reality of the present and the idealism of the unknown future, dopaminergic levels in people help us understand a range of tendencies associated with different political ideologies. The authors assert that
Progressives are idealists who use dopamine to imagine a world far better than the one we live in today. Progressivism is an arrow pointing forward… Conservatives distrust, the idealism of progressives, criticizing it as an impossible effort to build a perfect Utopia [4].
One political example Lieberman and Long give us is climate change — which is perfect to be writing about this week as the UN Climate Conference is underway in Azerbaijan [5]. The kind of dopaminergic world we live in, with a never-ending pursuit of more, is the backdrop of the challenges humans are offered through climate action. Change agents seek to adjust human mindsets, habits and behaviours that impact the planet. The authors argue that for climate action to work,
Global economic growth will have to be slow down. People will need to use less heat, less air conditioning, less hot water. They will have to drive less, fly less, and consume less. In other words, behavior, driven by dopamine will need to be drastically suppressed, and the era of better, faster, cheaper, and more will have to end [6].
Progressives and Conservatives speak as a counterpoint to each other’s view, one in pursuit of the next, and the other pulling the conversation back to the now. What is true of a push-and-pull in society around large scale global issues like climate action, is also true within the individual mind. Lieberman exclaims, “Happiness means finding a balance between dopamine rushes and the serenity of here and now chemicals” [7]. I believe that Lieberman and Long lay out a strong case for how dopamine is the source of desires, creativity, and even political beliefs. This means it is connected to our impulses, and our grit.
First, I see a link from the dopaminergic impulse to what Daniel Kahneman calls ‘The Affect Heuristic’. In his research that deals with fast thinking, he reveals that one way we quickly draw conclusions is by “answering an easier question” [8] Kahneman’s insight is that, “the dominance of conclusions over arguments is most pronounced where emotions are involved” [9]. One can easily see that a part of the problem for the sort of impulse buying and subsequent remorse that comes from the dopaminergic impulse is the appeal to emotions, leading people to decide quickly on impulse, whatever the consequences.
Dopamine also impacts grittiness. In Angela Duckworth’s Grit, she lays out that growth in one’s grit come through the capacities of interest, practice, purpose and hope [10] All of these drive us to take on an imagined future-orientation. Lieberman and Long present this as dopamine’s ability to not simply yield desire, but domination. The future-focus of dopamine does not just lightly roll out, but,
…dopamine can do more than give us dominion over the world: it can create entirely new worlds, worlds that may be so astonishing, they could have been created only by a genius-or a madman [11].
I wonder if we are more gritty about the things that give us dopamine responses, or more compelled to push through to ultimate goals because of dopamine’s relentless pursuit of what we do not yet grasp.
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[1] Daniel Z Lieberman, Michael E Long, and Vince Hyman, The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity – and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race. Dallas, Tex: BenBella, 2019, 30.
[2] Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 16.
[3] Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 199.
[4] Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 148.
[5] Website. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://cop29.az/en/home.
[6] Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 204.
[7] “The Molecule of More Summary of Key Ideas and Review | Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long.” n.d. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/the-molecule-of-more-en.
[8] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Doubleday Canada, 2011, Chapter 9.
[9] Kahneman continues, “The psychologist Paul Slovic has proposed an affect heuristic in which people let their likes and dislikes determine their beliefs about the world.“ Kahneman, Thinking, 103.
[10] Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, First Scribner hardcover edition, New York: Scribner, 2016, Ch 6-9.
[11] Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 106.
About the Author
Joel Zantingh
Joel Zantingh is a catalyst for peacemaking and intercultural teams, speaker, theologian and consultant. He is the Canadian Coordinator of the World Evangelical Alliance's Peace and Reconciliation Network, and the Director of Engagement with Lausanne Movement Canada. He has served in local and national roles within the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, and led their global mission arm. He has experience teaching in formal and informal settings with Bible college students and leaders from various cultures and generations. Joel and Christie are parents to adult children, as well as grandparents. They reside in Guelph, Ont., situated on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and home to many past, present and future First Nations peoples, including the Anishinnabe and Hodinöhsö:ni'.8 responses to “The Brain Chemistry of Dopamine, it’s Rush and Remorse”
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Joel, I appreciate your excellent summary, especially around politics and climate change.
If you could take advantage of your dopamine, what sort of forward-looking opportunity might you envision , even though ti seems out of reach right now?
Hey Debbie. Thanks for the question. I will answer this way. For my particular (ADHD) brain chemistry, I have less dopamine, and require a “procrastinator’s edge” to harness a smaller dopamine spike on a shorter ramp-up to future opportunities. Carol Dweck was helpful in speaking about this goal hierarchy (Mindset, 58). Over the years, I have developed strategies to break down longer-term top goals into what she labels shorter ‘mid-level and low-level’ goals. It’s what I love about the structure provided for this Doctorate, as well.
Hey Joel! Great post, and I appreciate the link to Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow. At the end of your post, you pose a question: “I wonder if we are more gritty about the things that give us dopamine responses or more compelled to push through to ultimate goals because of dopamine’s relentless pursuit of what we do not yet grasp.”
What is your assessment of this?
Great probing question, Daren. I see the connection between grit and dopamine because of the reward that awaits.
Because of your question, I did a quick AI search on “relationship of Dopamine and Grit” and the summary was I received was that “Dopamine is a chemical messenger that may play a role in grit by encouraging people to value tasks that require effort and perseverance”. The examples come from overcoming health obstacles, body building, and trying to get away from the dopaminergic impulses like eating candy, towards rewarding the brain with healthier options.
I think that with the alignment of low-level goals to ultimate goals, the training of dopamine response towards whatever helps achieve the ultimate goals (grittiness) will come into alignment.
An example of this is from my own experience coming out of COVID lockdown. I had gained 15 pounds, which I then began to work on losing through consistent sleep, diet, and exercise. I had to shift my reward-orientation from savoury snacks to longer term goals like minimizing lower-back pain, fitting into my clothes and getting more consistent time at the gym. I watched as my brain chemistry shifted in what reward I was seeking.
Boring? Maybe, but there you have it. What I ultimately want has changed my low-level goals to reward the gritty ultimate goals of being healthier, avoiding lower back pain and not needing to buy new clothes. Only 0.91 KGs (2 more pounds) to go.
Joel, you did a good job outlining how dopamine impacts our impulses, creativity, and political ideologies. I’m curious about your thoughts on achieving a balance between dopamine-driven pursuits, like innovation, and staying present, especially regarding complex issues like climate change and personal habits like screen time?
Hi Joel, do you see any value in seretonin or do you just see dopamine as the valule added piece?
Diane, yes there is certainly value in the H&N neurotransmitters like serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, which are working to combat the dopaminergic impulse. But within the relentlessness of dopamine exacerbated by the North American culture, I do not see balance or harmony between them. Your thoughts?
Hi Joel, Thanks for the good post! Everything keeps pointing to balance, or as the authors titled a chapter…harmony. As you wrote about the screen time, our dopaminergic world, and the connection of dopamine with grit, etc, I thought about how, as followers of Jesus, we are particularly called to reflect peace into the world. Where do you see Jesus-followers, (group or individual) successfully resisting the push toward dopaminergic frenzy and finding balanced ways of living?