I am writing to explain how instant gratification has become the menace of modern society.
Instant gratification is defined as this
receiving a reward without having to wait
I would like to ask you a question.
‘How would you define what a reward is?’
A pretty simple question I am sure you are thinking.
And I am equally sure that you are thinking that the answer is
a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement
Let me tell you a huge secret
THE BRAIN DOES NOT VIEW REWARD LIKE THAT
Reward in the brain looks like this
Look at where the blue lines in particular are going from and to.
The nucleus accumbens, the thalamus and the basal ganglia with a slight touch into the frontal cortex.
The nucleus accumbens is a brain structure that is part of our pleasure and reward system. It activates our motivation and allows willpower to translate into action. It has an essential role in learning and memory, in laughter, fear, aggression, addictions, the placebo effect, sex, food intake, basically all our survival needs.
The thalamus is your body’s information relay station. All information from your body’s senses (except smell) must be processed through your thalamus before being sent to your brain’s cerebral cortex for interpretation. Your thalamus also plays a role in sleep, wakefulness, consciousness, learning and memory. Really important again for survival and circadian rhythym needs.
The basal ganglia refers to a group of subcortical nuclei within the brain responsible primarily for motor control, as well as other roles such as motor learning, executive functions, emotional behaviours, and play an important role in reward and reinforcement, addictive behaviours and habit formation.
The frontal cortext is vital to our consciousness, as well as functions that appear uniquely human, such as spoken language. It is one of four paired lobes in the brain’s cerebral cortex, and it plays vital roles in memory, attention, motivation, and numerous other daily tasks.
So reward in the brain is different to how we perceive what reward is.
Reward in the brain is defined as this
It is an adaptive function, it’s related to the basic needs that allow us to survive individually and as a species.
Basic needs are therefore these
Maximising contact with beneficial stimuli
Minimising contact with harmful stimuli
All in the name of survival
Simple is it not?
No it is not that simple.
Reward is aligned with motivation and in particular cognitive effort.
The reward system constantly calculates the cost and the benefit of a cognitive and behavioural effort.
It then either allocates the required working memory or sends us to a procrastination route. Procrastination is a story for another time but for now we can see that it is actually a maladaptive coping strategy in terms of reward.
We remain engaged to the extent where benefits outweigh the cost. The reward system manages the allocation of working memory by computing the cost-benefit to us.
All the procrastination and motivation frameworks serve a common purpose. How to make the reward bigger and the efforts smaller so that the cost/benefit is valuable for the reward system to motivate behaviour? Thus, setting small goals, dividing & conquer bigger tasks, performing one baby step at a time scenario etc.
The idea is to minimize the effort so that the brain releases dopamine each time upon the task completion. By repeating small actions that are followed by a reward, you train the reward system. Positive reinforcement will make it beneficial and more motivating.
Why is this important to know in the quest to create a better (and kinder) world?
Well the need to be loved, to be cared for and to be safe, secure (and procreate) is hard wired in us from before we are born.
Premature babies are born with the ability to have the emotion of joy tracked on their faces which infers that we can feel joy in utero.
Joy is the ability to connect to something outside of ourselves and feel positive affect from that. Human beings need connection, more than anything else. We are wired for sociality.
Our brains are constantly changing in response to what we do and the things we pay attention to.
This is worthy of consideration because many of the activities that promote instant gratification are linked to unhealthy behaviours. Additionally, as we continue our quest for rewarding quick fixes, we start to experience a dopamine surge in our brains long before we actually experience any reward, and the craving associated with dopamine release hits us early, too.
In the bigger picture, the more we overvalue instant gratification, the more likely we are to be distracted from longer-term, more meaningful interactions.
So the flipside of instant gratification is delayed gratification. Where we receive a more meaningful (and greater) reward because we have slowed down, noticed what is important to us, and want to meet that need rather than the need to be have it and have it now.
So how about considering the following when rewarding the very real, very primal, very survival need for love -
What is my value and how do I appreciate it?
What do I need and how do I meet that need?
What/who do I invest my time, energy and resources in and where is the cost/benefit in that?
How much of my reward system is based on instant gratification?
What needs to happen to start to move to a delayed gratification model?
And final one
How much kindness do I need to show myself going forward?
So I give my enduring kindness and support to you and your reward mechanism and I urge you to demand a delayed gratification in life.
Your brain, your nervous system and your future you will love you for it.
Mischel’s next step made his studies iconic — he tracked the kids forward, seeing if marshmallow wait time predicted anything about their adulthoods . [...] Five-year-old champs at marshmallow patience averaged higher SAT scores in high school (compared with those who couldn’t wait). [...] Forty years post-marshmallow, they excelled at frontal function, had more PFC [Prefrontal cortex] activation during a frontal task, and had lower BMIs. A gazillion-dollar brain scanner doesn’t hold more predictive power than one marshmallow