7. Social rats

Burrhus F. Skinner developed an experiment through which he demonstrated that rats release endorphins when they can anticipate a reward.

In the experiment, the anticipation of the reward occurs in the presence of a lit light. Every time the light turns on, the rat presses a lever. After pressing the lever, food is released.

However, this does not always happen. Sometimes, after pressing the lever, the rat receives little food, and other times, it receives no food at all.

After learning this dynamic, each time the light turns on, the rat releases endorphins.

Now here’s the interesting part: when the amount of food is variable, the amount of endorphin released by the rat is greater than when the food quantity is constant.

That is, when the amount of food is variable, the animal secretes more endorphins on average than when it knows for sure that it will receive food.

What motivates the rat is not the food, but the anticipation of receiving it (or not).

Rat, light, endorphin, lever, food.

Do you see the parallel?

Human, notification, endorphin, tap, like.

That’s why we like opening gifts. The rush of endorphins received at the moment of seeing and unwrapping the gift is often greater than the satisfaction generated by the gift itself.

That’s why some advertisements are very effective when they manage to make the user anticipate that future situation where they will enjoy the product.

In short: we are prey to anticipation and the euphoria it generates.

An additional note: endorphins can be addictive.